HaU Qlollegc of Agricultu« At QlnrneU UniUErsltH atljaca, 5J. 1. Htbrarg Cornell University Library HF 5386.P5 Personality in business . 3 1924 013 693 498 B Cornell University S Library The original of tliis bool< is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013693498 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS DEVELOPING BUSINESS POWER THROUGH PERSONALITY HOW PERSONAL FORCE DOMINATES m BUSINESS A. W. SHAW COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK LONDOK 191S Copyright, 1&08. by The System Company Entered at Stationers* Hall in Great Britain, 1909, by The System Company Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1909, by The System Company at the Department of Agriculture Entered according to the Act of Parliament of the United Commonwealth of Australia in the year 1909, by The System Company Copyright in Germany, 1909, by The System Company Copyright in France, 1900, by The System Company Copyright in Mexico, 1900, by The System Company Under the Title "The Business Man's Library" — ^Vol. IX (Trade-mark Registered) PREFACE Why do you buy from a certain salesman when others offer prices and qualities equally goodf Or give one buyer a lower figure or swifter service than others conunand? Why does the purchasing public put its confi- dence in one mercantile house— or take the name of a particular manufacturer as trade-mark and guarantee — above all competitors? Why do some employers get team work and un- ceasing individual effort from their organization— em- ployees feeling that they are part of the firm, saying "we" When discussing the house's activities, giving themselves to the business as though it were their own 1 One reason for all these results— Personality. The employer with personality multiplies himself in his organization, makes his employees a unified force dominated by his individual ends and ideals. The salesman or buyer who has personal power wins trust in himself and his goods or gets your best prices, se- cures your earliest deliveries. The house which im- presses its personality on every transaction with its customers grows into their confidence, makes of each a friend, transforming that intangible element "good will" into a definite asset. For personality in business breeds initiative in em- ployees-, it is the energizing spirit of the organization, the basis of confidence within and without, the un- faiOng foundation of permanent growth. iii iv PREFACE What personal power means in business — what it can accomplish in building, molding, speeding up an organization — in creating new markets and clinching hold on existing ones — in establishing touch and per- fect sympathy with customers — how it can be gener- ated in every department, cultivated in every employee, made to check and illuminate every process of manu- facturing and selling — is told here in successive chap- ters by the greatest executives and builders in Amer- ican industry and trade — • men who have discovered how to repeat themselves a thousandfold in their or- ganizations and realize how large personality figures in the sum of their success. THE PUBLISHERS. CONTENTS PART I — MAN POWER IN BUSINESS ORGANIZATION Chapter Page I. The ELEMENxa op Personal Power 3 A. Montgomery Ward, President, Montgomery Ward & Co. n. The Basis of Pebsonautt 13 m. What Ppi^'^nalitt in Business Can Accom- plish 14 Frederic W. Upham, President, City Fuel Co., Chicago IV The Grip on the Day's Work 19 V Keeping in Touch with a Business 20 Edward D. Easton, President, American Grapho- phone Co., and Columbia Phonograph Co. VT. Personal Basis op Success 25 Henry C. Lytton, President, The Hub Vn. The Goal op Personal Effort 26 Andrew Carnegie, Founder, The Carnegie Steel Co. Vm. The Direction of Personality 34 Henry Siegel, President, Siegel, Cooper & Co. EX. The Guiding Force in Personality 35 William T. Stead, Late Editor, Review of Reviews PART II — PERSONALITY IN HANDLING MEN X. Injecting Personality into an Organization. . 43 Clarence M. WooUey, President, The American Radiator Co. XL The JMan Behind the System 51 XII. The Personal Touch with Employees 52 William A. Field, Superintendent, South Chicago Works, IlUnois Steel Co. Xin. Development of Personality 58 John V. parwell Sr., Founder, John V. Farwdl Company V CONTENTS Chapter XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. Page Securing Co-Operation by Personal Interest 59 George H. Barbour, First Vice-President and General Manager, Michigan Stove Co. What Executive Ability Is 65 Edwin A. Potter, Former President, American Trust & Savings Bank The Men Behind the Guns or Business 66 Richard W. Sears, Founder, Sears, Roebuck &Co. Personal Initiative 70 Personality as Related to Organization 71 James Logan, First Vice-President and General Manager, United States Envelope Co. PART III — PERSONALITY IN ADVERTISING AND SELLING xrx. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. xxvin. XXIX. Building Up a Business Personality 77 Ben E. Hamoton, Feeling the Public Pulse 81 The Voice op the House 82 James H. Collins The Power op Concentration 89 Public Opinion op a Corporation's Person- ality 90 Daniel T. Pierce Harnessed Energy 99 How Personal Activity Helps Business In- terests 100 Truman A. De Weese, Director of Publicity, The Natural Food Co. A Salesman's Personalitt Ill Herbert S. Collins A Salesman's Grip on His Customers' Person- ality 112 Henry M. Hyde, PersONAILTTy in Retail Clerks 119 Thomas J. Considine, Manager, Browning, King &Co. The Personal Element in an Advertising Campaign 120 C. W. Lansing CONTENTS vu Chapter Page XXX. Policy-Shaking with Retail Clerks 129 Arthur B. Levy, of Levy Brothers & Co. XXXI. Building Up Wholesale Ccstomehs 130 James Germain PART IV — THE HUMAN TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS XXXII. Personal Relations Between Clerks and Customers 141 Philip A. Conne, Secretary and Treasurer, Saks &Co. XXXIII. Personal Touch with Bank Patrons 144 R. R. Moore, President, New Amsterdam Na- tional Bank of New York XXXIV. Making Friends for a Business 145 Edwin W. Moore, President, The Electric Cable Co. XXXV. Overcoming Obstacles 154 XXXVI. Winning the Good Will op Customers 155 George H. Barbour, First Vice-President and General Manager, Michigan Stove Co. XXXVII. Enthusiasm in Action 158 XXXVIII. Personality in Handling Wholesale Credits 159 Harlow N. Higinbotham, President, The Na- tional Grocer Co. XXXIX. Concentration of Personality 173 D. Lome McGibbon, General Manager, Cana- dian Rubber Co. XL. Personality in Handling Retail Customers. . 174 Daniel Vincent Casey XLI. Resolution and Accomplishment 185 XLII. Personality in Correspondence 186 C. L. Pancoast XLIII. Self-confidence in Business 193 XLIV. Building Up Retail Customers 194 Sheridan H. Graham PART I MAN POWER IN BUSINESS ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I THE ELEMENTS OF PERSONAL POWER BY A. MONTGOMERY WARD President, Montgomery Ward d Company Just as a firm's reputation is summed up in its personal name, so is the personal power of all its em- ployees summed up in the personal power of the firm itself. That personal power determines sooner or later the firm's success or failure. It may begin with one man, but it never ends there. It is true that one man's name frequently stands for all the rest. A. T. Stewart's name stood for a great commercial institution employing an army of buyers and sellers, and for a great commercial success. It was the personal guarantee to thousands of people of Stewart treatment, Stewart honor, Stewart merchan- dizing, but it was Stewart personality expressed in his employees that made Stewart a great man. He had principles. He had ideas. He had personal magnetism. He impressed his principles, his ideas, his magnet- ism upon his associates, and they impressed them upon the vast concourse of people who bought of A. T. Stewart because he was A. T. Stewart. Stewart personality was duplicated, radiated, ramified through the people employed. Through them it reached out to influence an enormous purchasing constituency. Each customer who came to the store 3 4 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS felt it was Stewart personality that was expressed in the policy that governed the selling, and each one who wrote in to order goods felt Stewart personality in the reply that came in the shape of the letter of acknowl- edgment and the goods. This is the primary personality of business— the dnn founder or head whose name stands for its policy. And around the personality is built up the organization which expresses that personal power in all the firm's transactions. Thus we find Carnegie founding the steel trust. He throws Carnegie personality into the organization. Carnegie power goes in also. Carnegie guarantee like- wise—and we find the steel trust's girders and beams labeled not "United States Steel Corporation," but "Carnegie." Now, that personality of his influences every em- ployee, stimulates every manager, creates duplication of each good idea upon the broadest plane until each part of the great combination is enjoying the best that each other part has, and finally finds imperishable ex- pression in that lettering on the steel framework of the enormous buildings and bridges and elevated structures which are a greater monument to Carnegie than his libraries. What is it that constitutes Carnegie personality? Much of it is common to all great men— for in- stance, optimism. Carnegie is a man of great hope and _ .. . courage. He sees great things to do. He Optimism aa ^ o o a Basis of believes they can be done. He goes ahead PersonaUty ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^g^^ jj^ i^gpij-gs others with great hope, great courage and great achievement. Probably not a healthy and intelligent citizen of this country who can read and write, but who feels he A. MONTGOJIBRY WARD 5 can do greater things because of what Carnegie has ione and enabled others to do. These qualities of hope, optimism, courage, are common to Stewart, Hill, Lincoln, Washington, Glad- stone—any great man you can mention; and they are common to millions of men you cannot mention because they are unknown, but yet are doing great things. They are common to thousands of employees in great commercial establishments — to buyers, to sales- men, to managers, to stenographers, to shippers, to wagon drivers, to cashiers, to office boys. This is the great blessing of our age and day. The attributes of men like Carnegie, Stewart, Lincoln, are made known to the masses and are duplicated today in every walk of life. Enormous organizations, instead of crushing the personal, have made it stronger, recognized it, stimu- lated it, advertised it, banked on it, rewarded it. Carnegie has made millionaires of a whole bat- talion of his yoimg lieutenants. He has made man- agers of thousands of men who worked in the ranks. He has offered books, education, emancipation from manual labor to millions more. He has said to his employees: "Give the world the best in you. The world will reward you. If we are your world we will reward you. If not, you will find equal reward no matter what line you go into." I use Carnegie's name not to specialize him, but because he represents the fact that we all recognize- namely, that we want more of the personal power in business. We all know that each establishment depends on the personal power of every man employed by it. It cannot make an exception of a single man or boy. 6 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS woman or girl. Each has personal power to do the firm harm or to help it. Take the chain of facts that are associated with merchandizing. There is first the buying. That is in The Place of *^^ hands of buyers who must depend on Personal Force their own personal judgment. They must "1 nyine have tremendous personal power. That power must be of various kinds. It must be mental, to enable them to study up styles, sizes, colors, demand, special lines. It must be moral, to enable them to re- sist temptation. Every buyer has all manner of tempta- tion thrown in his path. He is invited to dine, to the theater, to smoke, drink, drive, at the expense of those who wish to sell him goods. He is given the chance to make a few dollars on the side. He is always in line to receive presents sent out to his house or his hotel. He is the subject of keenest study by those who sell. They size him up, A to Z. If he has a weak spot they will find it. And if he has powerful personality his weak spot will show in his selections. He will fail to buy what will sell best, miss it on quality or price or style, or something that he would not have missed it on if his personality had been strong enough to keep the seller at a distance and pass upon his purchases solely by his own judgment. He must also be physically strong. A man physically weak is at a disadvantage always when he comes in contact with robust personalities. We all know these things to be true. We see it every day. The buyer's personality must also be secretive. He must keep his ideas to himself. He must not throw open his mind to those he is dealing with. He must resist every effort to penetrate his inner man. He must be cautious, suspicious, self-confident. A. MONTGOMERY WARD 7 He is buying not to please those he deals with, but the millions of people all over the country and in foreign countries who will eventually judge us by the personality of the buyer worked out into goods for the home, the person, the dairy, the farm. He does not come in direct contact with these customers of ours— but we wish he could. We like him to feel they are his customers and that he is personally responsible to them. That helps Giving Em- -^^ ^^^ helps them. That is why we ployeeB a have some of our buyers write their own Direct Interest advertising, setting forth the reasons why they have bought certain goods and signing the advertisements with their own names. That not only gives the buyer the direct personal interest we want him to have in his work, but it gives the purchaser the feeling that he or she is not buying from a big im- personal mail order establishment, but that we are still a personality or a group of them, no matter how many millions the business may totalize. The goods bought and the process of selling them begun, the power of personality enters into the cor- respondence and the advertising. You will find a page or so of personal talk from myself to the people who buy of us, many of whom I feel are my personal friends, many of whom I have met personally or writ- ten to personally and millions of whom have personalis visited us here in Chicago. It is their confidence that has built the business. I impress upon everyone who writes a letter or meets a customer the fact that we are doing business with people personally and not im: personally. We want every letter that goes out to be person, ally written. We want it to have the personality of 8 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS the firm in it and the personality of the writer. We would like to have the stenographers and typewriters take a personal interest in these letters. Perhaps, if they did, they would not so frequently make us feel that they regard themselves as machines instead of personalities. It now takes about fifteen letter inspectors to read the letters that go out of here daily and detect mis- takes that would never occur if each stenographer would look upon her work as something personal, striv- ing to understand as well as transcribe what is said. As it is, lack of personal interest is responsible for over a hundred and fifty letters daily being rejected by the inspectors and rewritten by the typists. Promotion is not very rapid for those who make these mistakes, and yet promotion is what we seek more strenuously than even our employees do! In a business growing as fast as this is there is plenty of promotion for all who will show personal interest and personally qualify themselves for higher places. In cheerful contrast to the lack of personal in- terest of the few is the enthusiasm and eagerness A B t Th t shown by the many. I am thinking par- Was More Than ticularly of young men who have banked Made Good strongly on the personal and won out. They are found all through the place, but several heads of departments stand out conspicuously as demonstrating the value of those qualities which we find in Carnegie and Lincoln— optimism and self-con- fidence. "I am going to make it a half -million this year,''' said the head of our furniture department one day. He had not touched the quarter-million mark then. I liked his talk. A. MONTGOMERY WARD 9 I have watched the effect of such talk. It sounds 'arge. It is frequently condemned. Our furnitui'e man got the half-million all right, but before he got it he was talking a million, and before he got that he was talking a million and a half, and thence onward so fast that he never had time to remember his previous goals before he had gone entirely past them. You see, men who talk that way have to make good or be humiliated. Their boastful words would be hard to swallow in case of failure. So they lie awake nights thinking how to win, get down early and hustle. The whole place gets full of the infection. The other departments wake up and enter the race. And the result is a heavy gain all along the line and a fine esprit de corps that keeps things on the go. See the people entering our place any day. They may be from Arizona or Mexico or Australia. They may never have been in town before, may have been buying of us for years and always wanted to come up and see what we look like. The minute they come in the door there is a personal welcome for them. A man is on duty with a pleasant personal greeting, a friendly way of telling them where to find what they want and the art of making them feel that the per- sonality the customer has been banking on all these years is right here and all over the place, expressed in every employee and just as real as the goods we sell. There is a young man making out refund vouch- ers. He wants the customer to sit right down along- L ttin C - ^^^^ ^^® *^^^^ ^°*^ ^^* acquainted. There tomers on is a row of chairs by the desk. He is the Inside ^^ad to have the customer see the whole process. There is nothing secret about our bookkeep- ing. The whole place is wide open. Everything is 10 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS simple and plain. There are no mysteries or cere- monies. The firm is out in the open. We don't be- lieve in getting behind the wall. Now this is not policy merely. It is the real footing we have. Our customers are our friends, and we want them to feel we are glad to see them. There are desks out in the office with names of employees on them. Why not? We want them to fee] they do not sink their personalities when they come with us. They find that we are looking for person- ality, even in the packing departments. Go in there and you will find our packers taking almost as much personal interest in each box or bundle they make up as those who will receive it. You will find that spirit all through the place, for pprsonal enthusiasm has its reward. It takes the form of tangible appreciation. That means more money and better positions. We do not know of any substitute for that. Employees cannot be convinced that personal attention to busi- ness, learning personally how to promote the interests of the firm, exhibiting personal power applied to our success, is worth while unless we show personal in- terest in them. Turkeys and baskets at Christmas, payment for overtime, advancement as fast as justified, convince employees they are part of our success, and thus make them feel like proving we are right in our policy. They get to think pretty much alike along the lines of optimism, hope, courage and get a good deal of happiness out of their work. They see that it is a personal proposition all through, from the general policy of treating each customer the best we know how, money back if wanted, goods lost in shipment A. MONTGOMERY WARD 11 replaced and all that, down to the specific policy of personal success for each person who works for us. They get their ideas of personal force in business by an unconscious process of absorption. They start Em lo ^^ feeling possibly that we are a big con- from City cern that has not time or inclination to and Country \^Qt]^ej. about the personal side of things at all. The average city employee comes in usually with a deep sense of personal injury and regards work as something to be endured, but never to be enjoyed. That is because the city is so vast and so im- personal that it crushes out personality in its young people. The average country employee comes with the feeling that there is no success possible without per- sonally deserving it and working for it, and that, if it is paid for in loyalty, fidelity and hard work, it will be delivered. But even the country employee does not believe he or she will count much personally. After a while it dawns on them that the personal side does count, that we do take notice and work for those who work for us. They see we do not watch to detect weak spots, but that we do find out the strong spots while the undeserving fall by the wayside of their own weight. Thus each employee discovers his or her personality in making a success or failure for that employee and also for us. It does not take long to drive truth into in- telligent minds. They see that those who deplete their energies with late hours and dissipation come down late and indifferent to their work- they are sour, snappy, self- condemnatory. They see those who lead reasonable lives store up energy, develop geniality, make friends, do things and 12 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS get ahead. They see that it is all personal from habits, clothing, language, to morals and brains. They see the high salaried ones are those of the best personality. They see that selling goods, manag- s It ^^^ people, writing advertisements — all of a Good depend on personal force and thus per- Exampie sonal force becomes inculcated, along with the feeling that right personality expressed in a sys- tem reaches out for vast results and is endorsed by the dollars and confidence of the millions. So no matter how large the business grows, it is always an expression of personal force, just as the personal force of a nation is the sum total of the per- sonal force of its people. We believe that our customers and employees feel that our business is as much a matter of personality today as it was in the beginning. Behind each trans- action is personal guarantee, and we trust that behind each customer is personal interest in the growth and the perfecting of a system that seeks to interpret the personal desires of each man, woman and child who deals with it. Thus its policy is a composite of the ideas of all its customers, expressing their will in all its under- takings, while its increase and success are, we believe, as much matters of personal pride and gratification to our patrons as they are to ourselves and our employees. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 13 CHAPTER II THE BASIS OF PERSONALITY Initiative, Power, Control — the three ruling fac- tors in business personality. And the greatest of these is Control. Control over self that keeps the judgment keen and the mind undisturbed through the heights of hope and the depths of discouragement — Control over men that holds some at a distance and brings others near; that inspires all to their best efforts for the business — Control over the affairs of business that brooks no lack of system, no waste of effort, no neglect of opportunity, but accomplishes results in- evitably, relentlessly — That is the source of Mental Grasp — the basis of Personal Power. CHAPTER III WHAT PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CAN AC- COMPLISH BY FREDERIC W. UPHAM President^ City Futl Company, Chicago Personality furnishes the keynote to every busi- ness proposition. More than that, it is the cardinal element in every enterprise. Men, not money, are the determining factors in commercial and industrial un- dertakings. Of course, you cannot do business without capital ; but the brains, the energy, the judgment with which the capital is used really settle the success of the un- dertaking in hand. Money and securities are the am- munition of business. The battle for success cannot be fought without these, but the main question after all is: what is the ability of the men behind the guns? Let me illustrate this point, upon which I can scarcely place too much emphasis, by citing the case of two banks. They have the same amount of capital and of surplus, the same legal standing, the same limitations, the same field of business, and equal op- portunity in a general way. One of these banks has $50,000,000 deposits, against $25,000,000 for the other. The volume of other business shows the same ratio of difference. What ac- counts for this marked difference in the patronage and profits? There is but one answer: the personnel 14 FREDERIC W. UPHAM 15 of the two institutions. The men at the desks and the counters of the more successful bank are adepts in the art of getting business, doing business and keeping business. They know how to appeal to public favor and confidence in a way that the executives of the other institution have failed to master. This is what makes their profits twice as large as those of their competitor and puts double the market value on their shares of capital stock. This line of reasoning applies with equal force to almost every form of enterprise, and to practically every kind of business proposition. Of course, there are other elements— and im- portant ones, too. These should not be overlooked, but it still remains true that when you have the right perspective on the personnel connected with a business proposition, you have in most cases, the dominating elements necessary to a sound decision. There are, however, many phases which must be considered, even when you do not go beyond this one Jndement of factor in the problem before you. First Men Based on comes the question of the veracity, the xpenence moral standing, the personal character of the men connected with the proposition under con- sideration. Next comes the problem of their individual experience and knowledge in relation to the special enterprise in which you are interested. On a timber proposition, for instance, the judgment of a superan- nuated sawmill hand is worth more than that of a ranchman who has made a million-dollar fortune in raising range cattle. Add to the element of adapted experience that of individual perception. Are the men associated with the proposition gifted with the discrimination to sift 16 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS the wheat from the chaff? Have they, in the first place, the keenness of perception to see the weak spots of a proposition before committing themselves to it? And also are they shrewd enough to steer clear of breakers when once embarked in an enterprise? The man who is able successfully to analyze a business proposition must not only have this faculty himself, but he ■will take good care not to associate himself with others who are lacking in this vital equipment. In other words, a man may be thoroughly upright, of the highest personal character, and have had years Ability to See °^ experience in the very lines of the Below the undertaking which he presents, yet, if he ^^ ^"^ has not this ability to discern those more hidden influences which will naturally operate for suc- cess or failure of his project, he is not a safe man as an associate in the enterprise which he himself is putting forward. He lacks the faculty, which, for the lack of a better name, may be called business imagination —the ability mentally to project himself into the future and to call before his vision the more subtle and illusive influences which will vitally affect the suc- cess of the undertaking. This kind of perception makes millionaires. Again, the age of the active man connected with any business project should always be taken into con- sideration. The familiar maxim of "old men for coun- sel" is all right, but it should never be separated from its twin, "young men for war." The probable tenure of service of the men responsibly connected with any project should first be as carefully considered by the investor as by the insurance company which has re- duced the problems of mortality to a science. Per- sonally, I would scarcely consider any business pro- FREDERIC W. UPHAM 17 ject the success of which must depend upon the work of men past the meridian of life. The question of the period in which they may reasonably be expected to remain in the harness is too often overlooked. So important are all these various phases of the personal equation in connection with a business propo- sition that I scarcely feel it necessary to touch upon other points. With me this is the governing factor, although it must always be considered in connection with the more material factors. According to my ex- perience and observation, it is here that the average investor is most likely to score a mistake. Here care and judgment will generally lead to a fairly correct analysis of the financial basis of any business proposi- tion, but a correct understanding and judgment of the personal element is more difficult and requires a finer faculty of discernment. A business enterprise that is a little weak in its finances, but very strong in the personality of the men behind the guns, is in better situation than if strong financially and weak in personnel. So far as the means of getting to the bottom of any business proposition on its first presentation is T . .X. «.v concerned, I have never seen a sounder or Let the Other ... . „ j i ii, Man Do the more discrimmatmg rule ot conduct tnan Talking ^jjg^^ lajj ^^.^^ by -^ T penton, presi- dent of the Chicago Clearing House Association, in a recent article. "Let the other man do the talking," declared Mr. Penton, and the maxim is worthy of repetition and emphasis. When the promoter of a business proposition is thrown upon his own con- versational resources, he is generally given a novel experience, which leads him eventually to disclose those points which he had not intended to bring to the 18 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS surface. If the man who is being interviewed feels it necessary to bring forth questions, he will usually get better results by deferring his interrogations until the second interview. Then he should take the initiative and prosecute his probing with rapid, decisive and leading questions, not forgetting to introduce some in- quiries which must, in the very nature of things, be unexpected on the part of the person presenting the proposition. The average business man does not take careful stock of his mental processes, but acts upon instinct and impulse; consequently it is difficult for him to trace the maneuvers by which he arrives at a con- elusion. But so far as I am able to do this in my own ease, the steps may be summarized in the brief state- ment: "Be sure that you understand the personal equation connected with the proposition. Let the othe* man do the talking." PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 19 CHAPTER IV THE GRIP ON THE DAY'S WORK Every department of your factory or store needs you six days a week. Not your bodily presence so much as your personality — the convection that the slightest slump in sales, output, quality of product will bring the chief pounding down to find the sticking point and fix the blame. The only way to hold this belief in you at its legitimate work of earning profits is to keep in touch — to know your business. You cannot do this by looking over your balance sheet once a month at a weathered oak desk in the front office. You want detailed, bed-rock facts and first hand news of what is happening at your lathes, your counters, your shipping-room — down on the firing line where profit and loss never quit quarreling. CHAPTER V KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH A BUSINESS BY EDWARD D. EASTON President, The American Oraphophone Company and Columbia Phonograph Company The active head of a manufacturiug concern should know more of his business than is to be learned from the department managers. Possibly in some lines of industry the cost of time and capital necessary to keep the existing situation within twenty-four hours of ^he present would not justify the result. Perhaps this knowledge would be of sufficient creative value to more than pay for itself. Still, it is difficult for me to understand how some business men believe they are speaking authentically when quoting from reports com- piled six months or a year ago and are content to refer to these when considering the present condition of their business. If the ship you are on goes down at sea, you may be extremely sorry for yourself that you are drowned, but you can't do much about it then. You will no doubt have a fighting chance, even after affairs reach the stage that they attract your attention; still you may not be able to find the leak in time or it may have grown so large as to be past control. I have found it more satisfactory to so systematize my work that the weak spot is evident long before the leak would appear — this leaves me the strength that 20 EDWARD D. EASTON 21 some men put into a losing fight and expend on the defensive to devote to the initiative. Today it is not possible for me to make so many wide visits to our sales depots as was formerly my cus- tom, for now they compass the globe. Still, my per- sonal inspection goes on by means of the cable, the tele- graph and the telephone, and with the aid of these I cover the field every twenty-four hours. When I go to our Bridgeport factory each week I put in my time in the shops, going from one depart- Persoual ment to another. There, is much to be Inspection of learned from observing your workmen . Factory ^^^ ^^^^ talking with them. There is much to be seen at each visit to your own factory that you have not seen before. The factory office, as I have said, demands none of my time, for its reports reach my desk each morning telling the amount of progress made up to the hour of closing the night before. The factory report is really an inventory — a daily inventory— for it tells the amount of raw material on hand, the quantities of the various parts, completed and ready for the assembling department, the number of machines turned out, the shipments made and the orders unfilled. From the European offices I receive a cipher cablegram each morning. The code is such that a few words will give the gist of the entire busi- ness and the local situation at the hour of closing the night before. Prom the Pacific coast offices the same cipher is used in telegraphing conditions there. The one and two day offices— I speak of them in this way to indicate the time it takes them to reach my desk- use the regular report blanks. For this reason Chicago and St. Louis are only up to date on Monday of each week. 22 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS All of these reports, both from factory and sales offices, come to me for personal review and something unusual must occur to keep me from having completed this task before noon of each day. They forfn the basis of much of my communication with the various offices and factory and any condition out of the ordi- nary is recognized at once. The fact, known to our representatives scattered throughout the commercial world, that I am aware of whatever progress each man is making and that all are constantly up for comparison with their associates stimulates them to their best endeavor. They know they must stay on the firing line, that there are no entrenchments thrown up but what they make them- selves. They cannot go on dress parade for half the month with the idea of doubling up the work the latter half in time to make a showing at the end of the month. The showing must come at the end of each day. Once a year I go to Europe to see what is down in the basements and at the back end of the salesrooms. . I enjoy keeping as close a personal ac- of Foreign quaintance with all of my sales managers Salesrooms ^^^ ^j^^gg under them as possible. Once each year I go to the Pacific coast for the same reason that I make the trip to Europe. Throughout the cen- tral and eastern states I make the rounds much often- er, not only because it is possible to do so, but I feel that the more complex the business conditions existing the greater the care needed in their handling. I regret that at the present time I am not ac- quainted with all of our representatives. For years I was able to know them all. There was a time when I could call each employee by name and knew his EDWARD D. EASTON 23 family history, but the increase in their number has made that impossible. On an average of an hour each day I talk over the telephone with those in charge of the factory; every department has a telephone and I urge its use. "Use the telephone," I frequently say; "you will bankrupt us on postage. Time is one of the most val- uable assets you have — save it. When a matter pre- sents itself and you wish to consult with me, make it personal while it is clear in your mind; telephone." The managers of the city offices are accustomed to the same employment of the telephone. Aside from the time saved, it brings me much closer to my men. While the placing of stock in the business does not relate to my personal inspection, it is a matter Diatributioii "^^i^h vitally affects the handling of an of stock in organization. To it is given more con- a Business sideration each year. I believe in keep- ing the stock of the business as much as possible in the hands of those actively interested and familiar with every condition. Many of our employees are stock- holders; it affects their whole relationship toward the business. In our house all of us are accustomed to speak of "my business"; it encourages the individual interest. How impersonal it would have sounded had Smith made the words of our national anthem to read "Our Country, 'Tis of Thee"; yet has anyone thought "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" was written in a spirit of ego- tism? Have the millions who have since repeated the words done so with a feeling other than that of justifi- able personal pride? It is only lately that another dream of mine has been realized. We now have a native of the country 24 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS to represent us as manager in each of our European ofiSces: a Russian at St. Petersburg, a German at Ber- lin, a Frenchman at Paris, an Italian at Rome, and so on through all the countries of the old world. This has taken years to accomplish, but I feel now that we are really established there. Another way in which I inspect the business is through the purchasing department. Every item of ex- pense, outside of the routine disbursements, comes to me before the final order is given. All explanatory items relating to the nature of the expense are con- densed to the last degree. The barest facts that will explain the situation are all that are given and this is carried to such a fine de- gree that I find no difficulty in spending fifteen or twenty thousand dollars in five minutes. It might emphasize an opinion of the eifect a per- sonal inspection of a business has on one's employees to say I believe that if a master walks through his fac- tory with his eyes shut the time is well spent. His mind may be given up to other matters, but the very fact that he is there makes those guilty of negligence un- easy and causes them to go at their work with a greater will. It also gives the industrious a feeling of con- fidence and a desire to keep up their record. