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Author:
I d.1166} U.Vi^.
Title:
Constructive linoleum
Place:
Laficaster, Pa.
Date:
[1922-1923]
M-%M^'d.
MASTER NEGATIVE #
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ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED - EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Pattoe, J. G,
Constructive linoletmi salesmanship, a course
in retail selling, by J. G, Pattee... Lancas-
. ter, Armstrong cork co.,fCl921^
^atis V-1 ' ^% *5m.
Contents.— x -^ r r>r ' .
Pt. 3. The sl-x steps in a sale.— Pt. 4. Arous-
ing interest.—. ^^-V.^TvCTUusCtU^ dxj^Jju,,
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L. I o R AR Y
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
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A Course in Retail Selling
By
J. G. Pattee
i
LECTURE I
History of Retail Selling
Published by
Armstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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Copifri^hi, 1921, &y
Abmbtrono Cobk Compant
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Lancabtbb, Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
A Personal Message From
The Author
Dear Fellow-Student:
It is twenty-five years since I entered upon an
active business career, yet with all sincerity I can say
that I am still a student of salesmanship, which has
been my life work. So, whether you are a beginner
or a veteran, I believe you will permit me to address
you as a fellow-student.
It is my aim in these talks on selling to bring before
you in logical order some fundamental ideas that I
have found of definite benefit to me in my own w^ork.
I have always been a salesman, and I shall never be
anything else. There is a thrill about the making of
a sale that never grows old.
As you study these pages — and I trust that you will
study them because, modestly, I believe that what
is written here is worth while — I hope that your
thinking will be stimulated, and that you wall be in-
spired to perfect yourself as a salesman.
Experience has been defined as ''knowledge gained
by observation or trial." Experience by trial is, at
best, a tedious process; experience by observation is
1
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INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
Copyrifki, 19S1, 6y
AmtMsnasQ Cobk Comfakt
LnrOLBUM DMPABTIfSIT
Lancastbr, Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
A Personal Message From
The Author
Dear Fellow-Student:
It is twenty-five years since I entered upon an
active business career, yet with all sincerity I can say
that I am still a student of salesmanship, which has
been my life work. So, whether you are a beginner
or a veteran, I believe you will permit me to address
you as a fellow-student.
It is my aim in these talks on selling to bring before
you in logical order some fundamental ideas that I
have found of definite benefit to me in my own work.
I have always been a salesman, and I shall never be
anything else. There is a thrill about the making of
a sale that never grows old.
As you study these pages — and I trust that you will
study them because, modestly, I believe that what
is written here is worth while — I hope that your
thinking will be stimulated, and that you will be in-
spired to perfect yourself as a salesman.
Experience has been defined as ''knowledge gained
by observation or trial." Experience by trial is, at
best, a tedious process; experience by observation is
I
/. G. Pattee, Boston, Mass,
MR. PATTEE entered the employ of the R. H. White
('ompany, Boston, as a stock boy at $2.50 a week.
He was advanced steadily as a retail salesman in
various departments until he became department manager.
He has always been interested in teaching salespeople how
to sell . His later experience includes three years as a manu-
facturer's salesman, ownership of a store, and the last five
years as a member of the Dry Goods Economist Staff, as
organizer of educational courses in large retail establish-
ments, and lecturer and instructor in the art of retail selling.
Mr. Pattee has traveled from coast to coast, visiting prac-
tically every important store in the country. His course,
therefore, is based upon many years of active retail experi-
ence, personal knowledge of salesmanship, and unusual op-
portunities for observation.
X
I
I
education. It is shorter because it eliminates need-
less experimenting. In this course I am passing along
to you my observations of salesmen and selling,
covering, as I have said, a period of many years.
All education is, at best, only a means to an end.
The purpose of any course of study is to make men
and women think. All the education in the world
will not makeyou a good salesman or a good lawyer
unless you make practical application of your knowl-
edge. Even though you commit to memory every-
thing that is said in these talks, it will avail you
nothing unless the principles presented are put into
use by you in your daily work.
Someone has said, '' If you have a dollar and I have
a dollar and we exchange dollars, we each have a
dollar; if you have an idea and I have an idea and
we exchange ideas, we each have two ideas." That's
the spirit of modern business — not the old selfish
thought of *' every man for himself," but the broader
vision that knows we help ourselves most when we
help others.
In placing this course in your hands, the Arm-
strong Cork Company has made it possible for me to
share with you many ideas that I have gathered here
and there all over this country.
Do you read ''Linoleum Logic"? What experi-
ences or suggestions can you offer that will make it
more helpful to other salesmen? May I urge that you
share your ideas and experiences through the columns
of this little magazine? The editor of ''Linoleum
Logic" will, I am sure, welcome your contribution.
3
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Josh Billings said, ''The greatest virtue of a post-
age stamp is its ability to stick to one thing until it
gets there." Make up your mind now that you will
read and study each of the lectures in this course.
Don't say you haven't time to study; even a half
hour a day spent in studying and reading will, within
a short time, develop powers in you that you have
never dreamed you possessed.
I have tried to prepare this course in a convenient
form so that you can read and study it at your home,
going to and from business, during the lunch hour, or
in other spare moments — golden moments that, in-
vested in study, will pay bigger and bigger dividends
as time goes on.
If you gain nothing more out of this course than the
inspiration and desire to make of yourself a better
salesman and some helpful ideas that will enable you
to do your daily work more efficiently, then I shall
be fully rewarded for the time and effort that I have
put into the writing of the course.
1^ I <
Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTURE I
History of Retail Selling
Barter and Trade: — Retail selling had its beginning
centuries ago in the idea of barter and trade, where one
man exchanged, or "swapped," the surplus of his own pro-
duction, which he did not need, for the surplus production
of another man, which he did need. We find in this idea
the basis of the trading post. Here the Indian and the
trapper brought their skins and received, in exchange,
food and clothing and, it is to be feared, much rum and
useless trinkets.
Hudson's Bay Company: — It was in just this way
that the Hudson's Bay Company had its start. Founded
in 1670 by royal grant of King Charles II to Prince
Rupert and seventeen gentlemen, its charter gave them the
vast territory from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
For almost two hundred years they exercised unlimited
control over this enormous area. Even today the com-
pany is one of the most powerful influences in the Domin-
ion of Canada. Its trading posts are still scattered all over
the great northwest. Its land holdings are almost beyond
realization, and in twelve of the largest cities it has stores
equaling in every particular some of the finest stores in
the United States.
5 .
4
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The Asior Fortune:— In like manner, the great Astor
fortune was founded. John Jacob Astor was the son of a
Gernaan butcher. On the way to this country in 1837 he
met a fur trader and on his advice young John Jacob went
into the fur trading business, dealing with the Indians. He
established connections in London and other foreign coun-
tries and was able to dispose of his skins to great financial
advantage. Such were the beginnings of the great Astor
fortune, estimated at the time of John Jacob Astor's
death to be more than thirty millions of dollars.
The General Store: — The general store at the cross-
roads was the next step in retailing. Here the farmer
brought his produce and exchanged it for the necessities
of life. The trader and general storekeeper were shrewd
salesmen, constantly alert to make a "good trade." In-
deed, most of them were veritable David Harums. They
personally served each customer, and on their ability to
drive a sharp bargain depended their success.
The. Modern Store: — As the country grew in popula-
tion and cities developed, transportation became better
and the marketing of products a simpler process. Money
became the general basis of exchange. * No longer coukl
the proprietor serve each customer personally. He was
obliged to employ others to help him. Formerly suc-
cess depended entirely on the energy and ability of the
merchant himself. Today, his success depends on his
ability to secure or train capable assistants. Even a hun-
dred years ago or more, practically all trading was in
necessities. Now fully 60 per cent, of retail sales are for
what are virtually luxuries. Take away the sale of these
commodities from the average store, and great business
houses would be forced to close their doors.
SalesmansMp a Universal Pro/e«8ioii:— Not only is
salesmanship a very old profession but it is, without doubt,
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the only universal profession. No matter who we are or
what our position in life is, we all have something to sell.
It may be merchandise, ideas, our own services, or the
services of others. And no matter what the commoditv we
have to sell, we all of us, personally, must sell our own
services. On our abiUty to sell ourselves depends the
compensation we are able to command.
Any professional man, doctor, lawyer, architect, or what
not, must not only have an intimate knowledge of his pro-
fession and the al)ility to apply that knowledge, but he
must also know where and how to sell his services to the
l)est advantage.
Every Employee a Salesman: — By the term salesman
we ordinarily mean the person in the store who makes
sales. Have 3^ou ever thought that every employee in
your store is a salesman also? The girl who wraps pack-
ages is a good salesman when she wraps them neatly and'
securely. The elevator operator is a good salesman when
he announces departments distinctly and answers inquiries
cheerfully. The bookkeeper is a good salesman when he
receipts bills with a smile and a " thank you." Thus every
person in the store has it in his power to sell good will to
every person who enters it.
Even the driver on the delivery truck may be a good or
bad salesman. Here is a little illustration: Some time ago
a driver for a well-known firm had a quantity of linoleum
to deliver at a certain residence. The lawn at this resi-
dence the day before had l)een spaded, raked, and seeded
for fall. During the night it had rained, and the lawn was
a mass of mud. In order to save a few steps for them-
selves, the driver and his helper cut across a corner of this
muddy ground, leaving footprints three or four inches deep,
and covering the customer's porch and steps with mud.
The woman answered the doorbell herself. She took one
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look at the steps and porch and at the lawn, then slammed
the door in the driver's face. Immediately she called the
manager of the store on the telephone and told him to keep
the linoleum and to close her account. For nine months
thereafter this woman never bought a dollar's worth of
goods in that store. The driver not only was such a poor
salesman that he lost the sale of Hnoleum, but he also
deprived every salesperson in the store of the opportunity
of serving this customer.
Are your linoleum layers or truck drivers good salesmen
for the Linoleum Department? No matter what your posi-
tion in the store may be, this concerns you as well as any
one else. Perhaps tactfully you can yourself imbue every
individual in the store with whom you have contact with
the thought that all are salesmen and all by their salesman-
ship, whether it be good or bad, can vitally influence the
welfare of the store and its standing in. the community.
m
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. What is your purpose in beginning the study of this
course?
