Milford chronicle., 1956-01-13
DuPOnt's Cite
Big Selling Job

peoGle Of the United States look
ahead TO a bright future Of greater
abundance, but to make it a real
itv an enormous selling effort viii .
be required.
This is the job Of the modern |
salesman who, backed by scientific /
service. creates the sales volume
that makes possible the large-scale /
low-cost production which Is the
broad base of national weil-being. /
How the modern salesman
works. what he does, and why, IS
portrayed in a 32-page booklet
entitled "The Salesman Story
published ehis week by the Dupont
Company. It illustrates the vital
function performed by the nations
five million statesmen and the vast
seles effort that employs, directly
or indirectly, perhaps 10 million
men and women.
II relates how the Old-time
drummer passed out Of the scene
10 make way for men who, by
their selling, create new industries
and new products that raise the
standard Of living for all.
ssThe modern Industrial sales
man IS a professional. Glad-hand-
iag and back-slapping are not his
basic attributes" the dOcumented
booklet reports. The new kind
Of salesman" must often be part
scientist, part economist, or spec
falist I'm other fields. "He is ma
ture. in experience and know-hoW,
before he tries TO sell.
Americas material abundance
Is a triumph Of creative salesman
ship" the booklet declares. The
productive genius that developed
the nations resources gained
meaning only because its fruits
were distributed widely. It was
statesmen who spurred develop
ment Of the mass market to sup
port mass production. They pop
ularized the products Of science
and invention, and fOresaW the
day when Injuries would become
commonplace"
BY photos and text, the booklet
illustrates how many common
place things have been brought
from laboratory to retail counter
by creative sales. Among other
stories, It tells how sales develop
ment Of a refrigerant resulted IN
hundreds OF millions Of aerosols
the push-button containers dispen-
sing almost everything from in
secticides to perfumes.
A two-page feature shows how
the sales program brought the
new wash-and-wear fabrics to mil.
ions Of customers. Another tells
Of the seven sales involved in get
ting a S13 nylon dress to the retail
counter dress that might have
cost three times as much II made
by a seamstress or any single com
pany.
There are "all kinds Of sales
which the shopper does not SCI
preceding his purchase. A pair o
nylons can involve 10 intermediate
sales before reaching the store
a mans suit is sales.
without the contribution Of tn
salesman, can invention might re
main a laboratory curiosity, or, q
best, its price would be high, 1t
market narrow. New products ca
be mass-produced only as sale
develop a market for them. Price
can fall only when booming d.
mand makes possible efficieT
mass production
OF the innumerable types Q
sales made in the nation, all hav
one thing in common: "Ultimatel.
their efforts contribute somethin
to the production and Distribute
process so that the consumer get
better buy for his dollar"
The technical age has cause
revolution in sales method
"Selling e new product today o
ten means selling new techno
ogy. Convincing customers OF
products excellence is only pa
Of the iot, the salesman must ais
help customers adapt the produ
to production and market cond
tions. Sometimes a salesman mu
be part scientist, sometimes pa
economist, sometimes part ma
ket-or prOduct-development spe
ialist. At times his work calls f
all four skills."
Explaining this revolution, Z
booklet points out that in earli
times the functional materis
used by man were few and the
uses followed traditional lin'
Competing statesmen offered {
game products to the same cul
Smers for approximately the sar
end uses. But now, research a.
technology "have blurred t
boundary lines that once separat
natures materials and the US
to which they were put"
Goals prominence as q fuel h
not only been challenged by 9th
things, but coal itself is no LONG
merely a frel; it has become a n
material for the synthesis Of hu
dreds of products which have
counterpart in nature.
Furniture can be made of plas
or metal as well as wood. Wo
in turn, has become a raw mat
ial for rayOn and cellOphane.
"Interchangeability has beco
the distinguishing characteris
Of the century" It says. "Wh'
once a salesman with an exclus
key ingredient was in an inv
chile position, today he is i
another competitor" because ma
entirely different products co
pete for THE same makets.
"This new competition Is
driving force for new product
search and increased product
efficiency. To hold his own in
market Of interchangeable pr