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 25 CHAPTER VI PERSONAL BASIS OF SUCCESS BY HENRY C. LYTTON President, The Hub To what extent any business or other enter- prise is successful is dependent primarily upon personality, the central figure in any line of activity. To what extent a personality is successful is dependent upon that personality's application of those policies and methods that serve its ends. A personality is responsible for the success or failure of a business firm largely to the extent by which he is enabled to organize and to con- trol its forces — to install and apply the personal influence in his systems. I have never known of a great business success without a personality. I have never known of a great personality without a system. CHAPTER VII THE GOAL OF PERSONAL EFFORT An Interview Given Herbert N. Casson BY ANDREW CARNEGIE "When you ask me what business really means," said Mr. Carnegie in answer to my question, "I would begin by saying that the root of business must always be service to the community. The real business man is one who furnishes some commodity that the com- munity needs. "Dollar making is not necessarily business. The man who stands in a broker's ofBce, for instance, and watches the tape, is not a business man, but a gambler. What is speculation anyway but a parasite fastened upon the labor of all real business men? It creates nothing. It is the counterfeit of true business. "Some people make a great mistake," he con- tinued, "when they decry the acquisition of wealth. A man must get money before he can give it— isn't that self-evident? He must be egoistic before he is al- truistic. "The lack of money in a community means squalor, ignorance, disease. Look, for example, at the wonderful changes that are now being wrought in some of the southern states through the growth of business. Until recently they had no solid financial basis. There was no capital and no development of natural resources. 26 ANDREW CARNEGIE 27 "Today new railways and fine office structures and homes are being built in these states. Life has been raised to a higher level. Better schools and larger li- braries are being established. And what has been the cause of this transformation? It was not politics. It was business." "What about the modern corporation?" I asked. "Can it manage business more efficiently than an indi- vidual or a government?" "Certainly it can," he replied forcibly. "I believe that franchises should be owned by the public ; but it is a private corporation that can operate a business with the highest degree of success. There are abuses of the corporation system, which will be checked as the years roll on. As long as men continue to think, there will be improvements. But we are on the right track and making fast time." "And to you personally," I said, "what has been the definition of business?" "It has been the means to an end— nothing more," replied the master of a $300,000,000 fortune. T,« w * "How sad it is to see men of great abili- DimcTilt to leave a Life ties who have become so entangled— so of Business absorbed in the affairs of their business that they find it impossible to retire! Tet I do not blame them. It is no easy matter to pull out of a busi- ness when you have given the best years of your life to it. It was hard enough for me, dour Scot as I am; so I know what it means to others. "The only way that a business man can retire and be content, is to prepare himself by taking a lively in- terest, beforehand, in outside affairs. There was a certain leather merchant in an American city who illustrated the reverse of this. He grew rich, retired 28 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS from business, and began to attend banquets and social gatherings. But his wife was troubled to notice that he never took part in any conversation. " 'Why don't you talk, John?' she asked. " 'Good reason why,' said he. 'They never say a word about leather.' "As to whom I would consider the right sort of a business man— there was Peter Cooper. He was a good type. He was always busy, but he kept one eye on money-making and the other on the public welfare. He was a man of many interests. The windows of his brain were not all on one side. And his fortune has been doing good ever since he made it. "Another man in this class was Ezra Cornell. He, too, gave himself with his money. The aim of his life was not wealth, but the founding of a university on such broad lines that it could teach anybody any- thing." A third man whom Mr. Carnegie might have men- tioned was Abram Hewitt. A large photograph of Mr. Hewitt stood upon one of the desks in the library where we sat ; and on a previous occasion he had been pointed out to me as an ideal of high American citizen- ship. Most of the photographs in the library represented men of letters, not men of business. The most promi- D 1 nt ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ °^ *^® English philosopher ofAii-Around of individualism— Herbert Spencer. A Experience ^^^ ^^^^ ^j Shakespeare and another of Burns stood upon the mantelpiece. Upon the walla hung framed souvenirs of gratitude from a score or more of the fifteen hundred cities and towns that had been enriched by his libraries. And above these were written mottos, not one of which referred to business ANDREW CARNEGIE 29 or the gathering of money. The central precept, which strikes the keynote of the others, was the following saymg of a fellow Scot, Sir William Drummond: "He who cannot reason is a fool; "He who will not, a bigot; "He who dare not, a slave." "A business man is called upon to deal with an ever-changing variety of questions," continued Mr. Carnegie. "He must have an all-around judgment based upon knowledge of many subjects. If his opera- tions extend to many countries he must know those countries and also the chief things pertaining to them. His view must be world-wide; nothing can happen of moment which has not its bearing upon his action- political complications at Constantinople; the appear- ance of the cholera in the East; a monsoon in India; the supply of gold at Cripple Creek ; the appearance of the Colorado beetle; the fall of a ministry; the danger of war ; the likelihood of arbitration compelling settle- ment—nothing can happen in any part of the world which he has not to consider. "He must possess one of the rarest qualities— be an excellent judge of men — ^he often employs thou- sands. He must know how to bring the best out of the various characters ; he must have the gift of organiza- tion—another rare gift— must have executive ability; must be able to decide promptly and wisely. "The old prejudice against trade has gone even from the strongholds of Europe. This change has come , . because trade itself has changed. In oldeD Broadening . ° of Ideals of days every branch of business was con' BnsinesB ducted upon the smallest retail scale, and small dealings and small affairs breed small men; be- sides, every man had to be occupied with the details, 30 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS and, indeed, each man traded or manufactured for him- self. The higher qualities of organization and of en- terprise, of broad views and executive ability, were not brought into play. "In our day business in all its branches is con- ducted upon so gigantic a scale that partners of a huge concern are rulers over a domain. The large employer of labor sometimes has more men in his industrial army than the petty German kings had under their banners. "Affairs are now too great to breed petty jeal- ousies, and there is now allied with the desire for gain the desire for progress, invention, improved methods, scientific development and pride of success in these important matters. So the dividend which the busi- ness man seeks and receives today is not alone in dol- lars. He receives with the dollar something better — a dividend in the shape of satisfaction in being instru- mental in carrying forward to higher stages of de- velopment the business which he makes his life work. "I can confidently recommend to you the business career as one in which there is abundant room for the Activity aa a exercise of man 's highest power and of Means of every good quality in human nature. I be- eve opmen lieve the career of the great merchant, or banker, or captain of industry, to be favorable to the de- velopment of the powers of the mind and to the ripen- ing of the judgment upon a wide range of general sub- jects; to freedom from prejudice and the keeping of an open mind. "There may be room for a foolish man in every profession— foolish as a child beyond the range of his particular specialty, and yet successful in that — but no man ever saw a foolish business man successful. If he is without sound, all-around judgment he must fail- ANDREW CARNEGIE 31 "If a young man does not find romance in his business it is not the fault of the business, but the fault of the young man. Consider the wonders, the mys- teries connected with the recent developments in; that most spiritual of all agents— electricity, with its un- known and, perhaps, even unguessed powers. He must indeed be a dull and prosaic young man who, being connected with electricity in any of its forms, is not lifted from humdrum business to the region of the mys- terious. Business is not all dollars. These are but the shell — the kernel lies within and is to be enjoyed later, as the higher faculties of the business man, so con- stantly called into play, develop and mature." "Business to me has been a means to an end." And having accomplished the means Andrew Carnegie Th E d WM h ^^^ reached the goal. In his library, in Carnegie Has which We were sitting, there was nothing Beached ^^ ^j^j^^ which belonged to the parapher- nalia of business. It was the study of a litterateur or a university dean, rather than the ofSee of a steel maker from smoky Pittsburg. There was no telephone — no hurry-scurry of clerks, no clicking of type- writers, no fusillade of telegrams. It was hard to believe that this placid and companionable old man had ever been on the firing line in the war for millions, much less to realize in him the champion warrior of them all. The three subjects upon which his mind was run- ning at the time of my visit had no more connection with business than the flash of a butterfly's wing has with the price of steel rails. The first was golf— he had just returned from a game with a doctor of di- vinity and several other cronies. The second was sim- plified spelling. "I convinced one man this after- 32 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS noon," he said. "I told him to write 'tho' and then to ask himself why, as a rational man, he should add 'ugh' to it. "The fact is," he continued earnestly, "that the pronunciation of many words has changed, and their spelling should be altered to keep pace with these changes. The three final letters in 'though,' which are silent today, were pronounced in a guttural ending several generations ago. Every word, I have no doubt, was originally spelled in the same way thai it was pronounced." The third subject that occupied his mind was a remarkable poem which he had received from a Scot- tish workingman. It was entitled "Me and Andra," and the first verse, which he read to me, ran as fol- lows: "We're puir bit craiturs, Andra, you an' me Ye hae a bath in a marble tub, I dook in the sea. Cafe au lait in a silver joog for breakfast gangs to you; I sup my brose wi' a horn spuin an' eat till I'm full. An' there's nae diflPer, Andra, hardly ony. My sky is as clear as yours, an' the clouds as bonnie ; I whussle a tune thro' my teeth to mysel' that costs nae money." In the quiet of Andrew Carnegie's library, the roar of the Pittsburg furnaces and the clash of the Homestead steel mills have died away. There is no longer any war with the Pennsylvania Railroad — no duel with Frick — no race for Lake Superior ore— no onslaught upon the foreign market. ANDREW CARNEGIE 33 The money- getting is ended, and it may well be; for this one man in his retirement is still receiving The Rewards ^°^^ millions of steel money than any of Business other individual in the vcorld. His pen- " '^ ' sion is not far from forty thousand dol- lars a day— five times as much as the revenue of the monarch of the British empire. Allowing him an eight-hour day, his income during the hour of my con- versation with him was five thousand dollars, as much as the annual salary of a United States senator. This, from the money-making point of view, is what business has meant for Carnegie. He has been the quickest accumulator and the freest spender in the world. Less than fifty years ago he put five or six thousand dollars into the slot of the iron and steel business and he has taken out, for himself and his friends, more than five himdred millions. And yet it is unquestionably true that he has al- ways regarded business as a means to an end. I have seen in the home of one of his Pittsburg schoolmates a brave essay on the problem of labor and capital, writ- ten by Andrew Carnegie at fifteen years of age. I have seen the place where he used to borrow books when he was a telegraph messenger boy. The first thing that he bought with his new wealth was education, and the second was travel. It is therefore nothing but fair tc believe that his fortune, vast as it is, has been used mainly to build a golden stairway by which he has ascended into the literary and philanthropic world. 34 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CHAPTER VIII THE DIRECTION OF PERSONAIJTY BY HENRY SIEGEL President, Siegel, Cooper 6r° Company System and organization are the controlling elements of any large commercial or industrial enterprise — the two reins by which the business bodies are guided. In nearly every sphere of activity are found the elements of skill, enthusiasm and enterprise — qualities that make for success only when they are applied in the right direction. Skill must be directed along proper channels; enthusiasm must be directed to specific ends; enterprise must be organized to meet certain conditions and to attain designated results. And in this co-operation — this working together for the benefit of all concerned — system reaches its highest function. CHAPTER IX THE GUIDING FORCE IN PERSONALITY BY WILLIAM T. STEAD Lale Editor, Review of Reviews Long ago, being provoked by the scoffing comment made by a fellow journalist upon what he was pleased to consider the deficient development of my skull, I challenged him to go with me to a phrenologist and submit our respective bumps to the crucial test of a comparative examination by an expert. He accepted the challenge and a very amusing hour was spent in the phrenologist's sanctum. I recall the circumstances because the professor declared, among other things, that I had the instinct for order and method very high- ly developed, but— these fatal buts— immediately added that owing to some other bump, whose name I have forgotten, I would never have time to indulge my or- derly and methodical propensities because fresh tasks would always keep me too busy for me to have leisure enough to put things in their proper places. Whatever truth there may be in phrenology, there was truth in that exposition of the will to do well and the impossibility of carrying out my good intentions. For I fear I must plead guilty to lacking all the cardinal virtues in the ethics of system. It is not that I despise system. On the contrary, I regard it with the reverent adoration of a worshiper who never can get within speaking distance of his idol. It is not that 35 36 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS I have never endeavored to systematize my activity. I am always trying to do it. No one but myself knows what lovely symmetrical plans of systematized work I have drawn up. But they have all come to the same untimely end. For no sooner do I get to work upon my latest elaborate system than suddenly there bursts upon me from the unknown some unanticipated event, some imperious diity which takes me by the throat, makes me captive and incidentally knocks my beautiful system into a cocked hat. Slowly and reluctantly and sadly I have come to the conclusion that system is not for such a child of circiimstances and slave of fate as a public journalist. He may propose, but it is the desti- nies that dispose. He may plan out in advance what he intends to do, so many hours for this, so many for that, a day to be spent here and another there, and then, without so much as by your leave, the whole scheme is rendered impossible. I have all my life long been innocent of any other system than that of doing with all my might whatever Adaptability to ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ™« *« ^°- Looking back CironmBtances over my fifty-six years of a tolerably at rise strenuous and considerably variegated existence, in which, I suppose, I am held to have achieved some little measure of success in my own profession, I cannot attribute that success to any sys- tem of organizing work, apportioning time or planning ahead as to what I would do. When I have made plans they have usually been set on one side, and I have been put to other tasks. All that I can do is to do what my hand findeth to do and to do it with my might, pushing on with all speed, knowing that I must be ready for the next job which is awaiting me toroor- WILLIAM T. STEAD 37 row, next week, next month or next year and which will assuredly turn up and compel me to put it through. Some men who have reached a position of emi- nence in their own profession can look back to the time when they laid out in early youth their plan of cam- paign, and can point out how exactly they carried out, stage after stage, the successive series of operations necessary to secure success. I have never ventured to assume that I knew enough about the future or about the comparative utility of the various projects that en- gage my attention to decide in advance with resolute will what I will do or what I will leave undone. I have not suflScient confidence either in my own judg- ment or in my capacity to foresee the circumstances of future years. In a general sort of way I have a no- tion that the line of action lies in a certain direction, and I work with my face turned thitherward. But at any moment I may he harnessed to a task which I did not foresee, which if I had foreseen I would have tried to evade, but which nevertheless was obviously the only thing to be done when the time came. I did not, for instance, choose the profession of a journalist; it chose me. And at almost every critical Choice Among t"™^^ ^^ "^^ <^^^^^^ t^^ P^^°t ^P°° Several Lines which everything turned was unforeseen Activity ^y. jjjg ^^ ^jjjg present moment I am con- fronted by a half dozen social, religious and political tasks, each of which is of very great importance, each of which has its special claims upon my time and energy. I cannot possibly attend to them all. Yet if you should ask me to which task I will devote the most of my time this year I would have to tell you that 1 have not the ghost of a notion. I shall try to do the whole six to the best of my ability. But as neither 38 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS time nor strength are forthcoming to do them all, one after another of the less pressing will be crowded out of existence and I shall in the end find which job it is that I shall have to stick to. It is a ease of the survival of the fittest, a process of natural selection of which all that I can say is that it works almost inde- pendently of my volition. I am afraid that this will seem to some of my readers very much like fatalism. But between a belief in fatalism and a belief in an overruling Providence there is a great gulf fixed. Before I entered my 'teens there were imbedded in my memory two verses from the third chapter of Proverbs. I have them now worked into panels of my ofBce sanctum in Mowbray House. Probably these verses are largely answerable for my lack of confidence in my capacity to steer my own course. ' ' Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." In the atmos- phere of these verses I have spent my life, so far as it is spent, and the system upon which I hope to spend the years that remain will be dominated by its influence. I do not care to defend the reasonableness of this conception of one's life as being best utilized if there is ever a consciousness that you are but an instru- ment in the hand of the Master Workman. Those to whom this is a mere driveling superstition are free to deride it as they will. This article is not a polemic. It is a confession. I believe that some Power not our- selves is actively concerned in making the best of us, and that this Invisible Intelligence can make the most of us if we combine the mental attitude of absolute readiness to obey the word of command with a pas- WILLIAM T. STEAD 39 sionate determination to do whatever is given to us to do with our utmost strength and skill. In that faith I have lived. In that faith I expect to die. There is nothing in this belief antagonistic to the most careful ordering of one's life according to the Ina1)mtT to most precise articulated system, if to you Foresee the there is vouchsafed the wisdom requisite Puture fpj. g^^gjj fore-ordering of the categorical imperative which imposed this upon you as a clear and unmistakable duty. I have only to say that such wis- dom was denied to me. When I have tried to plan out ahead some duty previously unforeseen has upset every- thing. Speaking only for myself and on the strength of my own personal experience, I should say that I have come to believe that the best way to get the best re- sults out of yourself for the benefit of the world is to frame your schemes as wisely and as carefully as you can with all the information and counsel you can command today, but never to cling to them so closely as to refuse to abandon them tomorrow if you should be confronted by some plain, unavoidable duty which speaks to you with the imperious authority of a divine call. It is possible to illustrate this in such a way as to make it appear a truism. Let the most systematic fore- planner of his future have elaborated the most perfect of all conceivable methods of putting to the best ac- count every year of life, the occurrence of any un- foreseen catastrophe such as a foreign invasion, an earthquake or a cancer would obviously compel him to abandon every preconceived plan in order that he might face the new situation. What is not generally recognized is that life is full of such catastrophes. The unforeseen is always hap- 40 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS pening. After the Hague conference I had planned out a world-wide apostolate of peace. It was carefully considered. I had taken counsel with the ablest states- men in the world's parliament. It seemed at the time the most pressing duty of the moment. But within a month the scornful refusal of Mr. Chamberlain to sub- mit the dispute with the Boers to arbitration had brought about a war which rendered it impossible for any Englishman to speak to a foreigner about interna- tional arbitration without a blush. The energy which I had intended to throw into a peace crusade abroad was diverted, against my wish, solely to a forlorn and desperate protest at home against the war in South Africa. Man ought to be a mobile force, ready to strike tents and march in any direction, north, south, east or west< when his sealed orders are opened, which, in my case at feast, seldom happens until immediately before starting. PART II PERSONALITY IN HANDLING MEN CHAPTER X INJECTING PEESONALITY INTO AN ORGANI- ZATION BY CLARENCE M. WOOLLBY President, The American Radiator Company Industrial organization has outgro-wn the one- man stage. Business is too big, interests are too varied, one man cannot do or give enough to contain a whole business in himself. The corporation— which signifies the resources, the brains, the work of many men merged for one purpose— is now the business unit. When many men combine their individual personalities disappear. The result is an impersonal body. But just as personality is the vital spark in the man, so it is the active force in a business — imperson- ality implies weakness. Therefore, the problem of the business man of today is to give a personality to the great impersonal corporation of which he is chief. Personality implies something human. The only source from which a business can draw a personality is the human element in it, the men who are carrying on its activities. The men in an industrial organiza- tion must make the business a part of themselves and themselves an organic part of the business ; they must put into their work their own personalities. Then the business will acquire a personality. This, then, is the problem of the corporation chief j to make men feel that they are not simply cogs of a 43 44 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS great machine, their acts geared to the ponderous ac- tivity of the whole; to make men realize that they have responsibilities, not only as business getters and money makers, but toward the public and toward their business associates — that their every act is judged; to bring men to respect their profession not alone as a means for acquiring wealth but as a life work and the work itself as its own reward. If men with these commercial ideals could be put behind the guns of a business that business would be- come a human active force — a personality. How can these ideals be instilled into a working force ? It can be done, first, by a careful selection of men; second, by arousing within the organization a spirit of co-operation ; third, by so placing men and arranging their work that the tendency to become narrow through specialization will be avoided. Passing by the business and moral qualifications of men, whose enumeration would be a list of plati- tudes, I will dwell merely upon those conditions and traits necessary to men who are to make up such an organization. First, the man should be selected when young, so that he can be molded in this atmosphere before his „ ,.^. , ideas become fixed; second, he must be a ftnalities of . ' ' Desirable man With a capacity for enjoying work Employees £qj. j^g ^^^ g^j^-g . tj^jp^j^ jjg should possess to a marked degree that quality not usually deemed requisite for a business career— constructive imagina- tion; fourth, he should be tactful— which is another word for unselfish. Such an enumeration may seem like the qualities of a good man rather than a successful man, but I be- CLARENCE M. WOOLLEY 45 iieve I can show that they are vital factors in busi- ness success. We are always looking for young men. We take on every young man who offers himself if he shows the least sign of possessing the characteristics enu- merated. Such a course is absolutely necessary in build- ing up this kind of an organization, for there must al- ways be plenty of young men at hand— men who have been trained here and have become imbued with these ideas. The new man must be willing to work, for we cannot offer him much more than a living wage. He Testin? Qn\ ^^ ^^^^ *^^* ^° "^^ °^ °^^ Customers in a the New small town, where he is put into overalls Workman ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ -^^ better first test than this could be put upon him. We find out whether he is willing to work, to soil his hands, and thereby de- velop in capacity to do what the organization demands. At the same time in this humble way he can best learn the rudiments of the technical part of his profession— for such it is. During this trying-out time we receive weekly re- ports of his work. His stay depends entirely upon himself. When he has proved to us that he is our kind of a man — ^when he has learned what there is to learn in that position— then we transfer him to one of our branches or the home office. The man who passes this test shows himself to be the man we want— the man with a love for the ■w kinff for '^^^^ itself rather than for the reward. Love of Work If his attitude is of this nature his work ^t'«" will be of the highest quality, and wealth, if it comes to him, will be no stigma. His work is like that of the artist or the poet— the compensation is sec- 46 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ondary; he works for tlie pleasure of doing and cre- ating. Not that the reward is to have no consideration at all. But if a painter receives a fabulous sum for a picture he is not charged with being sordid; the price is an incident, the effect of a natural cause. The business man toils for the pleasure of conceiving and executing, the enjoyment of playing the game ; he may know that the harder he plays the more he will win- but the playing is the main thing. When I say that we want this class of men in our organization I am not playing to idealism. It pays us. They make the best class of workers for us and for themselves. They swell our profits. What I have been praising — the desire to work for work's sake— is the direct opposite of mercenary commercialism. Yet I believe I am right when I say that it is the prime motive of the great majority of America's successful men. A London barrister, an acquaintance of mine, con- tinually rants about American commercialism, about our mania for acquiring wealth. He is always calling attention to the death of American millionaires, who, he says, die of work and never, during their whole lives, enjoy the world. This young man is very ambitious to make a name for himself in his profession. Yet he wants to come down to his office at ten o'clock in the morning, play golf every afternoon after three, and do society in the evening. One day I asked him, "Who is at the head of the English bar?" And he answered, "Gerald Balfour, of course." "Is he a worker?" I asked. CLARENCE M. WOOLLBY 47 "Oh, yes," he replied; "he's a whirlwind; he be- gins dictating briefs at six o 'clock in the morning. He is an indefatigable worker. ' ' We want our men to be workers such as Balfour, even though they are charged with being avaricious, where in Balfour it is called energy and ambition- devotion to his profession. But we want a man to be a thinker as well as a doer— a man of imagination, able to conceive and plan Place of ^^" things for the business world. The Thinkers in man without imagination is like the for- Creative Work ^^^ traveler without a guide: he doesn't know where he is going, therefore he never gets any- where. All the great creators of the world have planned out their creations to the smallest detail; all great achievements have first existed in the mind of some men— Field and the Atlantic cable, Milton and Paradise Lost, Napoleon and the Alps campaign, Ham- ilton and America's financial system. Can you conceive a man with more constructive imagination than James J. Hill? He painted a great picture of rails and wires and created in his mind's eye before he built a railway a system covering a con- tinent. This is the caliber of man we are looking for — a man who is scheming, planning and working for us all the time. Lastly, there is tact, a large measure of which every successful business man must possess. I do not mean by tact simply the shallow ability of saying the right thing at the right time. Tact in business goes deeper than that; it affects almost every detail of a man's actions. A tactful salesman, for instance, does not try to shift the blame for delay to another department: he helps to give to the outside the impression of unity 48 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS in our organization. The business world needs today more courteous, tolerant men— men who are willing to listen to the opinions of others and weigh them. Our co-operation with employees and oup attempt to make them feel responsibility to the public, as well „ „ ,. as to us, begins even in the period when Co-Operation i o r- in a Large they are being tried out. We try to make Estabiisiiment ^-^e feeling between our employees as close as that in a college fraternity. Our business or- ganization consists of three fundamental divisions— the manufacturing, the selling, the financial or recording. Our problem is to unify these and to unify the widely scattered departments and offices, not alone in their business but in their personal relations. Our house publication, whose very name, "Co-op- eration," indicates its purpose, is our chief instrument in bringing this about. Its purpose, first of all, is to link our people together by giving them news of each other. It ia also inspirational in the material it pub- lishes and the sentiments it expresses. It is the point of contact between officials of the company and the rank and file. Finally, it serves as the medium for making business announcements concerning the work of the company. In carrying out a plan of this kind the permanency of the working force is essential. We, therefore, en- courage our employees to remain with us for long peri- ods. In carrying out this policy care must be exer- cised to avoid the pit on the other side, which is the tendency of men to become narrow and incapable of initiative if they follow the same path too long. We escape this by changing the official tree of our organi- zation continually. This we accomplish not by dis- charging people but through promotions. Usually CLARENCE M. WOOLLEY 49 when a position becomes vacant we promote all along the line. This prevents a man from falling into the rut of the routine of one position. It does two other things, too. It offers an in- centive to employees. It gives them something higher to look to all the time, something to work for and plan for. I have said we try in the first place to get men who are ambitious to rise. If that ambition is to con- tinue, it must be rewarded from time to time. The personal relationship of the members of the organization is further intensified by the holding of Social Eela- councils, conferences and conventions be- tions Among tween Salesmen, branch house managers, mp oyees superintendents, foremen and the general ofticers of the company. In addition to these, social clubs — all voluntary on the part of the emploj'ees — have grown up at many of our plants and branches. The promotion system which I described has a third result; it brings about publicity. No ofiBcer is permanent in his position; therefore, no one possesses exclusive knowledge or access to records or company secrets. No man can keep information under his hat or can conduct his work or his department in an ex- elusive manner. For another man may step into his position tomorrow. The new man will have to know all. The old man will have no further use for his knowledge. It is by such an organization that a big corpora- tion is made responsible to public opinion— is given a conscience. The time has come when no Besponsibility , . , . . . i j- to ]^iblic hig business enterprise can employ dis- Opinion honesty, trickery or so-called "smart" and underhanded methods. The nature and complex- ity of the situation would make it unprofitable and 50 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS destructive. Honesty and business morality are con- structive. Experience has proved the reality of these theories. The larger a business grows the more un- willing it should be to compromise with the highest ideals of business rectitude. To depart therefrom in- vites failure and creates a positive obstacle to success. The "commercial spirit" is not a reality. That expression was coined by theorists, who have but a surface knowledge of business problems. There are ex- ceptions, to be sure, but the average man of the busi- ness world is unselfishly consecrated to his work, just as all the great leaders of the professional, the art, the scientific and literary world must of necessity be devoted to theirs. Were this not so the world would not progress, for the largest part of its energy is de- voted to tasks which by some are unkindly designated as the mere following of a business occupation, but which can be made and, in a majority of cases are made, a calling that is controlled by the highest sen- timents, employing science, art, literature, as well as those practical and homely virtues which by some of the academicians are superficially studied and unjustly criticized. Through these means I believe the business world is becoming purer. Public exposures of graft are not signs of increasing dishonesty; they are rather mani- festations of an awakened public conscience. Men are coming to realize that business is at once a profession and an art in the best sense ; that a career in the business world does not mean simply a struggle for wealth, but an achievement in creating something worthy of the individual and of real and lasting value to mankind. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 51 CHAPTER XI THE MAN BEHIND THE SYSTEM A good ship does not necessarily guarantee a safe port; nor does a good system alone insure a successful business. A water-logged scow in the hands of a master pilot may fare better in the storm than a twin- screw ocean-liner, manned by incompetents. You can't set the helm of your business barge in one fixed direction and expect it to guide you into the harbor of success. The shoals and rocks of unexpected conditions rise up in every mile of the sea. Only the skillful piloting that meets each danger as it arises can steer you safely through. It's the man behind the wheel that brings the ship into the haven of profit. It's not the system alone, but intelligent direction of it, that pro- duces results. Systematize your aims and plans — but plan and aim your system. CHAPTER XII THE PERSONAL TOUCH WITH EMPLOYEES BY WILLIAM A. FIELD Superintendent, South Chicago Works, Illinois Steel Company Don't be afraid of anything in this world when you think you are right. Somebody said that "fear is an insult to your Maker," and I most thoroughly indorse that sentiment. Pear makes you doubt the very ability and talents you possess, and literally robs you of so much per annum in both material gain and mental development. Don't be afraid to bring out your own individuality; a man strong in himself may make a very weak imitation of someone else. We do not consider in anything so much the means as the end. If all roads lead to Rome, never mind if you choose a different one from your neighbor, if you get there without loss of time. Only, don't be afraid to start out on the journey. Don't hide your light under a bushel, no matter if the light be but a small one. It is of much importance to keep it burn- ing, and if you give it room to grow and feed it well you may build up a big fire from a feeble flame. Besides, we are not all made to be Alexanders and conquer worlds. It is not in the nature of things that all men should be equally successful, but we should never lose sight of the fact that the small man's part is of as much importance relatively as that of the greater. WILLIAM A. FIELD 53 Bringing this thought down to actual factory- management, we try to get this feeling into our men Encouraging In- ^y always stimulating the initiative in itiative Among them. If they can invent anything that mp oyees ^^ ^ benefit to them and to us, we are glad to have them do it. We are ready to pay the cost of anything that any of our men may make in our line and then the patent belongs to him, we re- serving only the shop rights for use of the patent in these shops of ours here, and he having the right to sell the patent or to receive royalty from its use anywhere else he chooses. If a man can think out something that is going to help us, we like to recog- nize it even though he has done it along the lines of the work for which we pay him. Employment and happiness are associated to- gether as naturally as the sun with the day and the darkness with night; and by just so much as we make our employment productive, to that extent are we increasing our satisfaction with all our surround- ings. To the man who accomplishes less than he ought to, the world seems hard and unyielding, but it lavishes contentment and plenty on him who finds his happiness in the thorough, earnest and vigorous prosecution of a work made successful by his own untiring efforts. In plain words, this means that he who does his work well will have reason to be satis- fied with the result, but the half-way worker will be disappointed, and will invariably put the blame anywhere or everywhere except where it belongs— upon himself. The half-way workers— those who do their work listlessly or incomDletely— make the misanthropes and the pessimists, because the character of the work 54 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS they do makes failure a foregone conclusion, or at least precludes any hope of marked success. I go out through the plant as often as I can and I make it a point of nodding to everyone. I do not r ic t t '^^°'^ ^11 ^^^ ^^^ personally, but they Should be Exec- all know me. I have heard that they ntive'B Aim ^.^fg^. ^^ ^^ pretty generally as "Billy Field," especially the men with whom I used to work in the olden days. When there is a grievance we want our men to come straight to us. I say to them, "Sit down. Let's talk things over. You want to remember that I am just as much one of the work- men here as any of you, only my job just now is to do the best I can for the company and it's up to me to see that you don't get any more than fairness allows." Then we get down to business. They know that they are going to get justice, and justice is what men want more than anything else. I found that out when I was just an assistant superintendent of the foundry in a small factory. I made the men feel that they could come to me for justice every time. I wouldn't allow anyone to in- terfere with me— not even the general superintend- ent or the owner of the business. The men knew that they had only me to deal with, and that no one else could either hire, fire or promote them. It made plenty of friction for me with my superiors and I suppose I ought to have been discharged once a week regularly. But it made friends of the men— and gol more work for the company. Then I worked out a plan of giving them a chance to earn more money on piece-work. On the old plan, the aim was to have a minimum scale on the theory that the men would work their utmost to WILLIAM A. FIELD 55 hold their earnings up to a certain standard. If they did more than this, the custom was to cut down the scale at once. Consequently the men found it to their interest not to show how much they could do, but to keep well within the limit. I called them together and said: "Here is a scale for the next six months. I would make it a year, but styles change so I can't fix the scale over six months. But you can count on its being this and nothing but this for that length of time." "How do we know that this is to be the scale?" they asked. "You can take my personal word for it," was my reply. And from that time on the men increased their production heavily without increasing the num- ber of men employed in the plant, which naturally reduced the cost of production per unit, as well as increased the output. We have put this same idea of personality among our men here, by instilling into the men the fact that, while they are part of the great whole, the work of each counts in the total and counts for the individual — that each man's work is a link of a chain, but we watch and give credit for each link as well as for the whole chain; and every link must be per- fect in itself if the chain is to be good. In producing that spirit, I cannot, of course, work directly with the men, but it is my aim to in- _ _ , still this spirit into the department heads. The Personal . ^ , ,, ,. . » Element in It IS not SO much the very fact of per- Oetting Eesnitfl ^^^^^ contact that brings these results, it is the co-operation and team-work that comes from understanding. To develop this to the utmost one should get together all heads of departments and 56 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS assistants— that is, all who have a direct part in the business — at a meeting once a week. I make it a luncheon at one o'clock, but this is not as much for sociability's sake as for convenience, for a meeting at the plant at that time would be a waste of work- ing time. The brief time devoted to lunch has the merit of working off any possible feeling of formal- ity or restraint. This meeting is for business strictly. Suggestions are discussed, which I invite at all times. If a suggestion is not good, it will be quickly pricked where a score of minds are concentrated upon it. If it is good, it will be just as quickly developed, and it makes each man feel that he has had a part in the innovation, and helps its execution in the de- partments in which it is to be applied. Complaints and friction between departments are handled in the same co-operative way— giving every man a chance to defend himself and doing away with the suspicion of secret "knocks." Everyone knows the days of referring and counter-referring and the hours of dictating and answering it requires to chase down a complaint— like shortage in coal deliveries, for instance. But see how quickly and satisfactorily that can be settled at such a meeting. Superintendent of mill three complains that his power ran down Tuesday morning. The engineer is asked, "Why no power?" He says his coal ran out. The purchasing agent is asked, "Why no coal?" He says no wagons were on hand. Tlio yardmaster is asked, "Whj' no wagons?" and he must explain. And in the meantime every man learns how far- reaching his little daily job is. I know, and have much satisfaction in the knowledge, that there are WILLIAM A. FIELD 57 many who give us the best work of which they are capable, and they are the rock we stand on; but I am sorry to say that there are others of a character well illustrated by a remark I heard an old farmer make once upon a time when in my boyhood days I was paying him a visit. I had been struck by the Tuggednese and strength of a great, stalwart, hulk- ing harvest-hand, and ventured to say: "That fellow ought to be chock full of a day's work. ' ' "Yes," replied the farmer, "he ought to be, for I ain't never been able to get any out of him." That man did not love his work; he had not learned that in a real love of work lies the secret of success. As soon as a man begins to love his work, then will he also begin to make progress. Those who are lukewarm in the pursuit of any busi- ness are those who are "just getting along" some way or other, or "doing fairly well." It is the en- thusiasts who do the climbing, making progress every day, and who get to the top. Enthusiasm generates energy as naturally as the sun gives forth heat, and energy again, by its reflex influence, increases en- thusiasm. If I were to be asked what is lacking in the work of the majority of men, I should say energy— put energy into your work, more energy, and yet more energy; then believe in yourself and your calling and you will be one of the enthusiasts climbing to the top. 58 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CHAPTER XIII DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY BY JOHN V. FARWELL, Sr. Founder, John V. Farwell Company In its best and broadest sense, success means the development of a man for service. And this development for service in the business world is dependent upon the control of the powers within us, upon the systematic applica- tion of our abilities and our energies. Our energies may be wasted and our genius misdirected unless we can guide them to definite ends, unless we can use our forces to get specific results. This organization and application of our powers is based on system. CHAPTER XIV SECURING CO-OPERATION BY PERSONAL INTEREST BY GEORGE H. BARBOUR First Vice-President and General Manager, Michigan Stove Company Personality in business ! Those three words present, to my mind, the most powerful factor in business today. Financial resource, of course, is necessary in the business field; foresight and the ability to grasp opportunities as they arise achieve much. But it is only when these elements are combined with that peculiar characteristic of the indi- vidual which we call personality — that faculty of per- sonal power, personal impression and personal under- standing—that they attain the best and most perma- nent results. Personality is the chief factor in building a busi- ness, because personal power is the strongest bond be- tween men, and a unified organization in a business establishment is chiefly the result of that same power- personality. The successful founders of business have been those men who hare radiated their personalities through the structures of trade which they built. Their policies and their methods thus were given additional momentum and their personal magnetism became an instrument unifying employees and attracting customers. This power has caused every employee in such an establish- 59 60 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ment to give to the business and to his particular work the best there was in him. And the man who can se- cure that individual effort, general team work and loyalty from those he employs is the man who wing. For a great machine is the more nearly perfect as it£ every part, even the smallest wheel or rod, moves in unison and with the least possible friction. I believe the business man can well devote much of his time to developing personal relation with his employees and the personal quality in That Can those he employs. Many years ago, before Attract Trade j became a manufacturer, I conducted a general store in Connecticut. I made it a point to im- press on my clerks that careful attendance and personal treatment must be accorded every visitor to that store no matter what the amount of a purchase or even if no purchase at all was made. I insisted that a customer who spent ten cents should be given just as close atten- tion and as patient attendance as the customer who spent ten dollars ; for very often the ten-cent customer of today develops into the buyer of the morrow whose every bill totals far more than that of the ten-dollar purchaser of the present. Now, the clerk who had that idea innately— who did not need to be told— was the " man with personality. He was the employee who could attract customers and hold them. Every business needs to develop the personality of its men, for that means individualism, originality, growth and progress. But to develop individualism in the organization demands the injection of the peP» sonal touch into the relations between the managemetii, and the rank and file. We have always sought to develop the individualism of the worker, from the man who toils in the molding sand in the foundry to the GEORGE H. BARBOUR 61 salesman who disposes of the finished product to the customer. In that way the workman, no matter how small the portion of the general task that may fall to him, is made to feel that he is a factor in the business. Whatever the place he may occupy he must feel that he is a necessary link in the execution of a certain phase of the work— that his efforts are needed in keeping in motion that chain of production which runs from the factory to consumers throughout the world. To secure this result, the management must keep in close personal touch with workmen in all depart- _ p . ments. From foundry to shipping room Eeiations Can this principle has been followed. Even be Established .^^j^j^ almost 2,000 workmen in a manufac- turing plant it is surprising to find how easily and how pleasantly this personal relationship may be continued, once it is established. The employer may be somewhat amazed to find with what interest he absorbs knowl- edge of the affairs of the various employees and the eagerness he feels in seeing each man attain the suc- cess he desires. And this personal interest, which be- comes wholly unselfish and one of the pleasures of busi- ness management, is the element which, more than any other one thing perhaps, brings out loyalty and pro- duces a unified organization. In our works there has been but one slight dis- turbance since 1871. That lasted only a few days. Some of the men complained that inspections were too rigid. They were shown that quality always had been the key- stone of the business. The discord was quickly ad- justed and the most rigid inspection continued. I be- lieve this long period of constant accord has been made possible chiefly through this personal relationship, loyalty of organization and that consequent mutual 62 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS knowledge of actual conditions which makes for the fairest of dealing between employer and employee. It is this personal power which makes men refer to the house or factory with which they are connected aa "we." Their individualism is not crushed out. They feel that they are a living, working unit of that great business machine to which they are attached. This policy also begets long-time service— and permanent employees are a money-saver to a business. I believe the chief element in continuous, long-term periods of service of skilled men has been personality, recognition of individualism when it is deserving be- cause it encourages the man. Another result of the absorption of this feeling by employees is the many suggestions that come from their brains. They give their best thought to their work. They plan to aid their employer; to extend the scope and power of the business to which they refer as "we." These suggestions, which often yield new mechanical improvements or new clerical methods that save time and expense, should be received with encouraging proof of their acceptability. That, too, will serve to further whet the brain of the worker and further inspire his loyalty and effort. Granted that personality is of much value to the manufacturer in handling the men in his plant, how p jp shall this be made a part of his policy? It in Executive must begin at the top. This quality should """ be one of the prime possessions of the factory superintendent — or whatever title that official may bear who has direct charge of the men, wherever he may be employed. Here this personal power, ac- companied by thorough practical knowledge of the work in hand, is a first requisite. For, where thousands GEORGE H. BARBOUR 63 of men are employed, all of varying temperament, fric- tion is boimd to come now and then. But the superin- tendent, or the foreman of the department, who treats every man on the personal plane soon abates any of the little differences that arise. And he exercises this per- sonal power in treating every worker fairly. He keeps every promise made to an employee. In this way only is individualism nourished and the man in the ranks made to feel that his personality— his personal force and work — is a factor in the roar and rush of the factory. To this same end any practice of tactless or violent assertion of authority— the "calling down" of an infe- showine ^^°^ ^^ ^ superior in the presence of the Authority is former's working associates — should he not PersonaUty abjured, unless a fault or offense really merits the severest censure. That practice of showing authority merely for authority's sake always hurts rather than helps. It sears the sensitive workman. It acts, too, as a muscle-binder and, with the brake of re- sentment set, that man's quality and quantity of work depreciates. It is a sure cause of the "don't-care" feel- ing. And nothing is more injurious to a working force than the spread of that disposition. That practice is at- tended, as a rule, by the crushing out of individualism —the doing away with the personal power of the indi- vidual. I have in mind one man who worked his way up- ward from the ranks to a superintendency. At one time in his advance he was appointed an inspector. His duties required him to inspect the product of men with whom he had worked side by side at the bench. He had even been "best man" at the marriages of three or four. 64 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS These latter felt that, because of this close friend- ship, he should be lenient in inspection when they were „ „ . concerned and allow any of their work How Personal Force Over- which was below standard to pass up to comes ObBtacies ^j^g chalkline. He refused, however. His factory prided itself on the constant quality of its prod- uct. He was loj^al to that rule of quality. He inspected their work just as rigidly as that of the newcomer who had taken his bench but the week before. He lost their friendship, but he kept his course. And the time came when they voluntarily assured him that they were convinced he was in the right. Now, it was the man's personal power which carried him through that experience without creating a storm of trouble. He foimd himself implanted more strongly than ever in the regard of the men under him. His fairness, his square-deal methods, had won out. He dealt with all the men on the same personal plane. He upheld individualism. He aided in manufacturing personality. And a better handler of men I never saw. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 65 CHAPTER XV WHAT EXECUTIVE ABILITY IS BY EDWIN A. POTTER Former President, American Trust and Savings Bank A thorough knowledge of the smallest details of one's business, well directed effort in work and the power to organize a business — these are the three foundation stones of success. In this day of great industries, a thorough knowl- edge of the smallest details of a business could not be secured in the old way of knowing simply through the process of doing. There are too many details. The business man today must have facilities by which knowledge of them will come to him automatically. Well directed effort means more than merely industry and hard work. It means that the worker must know how and where to apply his labor to the attainment of the best results. And the power of organizing and conducting a big business — executive ability — means the power to make all the small pro- cesses of the business dovetail into each other and work smoothly and efficiently. CHAPTER XVI THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS OF BUSINESS BY RICHARD W. SEARS Founder, Sears, Roebuck & Company A few notable successes have been made in the industrial world through what is known as the "one- man organization." But I believe that in the great majority of cases it is the men you choose as subor- dinates who make your success. Select your men carefully and at the right time — then give them a free rein withia certain well defined limits. This attitude toward employees I believe un- derlies the success of a large number of big busiaesses. Many a hundred-dollar man remains a fifteen-dol- lar subordinate because he is not given any latitude and is not allowed to develop. The head of a concern may have an employee off in one corner of the office who is in reality his superior in ability if he were only allowed to show it— if he were only given carte blanche to take the initiative. It is far better to select an employee when young and start him at $10 a week, educate and develop him, than to transplant a man from some other business and put him into a position over the heads of old employees. Let your employees grow up with you. Having selected an employee, give him a chance and a thor- ough trial and ascertain what he can do and just what his limits are. In this way only can be de- 66 RICHARD W. SEARS 67 termined whether he is a fit employee or not. Give this employee a wide latitude and discretion over little things and observe the results over a considerable period of time. Men learn only by the mistakes they make. An employer should expect and should encourage his men to take the initiative and make mistakes. Only in this way can they gain experience. This method of han- dling employees may be expensive in its early stages, but it is the only proper schooling for a position. No man can learn to be a "crack shot" unless he wastes some ammunition. The employer should stand ^ , the expense of the experiments made by NeceBsary Part a new man who shows ability ; it will pay of Trauung j^^ ^j^g long run. If mistakes continue and positive results do not come the man must go. But, on the other hand, if after a trial of this kind a man's caliber is determined, then the time for promotion and increase of salary is at hand. The great advantage of this method is that it in- spires in the employee confidence in himself, without which he can make no success for himself or for his firm. It cultivates the quality of initiative, which means business creation and profits for the firm. The surest way to gain the unswerving loyalty of employees is to show them from the start that they Mali be allowed to make the most of themselves. A man wants to stay with the firm with which he can reach his greatest efficiency. And where these relations exist, the employee never leaves to seek a better place if he is the right kind. Occasionally a firm may have a maa who will reach his limit ; he only has a certain capacity and certain restricted capabilities. When he reaches this stage he will remain stationary. 68 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The head of a concern often talks to his men about the methods they use. Yet methods are minor „ ,^ , . considerations. It is the sum total— the Methods Are Subordinate actual results — that we want in business. to Eesnits j ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^g^^ method a man uses in any department of a business so long as he "makes good." The matter of success should be put up to the pride of the individual. He should be made to un- derstand that his development depends upon himself and the quality of his work. If a salesman can show an increase of three per cent in the sales of his terri- tory or department in a given period he has proved his right to remain a part of a business organization regardless of his methods for achieving these results. Following out this same idea, I believe that too many instructions to employees are often fatal. DoTi't be too specific; such an attitude makes a man intO' a machine. When sending a man on a certain duty it is never best to say, "do exactly this," or "don't do that." The proper course is to say "go and look into this matter to the best of your ability." The employee, if he is the right kind, will then, as a matter of course, do his best. Following out this policy, our firm has never had any specific rules for employees, but has made the business and personal con- duct of each individual a matter for each to look after. We never use verbal praise with employees, nor reprimands. We often tell a man that he is working Pj, . . too hard or that he is underpaid ; but in Censure not this Case we add that he is being paid the Often Given jjj^j^ ^.j^^^ j^-^ position is worth and that he will be advanced as soon as an opening offers itself, if he is capable. The raise in salary or the promotion RICHARD W. SEARS 69 always comes to the individual without asking. Not that it would not be very proper for the employee to ask for a raise, but, basing our attitude toward em- ployees upon these principles, we soon discover whether a man is doing more than he is paid for and reward him because it pays us as a matter of business. It is the man who, in the position that he holds temporarily, does more than is expected of him, that gets the increase in salary or the higher position. Any- thing like special rewards, presents or bonuses are wholly out of place in a system of handling employees such as this. Men working on this basis would con- sider anything of the kind an insult. It would imply that they were not doing their best — it would be in the nature of a bribe. The giving of prizes for special ef- fort, which is considered so effective in enthusing men in some organizations, would fail to have the desired effect in an organization where every man is given free reign. This method of handling subordinates accom- plishes all the usual results of the most highly devel- oped system of choosing, training and retaining em- ployees. It tries them out thoroughly— it finds the right man for the right place, and the right place for the right man. It enthuses the worker and inspires in him loyalty to the firm. 70 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CHAPTER XVII PERSONAL INITIATIVE Some men never get up until they are called. If no one happens to apply the stimulus — they are gunpowder without the spark, dough with- out the yeast, an engine without the steam. No alarm clock is going to ring when time strikes the hour of your opportunity. Fate never yet failed to turn down the man who waited for something to turn up. You must do the thing without being told — push without being shoved — recognize your chance without being introduced — if you want to carry the message to Garcia or a handsome report to the Board of Directors. Initiative isn't intuition or second-sight. It's perpetual trying — everlasting vigilance — unceas- ing work. CHAPTER XVIII PERSONALITY AS RELATED TO ORGANIZA- TION BY JAMBS LOGAN Firs* Vice-President and General Manager, United States Envelope Company The success of every business man hinges on one thing — ability to select men. The efforts of any one man count for so very little. It all depends upon the selection and management of men to carry out the plans of the chief. In every concern that is having a successful career, whether it be bank, school, factory, steamship com- pany or railroad, the spirit of one man runs through and animates the entire institution. The success or failure of the enterprise often turns on the mental, moral and spiritual qualities of this one man. And the leader who can imbue an army of workers with a spirit of earnest fidelity to duty, an unanswering desire to do the necessary thing, and to do it always with ani- mation, kindness, courtesy and good cheer, is entitled to rank with the large men of earth. The processes of modern business are like the func- tions of a complicated machine, and the executive must organize every part of his establishment as care- fully and as thoroughly as the inventor. The management of the large corporation is or- ganized thought, exactly as a machine is the organized thought of the inventor. 