The good salesman studies the other side of the question. He acquaints himself with the method used by the customer in disposing of his goods.
He does not talk his own side of the case all the time. He works with the customer, tries to give him good advice and shows an interest in the customer"s business. Such a salesman gets close to the customer, and retains his patronage long after the good fellow has pa.s.sed away.
Be wise, be patient, and above all things, acquaint yourself thoroughly with the goods you are selling. Know more about them than your customer does. Live up to your obligations. Keep your appointments. Study your customers" welfare. Help them when opportunity offers.
The life insurance solicitor who gets the most turn-downs is the one who writes the most policies, because the fact he gets so many turn-downs is owing to the fact that he has seen so many people.
Hard work, cheerfulness, honesty, patience, sobriety and knowledge of good goods will make a man a successful salesman.
Honesty
Under this caption we are expected to say "Honesty is the best policy."
This expression is as old as the hills, and if it were not good it would not have obtained so long, for honesty certainly is the best policy.
Many a man in business practices absolute honesty and integrity, because honesty is the simplest and best method he knows of for doing business.
No man can succeed permanently, who is dishonest in his practices. The successful business man is the one who practices honesty in all actions and dealings during his business experience.
Honesty begets honesty. The man who is honest in his dealings with his fellowman has a subsidy which money cannot buy. He gets honest treatment at the hands of others.
The merchant who cuts a bolt of silk in the middle and puts different prices on each piece, may figure he is making money by his action, but retribution is sure to follow.
Honesty is a slow road to wealth, but, in accordance with the law of compensation, in proportion as the business built up on honesty is slow, so in proportion will it last longer.
Honesty is the best advertis.e.m.e.nt a man can have in his business.
Success
If after the employe strikes a balance each day, he finds that he is moving forward, then he is on the road to success. And so it is with the business man, only the proportions are greater.
One cent put at four per cent. interest per annum nineteen hundred years ago, with interest added to the princ.i.p.al every twenty-five years, would represent today more money than there is in the world. It would have taken twenty-five years before the original investment of one cent was doubled.
If a man had started that plan his grandchildren would have said the scheme was no good because it was too slow.
The boy goes to school regularly and shows little advance in his mentality if you measure from day to day, but the boy is gaining every day. He is going ahead slowly but certainly.
The gambler and the foolish man like success to come quickly and with great strides. It is because there are many foolish men and gamblers that the get-rich-quick fake thrives.
The man who gets rich suddenly usually indulges in such sports as lighting cigars with ten dollar bills, and his wind-up is in the pauper"s grave.
No man knows the true value of money unless he has worked for it. The man who has earned his dollars through the penny route knows the value of the penny, and he gets mighty good value when he spends a dollar.
The man who walks steadily in one direction does not appear to be making much progress. The ship on the ocean seems to be standing still.
When night comes the man who has been walking steadily has disappeared, and the ship that seemed to be standing still has vanished beyond the horizon.
The law of compensation says, The more haste the less speed, and so in the matter of success, we must not feel discouraged because the speed at which we are traveling forward does not seem noticeable when compared with the rapid pace of some of our friends.
Be not impatient. Learn to wait. Be a good stayer. Do not let the success of the get-rich-quick creature deter you from your resolve to move forward slowly. You will get there in the long run.
And when your hair is silvered and cares rest easily upon your shoulders, the long road you have traveled will be a source of infinite satisfaction to you. Your retrospection will be pleasant, and the very things that were hard in your youth, are sources of satisfaction to you in your old age.
Do not use the yard measure in counting your progress, but use the inch rule that has fine fractions on it.
Thinking
"I did not think" is an excuse offered by many. Thinking is the thing in business.
The trunk railroad, the trans-Atlantic cable, the steam engine, the electric light, the wireless telegraph, the very republic in which we are living, came about through thinking.
Every man should take from five to fifty minutes each day to divorce his mind from the strenuous activity surrounding him, and devote that time to thought, and good will come out of it.
The brain is like a muscle, it must be exercised or it becomes flabby.
Cultivate concentration of thought; study your sphere of usefulness; cut out the weeds that grow in your brain; get out of the mental rut you are in; stop drifting; keep your brain healthily active.
Men are paid either for what they think or for what their muscles do.
Man"s muscles have a limit; he can move just so much matter by physical force. But his capacity from a mental standpoint is unlimited.
The world offers golden prizes to the man who thinks. Therefore we should cultivate our brains and make them expand. The brain is like a plant. If you nourish and cultivate it and care for it, it will grow too.
Excitement, striving for pleasures, indulging in reading light, frothy literature, excessive daily newspaper reading are all weeds and thought killers.
Don"t act on impulses. The get-rich-quick man or the fake mine promoter says, "Buy today, the price goes up tomorrow." These fakirs don"t want you to think. Thinking is an enemy to their persuasive arguments. If you think, and think rightly, the fakir does not get you.
When you get a nasty letter don"t answer it right away. Think it over.
Think carefully. If your thoughts of revenge are so strong that you cannot calm yourself down, then write a letter and express yourself in the fullest degree. Leave the letter on your desk. Do not look at it for three hours. Then when you look at it you will instantly determine to tear it up, because in the meantime you have been thinking.
Thoughts expressed on paper have a different sound than if they are uttered verbally, therefore you should think carefully when you write.
Cultivate poise, calmness, and practice careful thought before you speak or write.
In proportion as you master difficult problems through thought, your brain will be ready for greater conquests.
Here are some things to think about during these times when business is so good.
These prosperous times are dangerous times. In times of prosperity we build up false idols, and raise our hopes and ambitions beyond the safety point.