PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

The whole idea and purpose of the Training Course for Retail Shoe Salesmen is to supply the means to increase the salesman’s value.^[1] The slogan of the Retail Shoe Salesmen’s Institute is the plain truth that “Knowledge Applied is Power.” Knowledge of itself is of no more value than idle steam from the teapot. Harness up the steam so that it may be put to work and it moves the world—it operates your factories, lights your cities, grows your food and keeps you warm. So also with knowledge. All the world’s learning is worth not a dollar unless it is harnessed-up to the practical problem of everyday life.

Above all other things this Course is practical. It is the first-hand statement of the experience gathered as a result of years of effort by successful men in the shoe business. It is a plain statement of principles and practices of success that have cost these men hundreds of thousands of dollars to gather in the school of practical experience. This is an advanced age. No longer need the man or woman of ambition grope around in the darkness to find a safe footing on which to build a career. Business today is a red-blooded man’s game, and success comes to those who know the rules of this game. Here are the rules—learn to know them.

THE PLAN

“Anything that’s worth having is worth working for.” And the happy truth is that after you get into the spirit of the game, more than half the fun is in the working. Charles M. Schwab, the great steel magnate, said to be the greatest salesman in the world, has made millions—more than he or his family will be able to spend in a lifetime. But he is on the job every day. Not because he wants more money, but because he loves the business game, and would rather give up his millions than be put out of the game. This is the spirit that wins.

In this Course you have the tools with which success in your work is built. That you have faith in your own ability to move up is shown in the fact that you have numbered yourself among those who are no longer satisfied to continue in the rut of routine and who have taken a firm stand to move on and up.

The Training Course is not a thing of magic, like Aladdin’s lamp, that had only to be rubbed to satisfy the owner’s fondest desire. There is no royal road to success. Desire, effort, work are the signposts that mark the upward way. The Course supplies the need of ambitious men and women who realize that success comes only as a reward of industry, and are willing to meet it half way.

The course of reading is planned to continue for a period of one year, or, to be exact, 48 weeks from the time of the subscriber’s enrollment. Some will find it convenient to complete the reading within a shorter time. However, the longer period has purposely been arranged so that each reader will have plenty of time to thoroughly cover each feature of the Course and thus to get from it the maximum benefit.

HOW TO READ

Learn to read in terms of ideas rather than in terms of lines or pages. When Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address a great multitude, gathered from all over the country, was assembled before him. These people had come to hear a great speech from the foremost statesman of the age. Such a speech, they thought, should call forth all his eloquence and oratory. And so they were disappointed with Lincoln’s simple little talk, that took less than five minutes to deliver. In fact, only one or two of the newspapers bothered to comment on it the next day. They had calculated its value in terms of space rather than wisdom, and had overlooked one of the finest speeches ever delivered in this or any other country.

In other words, learn to read with the mind rather than the eye. Eight volumes make up the working basis of the Course. You have six weeks in which to read each one of these—less than five pages of reading each day. Learn to do this reading so that you may absorb it and make it a part of your daily working equipment. It may be on the principles of selling, or correct shoe fitting, or on a discussion of shoe leather—whatever it is be sure you know it, be sure it has become thoroughly soaked into your brain, and then be sure to use it. Only as you apply your knowledge will you be able to turn it into dollars. So begin at once.

THE SCIENCE OF BUSINESS

Once in a while you will find a man who will shy at what he calls “theory.” His idea of theory is probably anything that comes from books. Not long ago one of these men said he didn’t believe his business had lost money the previous year, although his ledger said so. However, his creditors a little later convinced him he was bankrupt. It didn’t make much difference then whether or not he believed the facts or still considered them theory.

The law which says that an object left unsupported in the air will drop to earth is theory. Who cares whether the so-called “practical man” believes it or not—it’s a fact. And if he steps off the side of a ditch the natural law operates and theory proves to be a fact. Business today is a science. It is governed by principles that are as unfailing as the sun. The Course presents the principles of scientific retail shoe selling. These are the most practical things in business.

THE SALESMAN’S PLACE

In the whole scheme of merchandising, from the gathering of raw materials to the delivery of the finished article in the customer’s hands, no job is more important than that of the retail salesman. His is the final effort. It has been preceded by the combined labor of tens of thousands of workers and the investment of hundreds of millions of capital to furnish the means of welcoming the customer and of encouraging the sale.

These great expenditures of mind, labor and money have been made to build an organisation, to provide attractive salesrooms with all their necessary fittings, experienced and high salaried buyers have been busy in bringing together desirable stock, expensive advertising has been sent broadcast. But what does it all amount to without the final sale?

It remains for the retail salesman to meet the customer face to face and upon the ability he has to move the stock is determined the success or failure of the whole undertaking. This, surely, is a big job and it carries with it a big responsibility. Amid present-day competition no longer can we sit back in hopeful anticipation for the best. Selling is mainly a matter of brains, and success comes in proportion to the amount of ability mixed with effort.

RETAIL SHOE SELLING

The annual shoe business of the United States is estimated at more than $1,500,000,000. There are close on to 250,000 men and women engaged in the retail selling of shoes, most of whom spend their entire effort in the work. Billions of invested capital is required to furnish the means of carrying on this enormous business.

From the standpoint of cost as well as importance as part of a man’s wearing apparel the shoe ranks second only to his suit of clothes. With most women this is true also. No other part of a person’s wardrobe, whether it be of a man, woman or child, becomes so intimately associated with the senses of comfort, self-satisfaction, and the mild and harmless conceit of the wearer. A new shoe is an event. In the selection of a shirt, a collar or a tie the main consideration is that of appearance, and if the article proves a disappointment it goes to the scrap heap without any great money loss. Furthermore it has caused no actual physical discomfort.

But not so with the shoe. A ten-dollar shoe is expected to give fifteen or twenty dollars worth of wear; it must stand all kinds of abuse and weather; it must look trim and neat at all times; it must match all cuts and colors of clothing; it must hold its shape, and never, never cause the wearer any pain or inconvenience. That same shoe must attract the approving attention of the wearer’s friends; it must wherever worn give the sensation of snug sufficiency; it must help the chest to expand a little with pride of possession and the shoulders to straighten up as that “well-dressed” feeling asserts itself. Every shoe salesman has noticed these things, that spread of honest joy on the customer’s face as he stands up, stamps his foot into the shoe and strides up and down a few feet, erect and confident, and then reaches into his pocket for the price.

This, briefly, is what goes on in the customer’s mind while he is buying a new pair of shoes. It is for shoe salesman to realize that although the individual sale is only a small part of his day’s work, it is really an event in the mind of the average customer. Success follows in proportion to the salesman’s knack in “tuning-up” to the customer so that both minds harmonize, so that they mutually understand each other, and so that the sale results in mutual satisfaction and benefit.