17. Week's program.—The members of the party should be instructed to make out their daily re ports at the close of each day, just as soon as they return to headquarters. Then, while they are still warmed .up, they should plan their work for the fol lowing day. A half-serious rule, that no man be al lowed to come to the dinner table until he has per formed this work, will be found effective. The idea is to insist from the start on business-like habits that make for success. It is an excellent practice to set a standard for a day's work in order that the new sales man may form the habit of hard, consistent work for six days a week. After dinner an informal discussion of the day's experiences should be held.
During the week, each new man besides having had some experience of his own, will have had an oppor tunity to see business taken by one or the other of the coaches. At the close of the week they will go to their respective territories fairly- well prepared. Probably the biggest thing in this method of training is the spirit which it creates. Under the leadership of a man who can fraternize with the members of the class, the week will be one not only of hard work, but of good fellowship and harmony. At its close there should be pleasant memories on the part of all, of the week which they have spent together. 3Iembers of the class are likely to promise to write to one an other. Sometimes a small organization of the train ing class may be formed, with the spirit of making a better record than previous classes ; thus a friendly rivalry is engendered which is helpful alike to the salesmen and to the organization. Above all, after
such preparation, a group of men will go to their work thoroly trained in business-like habits and in the care ful observance of the house rules.
In a great many lines, this group method of coach ing is not practicable, because prospects are neces sarily few and far between. In the case of a specialty organization where individual sales are difficult, there is grave danger that the coaches themselves will some times fail to close a sale. If they do the whole class will be affected disadvantageously. On the other hand, if the new men are not grouped the failure of one coach will affect a single man only. The group method has the advantage of being considerably cheaper for the firm than individual coaching.
18. COSt VerSUS results.—The cost of putting each salesman into the field with the training that has been described is much higher than the cost of the older method of sending the salesman out the same day that he was engaged, but results warrant the outlay-. Un der the old methods only a small fraction of the men made good and brought a profit to the house. Under the new method, the carefully selected man who fails to become a producer is an exception. The money spent on equipping and starting out the nine out of ten men who failed under the old method was a dead expense. The money spent in training men as they are trained today is an investment—and an invest ment which pays large dividends.