2. Object of modern sales first effect of the awakening to the possibilities of the new methods of sales management was the adoption of so-called "ginger up" methods. The sales man ager was either a "good fellow," brought in off the road, who could "get the boys coming"; or a writer of "ginger" letters and "punchy" literature who was secured from outside the organization. For immedi ate results, these methods were probably as good as any ; but to secure lasting results, enthusiasm, loyalty and the ability to make large sales must have a more solid foundation. Enthusiastic •letters and a house organ that will make the organization a unit have their places, but they do not constitute the whole of sales management. The sales manager who would achieve permanent success today must have other abilities. His efforts must be directed to get not the most, but the best out of his men.
3. Qualifications of the sales manager—rank and experience.—It is desirable, tho not essential, that the sales manager be an important officer of the firm, preferably one with the title and authority of an exec utive officer. The fact that the sales manager is a high official of the firm insures close personal super vision of the sales department and, in addition, places the department on a high plane of dignity. With such a man in charge all the members of the sales de partment will take special pride in their work and in their organization, and better men will be attracted to that department than if the sales manager were merely a salaried man. This does not mean that the latter cannot be successful; it does mean, however, that be will have to work at a disadvantage, unless he has been a member of the selling organization and the members like him and respect his ability.
It is better that the sales manager should have had selling experience, preferably with the organization of which he becomes the head. In the selling of im portant products of high value the salesmen should be men of brains and capacity. In such cases it is essential that the sales manager shall have had actual selling experience. In the selling of less important, lower-priced products, however, many sales managers who lacked selling experience have achieved success.
4. Love of his men.—We have already said that the only way to be able to handle men is to love them. This is just as true of the sales manager in dealing with his men as it is of the salesman in selling the goods. The love must be genuine ; it must not be counterfeited. The sales manager should be a keen student of human nature. He should know the short comings of his men as well as their strong points. He
should strive, without sarcasm, criticism or impatience, to eradicate the one and substantially recognize the other. The successful sales manager will have the confidence of his men not only in regard to matters of business, but regarding their personal and home relations also. He will visit the salesmen in their homes and will come to know their families almost as well as he does the men themselves.
It is here that his selling experience will prove help ful. The man who has experienced the hard work and discouragement incidental to selling, under stands the trouble of his men as no man can who knows these things only by hearsay. He will have a keen sympathy for the man in a "slump." It is not even necessary that he shall have been uniformly suc cessful in the field. One of the principal reasons why the best salesmen do not oftentimes make the best sales managers is that their uniform success makes them impatient and critical of the salesman who is meeting setbacks and who, therefore, most needs the help of the sales manager.
A sales manager must not be autocratic. He will do well to remember that while he is leading his or ganization, he is also a part of it ; for only when he is alive to this fact can he secure the team work essential to success. If he expects the men to be of the great est possible help to him, he will not be satisfied merely to see that they are properly compensated, no matter how liberal he may be in this particular. He should be friendly with his men and should study them with the idea of bringing out their individual abilities and inspiring them to their best efforts.
5. Loyalty to his men.—The good sales manager acts as a buffer between the salesmen and any of ficers of the firm who may be calculating and critical. Such a statement is not a criticism of the executives. It merely means that the sales manager, being closer to his men, and realizing more keenly the difficulties of their work, can make these things clear to the other executives in such a way as to soften their feelings to ward the salesman who has perhaps sent in a harsh criticism of the production department, who has pro tested against shipping or collection methods, or whose sales have fallen off sharply in volume. A great many sales managers talk about loyalty from the men, and all of them expect it, but they should not forget that the men in the field look for loy alty from the sales manager. The sales manager who is loyal to his men will have loyal men about him.