Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-18
Thoughts on Selling Cigars.

.sVIHERE are your cigars and why
" don't you keep them on top of the
case so that your customers can pick
UP a Savannah reflector, lay down a
nickel, light the fumigater and vanish?"
said the Rambler as he entered cigar
store and addressed the very bland. be-
nign and dignified man behind the coun-
ter.
Young man. said the cigar salesman.
with suave manner and in cultivated
tones. your taste in such matters has
been led awry by the barbarous way in
which some dealers treat their patrons.
1t is habit to treating smokers which
some unthoughtful dealers have perhaps
borrowed from the drug store and lunch
room way of selling cigars.
Putting the open box Of cigars on top
Of the case so that a patron may take one
and rush away argues haste. 1t is a com
mon and easy way of selling cigars, but
it does not make trade and customers. a
salesman who sells cigars that way is
not worth much. The man who buys
cigars that way never comes to be on
easy and sociable terms with the estab-
lishment, and when the need of smoke
comes upon him he will just as like
as not drop into the first place where he
sees a cigar sign.
Nov, to begin with, to put an open
box on the case is no way to treat a
cigar. A box of cigars left open on the
top of the case will dry out. When you
buy dried-out cigar there is no differ
ence. SO far as the taste goes. between
one that sells for a nickel and one that
sells for a dime All dried out cigars
smoke and taste alike. OF course. some of
them are stronger than others. but there
Is no aroma. l have read that English
Ike lei brittle.
the only thing l deduce from that is that
Englishmen have not a true appreciation
Of a good cigar. cigar ought not to be
green. but it ought to be ripe and
moist. Then the difference between good
cigars and punk is easy to tell Cigars
exposed on top of the case also become
dusty, and this Is insanitary, besides in
juring such flavo- as the cigar may have.
:. ::
But now we come down to the real
moment of this matter. A customer likes
to be waited on and it is good business
to wait on him. Do it attentively and
he comes back to your shop. gets ac-
quainted with you and remains steady
customer. I keep the cigars In a case
and their condition is at the best.
When a man asks for n certain kind of
L
and pass it to him. He helps himself.
Perhaps, although he only asks for a
cigar he will take enough to last him
for some time. There Is chance for
some easy conversation. and here is
where the man who knows his business
and perhaps something besides. makes a
rarron, whereas a clerk who has no other
interest than to watch the clock and
draw his weeks pay fails
If a man calls for a cigar that is not
in the case but in stock l open the box
pull down the paper apron and hand hin
the box I treat him as though he We're 3
connoisseur and l pass him that box as
though those cigars were two-for-a'
Quarter. even though they may be only
s cents apiece. If you make sale Of
only one 5-center-and most of the cigal
--ores of Washington are supported or
the sales of Scent goods-you should
make the buyer feel that you regard hin
as a valued patron and that YOU really
want to satisfy his taste in tobacco. We
spend too much time in getting a Gus
toner inside the store to treat him light
" after he has entered.
Keeping open boxes of cigars on tor
of the case is a crude way of selling your
goods and poor way of making trade
believe me-!