Nem lark hate dtoUege of AgrUulture At Gfocnell llntuerattH Stljaca, K. ^. ffiibratg Cornell University Library HF 5438.B7 Sales Pf o'"°''°";,. 3 1924 013 920 362 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013920362 SALES PROMOTION PUBLISHED BY The Book-Keeper Publishing Co., Ltd. DETROIT, MICH., U. S. A. 1906 L.U Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1906, by THE BOOK-KEEPER PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD. DETROIT. MICHIGAN In the office of the Librarian of Congress. All rights reserved. ^,^ l&SM The Book-Kbbpbr Press detroit, mich. FOREWORD Q, At about the time that this volume was completed, a friend happened into my office. He queried: C "Have you told salesmen anything more than they have read in current magazines up until this time?'* fl, I replied, \-[r( Sn^itV^ FpKri) ni-\/ 3. '3 Qi Mrs Srr^.tV^ Hr. Sp\itt\ rpKi-nory 1.3.^ Mrs Sm.rh The letter of inquiry is the customer who is just "look- ing around" the mail order establishment. He may or may not buy and his action will be largely governed by the contact with and appearance of the salesmen who wait on him. These salesmen are represented in the "follow up system." Their personnel makes for success or failuie. Let us call these salesmen Booklets, Folders, Follow-up Letters and Personal Letters. The "follow-up" system is made of those integral parts and if the customer does not receive careful and prompt attention then there is a flaw in the system — an incompe- tent -salesman in the aggregation, and a lost sale as the result. It is not always that the good salesman consummates the sale in his first contact with the customer, but his tact and willingness to serve, usually brings the customer back again to further investigate. It follows, then, that the follow-up letter should embody the same qualities as those SALES PROMOTION 21 possessed by the good salesman. The booklet and the folder should play their parts with pleasant dignity and singleness of purpose while the personal letter must be brought to bear as a last resort upon the "prospect" who hesitates. That follow-up system is not well rounded out which comprehends only the use of letters and circulars, because critical points of the business are frequently in the hands of correspondents and it is in their province to make or un-make business. The personally dictated letter to the individual often succeeds, where form letters, circulars and booklets utterly fail, and in a business of magnitude, - hundreds of dollars a day can be made or lost according to the skill and knowledge of human nature possessed by the correspondent. The mail order dealer whose success is assured, can well afford to surround himself with train- ed correspondents and the question of salary is unimport- ant provided the letters bring orders. Everything depends upon the intelligence of those who handle inquiries sep- arately, and there are no certain rules which may be laid down governing answers sent. It is not here purposed to take up the subject of adver- tising as a salesman. The subject is too broad to be treated in one chapter. It is broad enough for a book. Suffice it to say that, before circularizing, booklet work or letter writing can be indulged in, it is necessary to secure the "anxious inquirer," and the best way to get him — indeed the only real practical way, is through advertising. The question we present is not "how to eecure the cus- tomer," but "how to go after him" after he has expressed interest in the merchandise offered. System in selling by mail is important but, like fire, it is a good servant and a bad master. Too much system will kill any business just 22 SALES PROMOTION as surely as the voluminous red tape of the war depart- ment killed thousands of soldiers in the late "brush" with Spain, owing to length of time required to get suitable medical supplies to the troops. A good rule to follow is that the minute system begins to interfere with busi- ness, quit that system and map out a new one. If it is a hindrance instead of a help, it has no excuse for existence. Large enterprises can afford, and should maintain a big force to carry on business according to set rules. Exten- sive business demands certain complications in system. To the readers of this article, however, who are perhaps principally mail order dealers on a small scale, be it said that when a small mail order department adopts a Mont- gomery Ward system and endeavors to make it pay, then trouble starts. Let us, therefore, confine ourselves to the middle realms of handling inquiries and orders. An inquiry may be a source of profit or a source of loss. It may cost a trifle and again it may be dearly bought. The mail order advertiser must know the sources of his inquiries and their comparative costs, and this brings us to the keying system, which, while not perfect, will en- able its user to separate mail order mediums into two classes — the profitable and unprofitable. The system is in- tricate in proportion to the number of mediums used and the methods of keeping track of inquiries and orders, and figuring the actual cost of the sale involve considerable red tape, if, as said before, the business is large. But, after all is said and done, simplicity in system is perfection. Following are two specimen charts. The first one is a very common and easily kept register