7. Vast influence of salesmanship.—The salesman, then, is a vital influence in the commercial world of today. He connects the man who makes with the far away man who uses. He is the apostle who spreads the gospel of good things, the universal use of which means the progress of civilization. Without the power that the salesman supplies to the merthandising machine, the present processes of specialized and large-scale production and of world-wide exchange could not be carried on.
8. Dignity of the salesman's work.—These various sides of the work of the salesman must be seen in order that the importance and dignity of his place in the business world may be appreciated. A century ago it was not uncommon for inventors and other men of rare genius to die in the poorhouse. An inventor was without honor in his own generation ; it took twenty five or thirty years for the public to learn how to use his new article. Today the inventor turns his article over to the man who can show people their need for it, and soon a rising industry has grown up around the inventor's idea. The modern salesman accomplishes in a year what was formerly the work of a generation.
In his work, the salesman approaches men of vari ous degrees of importance. He must possess the ability to talk to the small man without condescen sion ; he must be able to meet the big rnan on his own level. To this work Ile inust bring a thoro knowledge of his goods and of the policies of his house and a capacity for intelligent initiative. In the eyes of the men he meets, he is not merely his house's representa tive—he is the house itself.
9. Demand versus supply of salesmen.—A keen business man once said that there were two men who were of supreme importance to him; the man on the production end who could turn out the most goods at the lowest cost, and the man on the selling end who could sell the most goods at a fair profit. For every man who can sell successfully there are several who can direct production. The demand for salesmen, on the other hand, is larger than for production men. Every year numberless new articles must be intro duced and made popular. New brands of old arti cles, too, must be placed upon the dealers' shelves; and staples must be distributed against most severe competition. The supply of men who are able to do this work will, in all probability, never equal the de mand.
One has but to glance over the classified-advertis ing columns of a high-class daily paper to realize‘how insatiable is this demand. The man who can sell has a choice of connections and can start with a new con cern at a rate of compensation extremely rare in other fields. It is quite unusual for the salesman to cret into the "situation wanted" columns. Because of the large demand, there is no other field in business where a young man can get such a large return on his personal force and character and where, without the possession of capital, he can play so important a part in the business world.
10. Remuneration of salesmen.—The compensa tion offered to salesmen depends largely upon the part which they play in creating a desire for their goods. The ticket-seller in a New York subway sta tion can scarcely be called a salesman at all, for he merely passes out tickets and makes change. His _ compensation is low because the power to flersuade and convince is not required of him. The big rail roads, however, employ a corps of well-trained, well paid salesmen to solicit passenger traffic for them; to sell tickets, in other words. The railroad ticket seller behind the wicket can inject real salesmanship into his job, too. Some time ago a ticket-seller for one of the big railroads, while visiting a large office on personal business, learned that ten of the office force were to be sent to Buffalo the following night. The firm had practically decided to send the men over a " competing road. The ticket-seller immediately stepped into the breach, talked convincingly of the superior equipment on his road, and by promising his personal services in the matter of arrangements got the business for his railroad. Tho off duty, he went immediately to his company's office, secured and de livered the necessary tickets and carried away with him a check for over $100. That was salesmanship of a high order.
11. Demand for retail salesmen,—The old idea that anyone can sell behind a counter is fast giving way to a keen realization of the value of salesmanship in retail selling. Selling behind the counter is largely what the individual makes it. There are those who simply supply what is asked for, and that none too graciously ; who do not take the trouble to study the line they are selling, and who give no thought to de vising ways of increasing their sales. There is, on the other hand, a rapidly growing class who have made it a point to become thoroly acquainted with their goods; who by their frankness, courtesy and knowledge win the confidence of their customers and sometimes acquire a following. They give timely ad vice to their customers, and are able to sell a better class of goods than the customer intended to buy; they can close a sale when the customer is in doubt and plan methods of awakening interest in lines other than those the customer had in mind when he entered the store. The demand for this latter class is so great that the larger, more progressive retailers thruout the country are establishing training schools to de velop this kind of salespeople.