The hardest problem with any business man is to find customers, that is to say, desirable and profitable customers. Identical with the problem of finding customers, is the more difficult one of finding the men who can find the right kind of customers.

There’s the rub—“To find the man who can swim.” The right kind of salesman will solve for himself this problem of getting customers as he will most others connected with selling. How, you ask? This is how the question was answered recently by a little, short, unprepossessing salesman who is said to have written the largest amount of life insurance in one of the largest insurance companies in the world.

Some time ago this salesman went to Canada and at an influential gathering saw a man whom he sized up as a good prospect. He got his name and address, found out all about him, his habits and hobbies, one of which was the success of a big hospital in which he was especially interested. Next day the salesman went to this hospital, and asked to be shown through it, after which he called on his prospective customer, told him he had heard of his interest in —— Hospital, and said, “I have been studying this hospital, also; it is doing splendid work, and I would like to make a little contribution to its funds.” He thereupon wrote out a check for $250.00 and handed it to this man. This check was the entering wedge for a $250,000.00 life insurance policy, which this resourceful salesman soon after wrote for the man whose pet hobby was the big hospital in question.

The main trouble with most salesmen is that they put the problem of finding customers up to the sales manager or heads of the company. They want them to do all the thinking in the matter of where to go, and how to proceed in this difficult business. Let me say right at the start; there is no iron-clad rule for finding customers. Some say it is just a matter of “plan and push,” as illustrated in the above instance.

The Sheldon Course in Salesmanship gives five ways for finding a customer, namely; Advertising, Window Display, General or Door to Door Canvass, Selected List Canvass, and Following Up “Leads” or Inquiries.

Many books have been written on the various forms and values of advertising. It is a well-known fact that much money is wasted through injudicious advertising, but no successful business man can dispense with the right kind of publicity. Whether he uses the newspapers, or the magazines, bill-boards, or cards in street-cars, or novelties, will all depend on the goods and the various conditions which have to be met in the marketing of his particular product. Different kinds of advertising should be adapted to each particular territory.

A salesman quickly becomes familiar with such conditions as affect different places and different seasons, so that he plans his campaigns accordingly. Where a man has a fixed territory and is handling goods which are used by a restricted class of people, then the matter becomes relatively simple, although it is important to be always alert, so as not to miss any possible customers, and so as to learn well in advance about new firms who may want your goods.

A specialty salesman will have to use more originality in finding customers than would have to be used, ordinarily, in the wholesale or retail business, where the home office, or the head of the firm, can map out pretty well just what people should be reached, and how to reach them. Many salesmen lose a lot of valuable time, and waste much money chasing from one town to another, or from one part of a city to another, following up so-called “leads.” Unfortunately, the majority of these “leads” are answers to advertisements which were so alluring, and seemed to promise so much for nothing, that a large number of curiosity seekers have written to the home office, with little thought of buying, and more often with little ability to buy, what was advertised.

The salesman who has the courage “to go to it,” without any “lead” or point of contact, is the one who will ultimately make the biggest success.

If you have something to sell, do not be afraid to walk into a man’s place of business and introduce yourself, telling just what service you are prepared to render. The only good reason for being in business is because you can render service. You should feel that you are the benefactor of the man whom you approach. He may be your superior financially, but in the matter of your particular article or articles for sale, you should feel that you are his superior, and therefore you should approach him with the utmost ease and confidence. The big winners in salesmanship are those who possess the initiative, the originality, and the poise, which enable them to go out and find customers quickly and intelligently, covering the biggest amount of territory in the shortest time, and concentrating their energies.

The use of the telephone in finding customers and making appointments is a method that requires considerable skill. There are those who believe that it is too easy for a man to “turn you down” on the telephone. There are others who believe that it is foolish to waste carfare and time, when you can quickly arrange matters over the telephone. Experience and native ability must guide the salesman in the use of the telephone.

So, in the matter of letter-writing,—often where a letter would be thrown in the waste-basket, or receive a negative reply, a personal call from the salesman might get a big order. Yet, in many cases the right kind of letters would get the business and save the salesman much useless expenditure of time, money and energy.

The day may come when, if our goods are exactly as represented, customers will make a beaten track to our door, but this will not happen until human nature has changed very much. The human element enters so much into sales that it is still quite an important part of salesmanship for the salesman to make personal visits, so as to get the orders. To be sure, we have the department stores and specialty houses which have built up a well-known reputation for merchandise of high quality and reasonable price. These will continue to draw customers, with the help of wise advertising, but they must employ the right kind of sales-force to handle properly the customers who visit their places of business.

Finding a customer does not mean simply inducing him to look over what you have to sell. It means actually inducing him to make a purchase, and satisfying him so thoroughly that he will continue to do business with you. It is because finding the customer is so vitally important that the selling end of a business continues to be, by long odds, the most important department.

No better advice can be given, to sum up, than this: If you would find customers, study all the means and ways in your power; keep thinking, thinking, thinking, and the right thoughts will come, then act, act, act. Never wait for to-morrow. “To-morrow” is a loser. It will never find customers.