of inquiries. The firm of Haynes Bryson Company are advertising a washing machine in a mythical mail order publication. Space is reserved for each publication for every day in SALES PROMOTION 23 the month and it is a simple matter to jot down the num- ber of inquiries received from each. Separate columns are reserved for circulation, cost of insertion, keying and size of advertisement. At the end of the month the rec- ord of each publication is in black and white, and with due allowance made for unkeyed replies and indirect returns the actual worth of each may be easily ascertained from the inquiry standpoint. Form number 2 is the sales sheet. It approximates the reply sheet in general construction and gives in deta'il the actual daily sales produced by each publication. The immediate sales do not represent the sum total of future sales made on the advertisement, they are only those that have come in in direct reply. All inquiries are suscepti- ble to sales according to the methods in which they are worked, and here the follow-up system comes into play and upon its excellence is determined the number of fu- ture sales. It will be seen, then, that no publication can be correctly judged until the follow-up system has ex- hausted the list of inquiries and all sales made credited to the publication, from which the inquiries came. Small mail order sales are usually made C. O. D. This greatly simplifies the method of keeping track ,and re- duces bookkeeping to its primitive form. The "thirty-day offer" and the installment system present more complicated problems in handling, but these all come under accounting in its various forms, just as it is applied to local sales. Neither time or space permit enlargement upon the de- tail of selling by mail or more correctly speaking, "Sales- manship by mail." Summed up, the requisites for suc- cess in this business are ingenuity in advertising, intelli- gence, persistence and care in follow-up, close attention to system, be it simple or complicated, promptness in ans- 24 SALES PROMOTION Of 1^ u^ >- i *n >- 1 1. o cr 'o u < 1 d o cr o- i- £? r in «/ C ' 5 I 3 -o SS r^" 9 ^ SJ s 54 rt S c> ^ <« ^ 5? •Ji »»- 5 3 Ln <^ s 3 * •vB t ^ 2? = S! 5 eS «-» OQ ~s> — ^ g; O ? o rf^ •Ji J-^ - < CO £1 rO ^ cs —1 —1 1 -J J^ C-> s 3 J s lo S O ^ 3 r O -5 4r. i=- o O o 03 I cr o C o 3 f-F ^ J. if o -15 c ^ I. G < 21 o r a* in Form No. 1. SALES PROMOTION 25 (b - i.' C a 1. t^ +- vn 4. U -0 1. o 1 in a _D a o u o < 1 6 O c o -/) >^ ( Ifl u C 5 T 1 5 to « "Tl » ^^ » s tf •-* e tN tt <^ a *-< « ^ » ^ 8) ri SI cS « ?: n cQ « t — 1* o O « "£! tt -^ a §i Kl m s m ^ in > it £ i £ £ £ s: c c G c Qt > I i. « c f C; L < X Q ^-^ >~ r c - C c C _0 2 c -c: ^ E ' P c < M-~^ c . £ ••(; c . 2e \l c c -^ i o Y 1= (/ Form No, 2. SALES PROMOTION 165 The five forms can be • made into five comparatively small pads or books, so arranged as to produce carbons of all matter written therein. They can be put up in sizes for weekly, semi-monthly or monthly trips as may be required, and if used properly they will almost obvi- ate the necessity of letter writing on the part of the sales- man, and will result in instantaneous information to the different department heads concerned, without the incon- venience and laxity of sending the letter from this de- partment to that one. Form number one contemplates a detailed invoice of samples furnished to the salesman. This form should be filled out by those in charge of the departments from which the samples are taken, with a carbon copy furnished to the salesman and the original kept in the home office. Upon the return, this list can be checked up with the sam- ples and verified, in case such procedure is deemed neces- sary. Form number one does not necessarily need to be a part of the salesman's traveling system equipment be- cause only one is necessary for each trip. Form number two is a route card. This blank should be carried in padded form by the salesman, and written in triplicate, one form for the salesmanager, one for the mailing clerk and one for the salesman. As there may be changes in the primary schedule, the salesman should promptly note changes of schedule as they occur and for- ward them in duplicate, one to the salesmanager and one to the mailing clerk. The advantage of this system is two-fold — it removes to a large extent that bugbear known as delayed and mis-addressed mail, and insures reason- ably prompt delivery. It also enables the salesmanager and others interested to keep in close touch with the trav- 166 SALES PROMOTION c Or O . 4^ CO - c ^ , p -^ -O J3 _D l£' if' 0/ iT -K o in < < c 4^ o c- o a Q^ o '.c o O ~ ^ i§ o lo o OO o CO £■ w> <0 ~ w < Tft" « 1» L C/ a o 6 tr r c5£ ^ d to 1/1 c +5 in O It c- g- o o cr c- G I V i 4^-. ./» to r 6 c O o ^ G i^ i- c 1^ tr O z: lJ J tn j2 I O P3 I- z o c z E Ofi- tf 1" H° H° K° 4 5 o 21 uj 'Jj lyi x!? I Form No. 4. 168 SALES PROMOTION m t r > C c c ■ ^ KS ^ «; -0 "^ Of 01 «- C" «^ i- ■- • r c > ^^-g + ' >^- a r "S-t^ lr~_5 •" X -*^ (!