Salesmanship

“ CHAPTER I. THE SQUARE DEAL WINS. Salesmanship is the business of the world; it is about all there is to the world of business. Enter the door of a successful wholesale or manufacturing house and you stand upon the threshold of an establishment represented by first-class salesmen. They are the steam —and a big part of the engine, too—that makes business move. ”

“ Selling goods that give perfect satisfaction in such a pleasing, attractive way that the customer comes back; leaving a pleasant taste in the customer’s mouth, pleasant pictures in his memory of the way you treated him, so that he will put himself out to look you up the next time, this is the salesmanship which every one can cultivate. One doesn’t need to be a born salesman to do this. Every one can treat a customer kindly, pleasantly, with a cheerful, helpful manner, in an accommodating spirit. ”

“ I discovered that I had the art of salesmanship. It’s an art, a qualification hard to describe. Every man who has ever bought anything knows what it is and how it has operated in his case.
I sold wood and lumber and sleepers—and the more I sold, the higher rose my confidence in my personality, and I had hard work to control and conceal my hysterics of success.
I worked off onto brick-yards even the crooked limbs, the second-grade stuff which I had seen piling up on my operation. ”

“ In order to get the right viewpoint for further study of the selling process, you, the salesman of yourself, need to comprehend clearly the fundamental purpose of all true salesmanship. It should be the service of the buyer in satisfying his real needs. ”

“ It permeates business, where salesmanship follows the methods—now comparatively obsolete at home—of concentrating upon favorably impressing the buyer rather than demonstrating the superior merits of one’s goods. ”

“ We care less for the making of a thing than for the selling of it. Salesmanship is the great American game. It calls forth all our native genius; it is the expression of our originality, our inventiveness, our ingenuity, our idealism,” and so on, for a full column slathered with deadly and self-betraying encomiums. For the Reverend Bland believed heartily that the market was the highest test of humankind. ”

“ Suppose you have an average of one hundred customers a day, and that, through good salesmanship, you increase the sale to each customer ten cents only. That means that, at the end of the week, by good salesmanship you have increased your sales sixty dollars without any increase in your expenses at all, with the possible exception of the supplies or delivery. ”

“ In salesmanship "desire is the determinant of the sale." By this is meant that when the salesman sufficiently stimulates a real desire in his prospect, he has climbed the highest grade of difficulty. If he is skillful, the selling process from then on should be comparatively easy sledding. You realize that if you can get yourself wanted by an employer, the matter of landing a job in his business should not be hard. We therefore are considering now the turning point in the process of selling the true idea of your best capabilities in the right field. ”

“ If a customer asked for a safety razor, don't you think it would be poor salesmanship not to offer him something else? A machine could do that much. But it takes a real salesman to sell him something else and I know you boys are real salesmen. ”

“ Possibly what you have read has unduly impressed you with the idea that the salesman's motive in his preparation is selfish. So perhaps it is well to pause here for the reminder that your primary salesmanship purpose should be true service. You are preparing yourself thoroughly in knowledge of your full sales value, as a measure of success insurance and self-protection. It is not true sales service to give a buyer value greatly in excess of the price quoted. It is right for you to make sure in advance about your full worth. ”

“ See that your prospective "new boss" sells you the job at the same time you are selling him your services. If he perceives in you the one man who best fits his needs, he will put forth every effort to buy your services. Every employer will respect the man who states, with salesmanship, a sound reason for selecting and seeking connection with a business house; since such a man gives promise of making the sort of dependable, loyal worker that every business values and appreciates.
Sell to Satisfy Real Needs
The true salesman sells to satisfy a real need of the buyer. ”

“ They have done more for getting work out of the men than any bonus proposition ever considered. I read them myself constantly, and I desire to heartily congratulate you on getting at the roots of the biggest problem that faces our generation to-day--the problem of salesmanship. The rock bottom on which the country is founded is the problem of salesmanship. ”

“ I was able to grasp my biggest opportunity in the sales field because, though I had been devoting my time and energies chiefly to accountancy, I had studied and practiced salesmanship for years in order to market my own services most effectively.
While preparing yourself for success, keep your mental eyes wide open. Perceive any and all chances about you, however much you specialize in your preparation for a selected career. ”

“ You should feel that you are the benefactor of the man whom you approach. He may be your superior financially, but in the matter of your particular article or articles for sale, you should feel that you are his superior, and therefore you should approach him with the utmost ease and confidence. The big winners in salesmanship are those who possess the initiative, the originality, and the poise, which enable them to go out and find customers quickly and intelligently, covering the biggest amount of territory in the shortest time, and concentrating their energies. ”

“ Salesmanship requires special study, and the fact that the schools of salesmanship which are now starting are patronized not only by those who wish to become salesmen but also by those who wish to be more successful in their work, shows that there is an interest awakening in this profession. ”

“ The basic requirements for successful salesmanship are good health, a cheerful disposition, courtesy, tact, resourcefulness, facility of expression, honesty, a firm and unshakable confidence in one’s self, a thorough knowledge of, and confidence in, the goods which one is selling, and ability to close. ”

“ This assumption may not always be valid; but it never fails to give him confidence and driving power, and is the necessary basis of consistently successful salesmanship.
The able salesperson never forgets that his customer will not buy until she is satisfied and convinced, however attractive his merchandise, low his prices, or logically complete his demonstration. He knows that she may have prejudices which are not easy to discover, or bits of information or misinformation which may cause her to question or distrust what he tells her, and thus to impede or wreck the sale. ”

