COOPERATION WITH SALESMEN 1. Biggest thing in sales management.—To get the best out of the men in the field is the sales man ager's real task, the end of all sales management. Some sales managers claim that this is the only thing they should be called upon to do, and some houses in sist that the energies of their sales managers be di rected to this end to the exclusion of all other duties. Assuming that the sales manager is a broad-gauge, all-round business man and that his authority and activities have the wide scope indicated in previous chapters, this is sound doctrine. The sales manager should be careful to delegate to others all routine work and as much detail as is practicable, so that he shall have time, thought and energy to devote to his most important object of getting the best out of every in dividual member of his organization.
2. "Ginger" versus cooperation.—A sales manager once sent out to each of his men a letter reading in part as follows: "Why did you fall down in making the sale? For your own benefit and ours, write me frankly." He was rather startled to receive from one of his men this reply: "Because I did not _know my goods. You have been filling us so full of 'ginger' and 'boost' that we have not had a chance to learn anv thing about the goods." There would seem to be two distinct classes of sales managers, one with the pure "ginger" idea of stirring the men up to get the most from them; and the other with the broader view of giving the men an oppor tunity to know their goods, of helping them over the rough spots, and of aiding them to build up their char acters and capacities and to realize their ambitions.
Salesmen do not take as kindly to being "gingered" continually as some sales managers fondly imagine. Salesmen, as well as all other men, like a game and enjoy the introduction of the game spirit into their work, but it must be realized that they are capable, intelligent and ambitious men. They demand that a large amount of common sense be mixed with the game if it is to be successful. From the sales man ager's point of view, pure "ginger" methods are in efficient because the enthusiasm they generate is not lasting. The "ginger" idea has a place in sales man agement only when it has back of it a profound love for the men of the organization, a keen realization of their problems and difficulties, and a sincere desire to give them real cooperation.
With these considerations in mind, let us consider the various tested methods of getting the best from the members of the selling organization.
3. Visiting the men, in the field.—When the sales men get into the house but once or twice a year, or have headquarters in their territories and see the home office only when a convention is held, the sales man ager will do well to arrange one or two trips annually during which be will visit and possibly work with each member of his organization. Those whom he cannot see should be visited by his principal assistant. When the sales manager and his assistant can each make two trips a year, those visited by the assistant on the first trip should be visited by the sales manager on the sec ond, and vice versa. There is nothing that will put the sales manager closer to his men, and secure a greater measure of their loyalty and enthusiastic sup port, than to sit dolvn with them in their own head quarters, discuss territory conditions, and get ac quainted with their wives and families.
In the case of a general sales manager having con trol of a number of district offices, he will confine his visits to the district managers, but the district man ager should, in turn, keep in touch with the individual men.
A variation of this plan of visits in the field is the calling of individual men to the home office for con ference regarding their work and the conditions in their territories. • 4. Daily letters.—The salesman is apt to be sensi tive and highly strung. If he WerC not, he would be but an indifferent salesman. Each rebuff, each dis couragement, each discourtesy is likely to take just a little of the edge from his enthusiasm. This enthusi asm must be renewed from some source and, with few exceptions, salesmen will not find the source within themselves. The only source then is contact with the men from the home office. For this reason alone the sales manager, or in the case of a large force his prin cipal assistant, should write every day to each indi vidual member of the organization a stimulating, friendly letter. So important are such letters that nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of get ting them out. Great care should be taken to mail the letter to the proper town; a salesman who is look ing forward to an inspiring message from his sales manager will not be one hundred per cent efficient if this message fails to arrive. Furthermore, when two or three letters reach a man al the same time they will not generate the same amount of enthusi asm as when the same letters reach him on separate days.