New-York tribune., 1918-07-14
BY Hugh Reid Griffin
Iice-PresideMt American Chamber
Of Commerce im Puris

Of Commerce in P0ris
PARIS, July 1.
TINE trade opportunities in the
Europe of the future are ours to
grasp or let slide. No other coun-
try than ours can so readily and sue
cessfully meet the coming demand. A
few hints, therefore, on how to get
that new business may not come amiss
from one who has had forty years ex-
perience at the game and still loves
the game for the fun that is in it.
In general, success or failure depends
on two things: (1) On the attitude of
the home firm regarding foreign busi-
ness and clients, and (2) on the charac-
ter and equipment of the representa-
eives they send abroad. Prepare now,
at once, for the piping time of peace,
and prepare to do a credit business.
You may not like the credit idea, but
you will have to come to it if you want
10 beat your competitors at q game
they know. You will make money in
the end
Secondly, get your stuff ready. Re-
member Andrew Carnegie and how he
got his first start. He foresaw the need
of steel and railroad bridges. Carnegie
didn't go around trying to convince the
railroads that they were going to need
those bridges. He first had lot of
bridge parts made up, then went to
the railroads needing the bridges and
said: you've got to have bridge at
such and such a point. 1t will cost you
so much. The bridge is ready to de-
liver knew you had to have it, so
here it is"
Luck" you say. Well, call it pre-
paredness, and preparedness is the
first step in the conquest of the mar
kets of Europe after the war
To the firm I would also say: "Get
your men in the field now. Let them
be studying it. Make them learn the
language of the country you intend
sending them to. Be sure they are
Americans who know your product
who can show all Of its good points.
If your man knows your goods thor
oughly he more easily convinces a pro-
big lots instead of in small parcels, as
the ordinary foreign agent is content
to sell"
To the representative I would say:
First learn the axiom of successful
selling. A lot of people think you don't
have to possess much sense to sell
goods. This, of course, is colossal
mistake. You need more sense to sell
to foreign purchaser than to home
buyer. Business is no place for fool,
and foreign business least of all. So
learn all the good points Of your mer-
chandise, learn the language of the
man you're going to sell to, and then
start out. Just as your, boss has made
himself ready with the goods, SO must
you be ready with yours. Your equip
ment must include not only the article
you have to sell, but also a reasonable
amount of common sense and knowl-
edge of handling customers. The GUS
toners over there differ considerably
from those at home, and the difference,
in its first aspects, can only be learned
through experience. Acquisition of the
language of the country in which one
is selling means the acquisition of gen
eral information, which leads to good
business.
"In doing business in Europe you
must study your customer closely. He
may take plenty of time to do business,
to get started in buying from you, but
once you get his confidence you hold
him. 1t is commonly said that you
can't drive an English customer away
after he gets used to you.
II think one of the big points of do
ing business anywhere is to waste all
the time you can spare in landing your
man, but, once you have landed him
and have gotten his signature to con-
tract, take the first train out Of town.
No matter whether it is going north,
east, south or west-board it, Else
your man may change his mind
Dinners Do Not