Furthermore, the salesman is asked to indicate whether the dealer has been carrying the Ingersoll line in the past, whether or not he carries a competing line and to note the approximate sales of each. Spaces are also provided on the back of the card for a record of each order that the salesman secures and turns in.
The first reports have not as yet been received from all parts of the country by the Ingersoll Company, but eventually the information indicated, arid much more, will be available on every merchant in the country handling the Ingersoll lines, and -will be kept up to date by subsequent visits of the salesmen. The sales man will know before he calls upon a man, just what sort of a merchant he is, whether or not he handles a competing line, whether or not he has been buying the Ingersoll line and if so, at what intervals, and in what quantities ; in short, both the salesman and the house have a fairly good basis for judgment. All informa tion indicated on the card sent in by the salesman is transferred to the office duplicate after each visit so that even tho the original be in the salesman's hands or lost, the house has available at all times a complete record.
With the aid of the Hollerith Tabulating Machine, various tabulations are made from these records and from the actual orders turned in, as to the sale of each grade of watch in each finish; of sales by cities, coun ties and states; of the volume of sales all over the coun try in towns of a given size; and of the size of the aver age order, in different localities, in different lines of business, and in different sized towns.
4. Salesman's daily report.—The salesman should be required to report daily the names of the prospects or customers upon whom he has called and the results of each interview. This report shows his day's work and reflects the conditions of trade in the territory. In every case where no sale has been made, a definite reason should be given. The salesman should not be required to report on the same prospects on two dif ferent forms if that can be avoided. For example, if he reports the results of an interview on a prospect card furnished by the house, he should not be required to give the same information a second time on another blank. This should be considered in determining the form of daily report. When two records are neces
sary it will be found cheaper to employ clerical help to make the second one in the office.
5. Salesman's daily letter.—While the daily letter which the salesman writes to the sales manager may not be a record in some of the senses of the word, it is the most important single thing that the salesman sends in to the sales manager. The salesman should be encouraged to write long, intimate letters. With out them, the sales manager cannot keep in the closest possible touch with the salesman's work nor be of the greatest possible help to him. The regularity with which salesmen write such letters to their sales man ager—or, in some cases, the frequency with which they neglect to do so—will go a great way toward indicat ing the frame of mind of the individual and the spirit of the organization.
6. Tabulations of sales.—The sales manager should have constantly before him in some graphic, instantly readable form a tabulation of each individual's daily sales for the current month and monthly sales for the current year. Similar records for previous years should also be instantly available. Where the line is varied, the tabulation should show the volume of sales by items or classes of goods. Similar records for the organization as a whole should also be available. The totals on the daily individual record will frequently be the basis for computing the latter. In connection with the individual record, the salesman's percentage of quota, when one has been assigned, or his standing in any contest that may be running should be indi cated. These records can be used by the sales man ager or his assistants in writing to the salesmen daily letters that will be stimulating and helpful.
If there are branch offices, reports should be re quired from them daily. It may be that the indi vidual salesman will be handled by the branch man ager, in which case much of the detailed information required will be reported to the branch offices. Many sales managers who are establishing selling offices, however, find that it is best to keep in touch with each individual salesman directly from the home office and in such cases keep full detailed information at head quarters and write to each salesman dailx.