The salesman knows that a great many,- sales over the counter are lost because of the inefficiency of the retail clerk. He should be able to devise and sug (Test methods of trainincr clerks that will enable them to sell to a greater proportion of the people who enter the store and to sell a larger amount to each of th'em. In doing this it is probable that he will gain the friendship of the clerks and that, as a result, his line will be among those that move quickly.
All this is just as true in principle for the specialty man, for he, too, meets business men who have difficult business problems and Ile can help in their solution. The range of the possible cooperation that the retail clerk can render is more limited. Even here, how ever, there are opportunities for genuine service.
9. Cultivating personal relations.—The oppor tunity for giving a personal touch to transactions with customers should not be overlooked. One salesman, who handles an article on which he can get no future orders—that he can sell to a person only once in a lifetime—has a list of every man he has ever sold. At appropriate times during the year he sends every one of them a card of remembrance or some little token that, as he expresses it, keeps the memory green. Ile takes the trouble to address each card himself and to write the message in his own handwriting so that there will be no mistake about its being a personal greeting. As a result, tho he may not have seen a man for two or three years, he is considered an old friend and given valuable cooperation in securing new busi ness. The picture post-card from Atlantic City, which carries the message, "Wish you were along," is much appreciated by the salesman's customer out in Ohio. Sending sometbing in which the salesman knows the customer will be interested is a sincere per sonal touch. It goes without saying that the pros pects who do not buy should not be slighted as re gards these little attentions. The salesman who in creases the number of his friends increases the num ber and the value of his assets.
W. Cooperation from eustomers.—A wag once said that success was largely a matter of dining with the right people. Certainly having the friendship and cooperation of the right people constitutes the line of least resistance to success in selling. A high class specialty salesman, who handled a service for business men and government officials, planned a trip to the Philippine Islands, intending to stop off at Hawaii. He did not start from New York. He
decided that the place from which to start that trip was Washington. From a high official in his concern he secured a letter of introduction to a prominent man in Congress. To this man the salesman explained his mission, and from him he secured further introduc tions. He left Washington a week later, armed with a letter from the Secretary of State to all the Far Eastern bureau chiefs, and with letters from those in charge of insular affairs at Washington to the chief executives in Hawaii and Manila.
At both these places, then, he was enabled im mediately to get on a right footing with those high up in government circles, and from them he obtained let ters of indorsement that enabled him to reach the lesser government officials effectively. Then it was not difficult to use the cooperation of his government friends in reaching the business men of the com munity. Incidentally, in his travels he secured letters to Americans living at ports in China and Japan where he planned to stop. His whole successful trip, in short, was just one big plan of progressive cooperation.
In this particular case the salesman, in return for the wonderful cooperation that Ire received, gave nothing but the warin, sincere friendship of a man of remarkable personality. Those who used their in fluence to further his interests felt that they had been doing their friends a favor by directing the salesman to them. This is the best kind of cooperation as the specialty salesman sees it.
11. Value of eustonter large con cern which sold filing equipment allotted so much ter ritory to each representative that the- salesman was able to see -only the principal prospects in each town. Judging from the occasional inquiries from smaller concerns, the company decided that these firms might be worth working. With that end in view they re apportioned the territory and gave each salesman only as much of the field as he could work intensively. The results were gratifying beyond the company's expectation. The smaller concerns were strongly influenced by the fact that the salesman could name large companies in town who were using the equip ment. Furthermore, office men in large concerns talked to those in smaller ones about the equipment and were very glad to recommend it when the occa sion required. The influence and cooperation thus secured made selling to the smaller concerns an easy matter. This principle holds true in all kinds of selling.