71 72 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The mechanical inventor studies out a machine in which all the parts are to work together to produce a The Mechanical ^iven result. In doing this he deals with Inventor and inanimate material ; his work is wrought the Executive ^^^ ^j^^^ g^^^ mechanical lines; he knows in advance just how each gear, spring, cam, pulley and lever will do its work. Its power to do a definite work is a mechanical certainty. The mechanical inventor does not give to any part of his machine any latitude whatever, and all the initiative must come from him; he thinks, so to speak, for every part of the machine. The true executive is also an inventor; he, too, studies out a working machine where all the parts are to work in harmony to produce a given result, but he deals, not with inanimate material, however cunningly devised and put together, but with men with wonder- ful possibilities of initiative to help or hinder the work- ing of the great organization of which they are nec- essary parts. To men working as parts of one harmonious whole must be given a certain amount of latitude in which to exercise their power of initiative. They must be given intelligent direction and then left, in large meas- ure, to work out their problem in their own way. No code of rules and regulations that was ever drafted can take the place of intelligence. The organizing executive must have a knowledge of men exactly as the mechanical engineer must have a knowledge of material and mechanics. The right men must be selected, trained and fitted into their proper places in this vast machine before its efficiency is insured. JAMES LOGAN 73 It used to be said by some: "Do not tell your business aims or plans; what you know and the other Explanation °^^" *^°®^ ^^^ know is your best asset." of Plans to That may have been good advice once, but it will not do now. Business has grown so large that a manager is by necessity forced to explain his plans, for other men must be entrusted to work them out. In industry, as in war, the fighting formation has been changed. Modern methods have abolished the idea that men must be mere machines. In industry, as in war, the officers are no longer able to control their men as formerly, because the fighting formation covers so much more ground and therefore the men in the ranks as well as the line officers must have a higher standard of industrial intelligence and self-reliance and the power of leadership must be on a proportionately higher level to carry the twentieth century industrial burdens. The industrial battle is not won by the skill of the captain of industry alone-, the plan of campaign may Need of ^^ ^^®' ^^^ ^^^ results are wrought out by Co-Operation the line officers and men in the ranks — in QBiness ^^^^ great army of unnamed, unnumbered and often unrewarded sergeants, corporals and pri- vates, the sum total of whose work is Success. Therefore the next great step in productive ef- ficiency will be the education of the sub-executive, the foreman, in the principles of business. In the selection of an executive I would place tact, courtesy and those God-given qualities which bring out the love and loy- alty of the operatives far above mechanical skill or commercial efficiency. And I am persuaded that half the labor troubles could be avoided by tact and cour- tesy on the part of managers, superintendents and 74 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS foremen, always mindful of the fact that to them has been given a wider horizon and therefore they should be more considerate, fair minded and patient. Captains of industry must have capacity for de- tail, though they must not devote too much time to „ , ., that. For while it is the intimate knowl- De calls to t_i i be Left to edge of details which will enable them Subordinates -wisely to decide the larger problems, yet if too much attention be given to detail the danger is that they will become so absorbed in the petty details that they cannot get far enough away from them to see the larger problems, which can only be seen by hav- ing the proper perspective. Executives must not try to do too much themselves; their power will lie ia duplicating themselves by the selection of lieutenants to carry out their plans and, having made the selec- tion, giving to them latitude to work into their par- ticular problems their own personality. Executives of today and of the future must have the faculty to manage men — which is a more difficult problem than running a machine, for the human ele- ment in industry today is larger than the mechanical element, and employers, managers, superintendents and foremen often lose, or rather deliberately throw away their largest asset by failing utterly to create and de- velop that friendly relationship with their subordi- nates, which makes for the highest success. The captain of industry of the future must, through his own personality, create a spirit of loyalty, not to himself alone, but to the vast organization of which he for the time being is the head, and of which his lieu- tenants are all important parts. When this has been done, we have the most powerful invention of this won- derful century. PART III PERSONALITY IN ADVERTISING AND SELLING CHAPTER XIX BUILDING UP A BUSINESS PERSONALITY BY BEN B. HAMPTON A trade-mark, or a trade-name, is the symbo], or the word, or the combination of both, which represents that intangible thing known as "good will"— the most vital element in the success of any ordinary business enterprise. The retail merchant creates "good will" for his establishment by keeping his store and his stock in clean, attractive condition, by supplying to the com- munity good articles at fair prices, by insuring cour- teous, intelligent salesmanship and by honest, judicious advertising. Perhaps we can say that the first three qualifica- tions form the foundations of a successful retail busi- ness, while advertising represents the superstructure. Good store keepers, with good stocks and good salesmanship, have been known to succeed with very little or no advertising, but the "good will" built up in such a manner is often short-lived, depending almost entirely on the personality of the merchant to main- tain it. Every merchant of middle age remembers the time when his business was built practically on his personal acquaintance. Then Mrs. Jones traded at Smith's be- cause Mr. Smith was an elder in her church; and Mr. 77 78 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Jones bought his clothing at Brown's because he and Brown were members of the same lodge. A business on such a foundation is valuable just so long as the proprietor is able to spread his person- ality over the entire community. By and by, when the town ceases to be a village and becomes a city, he is unable to know every one by name or to come into frequent contact with a large proportion of his possible trade through social or religious or fraternal methods. Then, too, the energetic, hustling young man who built his business receives an infusion of new blood or new and to his surprise he finds that other men — now younger than he — are taking away from him even those old customers, those old personal friends whose trade he instinctively felt he owned. Then he learns that personal good will is a very unstable asset. Unless his business receives an infusion of new blood or new methods it languishes and finally passes away. Advertising can be looked on as the merchant's business insurance in that it increases the immediate Advertising volume of his business, and at the same Creative of time builds for his store an impersonal ersona ity good will, which is not dependent on his individual effort for maintenance, but which finds its value in its own efficiency. The successful merchant of today is he who has realized the narrow limitations of personal good will and has built his business on the broader, solider foundation of commercial good will created by good store-keeping and good advertising. When he is ready to retire from the active manage- ment of his business, he can do so without the feeling that his store will suffer because of the elimination of his personal influence. The public does not know him BEN B. HAMPTON 79 — it knows his store. His advertising has not educated it to a knowledge of his personality— but to a knowledge of his store's personality. As a rule we do not spend much time in the con- templation of the personality of the various retail es- tablishments with which we are familiar— and yet those personalities are there— just as vital and just as inter- esting as the personalities of individuals. Don't you often feel when you go into a store for the first time that you instinctively know what that store represents? Can't you almost feel that you will get a square deal in this place, or that you had better keep your eyes open in the other place ? When the clerks treat you courteously and intelligently and you are made to feel that you are welcome, aren't you pretty sure to go out of your road even to trade there? Well, all that is personality, and we usually speak of it as store policy and store methods. There have been many instances of advertising absolutely revolutionizing store methods and store poli- cies-store personalities— and creating a good will of enormous value on a foundation that had to be re- built to keep pace with advertising. One of the most conspicuous instances of this class is that of a great retail concern in New York, which „ ^ ten or twelve years ago did business A Change That . •' . ° n ■. ,, Brought solely on its reputation as a cheap Personality store. Its advertising was devoted en- tirely to impressing the public with this one idea of "cheapness." A new advertising manager came into power — a man of ability and breadth. He proposed to im- prove the methods of the store— to make its per- sonality cleaner and brighter and better, to sell better 80 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS merchandise, to improve the salesmanship and to at- tract a better, more stable class of trade. The proprietors approved of his suggestions, and gave him an opportunity to experiment. He did away with the former style of advertising which announced "a $19.00 baby buggy marked down to $3.40," and sub- stituted for it live, interesting store news, and once in a while in an editorial he told the public of some of the store's hopes and ambitions. I suspect he had a hard job, but the victory was magnificent. Two or three years ago that store moved into one of the greatest biiildings in New York, and today it is one of the most wonderful retail establish- ments in the world. It is now known as a thoroughly reliable store, selling for cash only the best merchan- dise, at the very lowest prices. In all the excitement produced by trading stamps, this concern has sailed serenely onward, declining to engage in premiums, be- lieving them to be a part of the "hysterical" methods it discarded long ago, and in spite of all competition its business has steadily increased. Now the interesting part is that not only does this store make more money than it did under the old sys- tem of frantic cheapness and frenzied advertising, but the good will of the trade name is immeasurably more valuable than it was before the days of sane methods. Incidentally, this story points to an impressive moral— that is, give your advertising manager a chance. If you have the right man, he will be quick to see the changes in policy or store methods needed to keep your establishment abreast of the times, and if you will listen to his suggestions and weigh them carefully be- fore discarding them you will soon come to regard him as one of your most valuable assistants. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 81 CHAPTER XX FEELING THE PUBLIC PULSE To feel the public pulse demands an intimate knowledge of the market. This knowledge is derived from three sources: First, from the sales force; Second, from the factory force; Third, from the personal observations of the executive. When the observant manufacturer covers the first two points, the building of a business is a matter of organization. The records and reports of the selling and making forces of a business house show the conditions of the market. A knowledge of the market is a knowledge of the public pulse. CHAPTER XXI THE VOICE OF THE HOUSE BY JAMBS H. COLLINS Here and there may be observed a corporation, a business house, a bank, a mercantile organization, that has a "voice." But the wonder is that they are so few, when one considers how cheaply matter may be set up and printed in these days of the linotype. The business house with a voice is the concern that makes a habit of reporting everything of general in- terest that happens to it, and having the report printed in a plain little pamphlet for mailing to friends, cus- tomers, the trade journals and the newspapers. The traveling salesmen or retail dealers of such a concern come together for a talk on methods. What they discuss is of moment to hundreds of retail cus- tomers who can't come, and to other hundreds who buy their goods of some competing house. Good stenog- raphers are cheap. A relay of them takes down every- thing said, verbatim, some responsible person edits out all the confidential details, the foolishness, the mere "talk," adds frequent sub-heads, and the whole is printed in the form of a report. Two copies are sent to each publication, so that an editor may clip. The head of such a house speaks at a dinner or is interviewed by a newspaper or technical journal. The house sees that everyone likely to be interested has a copy of his speech or opinion. 82 JAMES H. COLLINS 83 Perhaps the chief is a man of considerable public importance apart from business. He may be of more importance than he suspects himself. His rise from nothing, his leadership in an industry, his political di- versions, his reputation as an inventor, improver, organ- izer — these may make him a figure in the general eye. If so, the obituary department of every prominent news- paper ought to have a sketch of his life, his portrait and a description of his business. To be used if he dies? Yes, and in a hundred other ways. Suppose he goes traveling. Wherever he turns up the newspapers will know him. What if the house has a fire, a robbery, an increase of business, a foreign award for merits in goods? There will then be not only a basis for news- paper comment, but it will be accurate comment. This house with a voice moves into a new plant. Facts about its building, grounds, arrangements, are Hit t- thrown into the form of a report and ing Facts are mailed around with photographs and cuts Given PubUcity ^^^^ editors want them. Statistics, di- mensions, number of employees, amount of output, gross annual business, success in foreign markets, rate of growth for a term of years,— these are given cor- rectly and in an interesting way. Other occasions arise, perhaps twice a year, per- haps a dozen times, when the house's own authentic report in the shape of a pamphlet is something many hundreds and many thousands of people will be quite intimately interested in for the moment. The business house with a voice speaks up at such times, while the inarticulate business house keeps silent either through a false interpretation of modesty or through simple neglect. As a result, in the course of years, the house with a voice becomes well known. 84 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The voice of the house is not necessarily the voice of the whangdoodle calling to its progeny. A feverish hunt for publicity, an assiduous heralding to news- papers of every little happenstance, stamp any business concern as petty. Where the voice is real you hear it only when there is something of genuine importance to be said, and then it speaks more or less impartially, furnishing the facts without color, making no sugges- tions as to what shall be done with them. In other words, the voice reports. Hundreds of business houses have a fear of print that causes them to burj^ their heads in the sand when Print ' Ink ^^ emergency arises. If the emergency as a Means of is acute enough they will doubtless be Defense dragged into print anyway. Somebody else says what they will not say themselves, and their air of secretiveness and mystery gives adverse color to what is written. Had such concerns been long in the public eye through their own reports of welfare work, descriptions of their plants and products, judi- cious giving out of facts concerning the personality of their chiefs, the violence of the storm would be nullified. A bad opinion about a corporation of which the public has previously known nothing may be created in a night. But where the public already has a good opin- ion, to transform it into a bad opinion is a very dif- ferent thing. The great thing about print in such an age of publicity as this is to become familiar with handling it. Several years ago, a life insurance solicitor in New York introduced such original methods of securing risks that in a few months the whole strength of the famous "Big Three" was brought against him. These great companies had resolved to crush him by secret agree- JAMES H. COLLINS 85 ment. A reporter went to get the solicitor's story. He was frightened at the suggestion of having anything printed, and at first refused to talk at all, and then only gave some partial facts with great reluctance and apprehension. These were printed. No evil conse- quences followed. A year or so later the insurance investigation was held and this originator was called before Mr. Hughes. There the information sought by the reporter months before, told with more detail, made evidence that was printed all over the country, and redounded to his credit. Today this man, after his pub- licity bath, has no dread of pvint, but frankly gives information whenever occasion arises. The business man 's rooted apprehension of print is usually based on his belief that newspapers misrepre- sent. The way to kill misrepresentation is to give his house a voice. What house among the Chicago packers will re- cover most quickly from the recent beef uproar? Armour's, unquestionably, because Armour's is the best known. In the lifetime of Philip D. Armour it was the only house that had a personality, and today all the others in that trade are largely abstractions, despite the fact that their firm names are well known. The man who most appealed to the general public in the Chicago stockyards after Mr. Armour, was another man who always has had a welcome and a sandwich for the reporters— Sir Thomas Lipton. No man who ever did business with the National Cash Register Company had ever to have explained to him what this corporation is, or where its main plant is located, or what it makes, because he learned it long before, in general reading through newspapers and magazines. Consider what prestige goes with Edison's name, with Marconi's, with 86 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Krupp's— all created by giving themselves and their enterprises a voice. There are hundreds of great, silent corporations, makers of things well known through display advertis- ing, but not known at all through a personality or a plant that gets into the public prints. Who is head of the Waltham Watch Company, for example ? What has the Elgin Watch Company done in the way of welfare work that is generally known? Mr. Douglas with his three-dollar shoe is elected governor of Massachusetts. What office has ever fallen to the head of the Diamond Match Company? When Henry D. Perky died the other day the press throughout the country printed notices in which his most successful invention, shredded wheat, was only incidental to a long career of genuine public interest. Mr. Post is also in the public eye. But you seldom read anything of a news nature concerning other breakfast food manufacturers. What is the course to be pursued by a business house desiring publicity? First of all a line must be drawn jj.„ between true publicity and mere "press from the old work." The press agent is usually the ress Agent employee of an actress or of some invest- ment enterprise that will not stand the light of day. He conceals his client, and dresses his information in sensational garb to give it piquancy, so that its ulterior motives may be hidden. He works in the dark, dependss upon his ingenuity to fool editors, and is despised by newspaper men of principle and standing. A publicity bureau, on the other hand, works en- tirely in the open. It may be maintained by a great railroad system to give the public information about improvements. Publication of certain details concern- ing equipment, regulations, rates, will benefit the road. JAMBS H. COLLINS 87 But they are also of wide public interest. Newspapers cannot possibly keep track of new devices as they develop in the railroad's executive offices from month to month, so the railroad undertakes the work of report- ing them through its publicity bureau, or this service is performed by one of the regular publicity agencies that now undertake it. Suddenly, for instance, there are several railroad disasters throughout the country as a result of careless shipment of explosives. The railroad takes steps to prevent such accidents on its own system. New rules are made. Its publicity bureau prepares a straight- forward account of the matter, gives the rules and the reason therefor. No argument is introduced, no sensational ap- peal, no color, no attempt to lead readers to think along a certain line— nothing but facts. This re- port is printed plainly on slips, and mailed to editors of daily and weekly papers throughout the country. With it usually goes a slip, frankly stating that it comes from the railroad company, and is its official utterance on the subject. The newspapers are not even formally asked to print it. There is the information, and each editor must determine whether it is important to his readers or not. Sometimes it is desirable to prepare such an article and send it out to appear simultaneously all over the country on a certain day. In that ease it Material with bears a heading, stating that it is "Re- Eeloase Date leased" on such and such a day at noon. Newspapers respect this confidence. All the President's messages and most of his speeches go out in advance to be released on a specified date, and the practice mi thoroughly understood in all newspaper offices. 88 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS A publicity bureau should always be in chaFge of someone with a true news instinct, and a knowledge of how to arrange facts for the public. There is a differ- ance between reporting the same set of facts for daily newspapers and trade journals, one requiring popular treatment, and the other technical. The head of such a bureau must also be able to distinguish between what is trivial and of narrow interest, and that which ap- peals to the public or only to the trade. He will not only watch the corporation's development and policy for interesting information, but will also have his finger on the public pulse, knowing what the people are think- ing of in connection with that corporation, obtaining official utterances from the officers on questions that arise from time to time, and correcting errors. In times of trouble he may be a tower of strength. In business it pa3's to have a voice. It costs little to maintain a bureau and send out information about any concern that is big enough to be at all interesting to the general public. No business house is so small but that some information about it is interesting to its trade. On looking over the world of business it will be found that the concerns which speak up for themselves are usually respected. They are not mere abstractions, not soulless corporations. They have a voice. The pub- lic knows them. When it is remembered what this voice — in simple attention to giving out information — can accomplish for a business house, the wonder is that there should be so few that speak up. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 89 CHAPTER XXII THE POWER OF CONCENTRATION Focus your ability upon one point until you bum a hole in it. Genius is intensity. Digression is as dangerous as stagnation. He who follows two hares catches neither. The best way to keep a gun from scattering is to put into it but a single shot. Field crossed the ocean fifty times to lay one cable. Grant said: "I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." In thirty-six years, Noah Webster wrote only one book. But that will be remembered. It is the single aim that wins. Only by concentration can you work out a satisfactory system. Get your mind on it and keep it there. Watch every point — take care of every detail. Follow up your men. Never stop pounding — never let up. Hang on with a bull dog grip until you get the thing done. CHAPTER XXIII PUBLIC OPINION OP A CORPORATION'S PERSONALITY BY DANIEL T. PIERCE An epoch in corporation management and policy and a new department of business work was introduced at the time of the recent coal strike by a very simple little announcement to the effect that the "anthracite coal operators, realizing the general public interest and the conditions in the mining regions, have arranged to supply the press with all possible information. Statements from the operators will be given to the newspapers through Mr. . He will also answer inquiries on this subject and supply the press with all matter that it is possible to give out." This authorized statement, sent out by the coal operator's committee of seven, marks a change from the "public be hanged" attitude of a few years ago to an open recognition of the public's interest. How did it come about that the coal barons, on the eve of what promised to be a great coal strike, "arranged to supply the press with all possible in- formation ? ' ' The answer is that the managers of great corpora- tions have finally awakened to the fact that the "gen- eral public" has a legitimate interest in the doings of these corporations. And, more than this, that the right kind of knowledge by the public means profit t» the 90 DANIEL T. PIERCE 91 corporation; every business man has something to sell to the public; goods, service, brains, anything which makes the public more ready and willing to buy is good advertising. When this awakening took place, the pub- licity man was ready to do his part. Press agents, we know. They have existed in one guise or another from the beginning of things. The publicity man is something new. He is to be an in- creasingly important factor in the world, and so he and his methods are worth knowing about. The publicity man scorns the title of press agent. He takes himself very seriously— and with reason. For in some cases he bears to his clients— railroads, great industrial concerns, semi-public corporations of every kind, princes and potentates— a relation that is not less responsible than that of lawyer to client. He is really an attorney at the court of public opinion. I am referring now to the recognized publicity agents whose work is done in the open. The "gum shoe" man still exists; Wall street contains a large number of the species. He is rarely honest, least of all with his employer, and works by devious means when he works at all. Naturally he does not share largely in his employer's confidence. The gullible ones who pay the secret press agent have no redress if he fails to deliver the goods. The H tv E - "P^'^ ^^^ above-board publicity man must tial in Pnb- be honest. He has costly offices, an ex- licityWork pensive staff, and his reputation for straightforward dealing is his most valuable asset. He might work off one "fake" on a newspaper, not a second one. But there are lots of people who have yet to learn that no press agent, however gifted, can keep news out of newspapers, or get anything but news into 92 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS them, and so the "gum shoe" man will continue to flourish on a small scale. The height of his prosperity passed with the insurance scandal. That, in its begin- ning, was exclusively a campaign by press agents, but they very soon lost control of it. And now the open. shop publicist has shown that the game can best and most carefully be played without concealment or evasion. Another blow at underground publicity methods was struck when the press bureau established by the opponents of railway legislation was exposed in Chi- cago last winter. That this opposition should state its position was right and proper. The attempt to secure the publi- cation of arguments against rate legislation disguised as unbiased news or comment was improper, futile, and as the event proved, did more harm to the pro- moters than good. Besides the secret and the open publicity men, there are the personal press representatives of great Personal Ben- corporations. The Standard Oil Com- resentatives pany has lately appointed a very com- of Corporations pg^gji^. newspaper man to such a position, and it is safe to prophesy that he will have plenty of chances to earn his salary. If he had been installed in ofSee at the time of the issuance of the Garfield report on railroad rebates and discriminations in favor of the Standard, he mi'sht have prevented officers of the com- pany from issuing statements which were unwise and unconvincing. But it is the open-shop publicity man, with an independent organization, handling the affairs of half a dozen or more interests, who is newest, most important, and destined to be heard of more and more fre* DANIEL T. PIERCE 93 quently as more corporations realize the value of hia services and the reason for his existence. Now, what is the reason for this existence? "Why do corporations call in a middleman when they decide to deal frankly with the public or when thej' think that information about their activities has a news value that will bring them a great amount of valuable indirect advertising? This middleman values his services at a fancy price, and hard-headed business men do not em- ploy him unless he is worth what he costs. This is how he earns his pay. The corporation which comes out into the open i& timid — the larger the cor- poration the more timid it is likely to be. It is afraid of being either "roasted" or ignored. If the publicity man is honest he promises merely to get a fair hearing for his client. He has two means of accomplishing this— his knowledge of how a newspaper story should be writ- ten, and his acquaintance with the channels through which news reaches the publication office. The announcements that corporations and their counsel prepare for publication are as uninteresting as a"viii«r N WB ^* ^^ possible to make them. No newspaper Interest to will print such announcements unless the statements subject matter is of great public import- ance. The publicity representative, who must be, to start with, a good newspaper man, writes a statement for the coal operators or for the traction company or the telephone company, or whoever it is, in a way to bring out the news value of the facts that are to be made public. Then he sees that his story reaches re- porters, news associations, or the papers direct, at the same time. There are no "beats" to be scored off the publicity man. 94 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The average company official or corporation lawyer is absolutely unfitted by temperament, training and habit of mind to deal with press or public. As a rule, he chafes under the necessity of recognizing the public at all. The publicity man, on the other hand, knows, and is guided by the knowledge, that he must con- sider how the public will be affected by and how the newspapers will look upon the news he has to make public, and how the interests of his client can best be served while giving every consideration to the first two elements in the equation— press and public. Very often the piiblicity man secures the making of statements, when, if he were not at hand, a corporation would maintain stiffnecked silence in the face of what a "trust magnate" is apt to characterize as "public clamor." The press agent, new style, is always studying out methods of getting his clients before the public in a favorable light. He knows news when he sees it, while the man who is engaged in the management of a business is blind to the news possibilities in what is, to him, everyday routine. Take the anthracite coal controversy as an example of the publicity man's activities. The operators be- Ti _« V,- lieved that the miners' threat of a strike How Public Opinion was unjustifiable. They wanted to set the Stoppeda strike reasons for this belief before the public, and so employed a man to secure the widest possible publicity for their side of the controversy. They had, it is fair to assume, no hope of deceiving the public, for that was scarcely possible. The result in this case, so says the miners ' newspaper organ and Mr. Mitchell, was to convince the public, on whose support both sides de- pended, that there was no good reason for a strike, and DANIEL T. PIERCE 95 this Mr. Mitchell admits was one reason why the miners decided to back down. Throughout the controversy, one of the best New York reporters was stationed in the heart of the hard coal regions to direct operations and keep in touch with everything in any way connected with the miners' fight. One of his best opportunities came when a riot occurred during which the state police were murderously at- tacked and houses and mine property wantonly des- troyed by strikers. The newspaper man was the first on the ground. His story of the riot was by far the most graphic account to be had. Naturally, the local papers used it, and New York and Philadelphia papers thought it was so good that they copied it. Without distorting a single incident, the public was thoroughly impressed with the horrors of the coal strike and by so much the sentiment against a continuance of the sus- pension of labor was increased. Another instance: a corporation that has grown out of one of the most disastrous trust promotions of o tt" Rd *^^ ^^^* ^^® years is anxious to rid itself of a Bad of the odium attaching to the old organi- Eepntatxon zation. It employs a publicity man to make the announcements as often, in as many ways as possible, that the existing company is not the original trust and is in no way responsible for the disaster that the original promoters brought about. In both cases the services of the publicity man are legitimate and of value both to the public and to the private in- terests concerned. It is not only industrial concerns that find press representatives a necessity. King Leopold of Belgium has found them very useful in correcting what he claims to be unjust attacks upon Belgian administration in the 96 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Congo. Other foreign monarehs, notably the sultan of Turkey, have at times sought to influence public senti- ment through newspapers, employing the services of a press agent to see that their side got a hearing. Presi- dent Castro also found a press agent very useful. By this means he disseminated the charge that the French Cable Company and the Bermudez Asphalt Company had financed the Matos revolution, and so deprived those concerns of public sympathy when Castro seized their property in Venezuela. No, it is not only soul- less corporations that are using the publicity man. A certain New York financier has two kinds of press agents : one a known spokesman for his railroad interests, and another one an agent who handles his private and political affairs. The railroad press agent is alwa3's on hand in ease of an accident or tieup. He has an explanation ready for every condition of which the public may complain, nor does he hide under a bushel the many things that his employer's lines are doing for the comfort and safety of the public. There is another side to the great game of publicity —the commercial side. Not all of the publicity man's Publicity Work ^"^^ ^^ taken up with political and indus- for Business trial movements. He sometimes bends to rojeo s ^j^g exploitation of new undertakings and inventions. The Jlarconi publicity is the best example of what can be accomplished in this direction by a skillful man. There are half a dozen kinds of vdreless telegraphy, at least two of which are just as practicable and successful as ilarconi's, but the general public, thanks to the publicity man, knows very little about anything but Marconi's system. In regard to this branch of his business, the pub- licity man's theory is something like this: newspapers DANIEL T. PIERCE 97 will print anything that is news ; therefore, I must make news of what would be advertising if it was set in display type and sent to the business department. News is what sells newspapers. If I can give them something that is novel and interesting, they will print it without regard to the indirect value of its publication to my clients. This theorizing works out surprisingly well. Take the case of a new hotel. One of its dining rooms is fitted up as an Indian grill room. The collection of Indian pictures, basketry, weapons, masks and other paraphernalia this room contains is really worth talking about; so the publicity man gets up a "Sunday feature article," describing the room, naming the hotel and in- cidentally mentioning the other unusual appointments of the house. The description of the Indian room "car- ries the story, ' ' and in the mind of everyone who reads the article there remains the idea that this hotel is an exceptionally interesting and well appointed stopping place. The publicity man prepares his copy with the great- est care. I remember one case where a newspaper man _ ^, made three trips from New York to Phil- How the ^ Publicity Man adelphia and one trip to Cleveland for the ^"^ purpose of familiarizing himself with an electrical device manufactured in Ohio for installation on warships building at the Cramps shipyards. When he had seen how this device was made, how it was installed and how it worked under all conditions aboard ship, he was ready to "write it up" in such a way that newspapers, technical journals and marine papers printed his articles with an eagerness that repaid all the time and money spent on the work. This is a fair sample of how the publicity man works. 