New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-10
liat TIleater
Teaches About
Salesnnansllip
Sales Expert Says the Psy-
cilelogy of Selling May
BE. Learned From Stage

mind must be kept off his business
'while. he is at the play. In fact, it
has been accepted as an axiom by this
elsss OF producers that not only must
their weary patrons from the battle
ground Of business be soothed into for
getfulpess of their commercial prob
iems, but they must be kept from
doing any thinking at all during the
time the curtain is up. Dramatic i'm
fresSljos who shape their policy
2 onrs these lines, however, are due for
! shock.
According to William Maxwell, vice
4 siaent of Thomas a. Edison, Inc,
" author of several books on mer-
%ln,hsing and craftsmanship, the bust
ASS man, no matter how tired he may
p is apt to attend the theater, not
with the idea of getting his mind off
SIS business, but mainly with the OBJ
ject of picking up ideas which he can
use in his business.
"Mere and more the merchant Of to-
day is coming to realize the great
ness world can learn from stageland,"
says AIR. Maxwell. "Many of the most
effective ideas used in the window dis
plays of the up-to-date stores have
been adapted from the theater, this be-
ing particularly true so far as lighting
effects, are concerned.
Fashion Makers
Get Hints From Stage
Manufacturers of women's apparel
90 to the theater in search of new style
hints, and retailers of those lines at
tend the show largely in the hope of
getting hint or two for their displays
and advertising copy, while buyers for
department stores are often able to
pick up valuable information from the
remarks of their neighbors in the
audience and in the theater lobby,
about particular costume worn by the
leading lady or member of the chorus.
But even more important than these
things are the lessons in craftsmanship
which are to be learned from the stage.
There is a closer analogy between the
professions of the actor and the sales
man than many people realize. In
many important respects the methods
employed in getting ideas across the
footlights are the same as getting ideas
across. the counter.
'For some time have held the view
that if a salesman would accept in
struction, rehearsal and criticism with
the same good grace that the traditions
of the stage require from the actor it
would be comparatively easy to develop
almost any intelligent person into
good salesman, or saleswoman. In the
long experience have had in training
statesmen | have found that the chief
difficulty to be overcome is the indi-
viduais resentment at the highly per-
sonal criticism and minute direction to
which he must submit if he is to be
thoroughly trained.
David Belasco
AS a Salesman
"If a successful dramatic producer
say David Belasco, for instance
were 20. undertake to conduct a class
In craftsmanship l feel confident that
he would achieve better results than
almost any sales manager in the world.
He may not have had any practical ex-
perience in craftsmanship, but by the
same @methods used in training actors
he would be able to train statesmen and
greatly develop their capacity to sell
goods.
II brought out this idea in lecture
I delivered recently at Harvard Uni
versity, and l used it as the theme in
a four-act play which we produced for
the entertainment and instruction of
the Edison sales force at our 1921 Car
avan Convention
1--WE hope through this play, which
had q Broadway cast of professional
actors and first class settings, to over
como to some extent the prejudice
which most statesmen entertain against
any form of instruction that is at vari-
ance with their instructive methods of
procedure.
The idea seemed to be we'll re-
ceived by our statesmen audience, and
II further experience proves that some
OF the methods used in training an
actor can be applied successfully to
%he training of a salesman we shall
probably be able to develop a rather
interesting and valuable course of sales
instruction.