2. How does the salesman of today look upon the trader
of a hundred years ago?
3. What proportion of the sales in your store is for
actual necessities, and what proportion is for sales of mer-
chandise that contribute to making life more enjoyable?
4. Can you think of any individual who does not, in one
way or another, sell?
5. What does the salesman in your department add to
the value of any article he sells?
6. Could the department exist without salesmen?
7. Are all the people in your department selling the store
as well as the merchandise that they sell, wrap, or deliver?
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Constructive Linoleum ^
Salesmanship
A Course in Retail Selling
By
J. G. Pattee
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LECTURE II
The Three Factors of a Sale
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>t?ySERVICE^
Co.
SALESMAN
and a perfect sale results. As a store's volume of business
is the total amount of its sales, no store can be successful
unless all three of these factors are working in harmony.
First, the Salesman:— A\\ the merchandise in your
store is a liability until it has been sold; it becomes a
tangible asset when it is transformed into dollars and cents
1
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by tlie efforts of the salesman. Hence the salesman is the
most vital force in the store — vital because he comes into
direct contact with the store's customers.
Some salesmen regard salesmanship as a battle of wits
between buyer and seller, each ever on the alert to take
advantage of the other. Indeed, dishonest and downright
tricky methods are sometimes employed to mislead the
customer. Such methods no doubt save an occasional
sale, but they invariably lose the customer. Here is an
incident in point:
A lady in Newark, N. J., read an advertisement in a
magazine, and decided to buy some plain linoleum in the
new blue shade. The salesman who served her did not
happen to have any plain linoleum in stock, so he informed
the lady that it was impossible to make linoleum in plain
colors, and that she had misread the advertisement.
The customer heard the salesman's explanation, but
went home without buying. She reread the advertise-
ment, then wrote the Armstrong ClJork Company for samples
of plain blue linoleum, saying:
"I really should enjoy showing them to this salesman,
together with the advertisement he said was not relial)lc.
Of course, I would never buy anything from that salesman
who tried to trick me into buying something else because
he did not have what I wanted in stock."
That salesman lost his store a customer and failed to
perform his function in the triangle.
Service is the most important thing that any sakjsman
has to sell. He must, therefore, fortify himself with an
intimate knowledge of his merchandise — not only the
merchandise he has on the floor, but the wholesaler's
and manufacturer's lines. In short, salesmanship is not
a matter of "putting it over" on the customer, but is ser-
vice to the customer, even at the risk of an occasional
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immediate sale, because the store is not in a position to
supply the customer's real wants.
Second, the Store: — Confidence is the basis of all
modern business. Every dollar's worth of goods in your
store is purchased with confidence that it will be delivered
to the store as represented. It reaches your store without
the advance payment of a single dollar because the manu-
facturer or w^holesaler is confident of your employer's
al)ility to pay. Confidence, or good will, as it is often
called, is the most valuable asset your store possesses.
The name ''Marshall Field" or "John Wanamaker" is
worth more, perhaps, than all the physical assets of either
of these stores combined, because the public has been
taught to have confidence in these institutions.
As the authorized agent of your store in meeting the
public, you are entrusted with its most valuable asset.
You must be thoroughly familiar with the store's poHcies,
and in sympathy with them. You must have confidence
not only in the store but in yourself, a confidence born not
of conceit, but of knowledge. Whatever you do, do not
impair the public's confidence in your store, as represented
by you.
Third, the Customer: — In the long run, your store
cannot depend upon its ability to buy cheaper than its
competitor or to undersell him to build a real, soHd, busi-
ness structure. Price is by no means the determining
factor in business that it has been credited with being.
The only real competition is a competition of service.
The little fellow around the corner may exist because he
cuts prices, but the institution that is worthy of growing
builds itself upon the foundation of good goods, fair prices,
and service.
The old idea in salesmanship was to "knock them down
and drag them out," if necessary, but to make the sale.
3
The modern idea is that only as the customer is well served
will the store succeed in gaining the customer's confidence
and continued patronage.
Am Opp&rtimit^: — As I have gone about from store
to store over this country, I have found that the linoleum
salesman has an unusual opportunity for developing the
service idea in his work. It is true that there must be
order-takers, but constructive linoleum salesmanship de-
mands not only a knowledge of modern linoleum and the
recent developments in this field of merchandise, but it
also requires some acquaintanceship with the fundamental
ideas in home decoration.
I have been in stores where the salesmen have entirely
discarded the phrase "floor covering" as applied to lin-
oleum, and are talking about Unoleum Moors. Wonien
everywhere have welcomed linoleum as a rtieans of making
their homes brighter and their work easier, but to many
people the idea of hnoleum as a floor for any room is new.
It upsets the traditions of wood floors.
Here the art of the real salesman enters into the picture.
He must get his customer to see for herself how well a
floor of plain, jasp^, parquetry, or carpet inlaid linoleum
will look in her home. He will make her realize that such
a floor serves as a pleasing background for the rugs laid
upon it. He will show her how, starting with the floor,
everything in the room, including draperies, wall-paper,
and hangings, can be brought into color harmony.
The salesman who can lead his customer into this field
because he has studied the subject of interior decoration
is able to give service that will bring him and his store
business.
It is said there are two kinds of men in the world —
those who are content to drift with the tide, and those who
strike upstream toward the desired haven. Are you will-
\
ing to take the trouble to study, for instance, the subject
of modern linoleum floors so that you can render the fullest
possible measure of service to your customers and to your
store?
The Mental Law of Sale
Selling a Mental Transaction:— The student of
salesmanship must understand that selling is not a physi-
cal transaction, but a purely mental reaction taking place
in the customer's mind. "The mental law of sale" is that
selling is nothing more or less than influencing the customer
to think as you want the customer to think.
Channels of Approach: — There are five channels
through which you can approach the customer's mind.
These are the five senses — seeing, hearing, feeling, smell-
ing, and tasting. One or more of these five senses is
employed in every selling transaction.
Did you ever see a girl selling perfumery? Did you
notice that she held the stopper near the customer's face,
appealing to her sense of smell? Watch a coffee demon-
strator in a grocery store. Invariably she urges the visitor
to sample a small cup. The combined appeal of the taste
of good coffee with its aroma is well-nigh irresistible. The
talking machine salesman sells chiefly, of course, through
the sense of hearing, yet he never overlooks the beauty of
the instrument itself. And so we might analyze the selling
of any type of merchandise.
Seeing and Hearing: — By far the greater number of
our mental impressions are gained either through the eye
or ear. Of these two senses, scientists tell us that the eye
is twenty times as effective as the ear in the impressions it
carries to the human brain. This is a significant fact that
you would do well to ponder over. Do you talk too much
and show too little? Do you display your merchandise
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to the best advantage? Does your store make use of
color-plates, window trims, sample books, etc., prepared
l)y your own Advertising Department, or by the manu-
facturer, to appeal to the customer's sight? Are you
satisfied to show linoleum, for instance, standing in the
roll on end, surrounded by dozens of other patterns, or do
you roll it out on the floor where the customer can really
see the design and colorings and picture to herself liow it
will look on her own floor?
Mental Steps of a Sale: — Every sale is a mental re-
action. It is obvious tliat there are certain stages tlu-ough
which the customer's mind must be piloted l)efore a sale
is made. Few sales are made directly on an impulse.
When a customer comes into the store and asks for a cer-
tain article, the desire for possession of that article has
already been stimulated. Once the customer is in the
store, however, a salesman can stimulate a desire for other
articles as well.
These mental stages may be indicated grapliically as the
six steps of a sale. Step l)y step the customer's mind must
be carried along until the sale lias hcicn accomplished.
Visualize tliis diagram:
A PERFECT SALE
C. InsiiriiiiS Customer's Good Will
5. Introducing Other Merchandise
4. Closing the Sale .
3. Creating Desire .
2. Arousing Interest
1. Attracting Attention
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4
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It often happens that the customer's immediate needs
l)ring her at once to the fourth step. Then the salesman's
task is an easy one. But in many cases the customer's
attention has been attracted and her interest aroused
tlirough advertising in the magazines, in the daily news-
papers, through direct mail literature, or in any one of a
number of other ways through which advertising works.
The customer then has been sufficiently interested to
come to the store to see the merchandise. At this point
the salesman enters with part of his work done for him
by the advertising, but everything yet depending on him
to complete the sale.
The next lectures will take up step by step the mental
process of a sale. In the mean time, before these lectures
reach you, study yourself as you sell goods — analyze the
steps in the selling process. You will find that nearly
every sale can be subdivided into the six steps just out-
lined.
ri; [...laiii Ill
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. Why is the salesman the most important factor in
the three-sided sales triangle?
2. What is the best way to dispose of shopworn or out-
of-date merchandise?
3. If you take advantage of a customer, will you be glad
to see her when next she enters the store?
4. On an average, to how many persons is one dissatis-
fied customer likely to give an unfavorable opinion of your
store?
5. Do your customers recommend their friends to apply
to you personally, and to buy at your store?
6. Here is a problem in simple mathematics. If the
annual purchases by a certain customer in your store are
$100 a year, and that customer is lost to the store through
misrepresentation, what is the total business the store
really loses?
7. Is it necessary to talk price if your trade has con-
fidence in you?
8. Do you consider it wise to confess ignorance when
the customer asks you a question you cannot answer?
9. In an Indianapolis store, a certain salesman always
asks his customers to feel the thickness and the finish of
the better grades of inlaid linoleum. In what other ways
can you appeal to the sense of feeling?
10. Do the salesmen in your store begrudgingly unroll
linoleum for the customer to see the pattern?