98 FEESONALITY IN BUSINESS The most important factor in the publicity man's office equipment is his staff of writers. He must find men with ideas— men who can devise means of making readable news stories out of material which may or may not be very important or interesting. Such men are scarce and they demand big salaries. A knowledge of the daily press, the special publications and maga- zines of the whole country, is another essential. If a news article will be improved by photographs, they are supplied in quantities, and regardless of ex- pense. For papers in the smaller cities where engrav- ing plants are scarce, matrices of pictures are prepared and sent free of cost. On the whole, the publicity man is to be welcomed. If he did not fill an actual want, he could not make a living. He saves corporations much trouble. The re- sult of his work is to keep the public better informed than it ever was before of what is going on in the great industries of the country. His copy is worth reading or it would not be printed, and he would have to go out of business. From the newspaper's point of view, his entry as a factor in modern business is a good thing because he is always accessible, while the man higher up is, as likely as not, unapproachable. It is fairly evident that the publicity man has come to stay. The importance of the press, the dominating force of great corporations in modern life, and the in- sistence of the public upon knowing about these cor- porations, has brought him into being. That he flour- ishes is really an impressive demonstration of the power of public opinion. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS "^T CHAPTER XXIV HARNESSED ENERGY Energy harnessed is the master producer; un- directed, the feeder of scrap heaps. The thousand horse-power engine would never reach its destination without the guiding hand on the throttle; the trip hammer only crushes its base if no lever controls it; the over-charged wire burns out its contact. For power without the throttle restraint — force without the directing purpose — is worse than inertia. It is waste. The greater the undirected power, the more complete the final ruin. Energy has developed continents, created indus- tries, built businesses, made the power of men — but only when controlled, guided, directed. Harness your energy with common sense. Guide it with system. That is the formula for getting results. CHAPTER XXV HOW PERSONAL ACTIVITY HELPS BUSINESS INTERESTS BY TRUMAN A. DB WEESB Director of FuUicity, Natural Food Company Unfortunate, indeed, is the manufacturer or mer- chant who has not learned that there is a kind of pub- licity more valuable than that which he pays for in magazines and newspapers and which is easy to get without any compromise of dignity or sacrifice of per- sonal honor. He has noticed how a competitor keeps in the public eye and doubtless wonders through what devious channels of tactful persuasion and cajolery he manages to attract so much attention to himself and his wares at no cost to his house. It is all a very simple problem to the sagacious manufacturer or merchant who imderstands human nature and Avho knows enough to identify himself con- spicuously with those movements and enterprises which attract public attention and which must necessarily keep some one or more persons in the limelight. The manufacturer, indeed, who depends upon paid advertising alone is neglecting a vast field of opportunity that is rich with possibilities of usefulness to his fellow men as well as possibilities for attracting publicity to the business in which he is engaged. If publicity which he pays for is good for his business, the free publicity that comes through the wide and 100 TRUMAN A. DE WEESE 101 open avenues of human interest in a unique personality or a unique method of conducting business is also good — perhaps even better than that for vrhich he must pay a good sum. To be sure, the highways of free publicity are full of rocks and pitfalls. They are strewn all along with the skeletons of business men who sought notoriety rather than creditable publicity for honorable en- deavor. The world is so full of opportunities for useful service in a large and public way, however, that it is rt "ti ^^^y ^°^ *^^ well-to-do manufacturer or for Men to At- merchant of ordinary sagacity to drift tract Attention j^^^ those unusual manifestations of phi- lanthropy and public spirit leading to a publicity that honors his family name and that will make his own name a sweet savor in the nostrils of the public. He need not own fast horses or fall in love with chorus girls to attract public attention to his business. He will get better and more profitable advertising through his efforts to better the condition of his employees or through an active espousal of some movement that has to do with the welfare of the community in which he lives. While the various methods of securing free pub- licity for a man and the business which he represents are too many in number and too varied in character to be completely covered in a chapter of this kind, it is easy to group them under two classes : first, the unique or unusual character of the factory or other place in which a business is housed, or the tools and appurte- nances used in conducting a business; second, personal identification with public movements of a political, charitable, educational or relieious nature. 102 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The most important kind of publicity which comes under the first group or classification is the class of Possibilities in activities termed "welfare work" car- Welfare Work ried on by firms and companies the de- vn mp oyees glared purpose of which is the betterment of conditions under which employees work and the institution of plans and schemes for the health, comfort, entertainment, amusement and contentment of the em- ployees. This is the real purpose, with the hope of bet- ter relations with employees and greater efficiency as its prime motive. Yet it is as legitimate and just that these concerns secure from this work a by-product of favorable publicity, as that the packers secure a by- product of valuable blood from the beef sold to the consumer. That the manufacturing institutions which carry on this work in a serious way and on a large scale are able to command valuable publicity has been abundantly proven. It is plainly obvious that the advertising which accrues from this source is not only good free publicity, but publicity of a kind that creates a friendly and favorable mental attitude on the part of the consum- ing public. Almost any rational, well-ordered mind feels kindly disposed to an institution which treats its employees humanely and considerately, and hence is very likely to favor the commodities turned out by such an institution, not only because they will naturally be cleaner, better and of a higher standard of quality, but because of the natural impulse to return kindness for kindness. It would be very difficult, indeed, to estimate ac- curately the value of the advertising that has come to such institutions as the National Cash Register Com- pany, the H. J. Heinz Company and the Shredded TRUMAN A. DE WEESE 103 Wheat Company, because of their fine plants and ex- emplary treatment of employees. Moreover, this "welfare work" or "social betterment work" has attracted thousands of visitors to these concerns. Every visitor becomes a zealous and unsolicited promoter and advertiser, singing the praises of the in- stitution and its products at every favorable oppor- tunity. Personal example and persuasion are worth more in this world than all the "black and white" publicity that money will command. It is personal example that counts when it comes to the use of a new product. The varieties of social and educational endeavor which this "welfare work" may assume are without number, depending of course upon the character of the establishment and the facilities that may be provided for realizing the various aims and purposes of social betterment work. It is not often that a company of capitalists can be induced to build such a palatial plant as those of the Dueber-Hampden Watch Company and the Natural Food Company, for instance. The higher factory ideals do not always appeal to men who are looking for dividends on stock. When such a factory as this is built, however, experience has shown that its advertising value is far beyond the dreams of the idealist who founded it. In such manufacturing establishments as the ones mentioned, a beautifully clean, roomy, well ventilated, well lighted factory is the first essential in the scheme of "welfare work" designed for the health and com- fort of employees. Next come the beauty of the sur- roundings and the horticultural and architectural at- tractions which a corporation provides for the embel- lishment of the homes of employees. 104 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Great eare is taken to provide all sanitary and hygienic appliances which conduce to the health and mental equilibrium of the operatives. A generous and hygienic noon meal is provided free not only for the health and contentment of the employees, but inci- dentally to save the company the time that is lost in the tardiness. Next in importance come the "rest rooms" which are furnished with comfortalDie chairs and couches, with reading material, games and other appurtenances; large assembly rooms and pianos for dancing; shower and needle baths; chairs with easy backs and foot rests for those employees who are com- pelled to attend to automatic machinery. Educational classes are also formed, lectures and dances are given and other forms of mental and moral entertainment provided, not forgetting to mention the free vacation excursions that are given in the summer months. In institutions which employ much female help there is also a "matron" to whom the employees may communicate their grievances and who exercises a motherly supervision over their health and morals and gives special care to the sick or the injured. Another source of very profitable and valuable publicity which many manufacturers too often neglect High standard '^®® ^^ ^^^ character of the tools and ap- in Business purtenances used in the conduct of the Appliances business. Who can estimate the value of the publicity that comes from finely painted, well kept wagons and well groomed, well fed horses which are used in the delivery of finished product or in the con- veyance of raw material to the factory? These are the necessary parts of the machinery of production and distribution and yet they may be used to advertise TRUMAN A. DE ^YEESE 105 to the world the high standard of excellence that is attained in the finished product. Many a manufacturer puts out costly and hand- somely made delivery wagons without taking full ad- vantage of the advertising opportunities which they present. The sides of a man's delivery wagon should tell in a graphic and attractive way what he manu- factures and should give some information about his product. No firm should ship away from the factory a carload of goods without tacking on the sides of the ear a large and legible sign telling what is in the ear, thereby making the railroad company an agent of publicity. The opportunities for keeping in the public eye and attracting continuous public attention to a man and incidentally to his business next claim our atten- tion. When we get into this field of opportunity we are dazed and confused by an embarrassment of riches. Public Service ^^ ^ country of such wide and varied ac- Opportunities tivity, with such numberless and diversi- la fiasiaess ^^^ opportunities for public service, there is naturally no limit to the methods by which a man may keep in the public eye and no limit to the channels through which he may invite a creditable and satisfy- ing publicity. I am not unmindful of the fact that many of the world's great producers have embarked in politics and in other lines of civic service for ulterior and ques- tionable purposes, such as the selling of their commodi- ties to the government or the desire to confuse the public understanding as to the character of their busi- ness. But I am not considering the ethics of the ques- tion in this article ; for these cases are the great excep- 106 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS tion — the abuse which every good thing must suffer. I am simply calling attention to some of the methods by which men have attracted public attention to them- selves and the commodities which they make or sell and the value of the publicity thus secured. The in- stances which I cite will be those of men who have ob- tained very wide publicity for themselves and their industries by taking advantage of legitimate oppor- tunities to render honorable public service. And again it should be emphasized that the pub- licity reward is only a by-product. I believe that the efforts of all these men have been sincere, with a direct public service motive. But their businesses could not help but secure the benefit of the by-product. Let us take the example, for instance, of the late Clem Studebaker, the great wagon manufacturer of Reaction on a ^outh Bend. Here was a man who sought Philanthropist's no publicity of any kind — a mild-man- usmess nered, simple-minded, unostentatious. Christian gentleman — but who during his life was drawn naturally and easily into wide avenues of public service. Although he managed to keep out of politics, he was so conspicuously identified with religious, edu- cational and philanthropic movements that he could not fail to receive very wide publicity, and in this case the public could not fail to connect his name with the 'Studebaker wagon. Among the religious and educational movements which claimed Mr. Studebaker 's attention and interest was the great Chautauqua movement, of which he was at one time the president. As a colaborer with ~Dr. Vin- cent he helped to build up this unique movement to world-wide proportions. He built memorial churches and contributed generously to hospitals, asylums and TRUMAN A. DE WEESE 107 other institutions designed for the betterment of men and for the amelioration of human suffering. And now that he has gone to his reward, the great wagon firm, of which only one member survives, is perpetuating the "Studebaker idea" by erecting in the city of the home plant a magnificent building to be donated to the Young Men's Christian Association of that city. The firm has never used, nor probably thought of using, these works of their members for business pur- poses. But on your mind and my mind this favorable impression has been made — of greater value to them than their pages of advertisements. In the same town where this wagon industrj' had its birth, the inventor ajid founder of a great chilled plow industry has attracted wide publicity to his name and his plows by building a beautiful theater; also a hotel which attracts attention and comment from trav- elers from all over the world. When a traveler registers at this hotel he is filled with astonishment and wonder at the folly of a man who would erect such a costly building in a town of that size. But this is the monument to Mr. Oliver, the blunt and rugged Scotchman who came to this country many years ago a poor blacksmith — and who can forget the chilled plow with which his name is identified when they contemplate this structure? As I have said before, these instances can be multi- plied beyond computation. The name of "William Deer- _ , . ing, inventor of a harvesting machine, is Ezamplea of 07 Pame from inseparably identified with the North- Benefactions T^estern University at Bvanston. The name of McCormick is honorably associated with Mc- Cormick Theological Seminary and with many other institutions founded for the betterment and advance- 108 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ment of the race. Mr. Carnegie's libraries and tis great technical school at Pittsburg will keep this canny Scotchman's name forever green in the public memory, while it is impossible to think of the great Chicago University without thinking of its founder and bene- factor, Mr. Rockefeller. In a little Indiana town where I used to live, a man who has grown rich out of the manufacture of patent medicines and whose headquarters are now in Chicago has given himself and his business perpetual publicity by building an opera house and a hotel both of which bear his name ; while the Post Theater, Post Tavern and Post block in Battle Creek, Michigan, help to her- ald abroad the name and products of C. W. Post. The founder of one of the largest glass making industries in the world brought to his house immortal publicity through the founding of De Pauw University. The late Marshall Field, one of the world 's greatest merchants, was wise enough to keep out of politics, but he made such distribution of his surplus wealth as to attract wide and honorable publicity to his great house. The great football contests held on Marshall Field, at Chicago University, and the wonderful Field Museum are constant reminders of this prince of merchants. The late Henry D. Perky, the inventor of Shredded Wheat and founder of the great industry at Niagara Falls, attracted public attention to himself and to this product by founding a great domestic science school at Worcester, Massachusetts, and by identifying himself with many other domestic science schools and move- ments which had for their object the improvement of the food and living conditions of the people. Mr. Heinz does not mean to advertise the "57 Varieties" in hia identification with the larger affairs and interests of TRUMAN A. DB WEESE 109 the Presbyterian Church, but, incidentally, he gives much favorable publicity to the house of Heinz. The late Philip D. Armour kept his name and the name of his house in the public mind by founding and maintain- ing Armour Institute, a technical school for young men. When we get into the realm of politics we find an even more embarrassing wealth of opportunity for P lit" 1 A f - attracting public attention to men and ity as a Means the business in which they are engaged, of Advertising rpj^^ muster-roll of manufacturers and merchants who have advertised their goods by attain- ing public distinction in political service is so long and scintillates with so many brilliant names that it would be useless to try to exhaust it in a chapter of this length. Very near the top of this roll, however, we will have to place the names of John Wanamaker, the late Senator Mark Hanna and Governor Douglas of Massa- chusetts. Mr. Wanamaker had already attracted wide public attention to himself and his business by his con- spicuous identification with church and Sunday school work, but when the late President Harrison made him Postmaster General in his cabinet he gave him the op- portunity to make the fame of his name and house world-wide, and no one denies that he improved this opportunity through the admirable public service which he rendered his country in that department of the gov- ernment. In acquiring the distinction of being the most con- spicuous example of "the business man in politics" that our country has seen. Senator Hanna naturally attracted world-wide attention to the industries with which he was identified. And who will say that the excellent administration of Governor Douglas failed 110 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS to make the Douglas shoe more widely known through- out the land? Many will argue, no doubt, that the advertising which accrues to a business through the personal dis- tinction gained by the owner or principal stockholder in various lines of public activity is of an indirect character, while that which comes to a business or a commodity through the unique or unusual character of the factory or other place of business is direct and hence of greater value. They will contend that the personal publicity given to the head of a business enter- prise comes to the business itself or the commodity manufactured only in a reflex manner and hence bears little comparison so far as value is concerned with the piiblicity that comes through certain unique and un- usual standards that are maintained in the conduct of the business itself or through "welfare work" that is carried on for the improvement of the employees. While it is true that the public is prone to judge of a man's goods largely by his own personality and by what he is aiming to do or to accomplish in the world, thereby giving a definite advertising value to his acts and his public service, it is doubtless also true that what he does for his own employees and for his own house has a much more direct bearing upon the popular estimate of his commodities or goods. In the above I have merely scratched the surface of the exhaustless field of opportunity for securing world-wide publicity, which costs nothing, but whose value is beyond computation for the reason that it comes through the ordinary channels of human interest and activity. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 111 CHAPTER XXVI A SALESMAN'S PERSONALITY BY HERBERT S. COLLINS A little of you should go into every article that you sell — something pleasant, possibly the mem- ory of a friendly word or a cheerful smile that will make the goods seem better to the customer who uses them. Put your personality into your goods. Make the personality so cheerful that it will add something of pleasure to the purchase. If a trade-mark on an article makes an impres- sion on the mind of the user, how much more should he be impressed by a genuine smile and a cordial greeting from the salesman. The trade-mark may lead the man to call for the same brand wherever he can find it, but the cordiality of the salesman will bring the custo- mer back to the identical store where the cor- diality of the salesman is to be found. CHAPTER XXVII A SALESMAN'S GRIP ON HIS CUSTOMERS' PERSONALITY BY HENRY M. HYDE The ability of a salesman is the sum of his ex- perience and education, plus the natural force of his intellect. The first two factors a man may largely control and increase; the last he inherits and cannot change. But— and here comes the lesson — the "'natural- born salesman" is, in nine cases out of ten, passed on the road to success by the man of smaller natural endowments, who utilizes to the fullest possible ex- tent all that he reads or sees or hears. In other words, in salesmanship, as in almost every walk in life— unless one sets out to be an epic poet or a siher- tongued orator— more depends on what a man does for himself than on what his ancestors have done for him. How, then, shall a salesman go to work to in- crease his ability in selling goods? How shall he increase most rapidly and most certainly the sum of his experience and education, which are the only factors in his ability which he has the power to in- crease? In the first place, the lessons which education teaches amount to little or nothing unless they are 112 HENRY M. HYDE il3 stored away where they are instantly available when occasion arises to apply them. "I might have known that Jones would go off on that shoot. He's just the same sort of a man as Brown, who turned me down the same way last month. I ought to have known better." How often has the average salesman said that sort of a thing to himself, after leaving the office of Th Need of ^ Customer? He ought to have remem- Eemembering bered, but he didn't remember. Busi- Personai TraitB ^ggg j^g^j^ ^^ whom remembering means success, have long ago learned that the human mem- ory is an extremely deceitful institution. Every minute you live, the various senses ar? taking a hundred different impressions to the brain. The wonder is not that ninety-nine out of every hun- dred of these impressions lasts no longer than the ripple made by a stone in the water, but that even one out of a hundred leaves a permanent impression on the mind. There are a very few men whose memories, nat- urally strong, have been trained to retain a great mass of facts bearing on some particular subject. But no memory in the world will do the work so well, unaided, as will that of the average and ordinary man, if it is properly backed up by the assistance of what may be called "the auxiliary brain box" in the work of remembering points about your customers' personality. In order to explain clearly the idea and the im- portance of the "auxiliary brain box" let us sup- pose that you, a salesman for a specialty house, have reached that point of wisdom where you are de- termined to start one. 114 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The first thing you must do is to fit up the up- per right-hand drawer of your desk with a series of „ light, movable wooden or pasteboard How to . . .,, „ Arrange partitions— or, better still, secure a small Personal Data ^^^j.^ index filing case, which will fit into the drawer. A filing case of that size will also be convenient to carry in one corner of your suitcase when you go out on the road. "I: ~V: NAME LKjAaaX; "W.JJTMXXs^ ADDRESS j4aAjA)lAAAAlAj^.V-U''^'V\j. BUSINESS 'a/VV\xX -"l (2.0JvAvV. , ■^°-'^'<^-^°^^ BEM.RKS doJJbuJ^ 11|H|0^, l|ll|0H Card index in which record is kept of the personal traits and hobbies ol individual customers This drawer so fitted up, it may as well be stated, represents the shell or dry bones of your "auxiliary brain box." It now remains to fill it with the results of your experience, your reading and your observations — in exactly the same way, only much more surely and systematically, as the brain cells of your medulla oblongata are stored with fragmentary and uncertain memories. HENRY M. HYDE 115 In calling on customers you have found that a great many of them decline to buy, because, they say, they object to the price. On the first index card in your filing case, you write the word "Price," and in that compartment of the case you file away every- thing you hear or read which applies to that par- ticular objection. Jones, for instance, has written you a strong testimonial, in which he says that he r^ J — ^fcm^fajLbJifvO \ ft ^^^.■►ixA; A>yu''>>r'i«j UMJAAjb t>X. "Ol/ The file in which are recorded points to be used in answerinr itock objections from customers has found that the use of your specialty has stopped the leaks in his business and that, consequently, he "can't afford to be without it." You file Jones' testimonial, then, so that, when Brown makes the same objection, you can have it ready to show him. If you are a wide-awake salesman— and they are the only ones who need brain boxes of any kind — you subscribe for a number of business publications. 116 PERSONALITY IX BUSINESS You also, if you are sufficiently wise, get hold of and read carefully all the house organs which you can lay your hands on — such publications as the " N. C. R. " of the National Cash Register Company and the house organs of the Oliver Typewriter Company, the Sher- win-Williams Company, and others. In almost every issue of each of these papers you will find one or more arguments which may be successfully used in meeting the objection of the man who says he "can't afford to buy." Every such argument you find, you clip out, paste on a card and file away, under the proper in- dex, in your "auxiliary brain box." Before you know it, you have, with no tax at all on your over- worked memory, a collection of all the answers which the best salesmen in the world use in meeting that particular objection. Another class of customers refuse to buy your goods because they say that they can buy second- hand goods to better advantage. You label another index card, "Second-hand," and collect arguments which apply to that objection in the same way and at the same time. There are still other possible customers who pre- fer your competitors' goods, or who "don't see the „ ^ . need" of your goods; who declare that How to Answer •' " ' the Usual times are too hard" at present; M^ho Objeotions ^^^.^ Yi\q ^^ ^,^^y ^j ^ -^^^^^ j^ ^j^^ "trust." You make a separate index card for each one, and under each you store away the best argu- ments to meet that objection. And your "auxiliary brain box" will do much more than that. There are two or three buyers in each town you visit whom you have not been able HENRY M. HYDE 117 to interest at all, though you are sure that, once you get their ears and their attention, you could sell them a big bill. Make out an indez card or folder in your filing case for each of these buyers. The first one, Smith, let us say, is much interested in duck hunting. You read in your Sunday paper a full-page article on duck hunting, signed by Grover Cleveland, in which the ex-president describes all the joys of the hunt- er's life. Clip that article out and file it away un- der the name of Smith. Next time you go to Smith's town, take it along and hand him the clip- ping, with the remark that you remembered his fond- ness for hunting mallards and thought this might interest him. Smith can't help feeling flattered at the atten- tion, and, besides, he is likely to gain a new respect for you as a man with a marvelous memory — no use in telling him about the "auxiliary brain box." Every buyer has a human side to him. Most of them have some fad or fancy. If you can't get directly in touch with him on the busi- Approaching a Cnstomer'g ness proposition, suppose you try to ap- BiindSide proach him on "his blind side," which, in the case of your friend Smith, aforesaid, was duck hunting. For the purpose of making this description of the "auxiliary brain box" as simple and as con- vincing as possible, it has been assumed that a salesman is making one up for his own use. It will be clear, however, that, in a similar way, by changing the titles on the indexes, a credit man, a buyer, an advertising manager, or almost any other business man, may prepare a "brain box" for his own use, 118 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS which will be quite as useful to him. And it should be especially noted that, whereas the human brain grows more feeble and less acute with ad- vancing age, the "auxiliary brain" grows stronger and more valuable with every week it is kept up. More than that, when the man who has created it is through with his work, he may turn the "auxiliary braiu box" over to his successor, who will find it equally valuable. In no other way may a man leave his brains to his descendants. Once you get your "auxiliary brain box" under way and find out how well it works, you will be simply astonished to find how much that Advantages of Using tiie you hear and see and read you will want Card Index ^^ gjg ^^^^^ p^jly y^^ ^^j^ g^j^ without at all looking for them, items which will apply to one or another of the different headings in your filing case. And the longer you work with it, the more you will appreciate its value. There are more men than you might suppose who owe their reputations for gigantic intellects to the presence in the upper right-hand drawers of their desks of a small filing case, with carefully selected subjects inscribed on index cards. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 119 CHAPTER XXVIII PERSONALITY IN RETAIL CLERKS BY THOMAS J. CONSIDINE Manager, Browning, King &^ Company The greatest factor in the success of any retail business is the courtesy and enthusiasm of the salesmen. Men may talk about the savings effected through their system of buying, and all that, but we don't depend on the wholesaler for our patronage. It is the public that buys from us — the public whom we must please — and our only way of pleasing the public is through our salesmen. This is true not only of a clothing business, but of any retail store. Some men slam down their merchandise in front of you in a way that says, "Here's your goods. Want 'em?" Good judgment in hiring men is what a store manager needs. You can't change a salesman's nature after he is hired, and a man has to be a good judge of human nature in order to pick his force right. A man who could judge exactly right of an applicant every time would be worth his weight in gold. That is what lay at the bottom of Marshall Field's success: ability to choose men, and to put the right man in the right place. CHAPTER XXIX THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN AN ADVERTIS- ING CAMPAIGN BY C. W. LANSING Many elements enter into the success of an ad- vertising campaign, but none of them is so vital as that almost indefinable characteristic known as "per- sonality." Two advertisers may have equally meritori- ous products to put on the market and they may have an equal amount of money to expend for advertising; yet one will succeed and the other fail, the deciding factor in these opposite results being the one feature — personality. By the use of this word it must not be understood that I refer to the personality of the advertiser him- self nor to the injection of his picture or the pronoun "I" into his "copy," but more particularly do I mean the ability of the advertiser to make his copy per- sonal, to touch the personality of the people to whom he is endeavoring to sell his products. Certain advertising might be attractive in ap- pearance, original in style and forceful in argument, and j-et fail because it did not appeal properly to the buj'ing public— because it did not excite in the reader's mind a personal interest in the article advertised. It is not his OAvn personality or that of the firm that is brought before the people in his advertising, but the article or product which is advertised. 