“ I submit this as a job requiring all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy!
Salesmanship is the thing that really made R. H. Macy & Company and it therefore is patent that they should consider the actual sellers of their goods as the very backbone of their organization. In another place it is related how, in the department of training, employees are taught to sell, and in another something of the working out of the psychology of the customer and the salesclerk. Education counts. It helps to make the salesclerk a vital factor of the store organization. ”

“ Here and there in this worryful World of Business you will occasionally find some old moss-chest who still holds that Salesmanship means SELLING GOODS, and not Charts, Maps, Conferences and After Dinner Oratory. ”

“ All of us who are ambitious to make the most of the best that is in us need to be first-class salesmen, whether we market "goods" or our personal capabilities. As has been emphasized repeatedly in this preface, every one who would succeed in life must know HOW to sell his qualifications to the highest advantage. Poor salesmanship is responsible for most of the failures of people who really deserve to succeed. It is almost surely fatal to ambitious hopes in any trade, profession, or business.
CERTAIN SUCCESS WITH THE SELLING PROCESS covers in outline the whole subject of Salesmanship. ”

“ The art of salesmanship is founded, according to Mr. Ivey, on, first, a thorough knowledge of the goods which are to be sold, and second, a knowledge of the customer. By knowing the customer you know what line of argument will most appeal to him. ”

“ The growth of our business and the demand for Spirella bear testi­mony to the merit of our proposition. Salesmanship principles in concise form together with a complete outline on corset selling are presented in such manner as to enable every Representative who masters the following pages to became an expert resident Corsetiere and Saleswoman. Our actual selling system, verbatim coaching, specific instruction with selling points, arguments, inspiration, enthusiasm and confidence given here will assure success. This manual will teach you how to do better work; to develop greater profits. ”

“ In every undertaking, revenues are produced through salesmanship. Every business and every profession has something to sell, [25] and its financial success depends largely upon the quality of salesmanship employed. ”

“ Nevertheless, many salesmen in average stores can enhance their effectiveness and their service by helping their customers to avoid choices that do not seem to harmonize with their obvious personal characteristics. To truthfully assure a customer that her choice does properly reflect herself is likewise obviously good salesmanship. ”

“ This is a larger body of workers than might be supposed, for it includes amongst others all those engaged in what I should call competitive salesmanship, or, to use a less dignified word, the puffery of wares, which has now got to such a pitch that there are many things which cost far more to sell than they do to make. ”

“ Among people the variety of nature and disposition is the one thing that sets the art of salesmanship apart from monotonous, machine-like operations and establishes it as an occupation calling for brains and skill. ”

“ The Psychology of Salesmanship applies not only to work with the prospect, but also to work with those who bar the way to him. Subordinates have minds, faculties, feelings and strong and weak points of mentality—they have their psychology just as their employer has his. It will pay you to make a careful study of their [Pg 136] psychology—it has its rules, laws and principles. This is a point often overlooked by little salesmen, but fully recognized by the "big" ones. The short cut to the mind of many a prospect is directly through the mind of the man in the outer office. ”

“ GETTING UNDER WAY IN THE SALE For the reason that intelligent retail salesmanship is principally a matter of brain work rather than physical effort, it is not possible to set down any fixed list of rules or conditions which, 127when observed, will result in one hundred per cent results. ”

“ The power of personal salesmanship and the need of individual initiative are shown in relation to middleman and consumer. The present business organization from producer to distributor is seen to be that of profit yielding according as the group spirit is understood by the advertiser in telling his message.” (Ann Am Acad) “The work is based on lectures delivered before the School of commerce of Northwestern university, and for this new edition has been revised, with some new chapters substituted for old.” ”

“ All that is necessary is for him to 'take account of stock' just before he starts out—to enumerate to himself all the strong, convincing points in his proposition—to consider the good high qualities of the goods he is selling—run over in his mind the splendid characteristics of his house—think of the great number of customers who have bought his product—and of the supremely satisfying reasons why other customers should buy his goods. In other words, before a salesman starts to sell other men, he should sell himself. ”

“ THE CUSTOMER AS THE SALESMAN’S GUEST THE HUMAN HEART THROB So far we have been considering those important matters that have to do with the salesman’s relationship to himself—the responsibility he has to build for himself a healthy mind, and business spirit. We are now interested to consider his relationship to the person who supplies the power to operate the whole machinery of commerce, who foots all the store’s expenses, and who regulates the size of the salesman’s pay—the customer. ”

“ This would be highly advantageous to us, to teach us how to get along tactfully with office boys, proof-readers, leading editorial writers, and sudden, unexpected telephone calls. We look somewhat wistfully upon Business e13—Advertising Display and Mechanics, and Business e17—Salesmanship. (“The76 student is given a grounding in the principles of selling and practice in the presentation of a selling proposition from its inception in the customer’s mind throughout its development and final consummation as a sale.”) ”

“ The Salesman in making the Approach should not act as if he were in a hurry, nor should he dawdle. He should go about it in a business-like manner showing his realization of the value of time, and yet acting as if he had the time necessary for the transaction of that particular piece of business, just as he would if the buyer had called on him instead of vice versa. Don't swagger or strut, or act as if you were the proprietor. Act the part of the real business man who is at ease and yet is attending to business. ”