GETTING “LIFE” INTO THE SALE

A successful New York sales manager, in a recent book on salesmanship, makes the following statement, the truth of which every shoe salesman will at once recognize.^[2]

“The old idea that anyone can sell behind a counter is fast giving way to a keen realization of the value of salesmanship in retail selling. Selling behind the counter is largely what the individual makes it. There are those who simply supply what is asked for, and that none too graciously; who do not take the trouble to study the line they are selling, and who give no thought to devising ways of increasing their sales. There is, on the other hand, a rapidly growing class who have made it a point to become thoroughly acquainted with their goods; who by their frankness, courtesy and knowledge win the confidence of their customers.

“They give timely advice to their customers, and are able to sell a better class of goods than the customer intended to buy; and they can close a sale when the customer is in doubt and plan methods of awakening interest in lines other than those the customer had in mind when he entered the store. The demand for this latter class is so great that the larger, more progressive retailers throughout the country are establishing training schools to develop this kind of salespeople.”

There was a time when selling meant simply having a lot of goods on hand so that if the customer happened in he might pick out what he wanted or else decide he didn’t want anything. Most of us still remember the old-fashioned cigar store with the wooden Indian on guard outside the door, and the corner drug store with a couple of mysterious-looking glass jars filled with colored water in the front window. In those days we were happy to keep away from such stores except once in a while when there was a prescription to be filled or a postage stamp to be bought. And the reason was that these places did not express life, enthusiasm and interest. The modern drug store, cigar store, and practically every other kind of store is attractive, inviting and so filled with human buying suggestions that it is almost a general thing to come out with more than we had planned to buy. Human interest and service are the things that encourage business and make it prosper.

The most commonplace of things take on interest if the story is properly told. We find full-page advertisements of a bottle of ink, a cake of yeast and a toothbrush—the most everyday sort of things imaginable, but although the cost of the ads. is at least five thousand dollars for each issue of the magazine, they draw enough business to pay for themselves. The reason for this is that the story is made interesting enough so that it will be read, certain points of advantage are brought out; the reader then remembers that he needs, say, a toothbrush, is anxious to try the one he now knows something about and—lo! the sale is made. If all this is possible in a printed story, how much greater are the possibilities in personal selling? Take a cue from the ad. man and put life into your story.

ADVERTISING TO FOCUS THE CUSTOMER’S ENTHUSIASM

There are many articles that can be well sold through advertising alone. Occasionally we find an advertising man who has such faith in advertising that he considers it to be the cure for all business ills. It is a tremendous force, but there are a great many articles, especially those that call for spending a fair sum of money, that must finally be sold by salesmanship—and, of course, shoes are included in this class. Certain things there are, on the other hand, that the customer is willing to buy simply by calling for so many of this, that or some other article. But with shoes it is different. No automatic vending machine, where the customer puts in the price, turns the handle and receives a pair of shoes of a certain size and color, will ever serve the purpose. Advertising helps the salesman but by no means does it draw from his importance. If there were any doubt on this point we would have but to consider, if it should be necessary to discontinue either personal selling or advertising, which of the two it would be.

Window and show case displays are very effective means of advertising that serve to focus or centralize the thought of the customer on some few styles of shoes. The customer’s first idea is that he wants to buy a pair of shoes. Whatever enthusiasm he has is spread over the whole line of shoe styles. If he can see in the window or display case one style that appeals to him, his enthusiasm and desire is centralized. It is for the salesman then simply to complete the sale from that point, provided, of course, that the shoe selected proves to be what is wanted. Newspaper advertising has the same effect. It centralizes the customer’s desire on the one or two styles advertised and brings the man into the store with a definite idea in mind rather than simply a vague notion.

The importance of the inside display case to suggest a second pair of shoes, hosiery, shoe dressings and the like, should always be borne in mind. The salesman does not need to rely alone on describing the article, but he may actually show it to the customer, thus making a positive suggestion to his mind. This is mentioned here briefly in its relation to advertising but it will later be treated more fully.

WHAT IS ENTHUSIASM?

