Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-10
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTUR OF SALES
By Ruth Leigh
Author OF The Human sid Of Re-
tail selling" THE A B c Of Retail
ing" etc.

Addressing a group at the Mid
Vile Merchants Association one
Thursday evening, Ellen Young
made a challenging statement.
Your value new lies in your
merchandise. It's in your customers
minds. II every salesman really
knew the significance of this, SELL
ing would be a far simpler, easier
: business"
| How do you figure that out?'
came from a gruf soice in the audi
ence.
"Ali right. I'll explain" answered
Ellen Young. Il defy any one t.
disagree with me when / say that
people seldom see what they look ut:
they only see what is pointed out
to them. Show a woman an alumi-
nun cooking pot. Tell her the price
is $3.50. What does she see? A
plain aluminium pot priced $3.50,
and that's all. Probably she will
complain TO the salesman hat the
price is too high. oh, it's a good
pot l have heard statesmen say.
Fine, good. strong cooking pot. Like
to sell you that pot. But no. Wo-
ma thinks $3.50 too expensive.
You sec," cohtinued Ellen Young
that woman did not see the S1.50
value in that cooking pot. The sales
man took it for granted that she
saw 1t. All that woman thought
of in looking al the $3.50 pot was
that 1t was more than she wanted
to spend. She could not see the
value. II was not in her mind. Now
suppose" Ellen Young leaned for
ward earnestly, that salesman had
built value in his customers mind.
Suppose he had pointed out to her
these facts about il. In this pot,
Madam, you have a handle of cool,
smooth. hollow steel. When you're
cooking something on a stove and
grasp the handle, you never burn
your fingers. In this pot you have
a special inset cover, prevents boil
ing over and conserves the heat. This
V you work because it keeps
your stove clean. On this aluminium
pot there are convex sides which
prevent the contents from pouring
off when you drain a liquid from
the pot. Smooth round edges make
the pot easier to keep clean. You
see on this a small wooden
knob that cannot burn. 1t is cool
when you grasp it. Do you see,"
concluded Ellen Young. how that
salesman makes the woman realize
the value of that cooking pot? He
builds value in her mind"
That's a darned Interesting idea"
commented n merchant in the
group. as they discussed this point.
simply means that a salesman
must know what he's selling. II
he doesn't know his goods he can't
make the customer see the value of
them"
which brings me back to my
original statement" pointed out Ell
len Young, that value does not lie
in an article: it lies in the salesman's
and the customers mind. If a wo-
man buying a $3.50 aluminium pot.
can't see $3.50 value in it. it isn't
there!'
II suppose you could say. then.
that in the final analysis our sales
men are really responsible for price
reductions and markdowns."
Very well thought out" agreed
Ellen Young. Il was just going to
make hat point. Ifa salesman can't
make a customer see value, it isn't
there. If you reduce the price of an
article from $3.50 to 81, it Is because
your statesmen themselves couldn't
see, and couldn't make customers
see, the $3.50 value. / repeat again.
it's the value that a customer places
on an article in his mind that cre-l
ates the price. not the worth of the
article. A dress may be worth in
trinsically the same amount at the
end of a season as at the beginning.
Its value is less. however, in your
customers mind. and that's what
makes the price less"
The president of the Lyon Metal
Products Company ran a weary
hand across his forehead. i
II wanted to have a long talk
with you, Miss Young" he sighed,
but 1 simply can't get out from
under in this work. 1t keeps piling
up and up worse every day. / sup
pose one of these days I'll have to
get a system"
System nothing" began Ellen
Young. "All you need is a plan"
Tomorrow Ellen Young gives some
extremely valuable suggestions about
I,nxy ~ Milan unavvs xvnrE