11. Write in your own words a definition of the mental
law of sale, and the six steps in a perfect sale.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
A Course in Retail Selling
By
J. G. Pattee
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LECTURE III
The Six Steps in a Sale
PuUished by
Armstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
L^CASTEB» Pennsylvania
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Copyright, 1921, by
Abmstkonq Cork Company
Linoleum Dbpabtment
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LKCTl RE III
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The Six Steps in a Sale
A. Aifnwtiug Aiieuiion
Forces at Work: When a woman enters i\w Floor-
Covering- Department and asks for linoleum, the first of
the six stei)s in the makinji; of a sale has already been
rcniehed. Because of her ([(^finite ikmmI for linoleum or her
dc^sire to make her home more attractive she has come to
your stores and to your (lei)artment to })uy goods. Even
l)eforc you, as a salesman, grcM't her, certain forces have
l)een at work upon her im'nd, attracting hei' attention both
to linolfHUii and to your store and thus opening the way foi*
you to make the next st(^i) in the sale.
It is estimat(Ml that at least 75 i)ei- cent, of the people
who buy goods at any stori* liave had their attention
attracted to the store and to the merchandise they are
looking for l)efore they come under the infiuenct* of the
salesman.
Advertising: — Without doubt the most potent factor
in attracting the attention of people to Iheir needs for
nHMchandise is advertising, in one of its several forms.
In fact, the word ''adviutising" has its dei'ivation in two
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INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
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Copyright^ 19^1, by
Abustbono Cork Company
LiIHOLBUM DBPABTKBirr
Lancabter, Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTURE III
The Six Steps in a Sale
/I. Attracting Attention
Forces at Work: — When a woman enters the Floor-
Covering Department and asks for Hnoleum, the first of
the six steps in the making of a sale has already been
reached. Because of her definite need for linoleum or her
desire to make her home more attractive she has come to
your store and to your department to buy goods. Even
before you, as a salesman, greet her, certain forces have
been at work upon her mind, attracting her attention both
to Hnoleum and to your store and thus opening the way for
you to make the next step in the sale.
It is estimated that at least 75 per cent, of the people
who buy goods at any store have had their attention
attracted to the store and to the merchandise they are
looking for before they come under the influence of the
salesman.
Advertising: — Without doubt the most potent factor
in attracting the attention of people to their needs for
merchandise is advertising, in one of its several forms.
In fact, the word "advertising" has its derivation in two
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Lalin words, flwl, meaning to, and verterej to turn, hence it
means to turn to — to draw the attention.
Briefly let us analyze how advertising works to turn the
minds of people to linoleum, thus paving the way for you
to make a sale.
The Storeys Admrthing: — First, let us consider the
store's own advertising. The fact that your store is in
business on a main street is, in itself, an advertisement.
Its reputation, its years of service to the community, its
policies of fair deaMng and honest merchandise at honest
prices — ai of these create a friendly feeling on the part of
the public toward the store. And thus the character of the
store impresses itself upon the community and draws the
attention of the pubhc to itself.
Second, the stores that have been most successful in this
country are those that are not content to "continue doing
business at the old stand" but have reached out for new
customers and new business through local advertising.
It is true that "word of mouth" advertising, the ex-
pressions of appreciation and confidence on the part of
customers to their friends, is a very valuable asset to any
store. But word of mouth advertising works slowly.
Other forms of advertising must be used in addition to
bridge the years, bring in a constantly increasing number of
customers, and move merchandise rapidly. Profits depend
upon sales volume and rapidity of turnover, and adver-
tising is the means by which the up-to-date retailer seeks
to develop both.
rji€ BeparimenfB Adtmrthmg:— Your store has
doubtless worked out its advertising policies. As a sales-
man, it is your duty to be thoroughly familiar with all the
forms of publicity being used to build prestige for the store
as a whole. And, in addition, as a salesman in the Lino-
leum Department, you should not only be well informed
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regarding the advertising being done to increase the sales
but zealous in suggesting ways to advertise linoleum that
will bring more customers into your department.
Right here let me interject the fact that the total amount
in the salesman's order book is not the only way of measur-
ing his value to his employer. Since the amount of adver-
tising given to linoleum by your store has a very definite
relation to the amount of business you can do, your sugges-
tions as to how to make this advertising more helpful and
more productive will, I am sure, be welcomed by your chief.
And if you feel that linoleum, or any other item in the
Floor-Covering Department, is not getting its due share of
advertising, you owe it to yourself, as well as to the store,
to bring your ideas on this subject constantly to the
attention of those who are in charge.
It has been my experience that when I asked the '' boss " to
put more advertising push behind some items in which I was
interested he was willing to do so to encourage me, especially
if he saw that the advertising helped me to sell more goods.
The Manufacturer* 8 Advertising:— Another of the
forces at work to attract attention is the advertising being
done by the manufacturer. I am going to be quite frank
with you and admit that when I was a younger salesman
on the floor I used to think that the manufacturer usually
wasted his money in advertising. I have often argued that
it would be better if he would sell the goods cheaper and
let the store do the advertising.
But I have changed my views, because experience has
proved that when done wisely the advertising of an article
in the magazines and newspapers by the manufacturer
does help the salesman because it attracts the attention of
the public to the article being advertised, and educates the
patrons of the retail store by creating new desires, and
introducing new merchandise to the public.
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In my opinion, there are two kinds of advertising. The
first is educational, the second is to tell the customer where
goods can be purchased and how much they cost. The ad-
vertising being done by the manufacturers of Armstrong's
Linoleum, for instance, is educational in its character.
The color pages in the women's magazines, such as The
Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Mc-
Call's Magazine, The Delineator and The Designer, and in
The Saturday Evening Post, are planned to make people
generally more "linoleum conscious" than they have been
in the past. These advertisements show how linoleum can
be used as a floor in other rooms than the kitchen or bath-
room, and thereby develop a larger market for linoleum.
In my own case, I well remember when my wife first
called my attention to one (jf the Armstrong color pages
showing a linoleum fioor in a bedroom. The novelty of the
thing attracted our attention. That single advertisement,
however, did not " sell " us on the idea. But as each month
the magazines have brought us very beautiful pictures of
other rooms where linoleum floors can be used as a part of
the decorative plan of the room our acquaintanceship
with this idea has increased, and we now regard the use of
linoleum as a floor as entirely practical, and in good taste.
That is the way educational advertising works. Of
course one single advertisement will never educate the
American public, but it is because the Armstrong Cork
Company is able financially to carry on this advertising
persistently year after year that the idea is steadily be-
coming more and more familiar. I am told that this ad-
vertising reaches a very large percentage of the best homes
in every community. This means that when you ask a
customer to look at linoleum suitable for bedrooms or
dining-rooms, for instance, the thought is not new, but
the customer already knows something about the idea,
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and will likely be responsive to your explanation and
suggestions.
Architects Interested: — In the educational work thus
outlined the manufacturers of Armstrong's Linoleum are
also advertising to the architects and contractors all over-
this country. Every architect in your city each year re-
ceives Uterature about linoleum floors. Many of the lead-
ing architects have placed themselves on record endoi-sing
the use of linoleum not only in remodeling old homes but
in new construction.
Bureau of Interior Decoration:— Every woman is
interested in the thing that will make her home a more
attractive place to live. The Armstrong color pages
which show home interiors naturally have brought a great
many letters to the Company in which women ask not only
about linoleum but about rugs, draperies, wall paper, color
schemes, etc. I spent some time with the young lady who
was formerly connected with the Interior Decorating De-
partment of one of the best department stores in New York
City and who is now in charge of the Armstrong Bureau of
Interior Decoration. I was amazed at the number of
letters she receives each day which require her personal
attention and in reply to which she answers many ques-
tions about home decoration. I had no idea of the wide-
spread interest there is in this subject of the decorative use
of linoleum until I had read these letters myself. If you
have customers who want some suggestions about the
decoration of their homes, I am sure that the young lady
in charge of the Armstrong Bureau of Interior Decoration
will be glad to render assistance.
Window Displays:— Frohably the most effective
method in retailing to attract attention is by means of the
window display. The most valuable space in the store is
usually given for display purposes. Is your department
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receiving its full share of this form of advertising in your
store? Your suggestions to the window display man about
linoleum displays, if given tactfully, 1 am sure will be wel-
come. If you are not familiar with the Armstrong window
trims which your store can secure without cost and which
can be very ewily set up in any window of any size, you
should inform yourself about them.
The Function of the Sal€8man:So far, we have
been talking about the advertising forces at work with
which the retail salesman does not have immediate con-
nection but which he can, through helpful suggestions,
utilize to his advantage. All the advertising in the world
and all the window displays combined cannot sell a dollar's
worth of linoleum without the aid of an efficient sales
organization. But every honest salesman is bound to
admit that advertising can have a favorable influence on a
large percentage of the customers he serves.
The Satemnan'8 Permnmlitu-'—lt should not be
necessary in this modern day for me to emphasize the
importance of good personal appearance. No salesman
worthy of the name permits himself to be slovenly in dress
or personal cleanliness. Nor, on the other hand, does he
overdress. Remember you are a business man. Let your
clothing be conservative in style and pattern, hands and
nails well kept, teeth clean, and shoes well polished. If
your appearance is businesslike, your customers will give
more weight to what you say and accept your suggestions
more readily.
Appmmhing the Cmtmner:—! have seen customers
turn indignantly about and leave the store because the
only salesman who was free on the floor continued to fill
out his sales record or do other clerical work while he kept
the customer waiting. Promptly discontinuing any work
he may be engaged in, the efficient salesman approaches
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the customer pleasantly and with a confident bearing. If
possible, he greets her by name. He is deferential, but
not servile. He is courteous, but not familiar. He con-
centrates his attention on securing a clear understanding of
his customer's wants. He is calm and self-possessed, and
his voice is well-modulated, while his words are well chosen
and distinctly spoken. His whole desire is to create con-
fidence in himself and in his merchandise.
Above all things, however, do not make your approach
an attack. On the elevator of a large department store, I
overheard a lady remark to her husband, ''I hate to trade
in that department. The salesmen just pounce on you
the moment you get off the elevator." True enough, as
they left the elevator at the carpet floor, there stood a
line of salesmen ready to "pounce" on them before they
(jould even get their bearings.
Making a purchase of an article that requires the invest-
ment of even twenty-five or fifty dollars is quite a task to
most people. The woman who buys something for her
home knows that she will have to " live with it," and there-
fore wants to be sure that she will like the article after she
has purchased it. The salesman, by the manner of his
approach, can do much to set his customer at ease so that
she can think clearly as she buys.