With one of the large concerns selling goods direct to the user there is a man of peculiar ability who has succeeded, although in deciding his business problems he purposely sets aside every suggestion of enthusiasm so that his decision may not be influenced by it. His whole basis of calculation is fixed on facts and figures. If it is a purchase he is making the whole consideration is that of price compared with other like qualities. If it is a matter of making enlargements or improvements to the factory, the question is, “What will be the cost and the advantages to the business?” All along the line it is simply facts he accepts.

The personality of this man calls for comment because it is the exceptional case. Most normal people are governed in what they say and do by enthusiasm. It is a spirit or emotion that draws men away from the humdrum of things, shows them something better and fires them with a determination to go after it. The late Theodore Roosevelt was one of the fine examples of men who have been fired with enthusiasm. So great was his enthusiasm that when he got an idea his whole personality became ablaze until he carried out his purpose and changed the idea into a reality.

Successful salesmen must have enthusiasm. It does not necessarily need to be of a kind we see at the ball game when a player on the home team makes a home-run, but it must be a spirit that gives the man an incentive to improve continually the quality of his service to the customer, that aims to furnish the goods best suited to the customer’s needs and means, that builds his confidence and adds to the salesman’s success.

KEEPING UP STEAM

The manager in one of the big stores in the West recently made the statement that the way he and his men keep themselves up to snuff in their enthusiasm and selling effort is to begin each morning as though it were the first morning on the job, with as many new things to learn and to do that day as there were on the first day. To keep up steam means that the man should take an inventory of himself to see what progress he has made or how much better a salesman he is today than he was a week ago or a month or a year ago. If he had a good book last week he should use that as a mark to shoot at this week, rather than as a reason why he can afford to let up on his effort for a few days. Yesterday’s record is past and so he should forget it except in so far as it may serve as a stimulus to fresh effort.

In speaking of “books,” many successful retail shoe buyers and managers look upon these records of daily sales as bugbears threatening the true spirit of the shoe salesman’s service. No satisfactory substitute has as yet been found for the sales book, and so the average store management has to accept the situation and make the best of it. It is true that the mere fact of a book being kept has an influence on the salesman which, if not carefully guarded against, will result in his giving each customer a short measure of service. If the mind of the clerk is on his book primarily it does not make for the best attention to the fine points of service. It is a delicate question. The successful salesman gives no particular thought to his book but rather devotes one hundred per cent of himself to serving his customers; letting the book take care of itself. Such salesmen, as a matter of fact, do not need to worry about their books—they are certain to be successful. It is recommended to all shoe salesmen that they devote the fullest attention to service; knowing full well that perfection in service will certainly produce satisfied customers and increasing books.

To repeat, there is no standing still; we are either going ahead or moving backward, and the only sure way to prevent back-sliding is to make each day count for something more than the one that preceded. This is a matter of keeping up steam.

The position of the salesman should be somewhere between the buyer and the seller. He owes it to the customer to serve his best interest; to do everything possible to give him every advantage in the bargain. On the other hand, the salesman is the representative of the house that employs him and he is certainly expected to back it up at every turn.

The salesman who takes his job seriously, and such a man is the only one who makes anything out of his job, recognizes this responsibility at once. At first there might seem to be a gap between both sides of the bargain that would make the salesman’s double loyalty impossible. But high class business methods of the day have brought closely together these two interests. There is a mutual understanding that only as they are both well served can there be permanent satisfaction. The house cannot give service if it conducts its business at a loss and the customer will not be pleased and will not continue his business unless he gets full value in what he buys. When taken in this light the salesman’s responsibility as the connecting link between the seller and the buyer is one of double service, and incidentally there is a double advantage. A well-served customer means a steady customer and that in turn means more business and bigger earnings for the salesman and the store.

