Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-20
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
by Ruth Leigh
Author OF The Human Side Of Re-
tail Selling" "Ths A b c of Retail
ing" etc

That fellows a darn good sales
| man." said the purchasing agent oil
a large drug products conceDh. but
he'll never get ahead because he has
no tact
Ellen Young nodded. "Isn't it
! strange how lew statesmen realize
tiust what tact means in selling?
| After all, when you come own to IL,
] Just what is tact? 1 SHOULD say 1t
! is nothing more than saying the
right thing at the right time.
In selling, / always feel that it's
a sort of grease which makes the
wheels of the sale run more smooth
ly. Take this fellow who was Just
trying to sell me some metal tubes.
1 said TO him That's certainly a
hne alloy in those tubes.' That's
not alloy he said. That's a special
metal product we manufacture.
Now could anything have been more
tactless?"
Instead o. saying to you Yes. it
does look like alloy. doesn't 1t? Al
most everybody makes the same mis-
take. yet would you believe it's a
special substance, etc.?"
Purchasing Agent jenkins nodded
Certainly, he could have talked as
you suggest and sort of let me
| down easily. Even when I'm wrong,
I don't like to have a tactless sales
nan tell me / am" Z
II heard an example Of extreme
tact in a shoe store n time. A
woman buying a pair of white shoes
looked critically at her foot and re-
marked: I believe one Of my feet
Ii larger than the other Nc
madam, said the salesman, one of
your feet is smaller than the other
Thfo NAV ha on ttntQpal aYamnla nf
unusual tact, but it does illustrate
how one can often say a truth in
an agreeable, pleasant way, as OPP
posed to a disagreeable, unpleasant
way"
Mr.. Jenkins leaned back thought
fully. There are SO many different
forms that real tact in salesmanship
plays hat it's almost impossible to
explain to a person who hasn't got
tact just how and when to use it. I
tried to tell one of our office clerks
one tipe. Tact consists really of
placing yourself in the other fell
way that you make things smooth
and easy for him. Lack of tact is
often back Of imagination. Tact
less people don't see ahead-don't
stop to think of the results of their
acts"
Ellen Young agreed. Haven't you
ever tried to conduct a personal con-
versation over the telephone and
lowered your voice as IL you were
saying something confidential, only
to have some one in your office stand
there, instead of closing your Office
door and waiting outside, because
he realized that you were holding a
confidential conversation? 1 heard
a 2"QIoGWnnan In q Hfnra ma ftnna
say to an exceedingly stou GUS
toner: What can you expect
madam? A woman Of your size can't
wear all these styles Now could
anything have been more stupid and
tactless?
ION the other hand. if tina sales
woman had said, Here, madam, is
a dress with very slender straight
lines the words slender and
straight would have had a pleasant
sound to that woman. So few sales
People realize the Importance of
using misunderstanding words to
customers. The salesman who said
to a woman who already had five
children, This baby carriage won't
give you any trouble. madam
didn't realize what the word trouble
meant to hat mothers mind. If he
had said, This baby carriage will
give you satisfaction, madam, he
would have said the same thing,
only more a~greeably."
Miss Young and Mr.. Jenkins both
agreed that we iced more tact in
salesmanship.
so few people in business have
consideration for their stenographers
or secretaries in their dictation poll
cies." said an intelligent secretary.
How do you dictate? Do you
consider your st~enographer?' To
morrow's talk-the last one that
Ellen Young will give-win show
you yourself as your stenographer
sees you.