> C- Ji ■" :xr i_5 - -S- c 0^ i>^ ^ c ,0 1- ^ +- 08 -§- « ^ 0. N ^ — - - 1 i LiJ 1^ 3 ^1 i 00 (/? z i ^ ■« 1 o 1 & a. U- o < • 194 SALES PROMOTION work by strong follow-up from the office and also show accurately the progress being made by the agent. An illustration of one of these blanks is shown herewith. It is very important in handling an agency organization that all collections be closely followed-up. As a rule the agent is required to remit with the order, and this is especially true where the article is one with a low selling price. In view of this latter fact, it is preferable to handle the agents' accounts in a separate card ledger, rather than carry their accounts on the regular books. Where the business permits it gives an added strength to the agency organization to maintain a force of travel- ing agents to continually visit their localities, ginger up the regular agents, make collections on bad accounts, adjust complaints and in other ways carry on the work which cannot be done by regular correspondence meth- ods. Such a "force should be self-supporting, being in effect hardly more than local agents developed into travel- ers, working on a commission and a small salary; salary being given merely to maintain a closer connection with the house. HANDLING BREAKS. A "break" is a term given by those familiar with the handling of agents to a temporary discontinuance of an agency. On a small proposition where it hardly pays to send a traveling representative to mend the break, or at best only as a last resource, it is a very good plan to arrange a series of follow-up letters to handle the work by mail, which can very often, be done at a small cost. First of all, in the regular agent's agreement, there should be some binding clause, providing that the house be given a certain notification before the agent can quit. As the agent works on a commission, however, and is SALES PROMOTION 195 not bound to send in any special amount of business, there is no tangible value in this except that the agent usually feels an obligation, and is more willing to negoti- ate with you in the matter of replacing him with a new agent. Immediately upon getting such a notification, you should offer to release him immediately, provided he secures a new agent for you, or gives you the name of a likely prospect. You may even offer to discount his bill, or offer some other inducement. As a rule where the agent has received good treatment, he will interest him- self and in a great many cases get you a successor at a small. cost. At the same time that you write your agent, send your regular form to the postmaster, station agent, or whoever else is most likely to interest themselves in your proposi- tion. In the case of small breaks it should not take more than two or three weeks at the most to secure another agent, and if at the end of that time no successor has been secured, and it is desirable to maintain the agency, it will, of course, be necessary to send a traveling repre- sentative. In handling breaks a card record may be used to good advantage, as per the illustration on these pages. In addition to the card record you may use the map and tack system designating breaks by certain color tacks. By so doing it is often possible to mend a break at a mere nominal expense, as, of course, some of your travelers get very near the town where "breaks" occur, and it means only a few hours of their time to stop and secure another agent. KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE TRAVELING FORCE. Every sales manager knows how difficult it is to keep in constant touch with the different individuals of his force. When a man is making short jumps on assign- 196 SALES PROMOTIOlSr ment work, you may lose track of him entirely for a day or two at a time. Supposing your men are traveling out of Chicago. Pick out a Chicago morning newspaper which circulates most extensively out of town. You will be surprised to know that one or two of the papers are represented by dealers in almost every town within a radius of 500 to 800 miles. The first thing to do is to instruct your men who travel in this radius to get this particular paper every day and see the personal or commercial columns. Give each man a number or a letter and let each man of the office who may correspond with the traveling men have a number or letter for identification purposes, then adopt some simple code. There is sure to come a time when you want to communicate with one of your men and you do not know just where to telegraph or write him. It is in such emergencies that this means of communication becomes invaluable. You may insert a short notice in the commercial column for about the price of a telegram, and it is bound to meet the eyes of your men early in the fol- lowing day — in most cases, before noon. This idea has been used successfully by a number of large Chicago firms. A NEWSPAPER BUSINESS BUILDER WHICH MAY BE APPLIED TO OTHER LINES. Some of the large daily newspapers find the following method very successful in building up a large country cir- culation. When it is necessary for a traveling man to visit a town, one of the most important features of his work is the filling in of an assignment blank. This blank provides in detail for a listing of circulation figures of all competitive papers entering the town. It is often very sa;.es promotion 197 difficult to get this information, but a good man will sel- dom fall down. These assignment reports are forwarded to the office immediately the work in the town is com- pleted and the information is transferred to a card which is filed geographically. From these cards a report is made up monthly or semi- yearly showing the percentage of