Arrangement of the Department: — To make a good
impression, it is very necessary that the department be
well arranged so that you can take your customer at once
to the merchandise in which she is interested. I have been
in some floor-covering departments so poorly arranged
that even the salesmen are obUged to '* ask the boss" where
to find things. Neatness and orderliness have a definite
psychological influence.
Too little attention has been given in most stores to the
use of departmental displays of merchandise. Especially
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is this true of floor-covering departments generally. Fur-
niture must have floor space, and the floor-covering man
gets the comers that are left.
If you do not have adequate space for the display of
merchandise in your department, here is an opportunity
to show what a good salesman, after all, you are. Sell
the idea to the management that by devoting more floor
space to linoleum, for instance, you can sell more goods.
Remember that linoleum is not a mere necessity, like
sugar, but has become one of the decorative essentials of
the modem home. A few rolls standing on end in a corner
will not get this thought across, however. Suppose you
laid a roll of a neat matting design on the floor, partly
unrolling the goods, face up to view. Upon this, as a floor,
you made up a Mttle setting of some bedroom furniture,
including an easy chair, table, a decorative lamp, a wo-
man's workbasket, etc. A suitable card telling about the
advantages of linoleum for bedroom floors would carry a
message to every customer who entered the department.
Such a display would be a silent salesman who would open
the way for you to talk "Hnoleum for bedroom floors" to
customers who were interested at the moment in hnoleum
only for kitchens. Here, again, a favorable impression can
be turned into sales.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. Is your store advertised "by its loving friends"?
Has it a reputation for fair dealing?
2. Are you proud of the advertising that your store does
in tlic local papers? Have you any suggestions to offer
to your Advertising Manager?
3. Is your department as well represented as it should be
in the store's advertising? Do you get your share of win-
dow displays?
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4. Have you ever noticed that the manufacturers of
such advertised lines as Whittall's Rugs and Bissell's
Carpet Sweepers continue in business over a long period of
years, while nonadvertised lines are frequently in the
market to-day, and gone to-morrow?
5. In the long run, which will it pay your store best to
handle — the standardized article that has been in the
market for years or the nonadvertised article that your
customer knows nothing about? Suppose that no manu-
facturer had ever advertised his electric suction cleaners.
How many years would it have taken for their use to be-
come well-nigh universal, as at present?
6. The Armstrong Cork Company is educating millions
of magazine readers to the fact that linoleum makes a good
floor, either over old wood floors or in new houses. Are
you making any effort to turn this educational force into
sales in your department?
7. Study the several salesmen in your department.
What impression does each man make on customers? If
you were a customer, from which salesman would you like
to buy?
Author's Note: — In going through the files of the
Armstrong Cork Company, at Lancaster, I found a great
many letters which were a revelation to me of the manner
in which educational advertising works. These letters
were from architects, builders, retail stores, schools, col-
leges, and business men, as well as women in the home. I
am printing here a few extracts to give you an idea of the
way people are becoming more and more "linoleum con-
scious" in this country through the means of this adver-
tising.
Here is a letter from Paul Harold Bergreen, Architectural
Engineer, of Jackson, Fla. He says:
"Please send me some small samples of linoleuni, as applied
to medium-priced houses.
**I am specializing in concrete block houses, and have been
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using hardwood, oak, or yellow pine floors. Walls are being
co¥ered with an Alabastine wall tint, generally of a cool, light
color. It occurs to me that your linoleum might also be good
in working out pleasing color schemes. Please send me samples
and tell me where I can purchase Armstrong's Linoleum."
How about the architects in your town who are building
medium-priced houses? All of them have received lino-
leum literature and are reading linoleum advertisements
each month in their architectural magazines. Perhaps
your architects are just waiting for you to show samples
and quote prices.
Here is a letter from C. G. Lancaster, an architect of
Marshall, Texas:
"I have just received," he says, "your handbook, 'Arm-
strong's Linoleum Floors.' I am very much pleased with it,
and feel sure I can interest a number of my clients in linoleum
floors, as they are just the thing for handsome and attractive
interiors.
"I really prefer something of this character to more expensive
wood floors. Just now I am preparing sketches for remodeling
an old residence, and have suggested to my client that she use
your linoleum over the old floors. The living-room is 25 ft. x 15
ft. and the dining-room, connected by French doors, is 17 ft. x
15 ft. Pleaae send samples of a suitable design."
Mr. Lancaster says his client is well pleased with the
linoleum floors he specified for her home.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
j4 Course in Retail Selling
By
J. G. Pattee
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LECTURE IV
Arousing Interest
Published by
Armstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
Lancaster, Pennsylvaxia
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Copyright, 1921, by
Armstrong Cork Company
Linoleum Department
Lancaster. Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTURE IV
The Six Steps in a Sale
J5. Arousing Interest
Interest is Sustained Attention: — Every experi-
enced salesman knows that moment in a sale when the cus-
tomer has become really interested in the merchandise he is
showing to her. Oftentimes the customer expresses interest
in so many words. Sometimes she merely shows interest in
her manner and attitude.
Selling goods is not an exact science, and cannot be re-
duced to formula?. The ability to know how to awaken
the customer's interest in the merchandise, how to create
desire for it, and how to close the sale is what distinguishes
a good salesman from a poor one.
■ When a woman enters your department and asks to be
shown some specific article of merchandise, you at least
have her attention. How to interest her in a particular
quality or design is the next step in the mental'law of
sale.
Arousing Interest by Words: — First, of course, before
you even show the linoleum you have on the floor, you will
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INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
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Abmbibono Cork Compant
LofCHjnni Dkparticxnt
Lakcastbb, Pa«
Salesmanship
LECTURE IV
The Six Steps in a Sale
J?. Arousing Interest
Interest is Sustained Attention: — Every experi-
enced salesman knows that moment in a sale when the cus-
tomer has become really interested in the merchandise he is
showing to her. Oftentimes the customer expresses interest
in so many words. Sometimes she merely shows interest in
her manner and attitude.
Selling goods is not an exact science, and 'cannot be re-
duced to formulae. The ability to know how to awaken
the customer's interest in the merchandise, how to create
desire for it, and how to close the sale is what distinguishes
a good salesman from a poor one.
■ When a woman enters your department and asks to be
shown some specific article of merchandise, you at least
have her attention. How to interest her in a particular
quality or design is the next step in the mentaliaw of
sale.
Arousing Interest by Words:— F'vcst, of course, before
you even show the linoleum you have on the floor, you will
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get some important facts from the customer. These facts
may be itemized something Hke this:
1. Where is the Hnoleum to be used?
2. The size of the room?
3. About what price does she want to pay?
4. Does she own her honi(% oi- is she a renter?
5. Will she consider a good (juahty of inhiid hnoleum, or
does slie prefer printed Hnoleum?
A tactful salesman can get tin's information by a very few
simple questions and witliout seeming to impose on the
customer's good nature. Oftentimes he will decide what
quahty of linoleum to show the customer merely from her
general appearance. It is nearly always safe to show better
grades of linoleum first. The customer will quickly indicate
whether or not the goods are within her price range.
With a clear idea of about what kind of linoleum the cus-
tomer desires and is able to buy, the salesman then must
arouse interest in the specific patterns he has for sale. As
selling merchandise is a mental process, the salesman must
make his customer feel from the outset that he is there to
serve and to help. Upon such a basis of mutual interest
and confidence, the sale proceeds smoothly. But let the
customer once detect a note of insincerity or overexaggera-
t»n, and her confidence and interest vanish. More sales
are "kiied" through overanxiety to sell than because the
salesman failed to "force" the sale.
Amumng interest % Action:— In all selling, rememr
ber that the eye is twenty times as effective as the ear in the
impressions it makes on the human brain. Never tell a
customer anything you can possibly show her. Just as in
the purchase of a fine rug or the buying of a hat, the ele-
ment of personal taste enters more largely into the selling
of linoleum now than ever before.
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Consider the situation for a moment. Your customer has
her own distinct personality and ideas of what her home
should be like. After you have narrowed down the choice
to two or three linoleum patterns or colorings that she can
afford to buy, then she must decide "how it will look" in
her home.
Here the salesman who has a grasp of the elementary
principles of decoration can be of real service. If the
woman is looking for linoleum for a bedroom, for instance,
in a few words he will ask about the kind of furniture in
the room, the woodwork, wall-paper, and draperies. By
the very act of bringing these questions to the fore in the
woman's mind, he will be helping her reach a decision as
to the particular design or coloring that will fit her room
best.
Perhaps the decorative note the woman has in mind is
Ught blue.
"Here is a design that will harmonize very nicely with
light blue," says the salesman. "It is also dark enough to
go with your walnut furniture, and affords a pleasing con-
trast to the white woodwork."
Thus the salesman helps the woman work out the solu-
tion of her problem.
Where the decorative use of linoleum is to be considered,
a book of drapery samples, also a wall-paper sample book
will be found of material service. By throwing a bit of
drapery agamst the hnoleum, its color values can be
brought out. The relation of the floor to the walls of a
room can readily be demonstrated by means of an appro-
priate selection of wall-paper. The fact that linoleum is
a floor upon which fabric rugs are laid, as over any floor,
can easily be shown to the eye by throwing the edge of
a rug over the linoleum as it lies, partly unrolled, on the
floor.
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J. H. Larson, of A. H. Heilman & Company, Williams-
port, Pa., sa3rs that he believes one reason that his depart-
ment sells so much linoleum is because all the salesmen
show the full rolls on the floor. This gives the customer,
he believes, a better idea of how the linoleum will appear
on the floor of her home.
When a woman is hesitating between one or two pat-
terns, then the salesman, by showing her "how it will
look," keeps her interest ahve and hastens her decision by
the action of spreading out the linoleum for her to see it.
Jrouiilif imtereat by Suggestion:— But, you say, so
many customers have such vague ideas about what they
want. Such cases immediately caU for the salesman's sug-
gestions. Suggestions are usuafly welcome when they show
good judgment. Too many times, however, they are
apparently made by salesmen with only one thought, the
desire to make a sale regardless of the customer's interests.