120 C. W. LANSING 121 A certain advertiser might spend his fortune and his lifetime in informing the public "I am the Collar Button Man;" but instead of convincing buyers of the value of his product, his egotism would only excite antagonism and ridicule. Successful advertising proceeds along a different ine from this. It recognizes certain principles— that p , Mr. Reader is an entirely selfish person; Interest Must that he is not a bit interested in Mr. Ad- Be Aroused vertiser; that, in fact, Mr. Advertiser is looked upon with more or less suspicion and unfriend- liness; that Mr. Reader looks upon the vast mass of advertising in the magazines and newspapers with more or less apathy. Something novel or curious or startling in word or phrasing may catch his eye and may cause him to read the argument in connection. Most often, however, the feature of the advertising that will get Mr. Reader's attention is some appeal to his own personal desire or selfishness— something to please his appetite, something to benefit his health, something to save him money or to enable him to make money, something to promote his ease, luxury or com- fort ; all these and many more facts are at the founda- tion of Mr. Reader's interest in advertising. The advertiser is no more or less than a salesman, the difference between him and the ordinary salesman being that he talks at one time to a hundred thousand prospective customers to the latter 's one. The ad- vertiser's words are extremely precious, each one worth perhaps several thousand dollars, so he must be sure that his "selling talk" will be of the kind that vdll win customers. To put personality in the form of salesmanship requires the qualities that make a good salesman and many more. 122 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS The secret of successful personality in adrertising is, first, the ability to read human nature and the public mind; secondly, the ability to talk of the prod- ucts in plain, direct terms— good, honest, straightfor- ward talk that will appeal to the reason and desires of the people whose trade is sought. Much of this ability must come from certain in- tuition or rather natural genius. Put with this a wide experience, a life of close contact with fellow beings and the world at large, and on top of that a careful technical training, and you have a combination of the necessary qualifications. Instead of discussing these qualifications in the abstract, let us take as an example of personal influence in advertising the campaigns of C. W. Post, the head of the house that manufactures Postum Cereal and Grape-Nuts. Mr. Post's own training and experience especially prepared him for the advertising work that he has been called upon to supervise. Many Preparatioa i- i for Work of years of world-wide travel, close contact Advertuing ^^^j^j^ humanity in all walks of life, an active newspaper experience, an intense interest in the study of mankind, all these things laid the foundation for his special education, and several years of careful psychological study and research in Paris, under the guidance of a famous French scientist, enabled him to apply his knowledge in a practical and logical way. Added to this was an interest in dietetic matters be- cause of his failing health. He has been able to write advertising copy that appeals to the public, because he can put himself into the "public's shoes," so to speak, and can create rea- sons and arguments that convince them, because he is himself convinced of the soundness and truth of his C. W. LANSING 123 own talk. He talks to his fellow meD and t« the busy housewives through the newspapers and magazines very much as he would talk to some particular friend in a personal conversation. The introduction, both of Grape-Nuts and Postum Food Coffee, required a campaign of education. In the case of the latter, he saw that it was necessary to teach a world of coffee drinkers that there was a substitute for coffee, the use of which would be greatly beneficial to health. In a campaign of education it is easy to antagonize readers and offend the public by too arbitrarily laying down the laws for them to fol- low, by statements challenging contradiction, or by too strongly forcing on them your own opinions. Ordi- nary men and women like to imagine that they are reasoning things out for themselves, and the more you can cultivate a train of reasoning that will lead up to the conclusions you desire formed in their minds, the more successful will be your advertising results. This is the course of reasoning followed out in the Post advertising that has been found most success- . ful. While the reader rather imagines the Eoader he is doing the reasoning, and deciding Eeason j^j. iiimself, he is really only following the suggestions he has read in magazine or newspaper advertisements. The personal relation with the man is struck. Some simple, plain catch-line like, "There's a Reason," or "The Road to Wellville," is used to attract attention. Instead of forcing him to think of Postum first, the reader's attention is secured by some point that attracts his personal interest. Much attention has been given by the house to the exploitation of its registered names and trade- narks. They represent millions of dollars in advertis- 124 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ing value, because they stand for something ; and they stand for something because they come to have a personal meaning for the customer. That is why the selection of a name for a product is a very important matter. There are two chief principles of name makings, one that the name should suggest in the customer's mind a desire for the article ; and then that a coined name, capable of trademarking, is a strong asset. For example, there is absolutely no such thing in the world as Grape-Nuts except the Grape-Nuts which the Postum Company makes and which contain neither grapes nor nuts nor any product thereof, but are made simply of barley and wheat. The goodness and wholesomeness of grapes and nuts is suggested, however, by the sound of the word. Nobody can use the word Grape-Nuts in any other way, for there is no such article. This fact prevents ,. . any possible infringement upon the copy- Personality in „ a Copyrigiited right. The personality of an advertiser's ^*"'* name does not have much value and is easily taken advantage of by imitators. If Mr. Post's first product had been called "Post's Cereal Coffee," a dozen Posts might have sprung up around the coun- try and adopted the same name ; but Postum is a coined word. There was really no such thing until he com- menced making it, and nobody can now use even the semblance of a name to imitate him. People have for- gotten the words cereal coffee and now say simply "Postum." Many advertisers majje the mistaKe or spending money to advertise their own cleverness instead of the goods which they desire to sell. A concern manu- facturing an article of household consumption ex- C. W. LANSING 125 pended about $500,000 in less than three months for a most extensive and elaborate advertising campaign. Their advertisements were perhaps the most attractive ever published and called forth widespread and favorable comment. The strongest features of the ad- vertisements were pictures of an original character, and these illustrations and the clever text became a familiar topic of conversation and comment. But the psychological mistake was that this concern spent its money in advertising this imaginary character instead of the product it was trying to sell. We will call the character "Pretty Poll" and the article advertised soap. "Pretty Poll" was indelibly impressed upon the public mind and is talked about to this day, but many who remember her could not tell you whether it was a soap or a patent medicine that she was intended to advertise. If it had been "Pretty Poll Soap" the advertising might have had a real value. The object of advertising is to drive a wedge into the mind of the reader, an opening through which argument can be forced. Some catch-line Entrance the Or pointed sentence that will appeal to Vital Point personal need or desire will open the way and will constitute the wedge for the selling talk to follow. A lumberman can split asunder a great log by the proper use of little wedges. First a small split is made with one wedge. Advantage is taken of the crack thus opened to insert another wedge and thus to enlarge the opening. One by one these wedges are inserted, ever taking advantage of the work done by the previous one, until finally the split is great enough to permit the use of the larger and final wedges thai accomplish the desired purpose. 126 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS So the advertisement writer should follow out his campaign, writing his copy in consecutive series, mak- ing each individual advertisement a trifle stronger than the one before, taking advantage of the opening previously made and ever driving in the arguments that are needed to bring the reader to the buying point. Each advertisement in the series is a wedge and the "catch-line" is the point of each wedge. Unless the advertisement writer can win the attention of the reader in the opening words or display lines, all the arguments that follow are wasted and the expenditure for space is worthless. The greatest care and thought should, therefore, be given to this opening. The fewer words used, the more effective will be the display and therefore the greater will be the eye-catching possi- bilities. Regarding the value of illustrations, I would say that while I am a believer in the judicious use of cuts, there had better be no illustration at all than one that is inappropriate or that does not amply show the point made in the catch-line. Illustrations should be made to fit the text rather than text to fit the illustra- tions. "With the present crowded advertising pages of our magazines and newspapers, it is true that interest- ing or pointed illustrations are a great aid in gaining the attention of the readers, but an illustration merely to attract attention to the advertisement is of little value. The same is true regarding the "catch-line." Novelty, originality and humor are all right if they are used to accomplish the definite purpose of opening the way for selling talk. If they simply entertain the reader and fail to cause him to read the remainder of the advertisement they have failed entirely. There- C. W. LANSING 127 fore in preparing advertising copy, the writer should center his efforts on three ends: First, on some strong point that will appeal to the personal interest of the reader. Second, on bringing out that point forcibly by catch-lime ar illustration, or both. Third, on making the text of the advertisement conform to and follow up the point made in the opening. I beliere that the successful advertisement writer must feel the utmost confidence and enthusiasm re- garding the article which he is trying to sell. He must himself feel a strong personal interest in the article and the selling of it. Only under these conditions can he instil confidence into the minds of readers. He must know the advertised article so well that he knows fully why the reader should become a buyer and then be able to reason it out from the reader's point of view. The personal interest of the public in an advertised article must be maintained along the same line on which it was originally created, but the advertising must not b« allowed to become stale. New arguments clothed in new dress must follow to hold the public interest. Because an article has merit it does not necessarily follow that advertising will sell it. The advertiser must „ , _^ convince the people that it has merit. He Must Interefft in Order to Cannot do this by simply telling them of Convince ^^le merit. He must show them why. He mast show them in a way they will understand. In showing them why, he must not offend them nor an- tagonize them, nor lose them. He must keep them in- terested from start to finish. 128 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS How can all this be done 1 Simply by putting yourself in Mr. Reader's shoes. Forget that you are the seller. Become Mr. Reader for a little while and reason out why you need and desire the advertised article. In following that plan you will strike the keynote of personality in advertising. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 129 CHAPTER XXX POLICY-SHARING WITH RETAIL CLERKS BY ARTHUR B. LEVY Of Levy Brothers &° Company The one thing that this house has followed throughout its entire history and which is re- sponsible for its success is "publicity with the clerk. " It is true of many houses that the clerk is treated fairly and shown such consideration as is com- monly shown employees; but it is not true that the clerk is given full information on the cost of goods, the methods of buying, and the policy of the firm. These three things are held from him as secretly as is possible. But with us there is no secret, there is no hold- ing back of what the house is doing or contem- plates doing in building up its business. The policy of the firm is the reflected opinion of those who constitute its working force; for policy is nothing but the following out of the best plan under the circumstances. And who knows more about this than the sales- man? CHAPTER XXXI BUILDING UP WHOLESALE CUSTOMEBS BY JAMES GERMAIN In wholesale trading one process has Jteycr been departmentalized. The partner or oiBcial ■wko decides just how large a bill any customer may run still recog- nizes the human equation in his job; in an era of man- agers he remains the credit man. There you have the significant part personality plays in credit-making expressed in a single word. The house deals with men— not firms, companies, corpora- tions, but with individual men. And the enly way the official who keeps the future of the house safe can determine how each customer shall be handled— trusted implicitly, kept within careful limits, sold an a strictly cash basis — is by treating him as a man. To do that safely and efficiently he must be a man himself. True, the credit man has his machine behind him and certain fixed methods by which he seeares most of the information on which he bases his decisions. Mer- cantile reports, inquiries made by lawyers, reports by banks, the estimates of salesmen, the bulletins of co- operative credit associations, the signed statements of the prospective customers themselves — these tools every credit man uses and every buyer knows he uses them. For three prospects in four they are sufficient. In the fourth case they may fail, either because the applicant for credit is shrewd enough to disguise his real con- 130 JAMES GERMAIN 131 diti»n ©r deceive inquiry, or because he is not familiar enougk witk these formal methods to make them tell the actual tale of his resources. The credit man's work must be constructive aa well as critical. The "stars" who win partnerships are the men who dig down beneath unfavorable reports and unprepossessing exteriors and discover good customers. They find reasons for accepting orders, not arguments for refusing them. They co-operate with customers in- stead of crippling or antagonizing them by adherence to machine-made formulas. Their success is measured not by the number of applicants they refuse or the minimum of losses made, but by the number of pros- pects they find means to accept and the doubtful risks they educate into safe customers. Helping a retailer to build up his business by credit co-operation and sound advice is one of the most im- portant functions of the constructive Due to Aid credit man. The merchant with a first ia the Past g|g^gg rating, like the storekeeper who dis- counts his bills, is likely to be pretty independent in his dealings with wholesalers unless he has a sentimental attachment to some one house. When such is the ease, traced back, his loyalty will be found to be due to the material aid and counsel given him during some critical period of his business growth, when refusal of credit or the withholding of advice might have wrecked his ven- ture or kept it always in a side street. But the little man, the beginner whose chief capital is his honesty, industry and determination to get ahead, is not the sole concern of the credit department. The discoverer of such undeveloped power makes a life-long customer for his house and creates a market for his goods which might otherwise not have existed. But the 132 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS established firms, the stores with gross sales of $100,000 and upward, are of necessity under keen and constant scrutiny all the time. Dependent, as they are, largely on local custom, the failure of a crop at the eleventh hour, the sudden col- lapse of an apparently prosperous industry, a fire, a flood, may bring the most conservative retailers to the verge of insolvenc,v. In such a crisis the determining factor in the credit man's decision to "carry the cus- tomer" and make such arrangement of the house's claims as will enable him to dodge failure is always the personality and fiber of the retailer himself. And the quality and character of a man cannot be discovered thiough commercial reports or ratings alone. The process needs personal contact, man to man. Millions of dollars in accounts stand on the books of wholesale and manufacturing houses today which would be drag- ging through bankruptcy courts but for the resolution and intelligence of credit men in sizing up and sort- ing out the men who can be trusted to pull their stores out of Ihe accidental pitfalls and recover the ground they have lost. This is provision for the future, since service of this sort is never forgotten; frequently, too, it is the only safe course for the present, because the assets of a perfectly solvent but embarrassed customer may shrink to half their actual value on a forced sale. On the other hand, the "sixth sense" of the credit man, the intuitive faculty which feels danger before ■^ T . -.- any of his routine mediums of information How Intuition Helps the suggests it, and detects hidden dishonesty Credit Man ^^ j^^p^g f^.^^^ ^^^g standards, often saves his house serious loss when a big customer is riding to a fall. This is a fact outside formula, outside concrete methods and business mathematics. It is applied per- JAMES GERMAIN 133 sonality raised to a pitch of efficiency which gives it tremendous commercial value. Personality counts for so much in any retail busi- ness that the credit man who overlooks this quality, or deliberately avoids the opportunity of discovering it in his customers is neglecting an important factor in the expansion of his business. Honesty, industry and health are assets which never are listed in agency re- ports or the scant information forwarded by banks in response to inquiries. The purely social gifts which draw trade like a magnet— humor, kindliness, helpful- ness—may be missed altogether in a superficial survey of a prospect by a city-bred salesman, and of course never influence the rating a commercial agency puts on a merchant for the guidance of credit men. Like other men, retailers often mature slowly; the quickening im- pulse which makes for bigger business often comes from the credit man who sees the native ability of a customer and offers him the opportunity to broaden and extend his lines. Hundreds of country banks lend money virtually on no other security than the char- acter and physical equipment of their clients. Big city banks will not accept the deposits of customers until the cashier or some of his assistants has sized up the prospective customer and the personal impression has been added to the stock of knowledge which the man and his associates directly or indirectly furnish. Despite these facts, there is a wide difference of opinion as to the value of personal interviews in mak- ing wholesale credits. The temperament of the Personal of the credit man usually influences his Interview feeling in the matter. The constructive man wants to talk to the customer before taking him on ■ the man who trusts to figures and the past perform- 134 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ances of the prospect to give him his line avoids inter- views whenever possible— on the ground that he doesn't want his human sympathies to inject unbusiness-like issues into his decisions. The experience of both classes —and many successful credit managers belong to this second class— are drawn upon in this chapter. The positive value of a personal interview is the chance it gives the credit man to secure many facts— frequently the vital facts which neutralize circum- stances—which can be gathered only by indirect meth- ods, the casual probing for a point of view, the acci- dental uncovering of a tendency or policy which may be altogether at variance with the record of the cus- tomer, but exists nevertheless as a menace or an un- developed special ability. Many credit managers make it a point to meet the responsible heads of the firms they do business with— either inducing them to come personally to buy goods, not only when the first credit is made but at intervals, for the purpose of keeping in touch with their development or possible retrogression or by apparent]}' accidental visits when an emergency seems to justify it. The amount of information which can be gathered in this way is usually out of all pro- portion to the time and money so expended. There's the business man who, late in life, yields to the temptation to embark in some new speculative field, „ . .„ but hides his operations so that even his Getting Tacts . <. i • About Side closest associates know nothing oi his Ventures "side ventures." Plow is his lapse from safe and sane business methods to be detected except by the highly sensitive "sixth sense" of the credit man in contact with the customer personally? A shrewd salesman catches the difference in the cus- tomer's attitude toward his business. He notifies the JAMES GERMAIN 135 credit man after vain effort to discover the trouble. The credit man persuades the customer to come in him- self to look at the new fall lines. That process over, he sounds him on a dozen tonics before he lights on the man's hobby— fanatical belief in the future of his home town. "Real estate" proves a magic word. The cus- tomer enlarges on the opportunities in this addition, that subdivision. The credit man pursues him, gets him to admit that he is involved in this deal and that, finally discovers that he is very heavily involved and bent on still further acquisitions of property, making the first payment in cash, giving his notes for the sub- sequent instalments. He is operating through a dis- tant relative, not to conceal his condition from his creditors but to guard against advances in the prop- erty he still desired. From every point of view he is more unsafe than a deliberate swindler, because his credit is still good and the agencies rate him high. Therefore the credit man draws the lines; when the crash comes the house is safe. Fancy getting track of the danger, how- ever, by any of the routine methods of securiag credit information. Take another case where mutual advantage comes to house and customer from the injection of per- sonality into the matter of credit making. A proud, stiff-necked old general storekeeper in Montana has exceeded his credit allowance two or three times, has had to ask again and again for extensions— getting them largely through the efforts of the salesman who takes his orders. The account looks dangerous, how- ever, and the credit man is about to "draw the line" when the storekeeper comes to town on other business and, of course, visits his wholesaler. He is "touchy" 136 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS every time the credit man appT-oaehes the subject of his business. Finally he melts under the credit man's manipulation and explains his situation. His brother is selling goods to the farmers across the Canadian line, where deliveries are slow and collection impossible until the wheat is sold — with the natural result that the drain on the Montana brother is at times tre- mendous. Knowledge of the facts, of course, changes the situation completely. Instead of limiting the store- keeper's credit it is extended and he becomes a larger and better customer for the house's specialties. Or a country merchant comes in asking a credit —unprepossessing in appearance, uncouth in speech, . ., , « ,.^ reticent as to his financial resources and a. Good Credit . under Eough not Very clear m his statements. On Exterior acquaintance he improves; his simple honesty becomes clear, his talk mirrors shrewdness, good humor, knowledge of human nature, which form the ideal combination for the retailer in a cross roads store. He gets his credit— and he never overbuys or defaults on his bills and his orders grow yearly. Dissensions in partnerships are rocks on which many stores split — nothing like a personal interview to bring out the slighting word which gives the credit man his danger signal. Or the statement which, by mail, would be basis for a comfortable credit withers under keen tactful analysis and the assets on which credit is based shrink to nothing. Every credit man who puts personality into his dealings with his cus- tomers knows the illuminating hints which come in the course of almost every interview with a customer. On the other hand, the personal interview some- times is a dangerous tool. Give a customer that rare quality of personal salesmanship and he, not the credit JAMES GERMAIN 137 man, finds the meeting an opportunity. Here's a man just going into business himself, the graduate of a big house known for sound methods and progressiveness. He knows exactly what he is going to do, what he wants from the house, and he "sells" his proposition to the credit man by virtue of his magnetic personality, his energy and his perfect self-confidence. He gets credit wherever he asks it; he opens up with an enor- mous stock ; he pushes sales ; but he lacks two essential things — managerial experience and capital. He takes six months to fail— and his personal salesmanship and magnetism are to blame. If he hadn't been able to impress so many credit men he would have begun on a smaller scale, have learned his lessons at nominal cost and weathered the critical period which comes to every business established— as ninety-nine in every hundred are established— as much on credit as on cap- ital. PART IV THE HUMAN TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS CHAPTER XXXII PERSONAL RELATIONS BETWEEN CLERKS AND CUSTOMERS BY PHILIP A. CONNE Secretary and Treasurer, Saks & Company The factor which I consider the most essential to business success may seem all inclusive. But the question itself is broad and permits of a nvimber of interpretations; to me there is only one answer: Serve your customers faithfully. Make those dealing with you feel that whatever you offer them is just as represented: not practically as represented but exactly. There must be no work- ing around a questionable point. The letter of the law does not answer the purpose. It would be a short-lived success, one that stepped on the heels of failure, which you would gain by deceiving patrons, through keeping silent when they purchased goods unadvantageously. A reputation for handling a certain grade of merchandise of a seasonable character takes years to build. Yet it may be torn to pieces by using this reputation, for a single season, to dispose of a bar- gain stock of dress goods or suits, which may have been picked up at a small cost because they were a little behind the times. With our business we have made it a point to carry nothing but the latest styles in all departments. Our customers cannot be ex- 141 142 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS peeted to be experts or authorities in the goods we handle, so they must rely on us to furnish them with what is correct. If you see on our counters, ribbon with green checks and yellow stripes, you are safe in wagering that green checks and yellow stripes are to be worn this season. The question of employees comes more closely in touch with the spirit of service than might, at Cl k M t ^^^^ pause, be allowed. They represent Bejreaent you, and while they serve you, you serve ^ "* the people. Their appearance should be considered, as well as their ability. Moreover, their ability does not consist merely in their readiness to grasp detail; more especially is it shown in their promptness to acknowledge the principles of your service. Employees should be encouraged to be straight- forward in admitting an error. We all make mis- takes, and those under us should feel no hesitancy in admitting theirs. In nearly all cases there is little difficulty in finding out where the fault lies. Deceit in an employee is un- pardonable ; it is the crooked path which never crosses the highway of real service, and the rungs in the ladder of success are too far apart for it ever to make the ascent. The buyers of our house submit their samples to the manager. They have learned to bring noth- ing that is out of style, with the excuse that it is cheap, or a great bargain. They have also learned that it is best to tell the manager the details of the situation, enough so that he may be able to grasp mat- ters properly. PHILIP A. CONNE 143 Not so long ago we found that a buyer had mis- represented a certain condition. The next morning C n t Aff d 'we handed him, with our " compliments, " Dishonest a check for $2,650 in payment for the mpioyees eleven remaining months of his contract. We could not afford to have the worry caused by contact with such a man. His offense was rot within the law, so we paid his contract in full and we still feel that it was a profitable deal. There are people, remarkably capable and ener- getic, who seem to have a mental weakness which is apt to break out at any time. This defect may be covered up for years, but when the lapse comes, someone is sure to suffer. A manager does not want that variety of individual around him. Our buyers protect the manager by never submitting any of the "great bargains" shown to them. In this way we have no chance to yield to the temptation of securing temporary gain at the expense of our patrons. The best plan seems to be to put yourself on the other side of the counter. I feel that this store's position with the people of New York is the same as the employees of our house occupy in relation to us. The employee who studies to serve his employer intelligently and faith- fully is pretty sure of advancement. If the employ- er's service to the people is governed by the same rule, his advancement is just about as certain. You cannot afford to deceive your customers, in fact, you cannot deceive them for very long. Good news may travel fast, but bad news travels a little faster. I have proven to my personal satisfaction that faithful service, intelligently undertaken, is the prime tactor in success. 144 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CHAPTER XXXIII PERSONAL TOUCH WITH BANK PATRONS BY R. R. MOORE President, Nnj Amsterdam National Bank of New York I like to keep in touch with my patrons. I like to know who enters into and what is going on within the bank. I like to have time to exercise a personal in- fluence over the work of this bank, and so keep informed of its needs. An executive who is lost in red tape is dissi- pating his energies; he is performing the detail work that he can hire others to do. The fundamental principle of this bank's organ- ization lies in that pruning-down system by which the dead wood is being constantly elim- inated and the least possible cares of routine are brought before the executive. CHAPTER XXXIV MAKING FRIENDS FOR A BUSINESS BY EDWIN W. MOORE President, The Electric Cable Company Business corporations are unpopular. Comments of the people, as shown in newspaper and magazine writings, the side on which they cast their votes, the way they are investing their surplus, prove this. Yet, based on rather a wide acquaintance with cor- porations and their ofiScials, and knowledge of their management, policies and difficulties, my belief is that few reasons exist why any of them should make enemies, as many do. On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of reasons why they should make friends, and a thousand ways to do so without cost to themselves — indeed,, very often, there would be a direct return in earnings. '' It might be surprising if we could determine how little of the present agitation is based on actual cor- porate abuses, and how much of it arises from a vague distrust of the secrecy with which many corporations conduct their affairs. The public feels that these in- dustrial monsters are working in the dark, somehow, to accomplish unknown ends. The logical outcome of such a feeling is blind enmity toward all corporations, good and bad, and when people are in this frame of mind, every defect in service rendered by a corpora- 145 146 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS tion, though perhaps a slight one, and temporary, and quite unavoidable, is interpreted as a manifestation of corporate greed, spite and vieiousness. Some years ago, the New York Central Railroad was settling many costly claims of farmers living along „ T •*- 4. its line whose cows had been killed on its How Litiganta Were Changed tracks. An animal worth, perhaps, $20 to toPriends ^^q ^q^i^j g^^aj on the railroad and be tossed by a freight train. A claim would follow for damages of several times the value of the cow. Public sentiment along the line was unfavorable to the com- pany. Farmers felt that it was a soulless corporation, and to extract as much of its money as possible in claims of this sort was altogether the proper thing to do — in fact, a form of public service. Eventually this trouble became so acute that the road investigated it, and determined to make friends with the farmers. Wooden ties had before that time been purchased in other parts of the country. Notices were posted in every station, offering tie contracts to the farmers at good prices, with the results that hun- dreds of former enemies were transformed into friends. Business dealings between the company and the farm- ers established close personal relations. People learned that the railroad paid well and promptly for what it bought, and when damage claims for cows were put in a settlement was reached on a better business basis. Commuters ' complaints of service are often numer- ous and bitter. There is a popular impression that com- mutation trafSc is immensely profitable to Advice of a railroad. The crowded trains back Patrons ^^^ forth from suburban towns during rush hours utterly kill any suspicion that the road is not making money from such business. As a matter of EDWIN W. MOORE 147 statistics, however, suburban traffic is often conducted at a loss, for while many of the trains are well patron- ized, it is necessary to run others in the middle of the day upon which traffic is very light. The New York Central has overcome much of the distrust of its commuters by posting notices along the line, and mailing letters direct to residents, announcing that changes in its suburban time tables were contem- plated, and asking for opinions of patrons as to the trains that were most convenient and necessary to the largest number. For days after such an announcement, the commuters at each station could be seen discussing trains, and a large number of replies were received by the road, giving a direct foundation upon which to build a new schedule. The moral effect was very valu- able. The road made friends by consulting the wishes of those who bring it steady revenue. Another railroad that goes out of its way to make friends is the Pennsylvania. In addition to a perma- nent policy of publicity, whereby information about equipment is given the public, the Pennsylvania pays attention to little features of its passenger service. For instance, eight per cent of all earnings above a certain point is devoted to new cars, new uniforms, and so on. It is the little things that make friends for a cor- poration. It is also the little things that make enemies. Small economies are far more often the The Importance „ . . . ,, , ,., , . of Little cause of irritation than deliberate at- '^"^^ tempts at wrongdoing on a large scale. Here is a railroad that attempts to save money on its car-lighting equipment, with the result that its cars are too poorly lighted for comfortable reading. There is a trolley company that lays down a rule of its own, in defiance of a state law, and insists that passengers shall 148 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS ask for transfers when paying fares or apply for them at transfer points to a man in a booth. The company imagines that it is saving money by rendering it impos- sible for boys to traffic in its transfers, and so it is— saving a few dollars. But thousands of passengers are antagonized, and it becomes almost ethically right to SM'indle the company. In central New York, a trolley company, in some- what bad odor with the public as the outcome of several years of parsimony, engaged a new manager who un- dertook to establish better feeling between the public and the corporation. Ground was leased several miles from town and an amusement park arranged. A six cent ticket on the trolley gave admission to the park, while on certain days children were carried and ad- mitted free, when accompanied by adults. This town had previously had no summer amusements, and during the first season the park was well patronized and the company widely commended for its efforts to provide clean amusement at reasonable prices. A comfortable appropriation to cover expenses enabled the new man- ager to give a very attractive vaudeville performance in the park, with a weekly change of program. Thus far the company was on the right track. When the time came around for the annual report, however, it was found that the park had cleared only H D sir ^^^^ above running expenses. This was Tor Dividends entirely satisfactory when one remember- Lost Friends gj ^j^^^^ -^ ^^^ ^^^^^ established as a means of making friends. But when the directors came to pass upon the question of running the park another summer, this low earning power stood out most promi- nently in their minds, and they demanded that their manager raise the price of admission. EDWIN W. MOORE 149 This he felt unwilling to do except on an arbitrary order that left him no other course, because it would immediately arouse antagonism. The directors didn't want to issue such an order. So they compro- mised by cutting down the park appropriation to about one-fourth what it had been the season before. Ham- pered thus, the manager could furnish only a cheap vaudeville performance. The public soon saw the dif- ference, and resented it, and before the summer closed the park was almost abandoned, and losing money. In hundreds of towns and cities, however, the out- come of trolley amusement parks has been happier than this. Perhaps no other one thing has done so much for street railway corporations the country over in making friends as the well managed trolley park. And they also make money. Some of the great western railroad systems have made friends along their lines by liberal advertising of ., « .. the resources of towns ; and by co-operat- Co-Operative . . Booming of ing with citizens ' leagues, boards of a Town trade, chambers of commerce and state authorities