SALESMAN'S MAGAZINE.—Wherever a selling force exists num bering more than halt-a-dozen men, it will pay to spend time enough to produce for them a mimeographed sheet and forward it with regularity. Where the number rises to twenty, a printed folder can be afibrded ; and for fifty men or over, a monthly magazine properly printed and illustrated will pay a handsome dividend.
Just as the house organ is of value as an intermediary between manu facturer and retailer, so the salesman's magazine is a valuable means of com munication between management and selling force, as well as between the members of that force themselves.
It will readily be perceived that fifty men selling goods upon the road will be continually finding fresh selling arguments and fresh difficulties to overcome. In the sum total, there would naturally be a great deal of information available and a great deal of information desired. The organ of the selling force, be it mimeographed sheet or expensive magazine, fills the gap between the two.
In many concerns, a selling force is scattered over the country, and many months or even years may elapse without the occurrence of such a general meeting as would bring all the members together.
It is not sufficient that the management should correspond from time to time with each man in turn, neither is an occasional interview at head quarters always agreeable, for many managers would be much astonished if they knew how bright a salesman may arriv and how despondent he may depart. It is an unfortunate fact that talks with the chief do not always produce more business.
The salesman's magazine does good in many ways, first and foremost because it is run with the fundamental idea that the salesmen will contribute to it for their mutual benefit. In practice, it is difficult to induce salesmen to take time and trouble to relate their difficulties and experiences, for they prefer to forget the one, and reserve the other for personal use. Tact on the part of management and editorial department will soon remove this state of affairs, at any rate to a considerable extent.
Unless there is some extremely weighty objection, the selling record of each man on the road should be published in the magazine, so that one member of the selling force will have to find reasons to satisfy himself that the other member ought to be permitted to beat him. The spirit of sport enters into the thing, and messages soon begin to conic in from the field announcing the closing of specially good deals, and asking for the other man's figures up to date.
Since some men have more extensive grounds and greater experience than others, a mark is set for each man to try to reach, generally ex pressed in terms of the volume of business expected. The man who reaches the highest" percentage of the gures set is proclaimed the leader.
To sell goods, the salesman needs to know his business thoroughly and to have his stock of knowledge added to continually. The salesman's
magazine is an ideal medium for the purpose of teaching the latest details about the goods, competition. new lines coming through warehouse or factory, improvements contemplated or accomplished, new branches of trade that can be opened up, new difficulties awaiting solution, and new solutions of old problems.
A copy of such a salesman's magazine taken at hazard, includes an open letter from the chief to the employees, diagrams showing the growth of the business year by year, a description of additions to the factory, particulars of a lawsuit won, a salesman's report upon how he succeeded in making an unusually good record, details of a new line just issued, a new field for an older line of goods, interesting particulars about the opening up of the business in a foreign country, experiences upon the road, difficulties and ways of overcoming them, and hints upon savings personal expenses. Other matters of less bulk but equal importance are included, the whole being a production calculated to teach and encourage the men upon whom the whole business depends.
Numerous illustrations to enliven the work are used by those houses who run salesmen's magazines to the best advantage. Some such publications are extremely well got up, and since they have grown from small beginnings, it is evident that the proprietors find the proposition a profitable one.
The pamphlet or magazine referred to cannot conveniently be made to serve the double purpose of house organ and salesman's magazine. A sharp line should generally be drawn between the .two. Many things can con veniently be discussed by salesmen in their own booklet, which would be of no interest to possible purchasers or regular customers, and in some cases it would be detrimental to publish to the public matters so discussed.
An expense of fifty pounds a month has gladly been incurred by a number of commercial houses for the instruction and encouragement of a couple of hundred employees on the road, while the cost with larger concerns is proportionately less, since expenses of preparation are much the same for fifty copies or a thousand, extra cost for paper and printer's time, &c., being the only additional outlay.
It must not be supposed that such a sclic ne of instruction and encourage ment is only possible in the largest enterprises. It is a question of degree. The salesman's magazine can be brought to the greatest perfection where the cost can be distributed over a great number of employees, but in a small selling force, the four-page folder finds its place, and no staff is too small for a duplicated sheet. It must be remembered, moreover, that the whole staff take the keenest interest in such a publication, and matter can be included to interest all, although the primary object is to get the selling men in line.