Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: "He is the steam—and a big part of the engine too—that makes business move"]
1905
Dedicated to Alex C. Ritchey, Salesman.the Author's Friend.
I The square deal wins
II Clerks, cranks and touches
III Social arts as salesmen's assets
IV Tricks of the trade
V The helping hand
VI How to get on the road
VII First experiences in selling
VIII Tactics in selling—I
IX Tactics in selling—II
X Tactics in selling—III
XI Cutting prices
XII Canceled orders
XIII Concerning credit men
XIV Winning the customer's good will
XV Salesmen's don'ts
XVI Merchants the salesman meets
XVII Hiring and handling salesmen
XVIII Hearts behind the order book
He is the steam—and a big part of the engine too—that makes businessmove
Larry let business drop entirely and danced a jig
"Whenever I let go the buggy handle the baby yelled"
"Tonight we dance, tomorrow we sell clothes again"
"I listened to episodes in the lives of all those seven children"
"I braced the old man—It wasn't exactly a freeze but there was a lotof frost in the air"
"You ought to have seen his place"
"My stomach was beginning to gnaw, but I didn't dare go out"
"In big headlines I read 'Great Fire in Chicago'"
"Well, Woody," said he, "You seem to be taking things pretty easy"
"You'd better write that down with a pencil" said Harry
"Shure, that cigare is a birrd"
"He came in with his before breakfast grouch"
"I'm treed" said the drayman. "They're as heavy as lead"
"What explanation have you to make of this, sir?"
"He tried to jolly her along, but she was wise"
The author wishes to acknowledge his special debt of gratitude to the
SATURDAY EVENING POST, of Philadelphia.
Salesmanship is the business of the world; it is about all there is tothe world of business. Enter the door of a successful wholesale ormanufacturing house and you stand upon the threshold of anestablishment represented by first-class salesmen. They are the steam—and a big part of the engine, too—that makes business move.
I saw in print, the other day, the statement that salesmanship is the"fourth profession." It is not; it is the first. The salesman, when hestarts out to "get there," must turn more sharp corners, "duck"through more alleys and face more cold, stiff winds than any kind ofworker I know. He must think quickly, yet use judgment; he must actquickly and still have on hand a rich store of patience; he must workhard, and often long. He must coax one minute and "stand pat" thenext. He must persuade—persuade the man he approaches that he needshis goods and make him buy them—yes, make him. He is messengerboy, train dispatcher, department buyer