Competing lines will come in for special attention in the training school, and comparisons will be made between actual competitors' goods and those to be offered by the salesman. Full credit must be given to competing lines for every good point possessed, so that the salesman may have matters presented to him exactly as he will meet with them out of doors. It must be proved that the goods he will have to offer score on the balance of advantages, for everything in this world is a compromise, and no one line has a monopoly of every good point.
The instructor himself will often act as a possible purchaser who needs a great deal of convincing, for he is in the best position to know the arguments which have caused him the greatest trouble in calling upon people.
Price lists, decisions bearing upon the business, the making of daily reports, the filling out of orders, the collection of accounts, will all be discussed in school. It will be a good plan to have duplicated or printed a few of the most difficult objections raised by possible purchasers, together with the best means of overcoming them. The students can learn these almost verbatim, and so be prepared for them when they crop up on the road.
After the three or four weeks indoors, it will be a pleasant relief to both instructor and students to get out upon the training ground and make calls with a view of opening up new business. To a beginner it would not be
easy to explain to a prospect the presence of a second party, but it is found in practice that the older hand is well able to overcome the difficulty with a little tact. The five or six men who generally constitute a class meet the instructor at lunch-time, and notes are compared, the difficulties of the morning cleared up, and instructions given for the afternoon's campaign. In a similar way, a short meeting is held every morning before commencing calling upon the trade.
With regard to older men in any particular business where new trade has to be opened up, it has already been stated that one week indoors has to suffice. Talks by heads of departments should be given so as to outNe future campaigns, improvements coming along, advertising about to be undertaken, and newly proved successful methods of working. It is not generally profitable to admit new men to these gatherings, for the matters under discussion are likely to be punctuated with sufficient complaints to discourage recruits. It is only human to shout about things considered wrong, and to remain silent about those matters which are eminently satisfactory. It is not possible within the limits of an article such as this to do more than give the faintest outline of the organisation of such schools for salesmen as have proved to be profitable in this country up to date.