Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-08
ELLEN YOUNG
DOCTOR OF SALES
BY Ruth Leigh
Author Of THE Human side Of Re-
tail Selling" The A b G Of Retail
Ing" etc.

You're perfectly right in refus-
| who il three-auarters Of an hour
late in keeping his engagement" de-
clared Ellen Young. In reply to the
indignant question put to her by
Cyrus Mansion, who was about to
give an order for a photographic
window display.
This fellows always doing that.
and I've overlooked IL in the past
because he's so quick and clever and
because his firm does such good
work. but 1 think I'm going to teach
him a lesson this time
Ellen Young agreed or this policy.
II contend that a salesman must al
ways keeps his engagements with his
customers to the minute, even II the
customers are tardy or forgetful. 1t
doesn't make any difference what
the customer does or is. the sales
man today has absolutely no excuse
for not being punctual."
Why, eve IL a salesman makes
an engagement and can't keep 1t, he
owes It to his customer to move
heaven or earth as they say, to ad-
wise him II he can't keep the date.
That's the way l was trained when l
was a young fellow" growled the
gray-haired man.
DO you know. Miss Young" con-
tinued Mansion, II have had some
statesmen telephone me from Berk-
eley-that's a town right neal here
to ask II I had any orders. Think
it'll pay me to u over on the cleo
tric? / had n young snippy sales
man ask mi over the long distance
telephone n day. Pay him? on
course not. 1 wasn't going to guar
antee that anything would pay him.
il he didn't consider my business
important enough to come over to
see me. Any salesman who calls UP
a customer on the phone and asks
him II he has any orders is a darn
fool"
"As il the customer would be like
ly to say yes except in very rare
cases." commented Ellen Young.
"Of course. Nine times out of ten,
I say no on general principles. The
thought Of parting with money
doesn't inspire me with enthusiasm.
On the other hand, il I see some
thing 1 like, and the salesman in
terests me In 1t. that's a different
story. He makes me want it badly,
money for something l want.
"A salesman ought to know his
customer pretty we'll, he must be
on pretty friendly terms with him
to be able to phone long distance
to ask II 1t would be worth while
for him to take q run over Even
then I wouldn't advise it. because
the customer may not think he
wants to buy anything until he sees
the goods or the samples, and then
he may like something well enough
to want to place an order. That's
human nature. you know"
Just then the young ste~nographer
announced the photographic salesman
who was the cause of this discussion.
He breezed in ch%eerfully, hat in
hand.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Mr..
Mansion. but the fellow l was CALI
ing on before YOU kept me talking
long enough to get to the phone.
Didn't realize it was so late. And by
the time I looked at my watch 1t was
$3.50. Awfully sorry" Then, pull
ing over a chair. Now let's get down
to business"
but Cyrus Mansion kept standing.
Nothing doing, young man. there's
no business to be got down too. You
! won't get my order today"
Perfectly right" thought Ellen
Young, though she felt rather sorry
for the crestfallen expression on the
young mans face.
Ellen Young was helping the
Mansfield & Raub department store
plan its new building, and studying
the arrangement of the interior.
Some facts about store arrange
ment that probably never occurred
to you in Tomorrow's paper.
Let Miss Leigh answer your bust
ness questions on buying, selling, ad-
vertising. employment. etc. As your
questions clearly and give all the
acts. Questions requiring technical
answers will be SEM by mail. Others
will be answered in this column.
Business Questions Answered
How can ! get the s~alespeople in
our store to read our advertising?
We are constantly locing business
because customers ask our saleswo-
ne about things that are adver-
tised and they don't know anything
DEPARTMENT STORE MAN.
Several stores pass around proofs
every morning and every saleswo-
ran il obliged to put her initials on
the back as acknowledgment that
she has read the advertisement.
Then, stores past UP proofs around
| the store in conspicuous places. so
that they can't help but come be.
fore the notice of salespeople. or
course, in neither method have you
an absolute guarantee that the ad-
vertisement has been read. One
New York store offered prizes for
every mistake found by salespeople
in the stores advertisement. In
that way the store made sure that
every department was carefully scam