circulation of the vari- ous papers in the towns visited, according to population. It is easily seen where the paper is strong and where it is weak. It shows at a glance where it is outclassed by other papers. If the weakness shows in the small towns, a special offer will doubtless be made to postmasters or some similar scheme will be put out immediately. If the large towns and cities are falling off, a force of can- vassers may be put to work. At any rate, in showing the weakness or strength, the system itself has done its work and in case of any loss of business, it only remains to apply the remedy. CHAPTER XXI. A SOLICITOR'S CAMPAIGN. How to Hire the Men — How to Drill Them. Business Getting Systems. THE man who must handle a force of ten to fifty solicitors in an organized city canvass is a hero every day in the year. He is surely living the strenuous life. Anyone who has in any way ever been connected with the work of a soliciting organization will readily appreciate the truth of these remarks. There is always a great demand for a good solicitor. It is next to impossible to secure a good man and to keep him. As a general rule, the men making up such a force are usually those unfortunates who find themselves "down and out" for the time being and are willing to take up any sort of a proposition to keep going. As soon as they get on their feet, no matter how well they may be doing in their present position, they strike out for other things. Then, again, there is the broken-down salesman, perhaps a very good man in his day but, through faults of his own, has been pushed down the ladder to a point where he can get nothing better than house-to-house work. He has the ability and, in a few days, can do as much as most other men can do in a week. This is the very type that makes SALES PROMOTION WO the promotion man's position the hardest kind of a propo- sition. On account of these facts, it is nearly impossible to "size up" your applicants for good or for bad. The man whom you will often pick out for being a perfect "dub" may turn out to be the star of your force. Again, the man with the best recommendations, the man who has sold everything from life insurance to pianos, may fall down miserably in selling your proposition. Nearly all of these people need ready money and it is difficult to get them to go to work except on a guarantee. In a large city, to give them a guarantee is almost equivalent to inviting failure. It is an easy matter for a man in a large city to get a guarantee from a half dozen firms at once and be working them all together. So the only feasi- ble plan is to pay on a commission or on a salary and com- mission basis. On a strictly commission basis, the men are not bound as closely to you as they should be, therefore, a salary and commission basis is preferable. The following scheme of arranging a salary and commission basis has been found time and again to be the best possible means for hiring solicitors. Fix a minimum salary which will be allowed everyone, regardless of their past work, recommendations, or ambitions. Have it strictly understood that this mini- mum salary will not be paid unless some business is secured every day. According to the nature of your proposition, determine on the minimum amount of busi- ness which must be secured before the man is entitled to a" guarantee. This minimum should be averaged — i. e., a poor day may be evened up with a good day, to be fair to your men. The minimum guarantee that you allow 200 SALES PROMOTION should be slightly more than your regular commission proposition to give the men the idea that it is really a bona fide guarantee you are making. Of course, you will allow commissions on everything above the minimum amount of business. It is well that a simple form of agreement be prepared and whenever you hire a man have him sign this to avoid complications pay day. So much for hiring the men. CREW WORK vs. INDIVIDUAL EFFORT. Unless your new man is perfectly familiar with your proposition, he should spend at least one day in the office studying it out carefully before going into the field. You should have printed talking points and a goodly supply of literature to help him get the best possible idea of what he is about. He should be carefully coached as to filling out order blanks, contract forms and other details of his work. He should be given a good talk by the promotion manager as to keeping in territory, reporting regularly and in other ways maintaining the rules of the organiza- tion. If he is to work under a crew manager, he must be instructed in the methods used in your force. If he is to go out in an individual territory alone, you should tell him as much as possible about the territory. In a well organized canvass, maintaining a force of 25 to 50 solicitors, especially in large cities, the crew method will be found to be about the only successful one that can be adopted. With the calibre of men available for such work, it is suicidal to put them out individually. Some managers will argue that their proposition will not allow of an independent crew manager on account of the ex- pense. A thorough test of all methods of handling solici- SALES PROMOTION 201 a a > a a ■ T RBCT o V) O EU E tn z iZ a tn < B] i.aaM±fi o u z Q Q a a < S Q EU et 3 u u tfl tn at u a ee o 202 SALES PROMOTION tors in the field will convince