No business organization would be so foolish as to hold itself out as being perfect. It is operated by human beings rather than by machines, and that implies there are always bound to be some mistakes. The best the house can do is to make every effort to reduce mistakes to a minimum. In quality of goods and in quality of service there is the possibility of an occasional slip-up, and right here the salesman is called in to show his loyalty and enthusiasm in the face of what might develop to be the loss of profitable business. The weak or unsteady man is bowled over in the face of opposition but the strong man is made better and stronger by it. Every reasonable customer is willing to accept an explanation of the true facts, and is glad to know that he has not purposely been taken advantage of.

Have faith in the goods and the house, recognize the possibility of error and go out of your way to set the customer right when the “kick” is registered.

MAKE THE FIRST SALE TO YOURSELF

Three or four years ago a young man who had not had a great deal of business experience took up the selling of an electrical carpet sweeper for household use. This he was to offer in a house-to-house canvas over a limited territory especially assigned to him. Before starting out he read all the circulars prepared by the selling department and watched demonstrations made at the office. Armed with his equipment and a prepared selling talk the young man started in his new field. Most of the women proved to be interested to get a “close-up” of the bagpipe, as one of them called it, and even listened to the selling talk, but when it was all over—there was no sale.

For a week the same experience went on until finally the salesman’s young wife thought she would try how it worked around the house. She hitched it up and tried it on the hall rug. The result was fine, and she then tested it on the furniture, the curtains and finally on a suit of clothes. “It’s a wonder,” she said, “and I must have one. We can’t afford to be without it.” She got it, of course, but the important point, as far as we are concerned, is that the man was given in those few minutes the best selling talk he could possibly use and the only one he ever needed from that time on. The experience was the turning point in his career.

What could a cut-and-dry selling talk amount to as compared with the genuine enthusiasm of the man who had just installed a sweeper for his wife’s own convenience? He had now sold himself on the merit of his goods, and there could be no doubt or failing in his voice when approaching the customer. Now he could talk in terms of facts rather than opinions.

“But,” some shoe salesman may say, “we don’t have to demonstrate the shoe to the customer, she knows what it is and all about it.” Provided the salesman is simply to take the order it is true that he does not need to demonstrate or convince. The genuine salesman, however, does more. He will sell the customer the shoe she ought to have. He will probably sell her a more expensive one, or he may sell her two or three pairs, and at the same time have her realize that she is being served best in buying them. This is real salesmanship, and it is only possible of a man who is thoroughly sold on the superior merit of his own goods and his house—who has made the first sale to himself.

THE FUTURE A REFLECTION OF “TO-DAYS”

“Cheer up; better times are coming.” That is a cheerful tune to sing, but it may be misleading unless we realize that it does not mean that time alone will make times better. What we are today is simply a reflection of what we made ourselves during the yesterdays; and next year we shall have to show only what we make of opportunities today. None of us is in business just for a day. The shoe salesman has a future which is, first of all, to make himself a better salesman. Therefore his responsibility today is to put forward everything he has in order to reach the goal he has set. Enthusiasm is the power needed to drive the effort day by day.

Every person in business realizes that there are as many shades of honesty as there are shades of color in the rainbow. Sometimes we might very well be considered dishonest simply by standing by and saying nothing. Any misunderstanding a customer might get concerning a matter of importance connected with the sale should rightly be corrected by the salesman. There is the possibility that the customer may never learn the true fact and that no harm will come as a result of an untrue statement or mistaken idea, but the chances are the other way, and men of experience know that the results are fatal to further satisfactory business when the fact of deception is realized.

Business today is conducted on the basis of mutual confidence in the honor of recognized people. An example of this is in connection with transactions on the stock exchanges where business running into millions of dollars every day is conducted on the basis of a spoken “yes” and “no” between men. A buyer might easily claim he had not made the bargain, and in so doing save himself sometimes thousands of dollars, but he would sooner break his bond than break his word. Wholesale buying of shoes and all other merchandise is carried on in such enormous quantities that the honor system must be depended upon to a very great degree. No one is more despised either in business or private life than the man whose word cannot be depended upon and he must sooner or later descend to his own level.

Honesty in the salesman relates both to the house and to the customer. Any man who would stoop to stealing of stock is, of course, simply a plain everyday thief and the law provides for him. On the other hand, the matter of time as a thing of value is sometimes overlooked. There are only a limited number of working minutes in a business day and they rank pretty high in money value. They should be spent with as much care as we spend our money.

