In handling samples on the road, there is a danger, especially if they are a lot of trouble, of reducing their number so far as to affect one's efficiency. It is a good rule to carry as many samples as one would advise another man to carry. Interest in one's line of samples must be maintained in selling a specialty if the maximum of business is to be obtained. In ordinary com mercial travelling, the representative is not expected to be enthusiastic over his sample shoes or coffee beaus. The specialty man must keep his own interest up to concert pitch, for he can only hope to make sales by imparting some portion of his enthusiast» to the other man.
Every point of a demonstration on the road must be made as clear as possible and brought out with the same interest as if the salesman had only just fully realised its great value. Too many men describe an article as if it were a very tiresome thing to have to do, and as if they thought that the listener ought to know a very great deal by instinct, forgetting that they themselves found difficulty in foil: wing the explanation when they heard it for the first time. Every argument must be presented in a bright and interested way, and the greatest care taken that each point is thoroughly understood before proceeding to the next. This is all the more necessary on the road than near to the headquarters of a business, for in the one case it is difficult to get a doubtful point cleared up, while in the other it is easy to telephone or send a messenger.
In showing samples on the road, it is well to remember to talk about the goods, and not about oneself; to show the goods, and not bother too much about one's own personality. The attention of the prospective buyer must be focused again and again upon the article being described, and his interest never allowed to waver. The buyer must not be allowed to wander off into the discussion of irrelevant matters, but in case of need brought gently but firmly back to the line of argument. The specialty salesman cannot afford to speak so rapidly that tnych of his meaning is lost, and it is quite useless to travel with samples and see to their proper display if demonstrations are half-hearted or lacking in force and enthusiasm. On the other hand, in showing samples in the hotel room, it is possible to become so wrapped up in one's subject that the look upon the face of the possible purchaser which shows that he is nearly convinced, is apt to go unnoticed. If the proper moment for clinching the deal is once allowed to pass, it is easy, having talked a man into the mood for buying, to talk him out of it again. Questions of expense will limit time number of weighty samples to be carried, but the trouble and cost should never he shirked all the time that an extra sample may bring extra business.
G. H. It t: A D.
Late Sales-Manayer Qf the National Cash Register.