The mirror., 1917-01-11
THE PASSING OF THE. ADVERTISING NOVELTY
Application of Practical Sales Plans in
Selling Advertising Specialties

By Mr.. G. r. s.

about more different kinds of
people and the uses of more differ
ent kinds of goods than most sales
men.
have likened a speciality sales
man to the department store ad-
vertising manager, because I be-
lieve the speciality salesman is up
against the same proposition. The
odds are big, but so are the win
nings. The department store ad-
vertising manager who knows his
job makes big money-so does the
speciality salesman.
l want to carry this analogy a
little further because l believe a
good deal can be learned about
selling from the ways of the retail
advertiser-the man who meets
many different kinds of people
and must therefore have something
to appeal to many different minds
and desires.
The retail merchant can not hope
to tell in his selling story all about
all of the goods in his store. He
must stress the seasonable and the
timely and depend upon these to
bring crowds to his store.
The most successful specially
statesmen l have known are those
who know that their customers
pay them their commissions, not
their house. These men select a
given article before they call upon
a prospect and work out a definite
plan by which the prospect can
earn a profit on his investment
through the use Of the speciality.
No salesman can do this without
answering the questions: Whom
does the advertiser want to reach?
What sort of a speciality will ap-
peal to these people? How can
the speciality be useful in selling
more goods for the advertiser, not
how can the advertiser be useful
in distributing more specialties?
When the speciality man has
answered these questions. he is
ready to be of real service to the
advertiser, and the advertiser can
afford to pay a salesman a decent
commission above the manufacture.
ing cost of the specialties. for SER
vices rendered.
There are still some statesmen
who sell by horsepower instead
of by plan, but it takes more horse
power every year to do it.
When an architect or builder
plans a house he does not expect
to get the attention and confidence
of the buyer by gestures and loud
talk; he depends upon the excel
lence of his carefully thought-out
plans, and the better the plan, the
easier is his job.
It is the same in the sale of
specialties by modern methods. A
plan often must be put down on
paper so that the advertiser whose
head is full of other things can
concentrate on the idea the sales
man is presenting. By putting it
down on paper, l mean when there
is a letter or redemption card to
be used by the advertiser; it isn't
enough for the salesman to sug-
that a letter be used; he must lay
some sort of a letter before his
customer. If he is talking circu-
lation, as in the case of business
calendar, he must take out his
pencil and put his figures down in
black and white. Magazine, news
paper and street car statesmen do
that when they talk circulation.
The architect doesn't trust to his
customer remembering that the
dining room is to be 18x24 feet;
he shows him the plan and the
figures of it down on paper.
The point / want to make is that
the plan as presented is. if any
thing. more important than the
plan itself. The salesman who has