If by your questions you can make your customer feel
that you know what you are talking about, and that you
are able to give her ideas and suggestions that will be help-
ful, she will be content to leave the matter of a selection
pretty much in your hands. But you must be careful to
Lw out her ideL so that when the goods are in her home
she will feel that she made the choice, and that she was
not "sold" something against her will. After all, you are
not selling so many yards of linoleum, but you are selling
so much'satisfactfon. If, two or th;ee ye'ars later, the
woman stii refers to her linoleum floor with pride and still
recalls the help that you gave her in selecting it, then the
sale you made was truly a successful one.
Imierest Bmn of Knowledge: — To successfully de-
velop and keep the interest of the customer requires a
logical arrangement of your selling arguments and sug-
gestiona. This is possible only when you, yourself, are
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thoroughly saturated with the necessary knowledge. The
selling of linoleum will soon cease to be dull when you
feel that you have contributed to making many homes
in your community more attractive, and that you have
assisted your customers in buying just the grade, pattern,
and coloring that will suit their needs. Viewed in this
light, selling linoleum is not a prosaic means of getting a
livelihood. It is a dignified service that adds to the sum of
human comfort and happiness. Your job is a bigger job,
according to the spirit and knowledge that you put into it.
Mr. Frank Alvah Parsons, President of the New York
School of Fine and Applied Art, in his book, "The Art of
Home Furnishing and Decoration," explains some funda-
mental ideas that every floor-covering salesman ought to
know. This book was written especially for the Armstrong
Cork Company. It includes a group of colorplates of home
interiors with linoleum floors, arranged in good taste. I have
read this book with interest and profit myself, and I know
that you will find a copy of real benefit to you. The color-
plates will tell your customers more about the decorative
use of linoleum floors than hours of talking on your part.
If you are really interested in this subject, send twenty
cents in stamps, less than half the actual cost, for a copy,
to the Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa. Which
will it be — twenty cents for a soda or cigarettes or for a
book that will make you a more efficient salesman? There,
fellows, is a real test of your sincerity in wanting to cUmb
up the ladder of success.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. Do you talk too much as a salesman and show too
Uttle?
2. How much time have you given to the study of home
decoration? Do you read the good trade magazines?
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3. Are you growing in your knowledge, not only of mer-
diandise but of its uses?
4. If the customer "does not see anything she wants,"
how do you try to quicken her interest in some particular
pattern or cok)nng?
5. Arc you able to talk interestingly about your mer-
chandise? Is your vocabulary alive with fresh phrases, or
do you have but one or two words at your command?
6. Do your customers feel that you are perfectly willing
to show goods as long as necessary, or do you easily grow
impatient when the customer fails to make up her mind?
Authors Note:-kB a younger salesman it was always
my practice to develop my selling vocabulary by copying
down words and phrases that applied to the lines I sold. I
have grouped here some suggestive phrases that I should
use if I were selling linoleum. Study over this list, and then
take pencil and paper and see how many of them you can
write down from memory. Don't be tongue-tied. By
studying this list you can learn how always to have the
right phrase on the tip of the tongue.
LINOLEUM SELLING PHRASES
Linoleum Floors Are Artistic
A logical floor
Blend with your color scheme
Bright, cheerful patterns
Interesting decorative effects
Rich, mellow tones
Dainty, subdued hues
Exclusive designs
A sensible, artistic floor
Superb backgrounds for your rugs
Linoleum Floors Are Comfortable
Soft and resilient under foot
Warm in winter; cool in summer
Fine for romping cMldren-no hard bumps or falls
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Linoleum Floors Are Sanitary
No cracks or crevices to catch dirt
You know how easy linoleum is to keep clean— just
use a damp mop
Germicidal properties
Most sanitary floor known
Promote Ix^ttVr lieallli
Linoleum Floors Are Practical
Cost less (hiiii wood
Wear longer
New floors for old m( less expense
Wear like iron —on inlaids the colors go through to
the burlap back
Hard to scratch
Continual source of satisfaction
Fulfill all requirements
Lighten the housework
SINGLE WORD SELLING SUGGESTIONS
w
Adaptable
Appropriate
Artistic
Cheery
Clean
Comfortable
Dainty
Dignified
Durable
Economical
Elastic
Exclusive
Good-looking
Harmonious
Impressive
Inexpensive
Inviting
Labor-Saving
Noiseless
Permanent
Practical
Quiet
Resilient
Sanitary
Satisfactory
Sensible
Serviceable
Sightly
Smart
Spick and span
Striking
Tough
Utility
Unobtrusive
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Here^s My Answer!
Dear Mr. Pattee:
Yes, sir, I want to improve myself as a salesman, and I
am willing to invest twenty cents in Mr. Parsons' book. I
am going to read the book carefully when it comes, and will
try to use some of the information it contains in my work
as a salesman.
Name
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Home Address
City State
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
A Course in Retail Selling-
By
J. G. Pattee
LECTURE V
Creating Desire
Published by
Armstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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One of the most effective illustrations of selling by ap-
pealing to the imagination is the insurance salesman.
When he sits down to talk to you, he hasn't a single tangi-
ble thing to offer, but he paints for you a vivid picture of
the needs of your family, should you be taken from them.
He suggests to you the hardship and suffering that will
follow unless you carry enough insurance. He graphically
illustrates his sales talk by telling you about actual cases,
some of which are known to you personally. Purely by the
appeal to the imagination he makes you feel that you will
not be satisfied unless you carry an adequate amount of
protection for your family. This is salesmanship of a
high order.
. Often in selhng linoleum an appeal to the imagination
could be made through pictures or colorplates illustrating
your sales talk. These help the customer visualize to her-
self how linoleum floors actually look. As she pictures
such a floor in her own home, desire to possess that par-
ticular floor grows upon her.
Here is a practical suggestion. Take a little time some
day to go throughout the various departments in your own
store and, if you can, visit other stores as well. Watch the
silk salesman as he drapes a length or two of foulard so
that the customer can imagine how it will look in the gown.
In the custom tailoring department, note the pictures of
current styles. Whenever circumstances will permit, the
window trimmer stages settings of merchandise to suggest
their use — all for the purpose of creating a desire.
Appeal to the imagination requires a ready command of
good English. It means cultivating the voice so that it
will be pleasing, clear, distinct. Much of the persuasive-
ness of the orator lies in his choice of words and in his voice.
You can study to improve yourself in both of these respects
with profit.
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An Art — not a Science: — How to create desire for the
goods you have to sell cannot be learned in a day, but only
by experience. The trouble is that too many of us sales-
men are content with rough-and-ready methods. We do not
seek to perfect ourselves. We do not truly learn by ex-
perience. Every salesman must develop a style of sales-
manship all his own— one that will suit his own personality.
And yet we can learn much through observation. Pick
out the good salesmen in your store, the men whom cus-
tomers ask for. Watch them at work. Ask them for
pointers. They will tell you much that will be helpful to
you — and some of the things they tell you you will have to
take with a grain of salt. All of us are human, and we think
that our way of doing is just a little better than the other
fellow's.
Above all, study folks. If you find a certain phrase or
argument makes an appeal, remember it and use it again.
Modify it to suit your case. Thus you will grow and
develop.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. How would you handle this case: Mrs. Fred H.
Ingham visits your department and asks for some linoleum
for her kitchen. You skilfully ask a question; she tells
you that she is living in an old house, and that she has
trouble with her floors. What arguments would you use
with Mrs. Ingham to create a desire in her mind to have
new linoleum floors put down over her wood floors? How
would you demonstrate to her just how linoleum floors
would look in her home?
2. Would you consider it worth while to go to the ex-
pense of having photographs taken of attractive rooms in
customers' homes where you had laid linoleum floors?
What use would you make of such photographs in selling?
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3. List the following arguments in favor of linoleum
floors in what you consider to be their order of importance :
Save housework
Comfortable
A good floor on which to lay rugs
Blend with the color scheme
Durable
Inexpensive
Modem and up-to-date
Sanitary
4. Make a list of the principal objections to the use of
linoleum as a floor for every room in the house. How
would you overcome each of these objections?
5. Does your interest in the sale end when you take the
order or are you, as a salesman, concerned with seeing that
the linoleum floor is laid to give good satisfaction?
6. Do you sell merchandise or price?
Author's Note: — The following are some extracts taken
from letters addressed to the Armstrong Cork Company,
Linoleum Department, by consumers. Suppose these
letters were sent to you to follow up personally. How
would you sell linoleum floors to these prospects?
This letter came from Ft. Gaines, Ga. :
"I wish to cover my entire house of five rooms and long hall
solid with linoleum. Please advise if you have it in large enough
pieces to fit accurately from wall to wall. My hall is 8 ft. wide
by 35 ft. long, the largest room 15 ft. by 16 ft. I want to cover
the entire floor with one pattern that will harmonize with my
rugs."
Here is an inquiry from Nashville, Tenn.:
"We are getting ready to move into an old-fashioned two-
story brick residence, and I want your assistance in planning
suitable color schemes. I like light tan and old rose. The
dining-room furniture is golden oak, massive in style; the bed-
room furniture is brown walnut, heavily carved, and all the
pieces large and highly polished. The living-room furniture is
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upholstered in old-time plush. I thought of slip covers to
harmonize with the color scheme. The bookcases are dark oak.
"The hall, dining-room, and living-room open into each other.
What sort of a linoleum floor would you advise for these rooms? "
This letter is from Doy lest own, Ohio:
"We expect to do over all of our floors in the spring and want
something on the order of your parquetry inlaids which you
advertise in the magazines for the entire floor of the music room,
living-room, library, and dining-room, also something simple
for the bedrooms.
"I am also interested in the plain and jasp6 linoleums in grays
and browns. Which would you advise for my home? "
This letter from a woman in Daytona, Fla., demon-
strates that linoleum floors must be laid right if they are to
give satisfaction. The lady says:
"I have not had good results with the use of linoleum, and
until I read an article in Good Housekeeping Magazine on the
proper way to lay it I thought it was pretty poor stuff. I am
convinced now that the fault is in laying it loose and tacking the
seams, and yet merchants here refuse to lay it otherwise. I
believe, as recommended by Miss Mildred Maddocks, of Good
Housekeeping Institute, that linoleum should be cemented down
over a lining of felt paper. Will you please inform me where I
can purchase the necessary felt paper, paste, and cement?"
