Evening star., 1924-08-17
Real Art in Selling Salesmanship
Making


cellar where he will burrow his way
among barrels and boxes. In such a
case he can only be dug out with a
spade.
How then can the salesman man
age to get his interview with the
merchant or, to use technical term,
to get next to his prospect. The
answer is that he must stalk" his
prospect as the hunter stalks the
mountain goat or the wild hog
Dressed in a becoming way, he must
circulate outside his prospects prem
ises.- occasionally taking a peep at
him through the window and perhaps
initiating the song of a bird or the
gentle cooling of a dove.
Pleased with the soft note Of the
birds song, the prospect will pres
emily be seen to relax into a smile
Now is the moment for the salesman
to act. He enters the place boldly
and says with a winning frankness,
"Mr. Nut, you thought it was bird.
1t was not. 1t was me. l am here
to show you my line"
If the salesman has chosen his
moment rightly he will win. The
merchant, once decoyed into looking
at the line, is easily landed. On the
other hand, the prospect may refuse
even now to see the salesman, and
the attack must begin again.
x x X x
NEVERTHELESS, frankness will
be found to be the best policy
We will illustrate it with a little
story taken from the experience of
young salesman travelling in the north
Southwest in the interest of brushes,
face powder, and toilet notions.
"a young salesman whom we will
indicate as Mr.. Asterisk. travelling in
brushes and toilet supplies, was one
day showing his line to Mr.. Stroke, a
drug merchant Of town in the east
north Southwest. Picking up one of
the sample brushes, Mr.. S. said to the
salesman, That's an excellent brush
Mr.. A answered, No, 1 am sorry to
say, it is not. It's bristles fall out
easily and the wood is not really rose
wood but cheap imitation.'" Mr..
was so pleased with the young mans
candor that he said, Mr.. A. it is not
often ! meet salesman as candid as
you are. If you will show me the rest
of your line L shall be delighted to
fill out a first-class order. Mr.. s.
answered Mr.. A, I'm sorry to say that
the whole line is rotten as that
brush
More delighted than ever. Mr.. s.
who was a widower. invited Mr.. A.
to his house where he met Mr.. SIS
gro" n-up daughter WHO kept HOusc
for him. The two young people i'm
mediately fell in love and were mar
ried, Mr.. A moving into the house
and taking over the business while
Mr.. S. now without home, went
out selling brushes
While we are speaking of the ap-
proach of the prospect it may be
well to remind our readers very clear
ly-for the poor guys don't seem to
get anything unless we make it clear
that a prospect otherwise invisible
may be approached and seen by util-
izing his fondness for amusements
or sport Many a man who is ada
mant at his place of business is mud
on a golf course.
The sternest and hardest of mer-
chants may turn out to be an en-
thusiastic angler. or even a fisher
man. The salesman who takes care
to saunter into the store with a dead
catfish in his pocket will meet with
a cordial reception; and a conversa-
tion pleasantly initiated over the cat
fish and it's habits may end in a hand
some order. At other times it is even
| possible to follow the prospect out
| to his golf course or to track him
out to the trout streams and round
him up in the woods.
Copyright, 1924