The customer is the man who pays the salaries. Without his business there could be no sales force, no stock and no organization. For that reason he deserves the best that can be given. He should not be oversold nor should he be sold under a mistaken impression. It may mean a little less business this time but the difference will be more than made up on the next sale.

DANGER OF OVER-ENTHUSIASM

In listening sometimes to the salesman explaining the wonderful merits of his newly discovered hair tonic, or perhaps to the great possibilities of profits from some undeveloped copper mines in which he gives us the “opportunity” to buy some shares, the one thing that impresses us above all else is the great enthusiasm of the salesman. When he tells us that the tonic will grow hair on the door knob or that the quality of ore taken from the mine shows that the stock will pay a hundred per cent profit the first year, the man is either over-enthusiastic, if he believes what he says, or he is just plainly dishonest. From this it is clear that the dividing line between the two, so far as the customer is concerned, is not very sharply drawn, and that there is a possibility of the salesman being judged as dishonest when he may be absolutely honest, but perhaps over-enthusiastic in making the sale.

The goods should be sold only on the merits they have and not on the merits the customer may expect to find in them at the price he is paying. The duty of the salesman under such conditions is to explain frankly that he is offering the maximum of style, fit and quality he is able to give, either at the stated price or from the selection he has in stock. If the customer insists on better quality he will, in most cases, be able to raise his idea of price. If the style, fit or color is not satisfactory and there is no further selection to be offered it is better to say so frankly rather than to force on him something he does not want. This does not mean, however, that the salesman will show his stock with the attitude of “take it or leave it.” What it does mean is that he will use every effort he has to satisfy the customer by getting him to realize that what has been offered is the best that can be given, that it is the maximum of quality and the whole range of style and fit to be had at present. If, then, the salesman is not able to land the sale and the customer is still unsatisfied, he should explain the facts just as they are, with all the courtesy possible, and put the decision up to the customer.

R. C. Hearne, buyer and manager of the Daniels and Fisher Stores Company, Denver, Colorado, has made this important point:

“There is as much cleverness in missing a customer as there is in selling her. A customer properly missed is a future customer. For instance, a woman enters your store and you fail to sell her, but you must not let her walk out with simply a ‘good-afternoon.’ Say instead, ’I would like to have you come in at a little later date’—mentioning the date—’when we expect to have a new line, which I would like to have you inspect.’

“This means that you have probably stamped on your customer’s mind the thought that she will call at your store in the future. Nine times out of ten she will come back to your place of business.”

Every salesman is working to build up a following of regular customers. This he can do only by changing the occasional customer or the “looker” into a “regular,” and this is possible only as a result of genuine, sympathetic service.

If for any reason it is not possible to give the customer some service he asks for, he should be given an understanding then and there rather than a promise that cannot be filled. “I’ll see to it personally,” the salesman may say, “that these shoes are delivered to you tomorrow.” He then passes along the box in the regular way. It may be delayed for a day, the customer is disappointed because he had planned to use the shoes on a special occasion, and in turn his confidence in the salesman is lost. To the salesman it was a small matter; he took it for granted that the delivery would be made without delay, but he did not “see to it personally,” as he promised he would. He should either have done what he promised, or he should not have offered the service unless he could have carried out the promise as cheerfully as it was made. And that, by the way, is the test to be made of every promise before it is given.

“I’ll let you know when the new style is received,” says the unthinking salesman, in a moment of enthusiasm and genuine effort to serve the customer. But then he promptly forgets his promise and the incident is closed. With the customer, it is different, however. She waits a reasonable time to be notified but receives no word. Naturally she assumes the style has not been received and, being in need of the shoes, she goes elsewhere and makes her purchase. The sale is lost and the chances are great that her future business also will be lost, provided she gets service in making the outside purchase. Taken in this light it is a pretty serious matter, both for the salesman and the house.

Enthusiasm is a wonderful business-building power, but it must be sincere and it must be lasting.