In another baseball contest, the teams composed of the sales force were considered as playing games the one against the other, a regular schedule being made out beforehand and each game lasting nine days, each day representing an inning. The score for each in ning of the four games always in progress was given by innings each day by special bulletin. Standings of the teams were then figured by the regular "games won and lost" method.
While comparisons are sometimes far-fetched, these baseball contests are generally successful.
8. Other examples of the athletic idea.—The foot ball season may be taken advantage of in the same way. Bowling clubs may be organized. - One annual contest is known as the yearly marathon, and the money prizes are presented to the winners at the an nual convention in individual miniature trophy cups. One successful short-term contest consisted of a handicap automobile race, each twenty-five dollar sale on credit advancing the salesman's car one yard, and each cash sale of the same amount counting for one and one-half yards, handicaps up to one thousand yards based on past performances being given. Each week that any contestant fell below a certain average, he was credited with having "tire trouble" or "engine trouble" and set back, the lost ground being made up, perhaps, by a higher average week later on. Another concern, selling a single product in three sizes at fifty, seventy-five and one hundred dollars, organized a number of evenly matched rifle teams among its sales men. Each one-hundred-dollar sale registered a bull's-eye, each seventy-five-dollar sale a first-circle shot, and each fifty-dollar sale a second-circle shot.
Bull's-eyes counted five points each, first-circle shots three points, and second-circle one point each.
9. Electing a president.—One concern took ad vantage of current interest by putting on a contest for the election of a president during a presidential campaign. The simple plan was adopted of allow ing each salesman to register one vote for his favorite candidate for each twenty-five dollars' worth of busi ness secured. The contest closed on the last day of October, thereby allowing the organization to express its choice for president a week before the country at large had an opportunity to do so. In a sales or
ganization of women, each $10 in sales was allowed to register a vote for or against suffrage.
10. An annual contest.—A large New York or ganization, while it may have small contests running for-short periods during the year, has one contest that runs throughout the entire year. Standings are fig ured on a point basis, which takes both quantity and quality of business into consideration. The first prize for the greatest number of points is a watch or other article, suitably inscribed, costing not less than $300. The second prize for the second largest number of points is some article costing not less than $150. In addition, there are three prizes for individual increase of business over the previous year; the first to cost not less than $150, the second not less than $100 and the third not less than $50. A minimum of 1,000 points is set as the basis on which increases must be figured, both for those who made less than 1,000 points during the previous year and for those who are new in the organ ization. While the prizes for the greatest number of points have been won by the same three or four men in the four years that the contest has been running, the increase prizes have gone to different men each year.
There is a thousand point club in connection with this contest, the first man to secure a thousand points in any -year being the president, the second the vice president, and so on. All salesmen securing one thousand points or more during the calendar year are club members. The names of these "thousand pointers" are each year placed on a suitably inscribed bronze tablet. The concern, a rapidly growing one, does not as yet occupy its own building but expects to in the near future; and at that time, it is planned to line the marble halls of the building with these bronze tablets.
Toward the end of the year there begins to appear in the house organ what is known as the thousand point page, the names of those who have passed the thousand point mark being carried each week in the order in which they achieve this distinction and the names of the new men achieving the goal being added to the ever-lengthening list.