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
^ Course in Retail Selling"
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By
J. G. Pattee
LIBRARY
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
LECTURE VI
Closing the Sale
1
Published by
Armstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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BUNK PAGE(S)
Copyrighty 1921, hj
Armstrong Cork Company
Linoleum Department
Lancaster, Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTL RE VI
The Six Steps in a Sale
D. Closing the Sale
The Most Vital Step: — Have you ever heard a lawyer
sum up a case? It is his last chance before the jury brings
in its verdict. Every favorable point the trial has devel-
oped must be forcibly presented, and the effect of adverse
testimony must be minimized.
At this point of the sale the salesman is in exactly the
same position as the lawyer summing up the case. The
salesman knows he has aroused the customer's interest and
that desire has been created. But a decision is still to be
reached. In his closing arguments, therefore, the salesman
marshals his forces quickly and briefly. He stresses the
important selling points, makes a vigorous attempt to dis-
lodge any remaining objections, and tactfully calls atten-
tion to those points where the customer has expressed or
shown approval.
Do Not Confuse the Customer:— Many sales are lost
because the customer becomes confused and is unable to
make a selection. This condition is usually the result of
3
showing too many patterns or colorings at once. As you
progress through the sale, you will eliminate all but two or
three patterns. If you can, get those eHminated out of
sight. Every salesman knows it is easier to get a woman to
decide between one or two styles or patterns than to pick
one out of a dozen or more.
Bon't Talk Too Much:~Many a good salesman has
talked himself into a sale and then promptly talked him-
self out. Mark Twain tells a story that illustrates this. He
once went to hear a missionary preach. Early in the dis-
course he determined to put ten dollars in the collection.
The missionary went on and talked a while longer, and he
decided that five dollars should be enough. By the time
the plate reached him, however, he was so bored he refused
to put in anything. That missionary had talked himself
out of a perfectly good ten dollar sale.
How to know when to talk and when not to talk is not
always easily recognized; it is sensed by the alert salesman,
who feels, even before the customer herself is sure of her
choice, when the time has come to push the sale to a
ClOSCji'
The Undecided Customer:— It often happens that
after the customer has been brought almost to the point
of closing she suddenly changes her mind and refuses to
buy. The clever salesman will start all over again. If pos-
sible, he will attract her attention by offering merchandise
that she has not seen. He will recall some point in the con-
versation where the customer expressed interest or ap-
proval, and try to approach the sale from that angle. If
he can, he will also endeavor to bring out what the real ob-
jection in the customer's mind is. As long as he can hold
her interest, he still has a chance to make a sale. But if he
feels that he has exhausted all his resources, and yet be-
lieves the customer is in the market for goods, then he may
call on his buyer or the head of his department, tactfully
suggesting to the customer that there may be some new
arrivals, or that the buyer will have something to show her
in which he is sure she will be interested.
Especially where the amount of the sale runs into con-
siderable money, it often happens that the customer has to
be led several times to the point of closing. A spirit of
friendliness and evidence of a sincere desire to be of service
will oftentimes wear down the opposition of the customer
who stiffens her mind lest she be persuaded against her
will.
Never Argue with Your Customer: — Never permit an
argument to arise between yourself and your customer.
Right or wrong, she should never be flatly contradicted.
People like to think they, themselves, know something
about the merchandise they buy. They like to feel that
they are making the decision themselves.
Remember that our customers are friends. They must
be cultivated. An argument invariably will put the sales-
man on the wrong side of the fence. It is better to find a
common point of agreement; then, tactfully, without
seeming to argue whatsoever, present the facts for the
customer's consideration. Oftentimes an appeal to her
good judgment and common sense will win the day for
you.
Getting the Decision: — Every salesman knows how
easy it is for the customer to get away when apparently
every requirement has been met. She says she wants to
sleep over it, or to ask her husband about it. Nine times
out of ten, however, the real obstacle is a matter of price.
The price is a little more than she is prepared to pay.
It is here that the really efficient salesman **uses his
head." Quick thinking and immediate action are necessary
to convince the customer that the merchandise is well
5
worth the price asked for it, and that she really cannot
afford to go without it.
Some years ago, G. W. Farwell, a merchant of McCracken,
Kansas, sold a farmer a stove for sixty dollars and, as was
the custom, accepted in full payment one hundred bushels
of wheat.
Recently this customer came to Mr. Farwell to buy a
new range. He was very much interested in all the im-
provements, but objected to the increased price, reminding
Mr. Farwell that he had paid only sixty dollars for the old
one. Instantly Mr. Farwell agreed to sell the new range
at exactly the same price that the farmer had paid for the
old one. " That was sixty dollars," said the farmer. " No,"
said Mr. Farwell. "You paid me one hundred bushels of
wheat." The farmer saw the point and purchased the
stove, paying cash, without another word.
Whether the customer who is hesitating admits it in so
many words or not, it is likely that she cannot quite make
up her mind to part with her money. At this point the
skilful salesman impresses upon the customer how much
satisfaction she will get from the article in such a way as to
minimize the price consideration in her mind, without nee-
essarily mentioning the matter of price.
Quote Prices Force/wWy:— When you state prices,
don't look and act as if you knew the customer would ob-
ject. Customers are easily influenced by your attitude. If
you quote prices clearly and forcefully, you will have less
difficulty in closing the sale. If you state prices hesitat-
ingly, you are likely to raise doubt in the customer's mind.
K^p the customer's attention centered on pattern and
coloring, and help her make a selection. Then when it
comes to quoting the price, naturally assume that the
prices your store quotes are very reasonable, and that the
customer recognizes the worth of the merchandise. By
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his manner and attitude the salesman implies that the cus-
tomer has decided to purchase, gets out his order book, and
asks for the name and address.
E. Tntroducing Other Merchandise
The Real Test: — The ability to sell merchandise by
suggestion is the best tost of salesmanship. It does not re-
quire much ability to sell a customer what she is already
determined to buy. Any alert salesman can tactfully close
such a sale. It is really only after the prehminary sale has
been closed and the order booked that real salesmanship
comes into play.
If you are content, after you have sold a woman a certain
number of yards of linoleum for her kitchen or bathroom,
to let her leave the department without suggesting further
purchases, my friend, you have no right to call yourself a
salesman. And by suggesting further purchases I do not
mean that ancient, outworn interrogation, mumbled as
you write, ''Anythingelsetodayma'am?" Unless your cus-
tomer has come in with a shopping list of things she must
buy, her invariable answer to such a question is, "No."
What a poor opinion you must have of the merchandise
that you are being paid each week to sell if you have noth-
ing that you can honestly ask the customer to take a
moment's time to look at. Remember every woman de-
lights to look at beautiful things, whether she can afford to
buy. them or not. And, as has been stated repeatedly in
these lectures, it is the showing of merchandise that makes
people conscious of their needs and creates desire to possess.
I know a salesman who not so long ago sold a woman a
little door mat for a dollar and a quarter. This salesman
made it a practice to know the names of the principal
charge accounts at his store. When the woman told him
7
her name, instantly he saw an opportunity to suggest other
merchandise.
"Mrs. Wainright," he said, "I know that you like beau-
tiful things, and I should like to have the pleasure of show-
ing you some rugs that we have stocked recently. They
are really unusual, both in the high grade materials in
them and in their colorings. May I show them to you?"
And he led the way to the pile of rugs.
Mrs. Wainright was pleased at the attention she was re-
ceiving. She thought the rugs were very nice, indeed.
"But I really don't need any large rugs right now," she
said. "I was thinking of buying some smaller rugs for a
bedroom. I have a Httle time, and FU let you show them to
me now." That salesman sold three small bedroom rugs,
in addition to the doUar-and-a-quarter door mat. He was
a real salesman.
Suppose you have a customer who has just made a pur-
chase of linoleum for her kitchen. You know that each
.month the leading women's magazines are telUng a great
many women in your community that linoleum may be
used as a floor in any room. What is more logical than for
you to ask your customer to look at some of the colorings
or designs in linoleum that would be suitable for a bed-
room or sun porch?
Think of the number of homes that have soft pine floors
in the upstairs rooms, if not downstairs as well. These
floors are hard to take care of. They must be repainted
frequently. Suggest to your customer that she cover these
worn wood floors with linoleum. Tell her to put her rugs
down over linoleum as over any floor. She has just pur-
chased linoleum for the kitchen because it is easy to take
care of. Isn't that an excellent reason for using linoleum
floors in other rooms, too? Picture to her how well the
newer designs that you have in stock will look in her home.
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The salesman who does not avail himself of every pos-
sible opportunity to suggest linoleum floors for other rooms
to his customers is faihng in his duty to his store and to his
customers, and is overlooking his own interests.
If you sold linoleum for one additional room to but one
out of five of your customers, the increase in your perh-.nal
sales would be very gratifying. Take a pad and pencil and
figure what it would mean in dollars and cents in a week,
a month, a year.
It is estimated by the Government that the entire lino-
leum business of the United States does not, at present, ex-
ceed fifty million dollars. If the Hnoleum salesmen in this
country would sell fifteen square yards of linoleum for one
additional room a year in only one-tenth of the homes in
the United States, it would mean increasing the linoleum
business in this country at least fifty million dollars per
annum. It would require several factories the size of the
great Armstrong plant at Lancaster to take care of the one
additional room business alone.
Selling Proper Laying: — I have already said that the
salesman is vitally concerned in seeing that the linoleum
his customer buys is properly laid. I also know that many
salesmen fail to sell the customer on the idea that she
should have her linoleum laid by the store's expert work-
men in such a manner that it will give lasting satisfaction.
What would you think of a clothing salesman who sold
you a suit of clothes, and then suggested that you alter
them yourself or that making them fit was a matter of
slight importance?
