Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-18
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
by Ruth Leigh
Author Of 1.-THE Human Sid OF Re-
tail Selling" The A d c OF Retail
ing" etc.

DO you believe in frankncss II.
business. Miss Young, as opposed to
'bluff ?" asked Christine Green, a
young statistical worker.
well, it depends on the person 10
whom you are speaking, what you
are talking about. and what you arc
trying to do" answered Ellen
Young. Pm afraid / can't make
! any hard-and-fast rules about
I frankness or blur in business.
There are times when too mucn
frankness is bad, and times when
bluff is necessary.
THAT is what / mean. Miss
Green" explained Miss Young. II
have found. after seven years ex-
perience in business. tina people
judge you at face value. You have
to do a certain amount of 'blufing.'
This question of frankness "
business, Christine. is too much of
IN individual matter. as | said be-
fore, to judge by arbitrary rules
Now take frankness for example, re-
gardinS 1t as a form of honesty. X
a person asks o to do something
and you're not sure if o can do 1t.
you can do n of w things. You
can either say frankly that you're
AACN - SOu al uO IL "tA vi lOAA
can bluff n pretend to know all
about it,"
Christine Green nodded.
Even under those circumstances
you yourself are the best judge as to
the policy to adopt in that case.
Sometimes it pays to tell the truth
In confessing frankly that you're not
certain IL you can do it. If. how
ever, it is something on which you
are reasonably certain you can sue
ceed. it may pay to take a chance
or as you say, to bluff it. Person
ally, l have always felt that there is
too much bluff and too little genu-
Inc frankness in some American
business methods"
Il have always felt" Miss Green
interrupted, that 1t is better to say
o don't know how to do a thing,
and agree to try rather than to
bluff it and act as IL you know ali
about it,"
Remember, If you bluff it. the
other person expects a lot more
from o thar If o say frankly At
the beginning that you're not sure,
but that you will try" Ellen Young
gazed off thoughtfully into the dis
lance. Il believe that too much
bluff in business is bound to be de-
tected eventually. When / meet a
person who appears to be 'blufing'
| always suspect his sincerity in all
things. Usually a person who bluffs
moreover is not sure of himself"
Miss Green spoke at this point.
"Of course 1 think there are certain
situations when n needs an air CT
confidence, sureness and determine
ton that one does not always feel,
but that is more a matter of bolster
| Inc IN ones cnnrppn an1 SaIf-
esteem"
But there's a difference in the
long u between bluff and sels-
assurance. A self-assured person is
confident of his ability under any
conditions. He may not know exact-
ly how to handle a particular piece
of work that you are outlining, but
you can tell from his self-assured
bearing that he is willing to learn TO
be shown, and to try his best. There
are only very few circumstances. l
have found, when one really gets
away with a bluff / will say Their.
are times when it does work, bal.
usually l think it has worked be-
cause of the genuine attempt of the
person to succeed, rather than be-
cause of his efforts to hide the fact
that he was not sure of himself"
How do You keep your desk?
Where do you put your papers, your
writing material? What do you nut
n pigeonholes? An extremely in
teresting talk on desk efficiency i'm
tomorrow's paper.
IN looking for a position do You
believe in the policy of making per.
sonal application at Offices; that is,
without appointments? JOHN
Yes. 1 do believe in what one
writer calls "the shoe-leather meth
cd" of getting a job. Here are the
five chief advantages he gives: First.
You gain self-confidence by forcing
yourself to enter strange offices and
meet strange people, some of whom
greet o in a somewhat hostile
manner. Second. You can learn
much about the atmosphere and
personality of n concern from it's
reception room and it's methods of
receiving visitors. Such knowledge
is likely to be of value to you later.
Third. Going into a plant as q
stranger and noting the various
ways in which different places treat
You is extremely interesting, as we'll
as valuable. You will get much
pleasure out of this study. Fourth.
You are likely to meet a number of
men whom you will later be glad to
know. You have gained something
IL you a impress these men favor
ably, whether any one of them gives
YOU a job or not. Fifth. Finally
and most important-you may get
the job for which you are searching.
Copyright, 1922. by Public Ledger
Company