The Detroit times., 1916-07-11
American Sellers Lack
. This Requisite, Says
& Auto Maker
RELIEVES IN
TRAINING SCHOOL
suggests Congress For
Inulate Definite Rules
! !. of Employment
Nv HUGH CHALMERS,

1 BY HUGH CHALMERS,
~ President Chalmers Motor Co.
r. Most of us who have things to
Fan have managed somehow or
ether to sell these things. but few
~ N have ever reduced the selling
.port OF our business to the scien-
4 u basis that we have the manufac-
/ turing or merchandising ends.
q We have gone too long on the the
I nsy that statesmen were born and
ut made; that there was no known
nethod Of determining whether a
nan could sell goods or not We
have regarded the whole PROPOSE
n13on too much as q game OF chance
/. ma have selected men at random.
\ ptincipally because they looked to
~ TO b pretty decent sort OF fel-
4 lovs, and were not marked In any
pefsonal way that would affect them
q approaching other people.
However, all sensible executives
nowadays realize that the matter OF
0olecting statesmen Is not wholly q
natter Of taking q chance. We
know that there are more or less
I GoAnite set rules that can be fol-
lowed In the employment Of sales
men. We realize that we can meas
ne men TO some extent ~ We meas
ne materials; of course not to the
mathcmatical accuracy that we can
nsasure materials, but we do know
hat We can size up men with rea-
ocnable exactness before We employ
(Aem.
I have NO quarrel with any Of the
lien who have made the teaching of
oalosmanship a business. believe
lhAt many OF them have done a
/ Soot amount of good. My only com.
I I1aint against some of them has
hen that they have held the sub
5 nj Of salesmanship up in the
clouds too much; that they have LED
poople TO believe that salesmanshir
80 = thing apart from other things
~ H. and was thing that had
Gtetofy and difAculty about 1t, and
~ y man had to have a certain
o3tu1l aptitude for this kind OF
/ (achlng before he could be taught
II cell goods.
1.-The main reason, I believe, why
&nliAe u considered an extremely
<1@411kf proposition Is because we
~ Ealing with the intangible. The
G6o great essential needed In selling
fpods, of course, Is brain power In
- salesman. and yet the brain in
Y III human being Is something that
~ rarely ever see, and II we do
~ 80 II when Il 10 too late for II
(4 b Of Ne any longer to the per
~ who Md II.
si1t iGA fault Of the human family
lnnt - Always fear the thing which
~ - ut see or do not understand
Ne havo become accustomed to
1oalfnf n the concrete 90 much
fhat ~ seem to lose our sense Of
ggUportion IN measuring our opin.
& ~ q things that We do not see.
have been connected with the
lnanufeoturs Of goods nearly Ill Of
~ business lifetime, and II took
- some time to realize the differ
600 between manufacturing and
G61llnG. II finally dawned upon me
SAat TIE real difference was that IN
nnnufActuring you are dealing With
tangible things. which you can con.
tfol almost completely, while In
selling you are dealing largely with
htaagible things. which are very
hasd 70 control.
bolieve, however, that we have
yooGned the point now where some
6 - Ct least believe that We can
o1eru1De q reasonable control in the
seIsction Of the men necessary to
marriott our goods Just as we can in
IL men employed In the making OF
cur goods.
After all, the one great question
y n the selling of goods IL the en-
Deoyment Of statesmen. As q matter
g fAct. you can say In one sentence
Ne one controlling thing about all
buglness. namely--the selection Of
Ne right men.
] believe We can formulate some
Goanits plan or set OF rules which
On b used successfully by all con-
ssened IN the employment Of sales.
q Inen. ...,
One Of the very FIRST things to set
oown - . rule IL that no man
should b employed on the nrst In.
terview. I believe that II is neecs'
( oary TO see q man al least two OF
three times before you can size hin
~ properly. Then, again. believ'
3 = h . good ideaHto have more thar
{, - man see man before he !,
( employed. ] know some concern,