In the last three years the public generally has learned
that whatever is worth having is worth paying for. If you
are a good salesman it should take you but a moment's
time to convince your customer that she should pay a fair
price for having her linoleum laid well.
9
In many stores the floor-covering workrooms have been
operated at an annual loss. Too many department man-
agers do not have the courage of their convictions to make
the workroom carry its own overhead and pay a profit.
But the capable department manager today is insisting
that his men prove themselves to be efficient salesmen, and
that they get a fair price for linoleum laying. That this
can be done is being demonstrated in an increasing nunilxM-
of good stores. After all, the matter is up to the salesman.
If you can*t '*sell" your customers on the fact that they
should pay for having linoleum laid, perhaps you are in the
wrong line of business. Think it over.
inirftducing Linoleum Accessories: — Two-thirds of
the complaints that arise to annoy the store and the cus-
tomer are due to poor laying or improper care. In many
homes, scrubbing the kitchen or bathroom floor is almost a
sacred rite. It is perfectly natural for a woman to use the
same coarse scrubbing brush and the same strong soaps or
washing powders that she has always used on wood floors.
The salesman who not only recommends the right way to
clean linoleum, but also sells the customer the necessary
linoleum floor wax or varnish not only adds to his sales,
but insures the life of the floor, and thus protects his store
from possible complaints.
F. Insuring the Cu.sfome/s Good Will
The Value of Good Will:~The good will of any going
business is worth far more than its buildings, fixtures, or
stocks of merchandise. Indeed, it would be difficult to put
a commercial valuation on good will as an asset in any re-
tail business. Cultivating good will is one of the salesman's
important duties. He can be active in developing a
friendly feeling between his store and its patrons in many
ways.
10
Every Customer a Guest:— Recently I stood watching
a little salesgirl in the ribbon department of a large store.
Four times in rapid succession she replied to the customer's
questionings, "I beg your pardon." Her mind was thou-
sands of miles away. At the fourth offense the customer
dropped the article and left in disgust. The salesgirl's com-
ment was, ''Well, can you beat it?" Of course, she, herself,
was not at fault.
Every customer who enters your store is a guest. She
has been invited to come, and is entitled to all the privi-
leges and courtesies you can extend. Make her feel that
you appreciate her coming. Treat her just as courteously
as though she were a guest in your own home. To be sure,
there are some customers who do not respond to courteous
treatment. Just so, do you not sometimes entertain guests
in your home whose actions show a lack of good breeding
and refinement? Because a guest is rude is no reason why
the host should fail in courtesy.
Making a Friend of the Customer:— If you drop
your customer like a red-hot iron as soon as you have com-
pleted the sale, she will be justified in feeling that your in-
terest was purely selfish. Nor should you drop a customer
abruptly when you find that you are unable to close a sale.
The customer who has just purchased is more than Ukely a
friend already; of the customer who does not buy you
want to make a friend.
I have always tried to make a woman who did not buy
feel that she had done me a favor in coming in to look at
my merchandise, and that I appreciated the opportunity
of showing it to her. Time after time I have seen a cus-
tomer come back in a day or two to purchase the very
article I had shown her.
I have also used the telephone advantageously to follow
up a customer whom I knew to be interested but who just
11
couldn't make up her mind. Sometimes I have dropped
her a courteous letter, asking whether or not she had yet
reached a decision. For the little extra effort put forth I
have been rewarded many times, not only in sales, but by
making friends of my customers, who have appreciated the
attention I gave them.
Good Will a Permnal Asset:— In every store we find
salesmen who are in constant demand. Customers call for
them by name and wait patiently for them to be at leisure.
Their advice is sought and followed with confidence. Such
salesmen possess a substantial capital which pays them
good dividends because they are able to make sales that
other salesmen could not make. Such personal good will
is sure to make itself felt in the pay envelope.
Service Brings Its Own Reward:— Any service ren-
dered sincerely brings its own reward. Some time ago, Dr.
Herbert Lowell Rich had some battleship linoleum laid on
the floor of his office in a Massachusetts city. He told the
salesman to go ahead and put in the linoleum, and he
would leave it to the store to see that it was laid satis-
factorily.
Either through ignorance or because he was lacking in
real salesmanship, the salesman permitted the linoleum to
be laid "the easiest way." It was simply trimmed to fit and
left loose on the floor.
It was not long before things began to happen. The lino-
leum stretched; the seams did not lie flat. Dr. Rich felt
that his floor was a disgrace to his office.
He wrote to Lancaster for advice, and was referred to a
merchant in the same city, across the street, who beheved
that if he was going to handle linoleum it was his duty to
give service with it. The salesman upon whom Mr. Rich
called said, "Certainly, we shall take up your linoleum
floor and cement it down for you, and charge you just
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what it costs. We are glad to do it because we want your
friendship and your business."
Dr. Rich was so pleased with the treatment he received
from the second salesman that he wrote to Lancaster to
recommend that all further inquiries from his section be
referred to that young man. " I have already advised three
of my friends to go to him for linoleum," he says, "and I
have called the attention of a number of people who have
been in my office to the splendid floor I now have. I know
that I am only one of a large number of persons in business
and professional life who are entirely willing to pay for ser-
vice if we get what we pay for."
The Spirit of Good Will:— The salesman who is loyal
to his firm cannot help reflecting the good will he, himself,
feels. It is this spirit of good will that has given the Mar-
shall Field store a reputation all over the United States.
Whenever I have been in the great Marshall Field store I
have noticed that the employees feel a personal responsi-
bility. Thoy look upon their store as an institution, and
not merely as a market place. How fortunate is the store
which has built into the fives of its employees its ideals of
service, ideals which are very beautifully expressed in this
little poem by Mr. John Lambert, of the Upholstery De-
partment, who has worked for the Marshall Field store for
more than twenty-five years:
CATHEDRAL OF ALL THE STORES
Untrammeled and fair, like a thing of dreams,
Its granite walls uprise:
Four square to the world, symmetrical, true,
It tow'rs 'neath bending skies.
To the north and south, to the east and west,
Swing gates to wondrous floors,—
Builded for service, aye, proudly it stands.
Cathedral of all the stores. ►.
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And radiant stretch the passes within,
Like fairied aisles they run
Mid postured columns, uplift (»d and white
As enood of cloistered nun.
Ever and ever press myriad feet,
Expectant thru the doors, —
Buildfed for service, securely it stands —
Cathedral of all the stores.
And here ingathered from places anear,
And lands beyond the sea,
Are wonderfid wares for uses of men,
Rare works in artistry.
And so shall it stand with a fame unmatched
Here, or on distant shores,
Builded for service — the marvel of men —
Cathedral of all the stores.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. Do you show impatience when the customer is slow
in bujdng, or do you try to set her at her ease?
2. Have you ever noticed that the "honest John" sort
of salesman seems to be able to close sales easily and
quickly? To what do you attribute his success?
3. How many linoleum patterns do you show at one
time?
4. To what extent are you able to guide the customer's
decision?
5. Are you sincere in the advice you give to your cus-
tomers, or do you "tell them anything" to make the sale?
6. When customers are rude, what is the best way of
handling them?
7. What have you found to be the best argument by
which to convince a customer that goods are well worth
the price asked?
8. How many linoleum floors for bedrooms or other
rooms have you sold? Do you make use of the colorplates
you can secure from the Armstrong Company to help you
get such sales?
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9. Have you studied how linoleum should be laid? Do
you have definite knowledge of this subject? Have you
worked out a selling argument with which to convince your
customers that they should pay a good price for having
linoleum laid properly?
10. Can you honestly say that every customer to whom
you say "Good-bye" goes out with a friendly feeling?
11. Do people in your city refer to you as a pleasant
salesman with whom to trade? Are you building for your-
self a personal clientele?
12. Do you believe that Dr. Rich was justified in blam-
ing the first salesman because he did not get a satisfactory
floor?
13. How far does your responsibility go in regard to
goods that must be delivered or installed after the order is
taken?
14. Can you recall any cases where unexpected service
created good will for your store?
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
A Course in Retail Selling
By
J. G. Pattee
1^3* LIBRARY
. 'P2.7 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
LECTURE VII
The Efficient Salesman
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Published by
Annstrong Cork Company, Linoleum Dept.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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Copyright, 1921, by
Armstrong Cork Company
Linoleum Department
Lancaster. Pa.
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTURE VII
The Efficient Salesman
A Plan for Your Life: — If you wanted to build a struc-
ture of any kind you would send for an architect and tell
him your requirements. With the data given him, he
would prepare plans and drawings showing in minutest de-
tail every part of the whole structure. From his estimates
you would know how many tons of steel, how many feet of
lumlx^r, l)arrels of cement, and thousands of brick would be
required. Every single thing would be figured to the last
bolt and lock. Without such plans and specifications, it
w^ould l)e impossible foi* the contractors to go ahead intelli-
gently to erect the building.
You caimot develop yoiu'self as a really successful sales-
man by haphazard methods any more than you can build
a building by such methods. The efficient salesman must
build according to a plan. He studies first the plans of the
structure he is contemplating. He ascertains the cost, and
he assures himself of his own ability to meet the necessary
requirements.
In the previous lectures I have outlined the six steps in
the mental law of sale. I have emphasized sufficiently, I
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INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE
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Constructive Linoleum
Salesmanship
LECTURE VII
The Efficient Salesman
A Plan for Your Life: — If you wanted to build a struc-
ture of any kind you would send for an architect and tell
him your requirements. With the data given him, he
would prepare plans and drawings showing in minutest de-
tail every part of the whole structure. From his estimates
you would know how many tons of steel, how many feet of
lumber, barrels of cement, and thousands of brick would be
required. Every single thing would be figured to the last
bolt and lock. Without such plans and specifications, it
would be impossible for the contractors to go ahead intelli-
gently to erect the building.
You cannot develop yourself as a really successful sales-
man bj^ haphazard methods any more than you can build
a building by such methods. The efficient salesman must
build according to a plan. He studies first the plans of the
structure he is contemplating. He ascertains the cost, and
he assures himself of his own ability to meet the necessary
requirements.
