Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-22
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
BY Ruth Leigh
Author Of THE Human side Of Re-
tail Selling" The A b C OF Retail
ing" etc

| the more experienced statesmen DC
] to keep their customers interested? y
! Ellen Young gave a ready reply
"One of the quickest, most effective
ways for a salesman to attract and
hold the interest of customers is TO
look directly at them. Now before
you sell. try to get a mans eye. LOOK
squarely at him. Don't begin before
| you have his attention in this way.
/ know one salesman who has work.
ID this little hint so effectively that
IL a prospect. wearing his hat. is not
paying attention. the salesman
| bends down, when necessary. looks
under the mans hat brim. so as to
get his interest, and incidently. his
eye. Looking a person direct III
the eye has a way of forcing atten-
tion."
But then, the man looks away,
| gazes around the room or something.
| You see I have trouble keeping his
attention concentrated" young Bar
ringer explained.
Some statesmen I know put some
thing in their prospects hands. IT
keeps a nan interested, you see, n
his attention concentrated IL he lie
holding something. Often 1t is q
| copy OF the magazine for which one
IL selling advertising space. Some
time 1t is a piece of the merchan-
disc which one Is selling. You see."
explained Ellen Young. doing this
focuses a prospects attention: keeps
1t from wandering. Most people are
| children at heart. anyhow. Concen-
trating their attention this way Is
like giving them q toy to play with
It keeps them out of mischief. or
- A. vz. .o.A ~vhAk To stYOt DC had
| keeps them from having their at
tention wander away"
IT think that applies. too. In sell
ing talk, don't you. Miss Young?"
asked young Barringer. Lots Of
| times when I'm selling something
| to a man and I see that he doesn't
seem especially interested in wha;
I'm saying, I have discovered that
1t pays to switch around to an en-
tirely different angle; perhaps that
will interest him."
Ellen Young nodded. "Then, too.
a great many people. in being sold,
to let their attention wander because
they are not Immediately interested.
I know one successful salesman who.
when he sect his prospects interest
tagging after he has exhausted his
selling talk, changes the subject to
something entirely different. He
may talk about golf. tennis, politics
or general conditions. and in that
way establish a more cordial. per-
sonal contact with the prospect.
Gradually. after this has been Q
tablished it becomes possible to
bring around the conversation to the
subject of the sale or the merchan-
disc, and the sale can thus be started
afresh. This is a little trick that
often pays, especially when you have
an unwilling listener or a man whom
YOU don't know very we'll"
Young Barringer agreed. But.
then. doesn't 1t mean that I can
waste a lot Of valuable selling time
talking about golf or politics?"
That's not time wasted. That Is
time spent in building up a personal
contact that Is absolutely essential
to a salesman. There has to be a
certain amount of friendly, general
discussion outside business. and
while it is not desirable to subordi-
nate business to 1t. 1t is often neces-
sary as a stepping stone, as a basis
for later selling arguments. If you
can't get a mans attention by way
of the business or selling appeal
explained Ellen, Young, 'get it via
the personal or hobby appeal"
One of the Brayton newspapers
sent a reporter that afternoon to
interview Ellen Young on h quail
ties that in her experience, make a
successful business man or woman.
Her reply is given in Mondays pa
per. You will find some very def
mite suggestions that can be applied
to your own work and experience.
Let Miss Leigh answer your bust
ness questions IN buying, selling
advertising. employment. etc. ASK
your questions clearly and give all
the facts. Questions requiring tech
nical answers will be replied to by
mail. Others will be answered In
this column.
Business Questions Answered
Do you believe in personal calls
| for employees during working hours?
Heretofore, in our office we have
| permitted workers to make and to
| receive personal telephone calls. II
| has become a great waster of time
| because SO many young men and wo-
| men spend so much as a half-hour
| making and receiving personal calls
| Moreover, while we have not beer
| charging for calls 1t has added sc
| much to our telephone bill that we
are considering doing this. We have
many reliable people in our office
who have been with us over tel
| years, and while they are offenders
/ dislike to make such a rule at this
stage of the game.
EMPLOYER.
Unless you make a definite ruling
| about this, rest assured that tn
| evil will get worse and worse. EN-
| ployes are bound TO abuse leniency
| Of this kind. I should make 1t a rule
| that employees are permitted to re
| ceive personal phone calls. but tina
no call may exceed five minutes
After that time the telephone oper
ator may be privileged to cut in OF
the line and warn the takers thai
the time is up. A great many bust
ness houses permit no telephone
calls at all, but II your workers arr
few and trusted. you need not b.
80 strict about this. I should. how
ever, make 1t a hard and fast rul'
| that every personal phone call mad
from the office to an outside connec'
ton must be paid for. Have you
telephone operator keep track o
the calls and render a bill to eacl
] employe at the end of every month
Do you believe in a man going Z
work on a new Job for less than n
has been receiving in the old?
K. E.
Yes. IL he sees possibilities of ad
yancement in the new and is assur