almost any manager that, in putting out crews of five to eight men, it is worth while to have a man at the head who will do nothing but look after the men in the field, keep them in territory, verify their orders and in general maintain the discipline of the crew. The result will be a saving of territory, sav- ing of orders, elimination of fake orders and general development of the solicitor. Where only small crews are allotted to the crew manager, he is very often expected to do work himself and thus the expense of hav- ing a crew manager is practically nothing. In inaugurating a canvass, a good map should be secured of the territory to be canvassed. This should be marked into districts. Cards should be prepared for each district, something like the illustration shown herewith. These cards should be given out to the crew manager according as he needs more territory and should be reported back by him when the territory has been can- vassed. These cards should show the work actually acoomplished in the district, the time required to work it and the number of men engaged at the time. The cards should be filed according, to district and thus may be referred to at any time, at a moment's notice. Such a method will provide for a good check on the crew mana- ger and the men and will prevent eating up territory without getting the maximum results. In the actual work in the field it is a good plan to have the men work around the block instead of straight down a street, and to have men work opposite each other. This makes it easier for a crew manager to follow his men and, furthermore, serves as an incentive for the men to work harder. There is bound to be some rivalry among the SALES PROMOTION 203 men, and where they work opposite each other in this way they will try to at least keep even in the amount of busi- ness secured. VERIFYING ORDERS. It is generally a poor plan to have the solicitor collect the amount of the order. Not only does it injure his chances of getting the maximum amount of business, but is a great temptation to the ordinary solicitor and will often prove the ruination of a really good business getter. One good scheme is to have the solicitor collect a small deposit which will serve as a verification of the order and the amount of the deposit may be gauged to tally with the solicitor's commission on the order, so there will be no chance of peculation. The best plan, however, is to have the solicitor merely secure a signed order and to have the verification done by a third person. If you have a crew manager in the field with the solicitors who is doing no work himself in the way of securing orders, it is the best possible scheme to have him collect and verify as fast as the orders are secured. Solicitors may report to him at specified times during the day and, where collections can- not be made immediately, it is an easy matter for the crew manager to collect and verify on subsequent days. Such a scheme will do away with "take-outs" and "hold-overs" and will prevent losing many an order from "change of mind" which so often occurs when verification is left for three or four days after taking of the order. Orders that do not verify are, of course, deducted from the salary or commission of the solicitor and careful record should be made of these. It is a good plan to give the solicitor all such orders in list form, so that he may satisfy himself as to the work of the verifier. This is 204 SALES PROMOTION very important, for where the solicitor has no check on turn-down orders, he is very often apt to be incensed at the verification department and such a feeling between two departments is not conducive toward the promotion of your business. SALES PROMOTION 205 INDEX A Advertising 7, 12, 54 Advertising Records 24 Agency Organization 186 Agency Reports 193 Agency Troubles 198 B. Bad Risks 146 "Barometer" Card 168 "Born Salesmen" 139 C. "Cold Feet" 110 Commission Sides 34 Consumer, The 150 Courage 110 Credit Report 47 Credit Sales 43, 146 Crew Work 200 D. Departmental System 154 Diagram of Method 13 Dress 148 E. "Easy Pay" Plow '. 41 Employing 63 Expenses 90 206 SALES PROMOTION F. Forward 4 Follow Up 20, 181 Follow Up Card 26 G. Getting Agents 192, 198 Good Nature 53, 57, 66 Graft .' 93 H. Hard Work 67 High Prices 109 Honesty 98 House and Salesmen 78 I. Instalment Plans 38, 41 Instalment Report 47 Intemperance 81 Introduction 5 K. Kicks on Prices 109 L. Limitations of Advertising 11 M. Mail Orders 15 Man 62 Mannerism 131 •O. On The Road 86 Organizing an Agency 186 SALES PROMOTION 207 P. Personal Appearances *. . 148 Personal Follow-Ups 181 Professional Salesmanship 123 Prospects 26 R. Record of Replies 24 Record of Follow-Up 26 Report of Calls 100 Retail Merchants 32, 52 S. Sales Manager 70 Salesman's Creed 99 Salesman's System 153 Sales System 162 System, The 153 T. Tact 110, 131 Territory 116 The Man 62 Traveling Men 86 Traveling Salesman's System 162 THE OFFICE LIBRARY Each Volume Bound Uniforinly with this Book nsSn "Thome's Twentieth Century Book-keeping and Business Practice," . . $ 3.00 "Manufacturing Cost," . ._ . 2.00 "The Credit Man and His Work," . 2.00 "Burdick's Business Law," . . . 2.00 "Commercial Conespondence," . . . 2.00 "Business Short Cuts," ... 1.00 Special Rates, on the Full Set, on Application THE BOOK-KEEPER PUBLISHING COMPANY, LTD. DETROIT, MICniQAN