There is little trouble, of course, in getting access to the proprietor of the small retail store. It is seldom that any difficulty is experienced in getting an inter view with any man in the average manufacturing con cerns in the smaller cities. A great many of the largest concerns and of the largest men, too, make it a point to see that every salesman is received courteously and given an a.udience.
In a great many cases where the formality of giving your name to an office boy or telephone operator must be gone thru, the invariable answer of the business man to the operator's "Mr. Blank to see you" is "Tell him to come right in." The average man's natural curiosity, coupled with his aversion to walking outside to see you, will prompt that reply. Let us realize, then, that the salesman sometimes conjures in his mind's eye difficulties of getting in which do notexist.
8. Men hard to see.—Many business men, how ever, whose various interviews during the day make great inroads on their time, and who must provide for other matters, feel obliged to hedge themselves about with guards of one kind or another—to erect barriers against those who would intrude. This should not be taken to indicate that they have no desire to look into a worth-while proposition. They expect a salesman with a proposition worthy of their attention to be big enough and ingenious enough to make his way past these obstacles. If the salesman asking for an inter view is not firmly convinced that his proposition is in that class he has no right to be there.
Now, there are a few men—a very few—who are very hard to see. A salesman must then apply him self to finding a way of getting in instead of sitting back and proving to himself that it is impossible. Should he finally decide that he cannot gain an inter view, he may be obliged to see some other fellow in the same line come along, get in and make the sale. It should be remembered, always, that there are some men who are getting in, that there are some men from whom the prospect is buying. Be one of them.
9. Tactics to be avoided.—It is important that the salesman not only secure his audience, but also that he secure it on a right basis. A busy man could be dragged out of an important directors' meeting by a sufficiently urgent message; but if, having come out, he discovers that his caller's business is not of the im mediate importance to him that the message indicated, he will resent the occurrence so much that to do busi ness with him will be an impossibility.
The hackneyed and overworked "personal matter" method should be avoided. No matter is personal from the point of view of the prospective purchaser. The simple, dignified formula : "Tell Mr. Jones that Mr. Brown is here to see him" is probably the best, as a usual thing. Then if the nature of the business is asked for, several avenues are open. A very success ful salesman uses the method of asking the telephone operator to connect him with the man be wishes to see. He is thus enabled to get in a short, pithy talk ending with "Now I just want to step in there for a few minutes. May I?" A young fellow soliciting advertising for a lumber journal used to work out original ways of stating his business by writing a message on his card. In re
sponse to the request of a large hardware store's ad vertising manager to know his business, he wrote: "Do you know how much crayon the southern lumber mills use every month to mark lumber?" He was pre pared, of course, to show the advertising manager that the concern's sales of crayon alone would war rant the advertising. A man may be original in stat ing his business, or he may avoid having to state it; but directly to mislead his prospect concerning it or to exaggerate its importance will not start him on the road toward a sale.
Courteous persistence gains many an interview, and on a favorable basis, for the average prospect. .feels rather ashamed of continually hulling a man down without a hearing. The nlesman will find that it is very often possible to reach a man over the telephone when he cannot be reached in person in his office.
10. Advantages of using the telephone.—The abil ity to use the telephone effectively becomes increas ingly important to the salesman with each pass ing day. In all business transactions requiring one business man to call upon another, it is becoming more and more common practice for a man to phone be forehand, in order that he may by this method both avoid wasting his own time and save the time of the other man. The effective use of the telephone by the salesman, especially in work in a big city, will save him a great deal of unproductive "leg" work and will enable him to use productively a larger percentage of his prospect-seeing time. Such a method of work will help him to arrange all of his day in such a way that he may be reasonably sure that he can use the greater part of it in actually seeing prospects. Thus he can eliminate to a great degree calling upon men who are out of their offices or who are so busily engaged as to be unable to see him. Furthermore, a previous ap pointment over the phone will enable the salesman to introduce himself in the outer office by saying: "Will you please tell Mr. Prospect that Mr. Salesman is here to see him? I have an appointment with Mr. Prospect at this time today." The use of the telephone by the salesman in secur ing appointments and assuring himself of audiences with his prospects is, however, rather a neglected art. This method has not been given the same careful study and planning as has been accorded other methods of getting in to see prospects. Consequently, the tele phone has too often been used only as a last resort ; seldom when it was at all possible to reach the prospect without making an appointment. This feeling has been so strong that in the past some houses have issued instructions to their salesmen never to attempt to transact any business over the phone because of the disadvantage at which this method placed them. The salesman should give the use of the telephone the same careful study that he gives to the presentation of his proposition; and if he does this he will find he has de veloped one more method of increasing his efficiency.