SAMPLES : How to Show thern.—The methods adopted by the com mercial representatives of to-day are the survival of the fittest in the great majority of cases. If the samples to be shown are light, they can be trans ported by hand in one or more cases or bags adapted to the purpose. This is the simplest of sample carrying, and calls for no special comment. Where the samples are bulky or heavy, a brougham or travellers' " bus" is requisi tioned in large cities. So far, reference is only made to carrying the goods to the probable purchaser, but in many directions it has become the rule for the traveller to engage a "stock-room" at a hotel, where his samples can be displayed, if not to advantage (for the surroundings are usually cheerless), at least in their entirety. A traveller in the boot trade, carrying several large baskets (" skips") of sample boots, or as many heavy cases, would not always find ample accommodation for display at the shop of a customer, and lie must perforce bring the customer, or his buyer, to the goods instead of taking the goods to the buyer. Moreover, the distractions of the shop are avoided, and the traveller is not liable to interruptions when trying to close a deaf' in his stock-room.
In all such cases, the buyer is more or less of an expert, and needs no detailed explanation of the articles offered to him. In addition, he knows fairly well the needs of his shop and the season. He is "in the market," for he needs to buy from somebody in order to keep his shop stocked, and as a result of repeated visits, buyer and traveller are well known to each other. Personality counts for a great deal, and if trading has been satis factory to both parties, business may be done for many years. The traveller knows, therefore, what to present to his buyers. It is useless to offer cheap stuff to a high-class house, just as the reverse is partially true.
It will be seen that in ordinary commercial travelling the packing of samples, their transport to the next town to be visited, their display in the stock-room to buyers, and their subsequent re-packing, become largely a matter of routine, rendered the more simple from the fact already mentioned, that both parties understand the goods. In the smaller towns, use is made of a barrow and porter, for the purpose of showing samples where the packages are not too numerous or bulky, and the same rule applies that both parties thoroughly understand the goods.
This is not always the case, however, for a very large and constantly increasing business is done by travelling with goods which are not staple lines. Reference is here made to goods which, as a rule, are offered to the tradesman for his own use in his business, and not for the'purpose of retailing again. Some such special goods, again, are not suitable for shopkeepers at all, but are offered to factory proprietors, or professional men, or others.
Where the special article offered is small and light, it can be carried into the office of the prospective buyer, but where many patterns occur or great variety exists, a show-room in the metropolis can profitably be supplemented by the use of stock-rooms on the road. In this class of work, known as selling a specialty, fundamental differences are found to exist when com pared with the more usual commercial travelling. To enumerate only a few differences, the prospective buyer, or rather the possiblepurchaser, knows little or nothing of the specialty offered ; he will be called upon to invest his own money absolutely, since he has not to retail the article again ; the price of specialties is generally high, he has conducted his affairs without the article presented, and is generally disinclined to investigate.
In travelling with a specialty through the country from town to town, great difficulty is experienced in obtaining the use of a room at a hotel which is more like an office than the average stock-room is expected to be. Many stock-rooms are little more than improved out-houses, generally without the slightest attempt at what may be called office comfort or office convenience. They serve their legitimate purpose, but when the head of a business house calls at the leading hotel in the town to spend an hour or two in investigating a new machine, or series of books, or whatever the specialty may be, there is a great need for a business office, or miniature show-room, in which to show the goods and to place the prospect at his ease.