Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-29
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
By Ruth Leigh
Author of The Human Sid of Re-
tail Selling" "The a B C of Retail
Ing" etc.

one or two indignant glanceS ex-
changed.
Not that l suspect any of you"
she said, but / think it doesn't hurt
any of us to think about being hon
est sometimes. For example. this
business of taking fifteen minutes
extra for lunch, going home five
night, coming late in the morning;
what is hat but stealing"
One young salesman shuffled his
feet inipatiently.
Certainly it's stealing" Ellen
Young insisted. Here's your store
paying you a weekly salary for so
many hours work. Suppose you take
five or six minutes off. What's that
but stealing time for which you are
being paid? You must remember"
here Ellen Young leaned forward
earnestly. "Y cure not necessarily an
absolutely honest person just because
you don't go to the cash drawer ana
steal money. Some people who would
MOI think of taking money take what
is a great deal o valuable from
their employers. After all. time is
money-and IL you steal your en-
ployer's time. you might just as well
be stealing his mopey. The two are
Identical"
A few young salespeople in the
front row were looking very thought
full. Ellen Young noticed an es-
pecially guilty look on the dark-eyed
saleswoman whom she had met the
day before, fifteen minutes overtime
on her lunch hour.
Here's another form of stealing
that many workers in offices and
stores are guilty Of" Miss Young be-
gan. Stealing and wasting sup
plies. One young man I know keeps
his little sister supplied with mem
orandum pads from his Office. He'd
laugh if You told him he was steal
ing, because the pads cost about
half-a-cent apiece. He would never
steal ten or twenty-dollar bills. But
he steals trivial things, just the way
many young men and women in Of
fees will take a postage stamp now
and then. and forget about it. oh,
well, it's just one two-cent stamp,
what's that?' These people would be
very indignant if I called then
thieves"
One gray-haired veteran salesman
in the back of the room interrupt
ed: II had a boss one time who said
we stole when we wasted supplies
When we wasted or lost pencils
spoiled desks or counters, made idle
pencil marks on boxes or walls"
Ellen Young nodded agreement
"Of course, that's stealing. I'm
glad you mentioned it, Mr.. Burns. ]
see stenographers using their firms
letter heads to make memorandums
on. or for personal letters. Could
there be any more palpable stealing
than such criminal waste?
"And above ALL" Ellen Yount
ontinued, there's a form of steal
ng that perhaps doesn't apply 81
much to salespeople in stores, as j
docs to buyers who travel or t.
travelling misunderstanding OIL
one's expense account. A box o.
cigarettes here. a newspaper there
worked carefully into the expense
account for which the store pays
small personal expenses that nevel
appear on the salesmen's statement
IMeu and women who do that ar
thieves"
Sure, I've had a salesman buy
|necktie from me. and then jok'
about entering it under 'miscellane
GUS In his expense account" volun
|teered a young salesman in thu
mems furnishing department.
IF people would only realize,
said Ellen Young In conclusion
that honesty consists of many othe'
hings than merely ~refraining from
tealing money from the cash draw
r or merchandise from a store
hey'd know what the word means
Honesty means refraining from
wasting the stores time; it mean
Saving the stores supplies ant
Equipment; it mean saving Light TO
your organization; being careful Il
he use and handling of the store
merchandise; paying for persona
hone calls. Many q so-called hon
st person would be astounded j
Isosle one else were to make a lis
iTnis petty thieveries and then pre-
ent them to him. Watch out TO
hese little forms of dishonesty
They encourage bigger ones"
In the Barringer store elevator
Ellen Young met a young travelling
salesman to whom she had been in
Produced by one of the stores buy
lers earlier in the day:
Get your order?" she k will
a smile.
Nope. Don't think I'm going II
waste any more time with this store
This Is my second visit, and
haven't got an order"
Does it pay to call again an(
again on a prospect? Some worth
lwhile suggestions for handling thes'
Idiscouraging visits in tomorrow
paper.
Business Questions Answered
Here is a problem that some of u
were discussing yesterday and W
disagreed on the answer. We woul'
like to hear your opinion: A mil
lnnery store buys hats in New Yorl
flor $40 each. The expense OF ship
ping the hats to the store and tn
lconduct of the business amounts t
8 for each hat sold. The hats wer
old at $3.50 each. What profit
made on each hat? What per cen
I the selling price of each hat
roft? SALESMEN
The millinery store buys hats fo
10 and the expenses of shippin
, nd conducting the business amour
10 Sc per hat. This makes a toti
Vi SIG costs and expenses. The hal
: are sold for $3.50. The profit,
, therefore, is $3.50, not $3.50. TIL
1857 per cent. profit on the sellin
price. a fair one TOR a linz SC ~
lstaple and SO ~changeable as millir
Q ery. On staple lines, 1 could COZ
S ider thesproht too high.
Is it good policy for a manufa'
s urer who is planning a national az
Iyertising campaign to discuss th'
= campaign with retailers before 1T
y finally decided on or do you thin
THAT a manufacturer does better
. going ahead and advertising, crea
d ing a demand. and then practical
making retailers stock his goods b