New Britain herald., 1919-11-12
MANY MERCHANTS
 HEAR STOCkDALE
Retail Business Men Given Good
 Lecture at (. Of (.

Frank Stockdale addressed q large
 group of merchants at the Chamber Of Commerce last evening his first d1-
 rect talk to the retailers of the city.
 Nr. StOckdale drew his points of d1S-
 cuSslon from q story of a western
 farmer who had made thorough
 study of farming methods ana 'ldh
 conducted a successful tarm de9ii 11@
 10 change and enter the retail lllef-
 ChandiSing game in a medium SlNC"
 city. MT. Farmers nephew on the
 other hand had conducted a felall
 store and attempts to convince HIS
 agricultural uncle just what >' real
 merchant must have to quality as q
 live retailer of today.
 Mr. Stockdale's talk, in the words Of
 the nephew, made the first starting
 point that 90 per cent of the men en-
 tering the retail game, never finished,
 either failing or changing to other
 lines when they found out that they did not have the three requisites of a, real merchant. To be a good buyer to be a good seller and to be a good manager.
 Tn bringing out the first point MT. Stoclxdale suggested the following rule to be used: Buy in cold blood, but sell with enthusiasm, with the real fundamental idea of controlling your own business in mind all the time. He l showed that many business houses re- l serve the prices and buy with entnus- l iasm but sell in cold blood. Enthus- ! ia sm in selling both for proprietor and clerk. Mr. Stockdale claims, is the key ! note to successful merchandising. Er- thusiasm brightens things up, your ! patrons feel it, your clerks absorb it.
  | they are charged spasm odically and 1 when the battery is exhausted they dc not have it refilled and cold blooded ] matter of-fact selling is the conse- quence, he says. Merchants should be l generators and this is what I would ] say to New Britain merchants To be a, good buyer, must meet the trav- cling salesman with the same decision l or intention to buy what and when you ! need and not be carried away with the over enthusiasm spirit of the salesman l he added. The second point being a ! good seller, MT. Stockdale explained ! he would cover in the later lectures 1 under the heading of display. adver- I Using and personal selling. The third ] and last requisite, good management l MT. Stockdale brought out the idea l that successful mana cement depended 1 upon good financing, that is laying by 1 a reserve fund or surplus during good ] times to take care of poor times, good planning, that IS carrying on youl 1 business a accOrdlng to q pred eterm in ed l plan, usually in the budget method and ] last the proper and right handling of l people, both customers and help. l Managers Discussed.
 Three types of managers were dis ! cussed, the domineering manager who l drove his clerks all the time called them down before customer went, the 1 cXpectant manager who always carried 1 the details of his business and forgot 1 the principles and was always afraid 1 to delegate responsibility and the most l common manager the fearful mana 1 ger, who always feared that the busi- l ness could not go on if he went away 1 for day, or if he gave some portion I of work to a clerk that it would not be | handled properly. MT. Stockdale ] urged proprietor and store managers l to get out of their stores and visit l other stores to attend and take inter- 1 est in Chamber of Commerce matters, l Every merchant who finds himself t0t, 1 busy to go to the Chamber of Com 1 merce meetings he claimed were men l whose vision was confined to four l walls and their future was limited to ! find that development. They never l would grow and they became absolute 1 slaves to their business. Every store 1 keeper should plan now for his vaca
 tion next summer. His business will 1 run and the interme edate work and l systematizng to get ready for such a ! vacation will go a long way towards 1 getting his organization in shape to ! take care of itself not only during va 1 cation time but every week in the
 year.