to attract new residents and industries. Bureaus are maintained for directing inquiries to towns and cities where they will find definite opportunities. Needs of each community are considered and filled. Real estate men and property owners are aided in find- ing customers and tenants. The whole sentiment in those sections is with the railroad up to a reasonable limit, because the communi- ties feel that the railroad is doing things for them, and it is known by its good works. A corporation is often heartily hated for the minor abuses it persists in, such as withholding information in time of accidents, by leaving motormen and conductors 150 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS unprotected on platforms, by taking off cars and trains at rush hours, and departing without notice from pub- lished schedules. But even these causes of friction between corpora- tion and public are responsible for far less of the ill feel- ing than arises from corporate secrecy, and Secrecy Invites the vague fear on the part of the public Distrust ^]j^^ corporations are working in the dark for selfish purposes, that they are "soulless," and in- scrutable—that they are monsters instead of business concerns managed by human beings. By taking the public into their confidence, by announcing policies and plans, by letting the personal side of the corporation come to the surface where it may become known, by simple little acts of foregoing a few dollars of profit wrung by unworthy means — in short, by much the same tact and wisdom that has guided business men acting personally and alone when dealing with the public, any corporation, however large and unpopular, can gain a place in the public confidence, and find the people with instead of against it. Let a corporation but show a kindly interest in its customers by giving intelligent, comprehensive, and direct replies to business inquiries made of it. Let it arrange its intercourse with the public to the public's greatest convenience ; instruct its employees to meet customers as though they were soliciting patronage rather than irritably enduring the contract. Let it adapt its routine methods of operation so that its duties in relation to service may be promptly given, rather than indicating supreme indifi'erence that so often brings down severe criticism upon them. When delay is necessary, but the cause is not apparent to the public, Let them make a statement of the condition. EDWIN W. MOORE 151 Let them wear this attitude as an every-day work- ing garment and they will find that the public is with them from the "drop of the hat." The greatest safeguard against a community granting privileges to any rival public service corpora- Popularity a *^°^ *^^* ^ present company may have, Source of is its popularity. They will not have to trength undergo the expense and unpleasantness of buying up city councils, nor of buying out the rival company. Rival companies do not attempt war where the community is with the corporation already on the field. Through the short-sightedness and greed that the active management of some corporations have ex- hibited, the word "corporation" has an unpleasant sound to the ears of many, even thinking people who, in reality, know it to be a friend to legitimate, com- mercial advancement. A corporation need be no more unpopular than it wants to be. Perhaps the smaller the concern the greater need of making friends, for while strength is a poor substitute for friendship, still, it will carry the burden when one prefers "might makes right" to the Golden Rule. Yet it is often the personality of the individual rather than the amount of financial backing that VTill push a smaller business toward success. There is a large department store in one of the up- state cities of New York that, outside of common sense business methods, owes its remarkable growth entirely to the high esteem in which its founder has ever been held. He knew every clerk by name. That was not hard at first, for he started with a handful ; but he kept it up throughout his life. He was just as accessible on the last day he came down to business as on the first 152 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS day he opened the front door. The city did not wait until after his death to show their appreciation; his beautiful business house stands as a grand monument and proves the substantial regard in which he was held by his fellow citizens. In the western part of Ohio is a small town of two or three thousand, where a lawyer is president of the „ „ . . local bank. He is the son of the former How Training Was Pat to president and largest stockholder. As a Good Use youth he had worked in and around the bank and had grown into a knowledge of practically all the simple details of the small institution. But he had a desire to study law and completed a course in that profession. For a number of years, while his father was still in active control of the bank, he carried on his law practice. When his father de- cided to retire, the responsibilities of the banking house fell upon the son, and he gave up his law office and the active practice. But the practice did not want to give him up, for not long after he came into the manage- ment of the bank a former client came to him for legal advice. The new banker told the client that he had given up his practice but said he would be glad to answer any question that might be troubling him. The question was put and answered and when the fee was asked the banker refused to accept one, as he was not in active practice. You see the point withoiit further illustration. The former lawyer gained a customer for his bank, and the . , - . next move was that of his law library over Special Service . ^„ tt n i £ Given to his bank office. He saw the value oi to Patrons solving the simple puzzles for those who brought them to him and his willingness to do so spread, until today he claims that fifty per cent of the growth EDWIN W. MOORE 153 of his large banking business is due to his knowledge of law. A manufacturer in the Quaker City who seemed to imbibe the spirit of the season, last Christmas wanted to show it. His business is a comparatively small one but the closing year had been good. He felt kindly toward men in general and his customers in particular. There was no surplus money for the making of elaborate souvenir presents to these people who had made his business a success; he needed his capital to increase his factory. But he could send them a Christmas greeting without one word of "hoping-for- your-patronage-in-the-future" talk in it. During all that year his letters to these customers had been solicitous, or thankful, or explanatory— straight business. Now he felt good and Message Sent he wanted to let them know it ; perhaps toCuBtomera ^jjgy would appreciate it, perhaps not; anyway, he would increase his own good feeling. This is what he sent: " 'I have always thought of Christmas time, when it comes round— as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts, freely, and, there- fore, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it.'— Charles Dickens. "May this year be the best you ever have had and the worst you ever will have. For in progress alone lies success. "Clothing my wishes for you in the words of others, I am "Most cordially yours." And it was a good investment. 154 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS CHAPTER XXXV OVERCOMING OBSTACLES Obstacles are the stepping-stones to success. In the chemistry of business, men are tried by fire. Poverty cannot hold you down. Whitney wrested the cotton-gin from a fate that forced the sale of the bed of his dying wife. Impaired health? Grant wrote his "Memoirs" — summoned back the armies, and lived over again a hundred battles — with death clutching at his hand. A new field? Morse turned from the easel to the laboratory and brought forth the telegraph. Youth, age? Recall the exploits of England's twenty-two-year-old prime minister, Pitt, and the discoveries of Humboldt when past the four score milestone. Don't flinch — however fierce the fire. Only the scorch of the flame can harden the steel for its work — can fashion the man for the responsi- bilities and problems, the successes and rewards, of business. CHAPTER XXXVI WINNING THE GOOD WILL OF CUSTOMEES BY GEORGE H. BARBOUR P^nt Vice-President and General Manager MieMgan Stove Company If personality is a power in dealing with men in the factory, the shop or the store, it is a superlative power in dealing with the customer in the selling end of the business. The business man, to succeed, must keep in personal touch with his customers. Letters which have the personal quality stamped on their typewritten lines do much. Frequent circulars that are drafted along personal lines and have the persoial element carried in the ink form another bond that ties. But, best of all, is the personal contact between the seller and the con- sumer. Many a business man could not execute a more effective stroke of business-getting than by packing his grip, making a tour of the houses of his customers and announcing at each place he called that "I have come just to shake hands. ' ' I have seen ample proof of that. Its value has been demonstrated many times. Our sales manager some time ago made such a trip through a section of the country. Its results were im- mediate. It toned up business all along the line. It acted as a powerful supplementary influence to the efforts of the salesmen in the field. In one city this official called at the offices of a very prominent and very 155 156 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS busy man. The corporation over which this man pre- sides as the executive head had not been one of our constant customers. To the visitor's card the busy executive sent back word that he was too deluged with business affairs to receive a call. The visitor merely said to the clerk: "Very well. Kindly tell Mr. So-and-so that I do not want to bother him by soliciting orders. I merely came in to shake hands. I shall call again at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. If he is not too busy then I should much desire the pleasure of meeting him." The next morning our sales manager was promptly received. He was met by this corporation head with: . „ . , „ „ "I am very glad to meet you. You dis- A Social Call -^ *' '' That Brought played such a kindly and gentlemanly dis- Large Profits position yesterday when I was burdened with a mass of affait";, that I have looked forward to endeavoring to make full amends today for my in- ability to see you yesterday." That visit meant very, very much to us. And to what must this result be attributed? To personality; nothing else. It shows what personal power will do. I wish it were possible to extend this personal contact to every customer. I know of no way in which I could do greater service to the house with which I am associated than to tour our selling field and just shake hands with those thousand and more of cus- tomers who have been sending in orders for years and have known the directing forces only through our traveling salesmen— all men of personal power, too— and the personal letters and circulars of the kind I have mentioned. GEORGE H. BARBOUR 157 That business house or manufacturing establish- ment which makes a constant practice of extending a . „ , personal welcome to the customers who A Fersonal Welcome come to its doors has learned one lesson to Visitore ^^ ^j^g success-book. Proper personality, even in the busiest retail house, radiates that atmos- phere of welcome. In the great retail commercial house there may be no actual hand-shaking, but the custom- ers feel that air of welcome almost unconsciously. For business houses, when rightly directed, have personal- ities as well as individuals. With manufacturing estab- lishments there is opportunity to extend personal wel- come to visiting customers. Let them know that they are at home. "We are anxious that our customers who visit us should have full opportunity to observe every detail of the business. And that means that they are welcome to start at the pattern-making branch and visit every other department up to the general offices. We have no mysteries about our bookkeeping. We are glad to know that our customers are so interested in us that it is possible to establish such close personal relation- ship. Let your customer know that a personal interest attaches to him — a real personal interest that is not measured wholly by his orders and his dollars— and you will win in return that close, personal association and active support that builds up business. It is personality — personal force — that counts. 158 PERSONALITY IX BUSINESS CHAPTER XXXVII ENTHUSIASM IN ACTION Faith; hope; work. Faith in yourself. Hope to build on. Work without end. And the sum of these is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm has covered the earth with its accomplishments. Enthusiastic republics have vanquished dried-up empires. Enthusiastic business men have captured the trade of staid competitors. Enthusiastic young men have built up businesses where stolid capital has lacked the courage to try. Enthusiasm needs only direction to turn it into success. And the direction it needs is system. And enthusiasm, like system, is for stenographers as well as for statesmen; for cash girls as well as for capitalists; for you as well as for your neighbor. Plan your system and turn loose your enthusiasm. No stone wall can stop you. CHAPTER XXXVIII PERSONALITY IN MAKING WHOLESALE CREDITS BY HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM President, The National Grocer Company In many years of active commercial life I have never yet brought myself to the popular belief that a corporation can have no soul. On the contrary, the finest touch of human sympathy can find expression in a business transaction. There are two elements making up the personality of credit transactions: the human nature of the credit man, and the close touch with his customers which he cultivates. Smith was a responsible merchant in a Lake Su- perior town and had been doing business wltn us for several years. One spring he made us his usual visit for the purchase of his season's stock. Business had been prosperous, the outlook was good and Smith made unusually extensive purchases. Before he left for home I asked him how much insurance he carried. "I carry $3,000 on my goods," he told me. "That does not nearly cover your reduced stock as it now inventories, ' ' I warned him, ' ' and you should at once take out enough new insurance to protect the new stock you have just purchased." This he promised to do promptly on his return; "but through neglect and rush of work he failed to 159 160 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS keep his promise. The new goods arrived and were put oa the shelves, and each day Smith promised him- self to attend to the insurance matter on the morrow. But he waited just a, day too long, for one night the store caught fire and in the morning Smith found him- self a ruined man. He got his $3,000 insurance money promptly, but our bill exceeded that amount and if he paid us he „ , . would be without capital with which to Helping a , ■ • tt Customer Over commence business over agam. He never a Catastroplie "squealed," however. He did what any honest man would have done — sent the money straight to us. There was no tear shedding, but a manly, straightforward statement. "It was my fault that the stock was not fully pro- tected as it should have been. This insurance money is all I have, but it rightly belongs to you and will almost cover your bills." There was no hesitation in my reply. I sent back the draft to him and wrote : "Smith, take this money and put it in your bank. Get right to work and buy a new stock. I will pass your orders and will accept your notes in settlement of the entire account, arranging for payment on such time as will enable you to meet your obligations. Rent a store and see how quickly you can open for business." I sized Smith up right. He not only paid us in full, but became one of our best customers, and is today the most prosperous merchant in his territory. This instance points out the two elements of per- sonality in making credits mentioned above: the per- sonality of the credit man, which refers to his char- acter and his humaneness, and the personal relation be- tween him and his customer. HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 161 While the latter cannot exist unless the credit man ^las strong personal power, it is the more important The Bond factor in credits, for it means the exist- Between Bnyer enee of a real human bond between buyer and SeUer ^^^ seller, not merely a transient business relation. And the human bond is as much more last- ing and efficacious and business building than a mere dollars-and-eents relation, as the welded iron chain is stronger than the rope of sand. It is because this wisdom must be so much his own intuition that the personal is so strong a factor in this work of credits, for in a general way the methods em~ ployed in the credit departments of various enterprises are similar. The organization is regulated by the size of the establishment, but in any case the facilities mvist be complete for obtaining every possible bit of infor- mation regarding the financial condition of those with whom the firm is doing business. To me, however, this "secret service" idea has al- ways been abhorrent. I usually form my opinions en- tirely through direct means, personal knowledge of the conditions surrounding the customer himself. I have little use for secret special reports from commercial agencies and have time and again extended credit to men who had no rating whatever. How fallible commercial reports and superficial ap- pearances may be a case that came up in 1898 illus- trates. I received from a certain customer a statement of his financial condition. This was of the regulation kind asked of all customers : it showed he had real es- tate valued at $11,000, cash $5,000 and $2,500 worth of wool, and was free from debt ; in other words he had a clear fortune of $18,500. And all the other features of 162 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS his showing were excellent. He was, therefore, given a liberal credit. Only a few months later he asked for an exten- tion of time in which to pay his bills due and amount- g ^^ ing to a considerable figure. I was in- Personaiity formed that he had the same real estate in a Customer ^^ ^j^g^ j^jg account was opened. But I determined to ask of him another full statement of his affairs. At this request he became seriously offended, raised the money due us, settled his account, and de- clined to furnish any statement other than to say he had a stock of goods worth $20,000, which our sales- man had reported in good condition. My answer was : ' ' The fact mentioned in your let- ter makes us still more anxious for a complete state- ment, as it is evident that you must owe for a large proportion of your stock." Here was a very plausible showing, well calculated to tempt the unwary credit man in the habit of taking things for their face value without careful analysis. The fact that the man raised the money and paid his account simply proves that he was able to convince some other person of his financial soundness. The man's failure a short time afterward showed that my diagnosis was sound and that I was not unduly con- servative. It can be seen that the faculty of intuition entered largely into my decision in this case. It is a fact that on many occasions the credit man takes heed of some inner, sub-conscious warning that saves him from finan- cial loss. This indefinable sense has guided just as frequently in favor of a customer, although ratings and appearances might be decidedly against him. HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 163 It can readily be seen that outside of the personal ability of the credit man and the excellence of his pol- p J. icy, he must have a most thorough knowl- Knowiedge edge of the trade conditions surrounding of CondiUeas g^^j^ ^j ^j^^ customers of his house. This must be a geographical as well as a business knowledge. He must know that a certain man would not come from a certain town in Kentucky to buy goods in Chicago if he were able to obtain credit in Louisville or Cincin- nati. This geographical knowledge is most important, yet it is personal. It does not depend on reports or statements, but on putting two and two together. Customers are divided into a number of different classes and it is in the special treatment given to each that the personality of both customer and credit man are most strongly shown. When K came to us to establish a credit I learned from him all about his town and the business conditions there. I drew a little map showing the street and corner on which his store was located in relation to the postofBce and the leading business places. Then I drew a circle around the tovni to include all the terri- tory that offered trade to that town and to K in particular. I made note of his principal competi- tors, their resources and financial condition. I learned about the industries and resources of the town, upon which it depended for its prosperity. In fact, I studied the trade conditions surroimding K and his possibilities for success, progress and development, as if I were making his business my very own. With this knowledge once obtained and properly filed and by continuing to keep posted, I was enabled to maintain at all times a familiarity regarding the business of K and was able to advise with 164 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS him intelligently and to make him feel that f had a personal interest in his welfare. If the store of a com- petitor burned down I was ready to advise him how to take advantage of the opportunity. If the crops in his territor3f failed I would advise him to use caution in the extent of his purchases. A customer may have an unquestionably good credit. His rating may be high and his resources . great. He may be exceedingly prompt in Watch la his payments ; and yet, because these Necessary good qualities are present, the credit man should not neglect to keep himself informed of the de- tails of his business. The "good credit" may in the course of years or through unforeseen circumstances become a bad "credit," or if he remains good the vol- ume of his trade may be increased by the establishment and continuance of the most confidential relations based on the continued knowledge of the credit man as to his customer's affairs in progress. The "slow payers" are the especial irritant of the credit man. He may know them to be perfectly good and safe, but because of carelessness or because they are chronically slow, they are forever letting their bills get overdue. The credit man must work with these men personally, educating and training them to proper business methods even to the extent of coercion and threat when friendly methods fail. Again, the credit man must frequently take an active interest in the business of some customer who has met misfortune. It must be promptly decided whether the house will endeavor to support the man and tide him over his difficulties or take no further risk and protect itself in the best manner possible. In such cases the credit man must try to forget his per- HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 165 sonal friendliness to a great extent. He is represent- ing the interests of his house and those interests are his first consideration. He must know accurately all the conditions surrounding the business of the unfor- tunate one and be able to decide whether the man will be able to get on his feet if the house continues to sup- port him. It is at such a time as this that the cus- tomer will find that his reputation for honesty and fair dealing, enterprise and business ability, estab- lished through his confidential and friendly personal relations with the house, is his most valuable asset. It can readily be seen that with a credit man who works intelligently the matter of personal policy is strongly interwoven with that of personal Sizing TTp method. In "sizing up" a prospective a Cnstomer customer intuition is formed in many ways. A man's business letter will often indicate in an almost indefinable way his character and responsi- bility. It is not safe to form an opinion from the ele- gance of the stationery nor the perfection of the Eng- lish used in the letter, but a certain tone of sincerity or insincerity can frequently be detected. In other words, you must read between the lines. Even when a prospective customer is not seen per- sonally, the personal element must enter into the analysis of credit ratings, references, written state- ments and special reports which must be relied upon to some extent, by systematic reasoning as to the con- ditions surrounding the customer and a judgment formed on the appearance of sincerity in the man's letter. • But the report of the salesman which is strictly a personal impression is more to be relied upon. For ■^his purpose the credit man must be on the best of 166 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS terms with the salesmen of his house. He must cause them to feel that they are his representatives on the road; that, while he is as desirous as they of enlarg- ing the volume of orders, they are equally interested with him in the avoidance of bad credits. Then he must train them as to his personal methods so that aa nearly as possible they will "size up" their customers in the same manzier that he would and be able to make such reports to him as will give him the information he needs. Very many of the smaller customers never come to the house, and the credit man must rely largely upon the salesman to keep informed as to the detailed conditions which might affect their credit. After all is said, however, the credit man much prefers to meet his customer face to face. In this way ^ „ , he can bring into effect all his power of The Value ... of a Personal judging personality. I presume that I Interview have made inistakes in reading men's faces, but I am usually able to decide very promptly by a man's talk and appearance whether he is honest or dishonest. You can read it in their countenances, their talk and their manner. Yet being dishonest does not always make a man a bad credit. I have approved sales to men whom I knew to be dishonest, because I knew that the house would be paid promptly and in full. Business policy, the idea that "it pays to be honest," may cause a man to pay his bills in a prompt and businesslike manner though his natural tendency might be to defraud those with whom he deals. Fear of consequences— of the loss of credit and inability to get goods— may alone be the controlling influence. It is needless to say, however, that it is impossible for me to establish relations of real confidence or HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 167 friendliness with a man whom I know to be dishonest. He may have his orders approved as long as I am sure of prompt payment, but his credit will surely be re- stricted and he will receive no leniency or extensions on terms of sale. In considering a new credit I believe that the credit man should give particular attention to a study p . of the prospective customer 's previous con- Connections nections. I always want to know just as an ez where he had been buying his goods here- tofore and his reasons for making a change. This in- formation a customer should be willing to give in a straightforward manner. Variation from the truth in a statement of this kind can be easily detected and any evasions are open to suspicion. If a man lost credit with some other house through failure to pay bills promptly I must know it; and any attempt to hide it will end all possibility of his securing credit with me. On the other hand, if I can see any possible way by which the man can be given credit without risk to the house I am glad to find it and to aid him. It is important that a credit man should keep informed of the character and quality of goods being purchased from the house by each customer, so that when a cus- tomer begins to buy certain lines from some other house his defection will be noted. In such cases it comes much more appropriately from the credit man than the sales department to bring „ the customer to account if he has been in How to CaU Cnstomers the right personal relation to the cus- to Account tomer. The credit man feels injured. He has given the customer the fairest kind of treatment, has extended liberal credit, and on several occasions made 168 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS concessions and extensions as a matter of accommo- dation. The customer who begins to divide his cus- tom soon finds that if he wants good credit with this house he must purchase from it all the goods which he carries in its lines. The customer should be given to understand that the relation of buj^er and seller is one of reciprocal favors; the house becomes a silent partner in the busi- ness of its customers ; it aids and supports them and in return it expects all the trade that each customer is able to bring. The successful credit man should have that most precious of all characteristics, human sympathy. He must not, as some believe, be a born skeptic and pessi- mist. In dealing with men he should be fair and should meet them on this ground ; he should make cus- tomers believe in the fairness and liberality of the house. This is certainly a matter of personality and it is only on this basis that satisfactory confidential rela- „ , „ tions can be established. The credit man Credit Man , , , , . _ . . , a Personal should become an active adviser m the Adviaer business of his customers. He should feel and show a fraternal interest in their welfare and progress — so sincere that it will be inoffensive. The customer should learn to look up to the credit man as his personal friend and adviser. Very frequently have I prevailed upon customers to cut doA\ai their orders from an amount that I felt was unwise and risky to a figure that was reasonable, and this without arbitrary action on my part. One old customer I had to plead with periodically. "Why, Brown, you will get gray-headed trying to turn that stock over. You are doubling up on last HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 169 spring's order for the same lines and you know that the business conditions in your city won't warrant you taking such risk. Of course, we will send you the goods if you insist. "But don't be foolish, Brown. We are right here all the time and ready to duplicate any of these goods promptly if you find your stock running low. The saving in freight isn't worth the risk." And usually Brown came to his senses and, with- out any arbitrary action on my part, acted on my ad- vice. Another customer would, by his financial state- ment, show me that he had been getting careless in his jj. . collections and was carrying an altogether of Basiness unsafe amount of accounts receivable on PoUcy jjjg books, and I would be obliged to coun- sel him somewhat in this fashion : "Jones, I don't like this. It seems to me you are getting away from the safe lines on which you com- menced business. You have done a fine business the past year, but you haven't the capital to enable you to carry so much in book accounts. "There has been no business depression in your country and your books show that you simply have been careless or inefScient in your collections. In your ambition to increase your annual turnover you have been too liberal in the treatment of your customers. You have let down the bars in a way that will work you harm if you aren't careful. It isn't my way of doing business. We have had pretty close and friendly relations, but you are getting off the straight road and your road is different from ours. If you can't stay with us on the straight road I am afraid we will have to separate." 170 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS He usually took my advice as I gave it, in a sin- cerely friendly manner, and mended his business ways to our mutual advantage. It is this policy of personal friendliness and sym- pathy that a credit man will find more successful, I believe, than any number of hard and fast rules and written records, no matter how businesslike they may appear. A credit man may increase his yearly record of sales by unrestricted liberality to good credits, but in _. p -J . five years' time his house will have made aConsiBtent a lesser showing as to total sales than if Practice j^^ j^^^^ exercised some friendly restriction on individual orders. Many of his customers may have been more successful, have lasted longer and in the end have proved larger customers because of this per- sonal oversight and advice. It is also possible that the percentage of loss dur- ing one year's time may be kept down equally as well by the cold, unsympathetic credit man, who withdraws credit at the first alarm and who acts on appearances only. But he will lose some good accounts, and in the long run the percentage of losses to volume of busi- ness will be in favor of the man who takes a personal and friendly interest in the welfare of his customers. These confidential relations between credit man and customer are established in various ways. Most frequently it is purely a matter of personal regard founded on mutual respect and intimacy in business. Sometimes, however, the customer is himself a cold-blooded individual, in which case the credit man may establish the same confidential business relations, but on a different basis. Business sense or business Eear may be the prompting factor. A merchant real- HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM 171 izes that his future success depends entirely upon the credit which he can obtain with the houses from whom he wishes to buy goods. Therefore, he knows he must make honest statements of his condition, must con- duet his business along proper lines and must keep his agreements as to settlement of his bills. This realiza- tion will cause him to establish the same relations with the credit man as if founded on purely personal friend- liness. Well advised and carefully worded flattery will pierce his armor. It is the duty of the credit man to _ study the man's character, to post himself Unwilling as to his history and relations, and to Subjects ^^^ from him by intelligent cross-exami- nation the necessary information as to his business af- fairs. If handled in the right way this kind of a man can be brought into the ranks of the established "friends of the house." It is not enough that a man is sound now and able to pay promptly for a certain bill of goods. He may say: "My private business affairs are my own and I see no reason why I should take you into my confidence. The m^ney to pay for these goods is in the bank and I shall take advantage of the cash discount. I am asking no favors of you, and this is purely a mat- ter of business. You sell me the goods at right prices and I pay for them on your own terms." This relation between the seller and buyer would never be satisfactory to the credit man. The particular bill of goods would go forward, but the credit man would immediately endeavor to get on a different foot- ing with the customer. He may know that the man is good now, but how can he know that he will remain good unless he can keep in close touch with him ? How 172 TERSONALITT IN BUSINESS can he be sure he is securing his main object— which is not to sell this particular order but to add a per- manent and successful customer to his list of ac- counts 1 Permanency and success in handling customers can only be obtained by the credit man of strong per- sonality who establishes the personal relation between his house and its customers. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 173 CHAPTER XXXIX CONCENTRATION OF PERSONALITY BY D. LORNE McGIBBON General Manager, Canadian Rubber Company The greatest successes in business life have been due to concentration of purpose, energy and action. During my business career, system and organ- ization — two of the principal factors in modern industrial life — have had my just thoughts. I not only appreciate the value of business methods myself, but I impress my staff with the same idea. System in modern industrial life should reflect the personal element of the leader. It should work on comprehensive lines, suffi- ciently elastic for aggression or defense. CHAPTER XL PERSONALITY IN HANDLING EETAIL CUS- TOMERS BY DANIEL VINCENT CASEY Cordial relationship between house and customer is the vital element in retail business building. Quality and price — the essentials of fair dealing- are no more than preliminary demands of buyers. They attract, but they do not make permanent patrons, for no store can hope to undersell rivals always and in all lines. Profit comes from the individuals who give your place the preference when other things are equal. And the thing which draws them is the human factor — recognition that you are dealing with men and women, not machines, provision for handling them in a human way, directly, personally. In return you win confidence in your integrity, trust in your organization and methods— and so make them regular members of your business family. Salesmen and department heads may or may not supply this human element. Sometimes it runs short or sours— as when a complaint is adjusted by the man immediately responsible for it, or when goods and service fail to satisfy, or your policy conflicts with the interests or desires of the purchaser. Only when the complaint is settled by someone without prejudice, anxious with a proprietor's anxiety to set errors right, willing to look at them from the customer's viewpoint, 174 DANIEL VINCENT CASEY 175 will the delicate human bond be preserved and strengthened. Right here enters the weakness of many retail establishments grown beyond supervision of details by the owner or manager. Methods of buying and selling, accounting and delivery, have been perfected, men as- signed to the management of each process. But in the necessary substitution of system for personal au- thority, flexibility has been sacrificed— the power lost of adapting policies to the varjdng viewpoints and personalities of customers possessed by the business in its "one man," chrysalis stage, when the proprietor spent the busiest hours of the day on the floor and no patron went away with a grievance. Such a business has remade itself; the trouble lies in its inability to remake customers. They remain distressingly human— three in four femininely ignorant of the machinery and methods of trading— neglectful of the insurance policy furnished with every deal by the sales slip— impatient of any failure of the human cogs in the organization, because the old human re- lations between buyer and seller have vanished. How restore these saving qualities of personal touch and adaptability, at least in the cases where the ^ „ ^, machine has broken down in its task of The Problem of Aajnsting satisfying customers? How settle, for in- Grievances stance, the claim of cash purchasers en- tirely unknown to the management, discriminating be- tween honest grievances and not infrequent attempts to swindle? Denied on the meager showing of facts made with the complaint, flagrant injustice may be done and the hostility of a whole neighborhood, as well as of the customer, be enlisted. Allowed, the money of the house may be paid out to dishonest per- 176 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS sons and further impositions invited. And whatever the disposition of the matter in dispute, the manner of handling the customer remains quite as important as the decision itself. To meet this condition, to insure absolute fairness and unfailing courtesy to patrons, and to relieve the selling force of time-consuming inquiries, the larger city retailers have developed adjustment bureaus. In some stores a clerk or the manager's stenographer in- terviews the aggrieved buyer and investigates the com- plaint as part of his day's work, submitting his findings to the OMTier or manager for review and decision. In others — the huge department stores — half a dozen high grade men and twice as many clerks and investigators are found necessary to meet dissatisfied patrons, hear their claims, substantiate or disprove them from the records which every well organized house keeps, and determine the disposition to be made of each individual case. Whether one complaint or five hundred are ad- .■justed daily, the principle, as well as the methods em- ployed, are the same— to restore to the organization the element of personal attention to individual patrons which departed when the "boss" had to give up his regular hours "on the floor." Responsible only to the head of the business, these adjusters unite the function of referee, attorney for the customer, investigator for the house, and Position of "business doctor," always on the lookout the Adjuster j^^, -v^eaknesses in the system or per- sonnel. The customer's grievance, from a thing to be dismissed with an apology or discounted because of the small amount involved, has come to be an important concern of the management; something to be care- DANIEL VINCENT CASEY 177 fully considered until the mistake has been corrected and a positive method of prevention devised. As a court of appeal always in session, the adjuster represents the customer and the owner even when his aid is not invoked. In the large stores, half the com- plaints are made directly to the counter or depart- ment were the goods were bought. The head, knowing the adjusters will detect any lapse from courtesy or even-handed justice, settles the matter on the spot if an error or flaw in material or workmanship be in- volved. If in his judgment the claim needs further in- vestigation or a second department is involved, he ex- plains the sticking point to the purchaser and refers her to the bureau. How does the adjuster work? Tact, judgment, diplomacy and the arts of the drawing room are his tools, since these are the qualities which system has eliminated from the store machine. Three things he keeps always in mind— that the customer is honest, unless she is to prove an exception to the rule, that she believes she has a grievance, and that she is not familiar with the firm's system and methods. Her view is accepted as correct until facts or logic show she is wrong. Her story is accepted as she tells it ; any intimation of doubt is avoided in framing the ques- tions put to her since antagonism would be certain to ensue. Then the store records are consulted — immediately if haste is desirable, in routine order if the case need , ^ „ not be rushed. Substantiation of her Looking ITp CiaimB in the statements is sought first, since conditions "^ ' change constantly and the machinery which served perfectly last month may have broken down yesterday. If the case is absolutely clear against 178 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS her, effort is made to convince her that no settlement is due her. If any element of doubt touches the records, the claim is compromised, an exchange made or the full amount credited. The more profitable a customer is, of course, the greater the concession made to satisfy her. Unless the house is clearly at fault, no losses are shouldered which do not promise to repay themselves. But "keep the customer" is the three-word summary of the adjuster's decalogue, and the benefit of the doubt extended to every patron may mean acceptance of a statement impossible of proof by her. Mrs. A — , for instance, brings in her August bill, two $1 items questioned in a total of $150. "1 didn't get this lace," she explains, "and I am charged with a pocket in a motor coat which was or- dered but not put in. "You can send for the coat," she adds. Her willingness disposes of that complaint, since the rec- ords of the alteration room are not conclusive. The lace record is plain, however, the driver's sheet show- ing the date and hour of delivery. But Mrs. A — , coming in again at the adjuster's request, recalls the date, August 7, as a day she spent at home. If the package had been delivered, she declares, she would have seen the wagon, heard the bell. Her way of fixing the date is roundabout, but clear. The wagon, of course, need not have stopped; also she might easily have missed it. "No, my maid wouldn't remember," she explains naively. "I've a new maid since the first. I had to let Laura go; I missed things." A man would surrender, self-convinced. But Mrs. A— clings to her point. If the lace had been delivered, Laura might have taken it. But there had been no DANIEL VINCENT CASEY 179 delivery, she insisted. Indirect argument, the testi- mony of the driver's sheet, make no impression. The item, therefore, is credited on her account. For $1 it would be folly to jeopardize an account worth $150 a ,*ionth. Shifting responsibility to some other agency is the most ineffective way of adjusting a complaint. In- Personal deed, the chief value of an adjustment Assumption system, from the organization viewpoint, of Blame jg ^jj^^^ j^. eliminates this tendency of a clerk or department to "get from under" the burden of blame by throwing it on another. Nothing of the sort, however, is attempted by the store itself. When express companies used in out-of-town deliveries fail in any way, the adjuster makes good the error or losa to the customer immediately and settles with the ex- press company later. Tc Illustrate, Mrs. X— sends a birthday umbrella to her friend, Mrs. Y— in Springfield. It fails to arrive on schedule. Mrs. X— asks why. The record shows that delivery has been made to the express company, but no time is wasted disputing with the company about the blame. Another umbrella is shipped within the hour, de- mand is made on the express company that it be for- warded at top speed and made a special delivery in Springfield. The express company complies, of course. A let- ter of apology is sent to Mrs. Y— , as well as to Mrs. X—, and all the blame of the mix-up is frankly assumed by the store. In time the first umbrella is traced and recovered from the wrong Mrs. Y— , who has accepted it as a windfall from an unknown friend. 180 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Besides its own shortcomings, the store organiza- tion is called upon daily to assume its customers' mis- takes or forfeit their friendship. These Assuming ^ i-n- Customers' are the more baffling because no rec- Mistakes ^^^^ g^jg^ ^^ guide the adjuster in his inquiry, and no proof until the package is found, that the house is not at fault. Mrs. B — , a splendid cus- tomer, decides hastily to go to California. With a maid carrying a suit case, she makes a hurried round of her favorite shops, winding up at the store with a special delivery service. Completing her list there, she turns over the bag and asks that it be sent out with her pur- chases on the noon wagon. At three o'clock she tele- phones, asking that search be made for a $100 lace gown the bag should have contained. She had bought it at one of the smaller shops. She and her maid are both certain that it was in the bag turned over for delivery. No trace can be found of the gown in the packing room or any of the departments Mrs. B— visited. Next, search is extended to neighboring stores. In the second, an investigator turns up the missing package in the lost-and-found bureau. It had been picked up on the velvet counter. Coming from an "exclusive" shop, it contained no sales slip, therefore offered no way to trace its ownership. Yet if the other store had not restored it to Mrs. B — she certainly would have tried to hold the house responsible for its value. Instances like this could be multiplied from the experience of every adjuster. Usually the work is quite outside the sphere of any department chief, re- quiring a trained man to resolve the tangle. For cus- tomers lose not simply packages but whole stores. Every week newcomers to the city or visitors appeal DANIEL VINCENT CASEY 181 for help, declaring that they can find no trace of the suit or coat they purchased and left behind for altera- tions. The alteration rooms have no record of the job. Usually this means that the woman has confused her stores, and the adjuster, taking a careful description of the garment, the woman's name and address, sends an investigator in search of it, finds it in the other establishment and so informs the despairing cus- tomer. Does such service pay? If a kindly stranger went out of his way to restore twenty or thirty dollars' worth of goods you had lost, your appreciation would likely take the only form permitted you. Search for lost articles often extends to the cus- tomer's home — a last resort, as a rule, and a most deli- T t N d d ■ ^^^^ proceeding. Mrs. C— has three Making Search coats sent home On approval for her For Goods daughter, a school girl. One is re- tained, another returned, the third simply disappears. Mrs. C— is notified. She hunts for the missing garment without result, insists that she boxed the coats herself and gave them to the maid when the wagon called. The maid can't remember just what happened. The in- vestigator, calling again at lunch time, while the daughter is at home, brings her into the council. "Why, I brought one of those coats downstairs," she recalls. Then, after thought, "No, I didn't. The 'phone rang as I was on the second floor. I set it down to answer the call. Tou got it, Judith? " This last to the maid. Judith had not. Search of the closets on the second floor brings the box to light. Miss C— , forgetting it in the telephone call, Judith had found it after the wagon left and had stored it away without opening it. 182 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS Extreme diplomacy is needed in handling these "search warrant" cases sometimes. The D— 's, newly come to town with a brand-new fortune, order $1,200 worth of rugs sent out on approval to their new home. Three are sent back, valued at $200, but Mrs. D — brings in the bill with an angry protest that only $800 worth of carpets had been retained. The situation is complicated because they have purchased rugs from two other houses. Five minutes' chat convinces the adjuster that Mrs. D — is honest, but unacquainted with her new pos- sessions. She is genuinely interested in Orientals, so he leads her up to the rug department, enlists an expert salesman to tell her about weaves and patterns, con- trives to have her shown how stock is kept, each carpet being measured and described minutely in the stock book. "Why," she exclaims, "you ought to be able to come out to my house and pick out every rug you sent me." The adjuster assents. That is the point he has been leading up to. The original order is brought out, the salesman, with the stock numbers to guide him, de- scribes technically every rug delivered to the D — 's. She asks that he be sent out to identify the missing pieces. "If he can find them," she declares, "we'll pay for them." And the salesman brings back a check for the extra $200. Any other course with Mrs. D— , however, might have made her an enemy instead of a very profit- able customer, and required a lawsuit to recover the fugs or secure payment for them. In most instances, customers' complaints are legit- imate and their demands for satisfaction just. Buyers, DANIEL VINCENT CASEY 183 however, are not always proof against the sudden temptation to "make something" presented by a blun- der of the house organization. Excessive valuations ara frequently placed on articles apparently lost beyond hope of recovery. Mrs. E — , for example, an out-of-town charge cus tomer, makes a few purchases while visiting in the city^ . and asks to have a package she is carry- Accommodation ing inclosed with her goods for delivery. DeUveries qj course she is accommodated. But it happens that parcel goes astray. Effort to trace it proves fruitless, and Mrs. E — is asked to come in, so that settlement can be made with her. She makes claim for $48, declaring that the package had contained three ostrich plumes and a valuable hat ornament, and insists on an immediate credit, so she can buy more plumes. Forty-eight dollars is a stiff price to pay for an error in an accommodation delivery, and the adjuster, tem- porizing, secures forty-eight hours' delay. With two assistants, he canvasses her neighborhood thoroughly. No result. In the last hour of grace, however, a letter arrives from a suburban customer stating that a parcel has been delivered to her by mistake. By telephone, the adjuster learns that it is addressed to Mrs. E— . A messenger is dispatched for it and it is hurried to Mrs. E— with an apology. The adjuster even calls her up to ask her if the goods were all right. Why? Merely to give her the impression that the package has not been opened, and thereby "save her face." For the sales slip shows that she paid for her buckle and feathers —not $48 but $14. Unreasonable demands are more common than claims involving dishonesty. Mrs. G— wants a costly Kirmansha rug bought in February exchanged in Octo- 184 PBRSONAIiITT IN BUSINESS ber because moths have injured it while she was away for the summer. The adjuster saves himself by secur- ing her admission that if furs and not a rug had been attacked she would not have asked recompense, and then showing her, in the rug department, how easily and cheaply the lost beauties of her carpet can be restored. Mr. H— demands credit for one of two valuable rockers delivered at his home while house-cleaning is going on. The maid signs the receipt and orders the chairs left on the lawn. One is stolen, and Mrs. H — claims that, since it never entered her house, she is not morally responsible for its price. Mr. H— takes the same view. But the adjuster tactfully gets him to con- cede (he is a manufacturer making many city deliv- eries) that if goods were stolen from the receiving plat- form of one of his customers, after receipt had been made for them, he would insist on payment. Naturally, after that, he signs a check for the missing chair. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 185 CHAPTER XLI RESOLUTION AND ACCOMPLISH- MENT A good resolution is a mental sight draft. It is drawn on your working ability; it is made payable at the Bank of Time — reaching maturity some day in the future. If execution does not follow your resolution you have drawn against insufficient funds. Time has simply refused an overdraft. It has declined to honor a large check of Good Intentions against a small balance of Real Accomplishment. To resolve to do is not enough. The will to carry it into action — the energy to force it to culmination — must be deposited to support it. Endorse the draft of your resolutions with the stamp of will and determination; certify it with the mark of action and accomplishment. Then the Bank of Time will cash it without protest. CHAPTER XLII PERSONALITY IN CORRESPONDENCE BY C. L. PANCOAST It may safely be said that every salesman who actually gets business does so by bringing into play his personality. A letter — a written communication be- tween buyer and seller— must have a personality like that of a human salesman to get real tangible results. By injecting personality into a letter you make the matter of personal interest to the reader. But making your letters interesting by giving them a per- sonal tone cannot be done by parading your own per- sonalitj^ or that of your house exclusively, as many writers think. The kind of personality that wins in a letter comes from keeping yourself in the background and putting your customer or prospective customer in the fore- ground. Give your customer's interests precedence over everything else. For you must know that the thing which appeals to you always is that which appeals to you personally. In the first place, personality in cor. respondence means being natural. Talk to your cus^ tomer as you would if you were face to face with him. Get away from the conventional way of letter writers. How can yo-u expect your letter to accomplish anything in particular if you use the same forms, the 186 C. L. PANCOAST 187 same phrases, the same hackneyed expressions, which letter writers in general use to an almost criminal ex- cess? Don't generalize when you can say something spe- cific; don't go away up in the air and use big words when you can stand on a level with your customer and talk to him in his own words. Don't make him feel as though you were addressing him from some ice-clad mountain top. In making a letter sparkle with personality begin at the very beginning. Do not start your letter in the meaningless, customary way, as : Mrs. R. F. Andrews, Jamestown, Ohio. My dear Madam : — We beg to state .... Try to be natural and make your letter begin with some evidence of a natural conversation, as: Mrs. R. F. Andrews, Jamestown, Ohio. Mrs. Andrews, we heartily appreciate your efforts in securing orders .... Every letter should be made just as typical of human life as it is possible to make it. A man's per- Peraonalitv sonality is his natural way. Write your Fonnd iu Nat- letters in a natural way. By attempting nra ethods ^^ gj^g your letter a personal tone, I do not mean that you should aim to be entirely original in everything you say. Don't try to be distinctive. But instead, think of the man to whom you are talk- ing. Remember, he has ideas and thoughts. Try to imagine yourself in his position and how you would consider such a proposition if he were trying to in- terest you. 188 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS You must first show respect for his ideas. Look at the proposition from his point of view. Use his words and phrases, and argue from his side of the question. Show him how it affects his profits, and you are persuading him to do what you wish him to do. Naturally there are so many kinds of letters to be written in the average business house that just what kind of a letter should be written depends upon your knowledge of the man whom you are addressing and the extent of his knowledge about you and your goods or your proposition. In writing to a prospective customer you must show how your offer will affect his bank account. He has certain needs, desires and hopes. When you can show him how necessary it is for his own good to establish business relationship with you, you have made your letter effective. To do this you must forget "we." What "we" have done is of no special interest to him. What he wants to know is how you can benefit him in particular. The "you" element is the most vital factor in injecting personality into any kind of correspondence. When you talk of your customer's profits, benefits and advantages you have given your letters a human touch which he cannot evade. By using "you," the letter is individualized and appeals directly to the man addressed. The personal element can be made much broader in a letter to a regular customer. In answering a _ , . customer's letter, you should remember Eelations . ' •^ with Eegnlar that he is particularly interested in an Customers answer to his question, or something which affects his profits, comforts or happiness. This may be termed the text of your letter. Do not waste C. L. PANCOAST 189 time and energy and arouse your customer's ire by starting your letter with useless phrases, such as : " We beg to inform you." Cut out everything that inter- feres with a rapid approach to the real issue, the vital text. Take the one particular text in which your cus- tomer is interested and show your personal interest by talking straight to the point. Draw him to you by making your letter warm and human, instead of cold and conventional. Say things as he would say them. Use his text as your central idea and treat it thoroughly, until you know he will be satisfied with the answer to his letter, and see your personal interest. Use his name frequently in the letter and arrange the matter so that the things of most importance will come in the first paragraphs. Arrange each idea ac- cording to its importance. However, personality in a letter means more than just being natural. A letter may be natural and yet be insulting or mean. But the letter that creates a feeling of personal interest must be polite and cheer- ful. If anything is worth saying at all, it is worth say- ing cheerfully. If you have something to offer to m. _. . « your customers, make them feel your eon- Caieerful Per- •' ' •' sonality Brings fident smile. A cheerful order comes Orders quickly, and it is the cheerful letter that gets the cheerful order. Talk cheerfully, for most people know that only success can afford to smile. Personality injected into a letter in a cheerful, inspiring manner has a wonderful effect upon human nature, especially when it is found in a letter which would naturally be supposed to contain a hard, cold, unattractive proposition. 190 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS No matter what kind of goods you are selling, you can present your proposition most attractively in a letter if you make that letter human and typical of life. It is all a matter of making the man who receives your letter feel that there is something common be- tween you and himself. Cultivate a habit of being optimistic with your customers. Take a broad view of their ideas. And in all dealings by means of correspondence be liberal and reasonable. Nothing counts more with a customer than the expressed desire to help him. A letter of this kind gives confidence and wins trade and co-operation. It should always be your aim in writing a letter to be courteous. Time spent in telling others that you thank them for favors and how vou appreciate their services is time well invested. The letter writer who acquires a habit of saying agreeable things in an honest, truthful manner makes friends and convinces the customer that he is dealing with a gentleman. When j'ou talk quality in a letter, express your- self in distinctive terms which can be understood _ . , clearly. In many cases the customer does Customer's not understand your goods as thoroughly Temperament ^^ ^,^^ ^^ you can write to him in such a way that he will not understand what you are talking about. If you want to hit the mark, come down to his level and show him how largely his wel- fare, comfort and happiness depend on his relation- ship with you. You can do this in plain, simple words and get his confidence every time. Personality in every letter depends on your ability to study the man to C. L. PANCOAST 191 whom you are writing. You should study his letter until you have some definite idea what kind of a man you are dealing with. If his letter irritates you, don't come back at him with a hot-headed reply. Wait until you can view the matter coolly and calmly. Re- member that your customer may have perplexing problems and troubles, which you know nothing about. When you answer unfriendly letters, do so in a friendly, cheerful manner. Try to get inside his little world and get his confidence, so that when he is ill- humored or cranky yoa will know how to handle him tactfully. Attractiveness of personality is merely a com- patability of words, the maintaining of harmony in ideas and points of view. Of all business disasters, the greatest is to lose your temper and then make a record of that loss in a letter. It is your personality in a letter that strengthens the bond of sympathy be- tween you and your customers. And, remember, that bond of sympathy must exist between every buyer and seller if satisfactory deals and good profits are expected to result. In talking to a customer by means of a letter, choose the simplest words possible, but do not select The Test of ^^^ word unless it carries a clear, forceful Personal meaning. Do not use phrases, sentences nterest ^^ expressions that may have a double meaning, words or quotations from foreign languages, fancy "figures of speech" or high-sounding words of doubtful meaning. Do not always believe that a state- ment plain to you will be clear to the other man. Try your letters out first. Test every word and sentence for their meaning and their personal interest to the recipient. Determine before the letter leaves your 192 PEESONALITT IN BUSINESS hands whether you have made the matter at issue per- fectly plain to your real or prospective customer. "While form letters are more in evidence than per- sonally written letters, yet very few form letters show any trace of human touch. The cut and dried form letter is not read, because the man who receives it knows that the same proposition is being made to thousands of others. He knows it does not pertain to him in particular. It lacks the personal interest which a letter must contain to appeal to him. Every form letter should be composed and edited with the utmost care. The personal features that make a dictated let- ter impressive should always be made as conspicuous as possible in a form letter, but no matter how care- fully the form is composed, no one can ever put enough genuine life into it to make it bring results like a first class dictated letter. However, a form letter should have as much life, warmth and individuality as can possibly be put into it, so as to make it an honest, frank talk instead of a stereotyped hot-air circular. Any man who wants to make his letters human and typical of life must study the mood of the man at the other end of his letter. PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS 193 CHAPTER XLIII SELF-CONFIDENCE IN BUSINESS A faint heart never won fair dividends; and the man who does not believe he can — seldom does. Self-confidence is the general manager — the pusher — the director of the master mind. It decides that the thing can be done — and spurs, drives, inspires the man to do it. It is the breeder of courage; the foundation of resolve; the stimulator of energy and genius. It revels in competition; sneers at gibes; pooh- poohs the unsurmountable; gives the weak the strength to oppose the strong, the one-man bus- iness the courage and determination to outclass the giant corporation. "Impossible? — There is no such word in the dictionary!" That's self-confidence and almost — Success. CHAPTER XLIV BUILDING UP RETAIL CUSTOMERS BY SHERIDAN H. GRAHAM The retail credit man is not filling his position until he realizes that he is a business getter as well as a business censor for his house — that his ultimate function is not to turn down credit applicants, but to make customers. A house does not establish a credit department to reduce its outstanding accounts, but to attract credit patrons of the right kind and on a safe basis. This is why a retail store that extends credit stands in a more or less paternalistic relation to its customers; and the credit man is the fatherly adviser of his patrons. The very fact that most of a store's cus- tomers are women, unused to transacting business, makes this advisory duty especially incumbent on the retail man. In this capacity it is necessary that he exercistf his deepest intuition, quickest judgment and greatest tact. The best accounts on the books of any store ar#- those which have been nursed along by extending- advice in the amount and method of purchases. Every credit man has multitudes of cases of customers whc have been brought around to a systematic basis ol iiving, buying and bill-paying through his paternal- istic advice. And nearly always good financial hab:t&r 194 SHERIDAN H. GRAHAM 195 and all-around improvement on the part of the cus- tomer have followed a heart-to-heart talk with the credit man. The first basis of this relationship in every ease is information that the credit man receives regarding his customer. How is it obtained? The credit man- ager of a retail store is in a position where he must apply all that he has of the usual machinery of collecting credit information, plus more than most folks could be expected to have of that rare quality called intuition. In a wholesale or manufacturing concern the credit manager can proceed with more deliberation _, _ , and less delicacy. In his case the rela- The Sources of . "^ the Credit tionship between the customer and tho Man's Facts g^-^pg jg ^q^ personal. It is on purely a business basis. The commercial agencies have almost invariably more or less complete informa tion of a reliable character regarding the appli cant for credit of a wholesale house or a manu. facturer. The man or the firm purchasing the goods to sell again is familiar with credit usages and ex- pects to furnish a statement and to be investigated. A certain amount of delay is anticipated; and a day or two, or even a week, spent in finding out all the facts and figures may not interfere in the least with filling an order or establishing a cordial business rela- tionship between the selling firm and the buying firm. On the other hand, the purchaser of goods from a retail store stands upon a personal basis. Th» largest possible amount of tact must be used by the credit manager in extracting the necessary informa- tion. He is not permitted by the usages of business based upon experience and common sense to cross- 196 PERSONALITY IN BUSINESS examine the customer unless the customer is per- fectly willing. Anything approaching a drastic method is usually bad policy. There are, however, certain defined systems by which the credit manager of a retail store may secure information and there are certain principles he will apply in analyzing the information. Among the sources of information open to him and used univer- sally among the leading concerns in the large cities are the commercial and collection agencies which deal with retail trade. In smaller places these do not exist, although they are beginning to abound in me- dium-sized cities, and it is probable that the idea will spread until there is a complete system of credit information and collections applied to retail trade everywhere. Yet, while there is a certain regular routine of gathering information regarding customers there is „ . „ hardly a case in which the credit man is Getting Facts • . , , • , Outside of Bon- not compelled to go outside his regular tine Methods routine in securing facts. It is his special, unusual quick thought and intuitive means of gaining knowledge that makes a credit man valuable— a loss- preventer and customer-gainer for his house. The class of customers regarding whom it is easiest to secure information by direct inquiry are those of modest income— employees of railroads, for instance, whose wages or salaries run from $75 to $175 per month. There are two classes of these em- ployees—those who fill clerical positions upon a salary and those who earn their money by manual labor. The latter class are generally the better credit, for the reason that they are usually honest, straightforward people who are not putting on airs and trying to SHERIDAN H. GRAHAM. 197 live beyond their means, and who have a perfect horror of being in debt. They save money, and when they ask for credit they are either very careful not to buy too much, or when they do start in on too large a scale they are amenable to reason in reducing their purchases to the limit of their credit. Then there is another class whose incomes are about the same, but who are not satisfactory in the same degree. These are the people who are trying to keep up appearances. Yet, concerning these, too, it is very easy to secure information, for they are too innocent in their extravagance and too inexperienced to attempt to conceal their condition. In most of the eases where facts are hard to get, the reason is not so much because the customer tries to hide information as that she has no idea any per- sonal details are wanted, and would feel herself insulted if they were asked of her bluntly. Such a case requires the utmost tact on the part of the credit man, and the faculty of putting his guesses together to make one fact. All of these varying classes of customers must be dealt with in the course of the credit manager's daily work. They are the people on whose patronage his salary and the salary of every other employee of the store depends. Their trade must be nourished and cherished. It must not be sought so recklessly that customers are permitted to pile up large bills which they are unable to pay ; nor must it be kept to so low a limit that the customer is affronted and withdraws the account. The credit manager's duties contribute to the sales of the house no less than each salesman's.