The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-08-26
THEIR METHODS OF
HANDLING BUYERS

AIHuULbuu w INV
Some Of the Odd Experiences That
Come to Statesmen In Dealing
With Them.
The speaker was man who had
had more years of experience on the
road than a normal human being has
fingers and toes. Yes, sir" he said
IF I could turn back the years and
go out on my first trip tomorrow
there In just one thing that l would
paste in the top of my mostused sam
pie case. 1t would be this: Don't
get too friendly with the buyers; II
you do you will regret it" He paused
and ref1ectively looked out of the win
dow for a moment. Then he went on:
This may sound strange to You in
view of all that is said about the need
OF being friendly with buyers in or
der to get business. II has been my
experience to find, however, as quite q
necessary. Acquaintanceship may be,
but not friendship. In fact, / am
right now willing to wager that. in
eight cases out OF ten where a sales
man tries to mix friendship with bust
ness he loses out.
There is no better illustration of
just what man can lose In this way
than an experience OF friend OF mine
I'm the textile field. He was travelling
Southern territory and In order 10 pull
strong with a buyer In certain good
sized city. my friend practically lived
with this buyer all the time he was
there. What was the result The
buyer happened to come to New York
one day and met the big boss Halt
Jokingly, the latter spoke about my
friend as being the best salesman on
the stan. to which the buyer replied
| I will say this for him. He Is the
easiest salesman to turn down that !
| have ever come across When the
| boss passed this on 10 the salesman
the air was blue in that vicinity for
for trying to be too friendly with a
buyer.
A Little Too Friendly.
''But know OF another case that
comes closer home to me than that
In fact / may yet be the victim or
my folly. One of the women buyers
70 whom I sell some time ago asked
me TO have friend OF mine in the
silk underwear business send her some
OF his stun, Naturally. I thld him
that II would be all right and tina. 1ha
would pay for IT. But she has not
done SO vet. and It begins to look az
II little Willie Is going TO he the goat
to the tune OF about $40 That's what
, comes OF trying to do favors for them
Another little experience had
with friendly buyer happened TO me
! only r short time back. Before
took this Job I used TO travel anoth or
territory, and in certain city In that
part OF the country was a buyer with
whom 7 did smashing good business
Recently | met him on the street I'm
Omaha. He told me that he was there
after job with one of the big retail
concerns, l told him how glad I was
to see him again. shook hands, and
left him. I had also told him where
was stopping. and that evening about
II O'Clock the telephone in nv room
rang and the clerk told me that Mr..
-, the buyer. was calling. 7 had him
sent up. When he came In he told
me that he had landed the Job, but
two or three days later l became
suspicious at once. but I had to stand
UP and take II. or course he wanted
loan. and for old times sake, "a
we'll as with an eva to the future. I
came across with the s25 ne asked for.
am thankful to this day for his
modesty. for ne never got the Job
and I never got my money back"N
At this point one Of the small au-
dience present remarked that In his
territory things like that did not
come or" The veteran glanced at
him a second or two and then re-
piled: "Either you are kdodgfng the
truth. or your territory must be In
heaven"
When the laughter that followed
this retort subsidized. the old fellow
went on:
Some buyers are fearfu1ly and
wonderfully made, especially when 1t
comes TO the nerves. I remember a
chap who came to New York not long
ago at time when the races were on
at one of the nearby tracks. Being
bigger sport than buyer, he played
the ponies more rashlv than wisely
The result was that his expense al
lowance from the firm disappeared
like snow before a warm spring rain.
But did he write for more or tell wife
to hike to the bank after some am
munition? He did not. He went
around. as the slang phrase goes, try
Ing to put the bee on the statesmen
from whom he bought goods / have
not sold him a dollars worth since
then. and 1t doesn't take more than
three guesses to hit the reason why.
There was another chap Of whom
have heard friends speak. a salesman
who was such good fellow when he
had 1t that most Of the time he was
on the ragged edge of nothing. He
knew more ways OF letting buyers get
his money away from him without
asking for 1t or actually picking his
pocket than any man alive One of
his favorite methods of Kidding him
self OF disease-iaden bills worked out
this way:
When a good customer OF his came
70 market he would grab a paper. see
who was playing the Giants. ana then
lay down bet with the buyer. Like
ly as not the Giants were then 100
points ahead of the second team and
going like wtldnre. And just as like
ly their opponents would be the tall
enders. His system was to put down
IhAHAl hat ha Ani a