These are all exceedingly difficult matters upon which to insist and still retain the spirit of enthusiasm and good fellowship which must pervade the entire convention if it is to be a success. Too much emphasis on the necessity of being brief will prevent men with ideas from expressing them. Too much leniency in allowing men to ramble on will use up valuable time and weary the other salesmen. The chairmen. of the various sessions must be sufficiently diplomatic to en courage the one, curb the other, keep discipline and conserve time, and thru it all, maintain an ardent and loyal spirit in the convention.
7. Bringing in the men.—Just as much of an occa sion as possible should be made of the coming in of the men. If all the western men can be gathered at St. Louis and Chicago and brought on from that point in a special car, so much the better. Accommoda tions should be secured at an official hotel and rooms assigned to the salesmen. They may be met at the train by a delegation of the inside organization and escorted first to the hotel and later to the convention hall.
8. Entertainment.—It should be remembered that when men from all over the country are brought into a big city they expect a certain amount of entertain ment. This desire on their part should not be op posed but made a valuable part of the convention it self. Informal luncheons may be provided for the men on the days of the convention. These should be attended by the principal members of the inside or ganization, as well as the salesmen. A reception to meet the various executives and department heads and directors of the organization might be arranged. This may be followed by an informal "get together" dinner. A theater party could possibly be planned for the second evening.
Great care should be taken in arranging the enter tainment with which the convention is closed on the evening of the last day. It is important that there be an especially strong spirit of good fellowship pervad ing this feature. This session, usually a banquet, should lead up gradually to a climax of some sort and care should be taken to have the convention break up at the highest point of enthusiasm. Arrangements should have been made to get the men off for their territory immediately. Returning to the office the next day when it has settled back into its every-day routine is depressing, and for the salesman to remain in the city several days on pleasure bent deadens the enthusiasm he has acquired at the convention before he has had a chance to apply it in the field.
9. Convention hall.—The convention hall need not be so pretentious as the name would seem to indi cate. It should, however, be well ventilated, suit ably decorated, and may contain exhibits showing the growth of the business or the making of the product.
Just enough chairs should be provided for the number who will be present. Many empty chairs or a hall that is too large will have a depressing effect.
A stenographic report should be made of the pro ceedings of all the business sessions. This will be ex pensive, but it will be well worth while if the conven tion sticks to the program.
10. Results of the convention.—The convention is a combination of work and play. The play should not be allowed to encroach upon the work and there should be snap and enthusiasm in every session. If the convention has been properly handled, it will re turn its cost many times over in the increased enthusi asm, loyalty and knowledge of the field force, and in the new viewpoint it has given the inside organization. Recruits for the sales force who have had an oppor tunity to attend the sessions will enter the training class with an unquenchable enthusiasm.
11. "Idealizing the business.—That methods of co operating with salesmen and of getting the best out of them such as have been described cost money can not be denied. But that the money spent is returned many times over is evidenced by the big, rapidly grow ing concerns from whose experiences these facts and methods have been drawn. In reality, it costs more money to operate a lot of poorly trained men with lit tle or no enthusiasm than it does to handle a well trained, highly efficient, enthusiastic organization. And it is only by methods such as these that the sales manager can create that united and collective loyalty —loyalty not only to the house, and the ideals behind it, but loyalty to every other member of the organiza tion outside and inside—commonly known as esprit de corps.
That concern is to be congratulated whose salesmen refer to the house as "ours"—who consider themselves not distinct selling units but members of a big, grow ing family—who look upon their concern as the ideal of organization, square dealing and efficiency and upon its product as the best of its kind—who feel that their company is performing a highly useful service in the world and that they are privileged in being its representatives—and who, thru this love and regard, cast their lot with the organization not for a day but for years.
This is not an extravagant statement. There are numberless concerns in which such a spirit pervades the - selling organization from top to bottom. Few businesses are so big, so successful or so independent, that they would not cease to grow, acquire dry-rot and eventually crumble into decay if such a spirit were wholly lost to their sales forces.