In the previous lectures I have outHned the six steps in
the mental law of sale. I have emphasized sufficiently, I
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hope, the fact that to be an efficient salesman requires
hours of thinking and strength of character. If you are
going to influence the minds of other people to buy goods,
you, yourself, must be capable of exerting such influence.
You must ask yourself, "How can I develop myself as an
efficient salesman? What are the requirements? What are
the plans? Ami willing to pay the cost?" For the efficient
salesman must pay no small price in self-sacrifice and self-
control.
Not Born, hut Mucufcrf:— Contrary to the implica-
tion in the popular saying, "He's a regular born salesman,'*
the efficient salesman is not a matter of birth, but of train-
ing and education. Any man or woman of ordinary intelli-
gence can acquire sefling efficiency. There must, of course,
be genuine liking for the work, a knowledge of what is in-
volved, and the courage and will power to develop. Nat-
urally we do best those things that interest us. For this
reason, do not take up the career of a salesman unless you
beheve that selling appeals to you very strongly. Nearly
every magazine and newspaper contains stories of men or
women who, despite unusual handicaps, have, by sheer will
power and self-development, raised themselves above their
fellows. Verily it seems that the man who has the greatest
obstacles to overcome usually rises higher than the ordi-
nary fellow who has never known the need to fight for self-
If you are not making satisfactory progress, don't evade
the issue. Look yourself squarely in the face and make up
your mind to develop the requirements that are necessary
to make you efficient. Knowing your weakness is half the
battle, because you then know just where to begin to cor-
rect youi"self .
Ten Requirements of a Good Saiesnmn:—! have
met personally and talked with hundreds of salesmen in re-
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tail stores. I have worked all my life as a salesman, and
have had salesmen in my employ. In setting down what I
believe to be the ten requirements of a good salesman, I am
basing my selection on observation and experience. I can
only tell you what they are. You must study and develop
them in yourself.
The ten requirements of a good salesman that I am going
to tell you about apply to salesmanship in its broadest
sense. In so far as possible, I shall apply the principles pre-
sented directly to the selling of linoleum. For salesman-
ship is a broad profession. No matter what you may be
selling, the fundamental principles are the same. And re-
member that unless you study and apply these principles,
merely reading them over will do you very little good. If
you have no real desire to develop your powers, better call
up your best girl and go to the movies.
The ten requirements of a good salesman I expect to tell
you about are:
1. Health
2. Ambition
3. Courtesy
4. Dependability
5. Cooperation
6. Time Efficiency
7. Knowledge
8. Initiative
9. Sound Judgment
10. Self-Control
1. Health
You are an Investment: — Every employee represents
a definite investment on the part of his employer. It takes
time to train a man and for him to familiarize himself with
his duties in a new position. It is inevitable that the new
employee wiU make mistakes and cause loss, hence the
store has made a real investment in you before you are able
to begin to earn your pay.
Estimates vary as to the amount of the investment a
store has in its several employees. In the case of a minor
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employee, it may not be more than $100, while with the
skilled employees the investment may be anywhere from
$500 to $10,000.
Some salesmen seem to feel that if they lose a day for
which they are not paid the store is out nothing. This is
far from true, for during the time you are out, either for
personal reasons or illness, the store is getting no return on
its investment.
Some stores now require a physical examination of all
applicants before they will even consider investing their
money in them. Such a poHcy is saving them thousands of
dollars a year.
Good Heaith m Jfaf ler of WiU:~I was very much in-
terested in an article I read some time ago in The American
Magazine for June, 1920. It was by Dr. Martin Edwards,
and entitled, ''Good Health Largely a Matter of Will."
If you can secure a copy of this magazine in the Ubrary, it
will be worth reading.
Po8twre:—A wrong pose of the body, besides being the
cause of many of life's little ailments, is frequently the
cause of organic disease, says Dr. Edwards. The tendency
to slouch is particularly noticeable among retail salesmen.
Because they must stand on their feet all day, it becomes
easy to relax. The abdominal muscles are Hkely to become
weakened, and the organs of both the chest and the ab-
domen sag from their natural position. It is important for
you, therefore, to strive to maintain correct posture. Dr.
Edwards says that to stand correctly, to keep the body well
poised, with each organ placed so that it can function
properly, is much simpler than is ordinarily supposed.
Jpst stand as tall as possible.
"I'll show you how," says Dr. Edwards. "Here's a
measuring stick, and here's a mirror. Coat and shirt ofif,
please. Now look at yourself. A bit pot-bellied. Chest
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somewhat fiat. Shoulders sag, with a bit of unnatural
curving forward of the spine. Height, just five feet, ten
inches. Now! Pull in your abdomen, and then pull it up.
Hold it in, please, and look at yourself. Your chest is
deeper, your shoulders are squarer, spine is straighter,
head better poised, height a little over five feet, ten and a
half. Of course, being tall isn't the consideration. It is
keeping the vital organs in place so that they can do their
work without hindrance."
Your Diet: — Are you eating too much? Are you eating
the proper food? Are you assimilating your meals? The
relation of diet to good health has been stressed so much in
the magazines and by speakers and writers that it hardly
seems needful for me to enter into much discussion of the
subject. Surely you are sufficiently interested in your own
development and betterment to invest the few cents nec-
essary in authoritative books on diet. If you are not thus
interested, there is little that I can say that would be of
benefit to you.
The Teeth: — When talking recently with the attending
physician of a large department store, I was surprised to
learn from him that more applications were rejected be-
cause of unsound teeth than for any other reason. This is
the more important, because it is so unnecessary. Just a
little attention at the right time, and all sorts of dental
troubles may easily be avoided. Unsound teeth are not
only painful in themselves but they lead to all sorts of other
serious ailments. Aside from their effect on the general
health, bad teeth make the mouth unsightly, produce
offensive breath, and cause customers to avoid you.
Personal Cleanliness: — To be physically fit one must
pay strict attention to personal cleanliness. How impor-
tant this is was well emphasized in the World War. Not
only must your linen be clean and clothing well pressed, biit
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the body should be kept in the pink of condition by fre-
quent baths.
Keep your mind, as well as your body, clean. Neither
tel nor listen to unclean stories. Your mind cannot be
filled with unclean thoughts and be concentrated on your
work at the same time.
Eeiamtmm and Recreation:— '' M work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy." The salesman who is confined to
the store all day is certainly entitled to play after store
hours. But just as all work makes a man dull so the wrong
kind of play, or even too much of the right kind, will make
the worker dull. Pool, billiards, cards, and theaters are all
right in their place, but what the inside salesman needs is
exercise in the open air or in a well-ventilated gymnasium.
Too many of us who live in cities have the habit of hopping
on street cars to ride a few blocks when a walk would do us
a world of good. After all, there is no form of exercise that
is so easily within the reach of all and takes so little effort
as walking. Ten minutes' walk each morning after break-
fast wil start the circulation going and make you feel
better ai day. During the noon hour, too, fifteen or
twenty minutes of complete relaxation or walking out-
doors wOl do wonders for you.
If you expect to be hale and hearty at eighty, as well as
to keep in perfect health from day to day, your doctor will
tell you that you must take exercise. You may be too lazy
to follow his advice, but sooner or later you will bitterly
repent your indolence.
Hetdih Grmtest Fermmd Asset:— Your employer
realizes the value of health from an investment standpoint.
Many employers insure the firm against the loss of valued
employees. If your health means so much to him, how
much more does it mean to you? At the very worst, he
makes a total loss of his investment. If you lose your
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health, nothing on earth can replace it. It is the most val-
uable asset you can possibly possess.
2. Ambition
What is Ambition? — There is an old Turkish proverb
to the effect that the world belongs to the dissatisfied. It is
the desire for achievement, honor, power that has been the
impelling motive behind all progress in the world's history.
It drove Columbus to the discovery of America. It led Dr.
Alexander Graham Bell to discover the telephone. It re-
placed the stage coach with the accommodation train. It
may soon replace the fast express train with flying ma-
chines.
It is ambition that makes men risk their very Hves in
daring experiments. It is ambition that is expressed in the
human desire for recognition.
Definite Objective: — How many of us look with envy
upon those of our acquaintances who are successful? But
do we take it out mostly in wishing and follow along the
line of least resistance, too lazy mentally or physically to
bestir ourselves, and be up-and-doing? The man who has
arrived in life has had a definite goal in sight. Some objec-
tive had constantly been held before his mind. That ob-
jective may have been a home in the country, surrounded
by beautiful trees and flowers, where he could enjoy life
with those he loved; it may have been a position of honor
or of financial power. Once determined, however, the suc-
cessful man has forged steadily ahead toward his real ob-
jective. Dreams do not come true from dreaming, only by
the most energetic kind of action. First, if we are to be
successful, then, must come the overpowering desire of
attainment.
Win Your Objective: — Not long ago in talking with a
floor-covering salesman I suggested that he develop him-
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self as a salesman, and offered to map out for him a logical
campaign for getting more sales on his book. Said he,
** What's the use? I don't propose to be a floor-covering
salesman all my life." Try as I could, however, I was not
able to pin him down to any one thing he did intend to do.
Already he had wasted three years of his life without any
deinite aim. Unless something arouses him soon, he will
belong to the great army of human failures, for he is al-
ready forming mental and physical habits of inaction that
it will be' hard to overcome.
Some years ago a young man started in the Silk Depart-
ment of one of the larger Boston stores. His ambition had
been to become a lawyer, but he had others depending on
him, and so he determined to sell silk during the day, but
to study law at night. His one ambition was to get enough
money ahead to enable him to start the practice of law as
soon as he could graduate. But, in the meantime, he did
his work in the silk business so well that before he had
graduated from his law course, he was given complete
charge of his Silk Department, at a salary that would make
miost young lawyers green with envJ^
I do not need to point out the moral to you. The thing
is to have an objective in life, and to work toward it to the
best of your ability.
Your job now is to sell linoleum. Selling all you can and
then learning how to sell more, is the quickest way of satis-
fying your ambition to tecome a great salesman. Don't
worry. If you show from day to day the outstanding marks
of unusual selHng abihty your Ught will not long remain
hid under a bushel. Your powers will be recognized, and
you will be given opportunity to use them to the benefit
of your firm and to your own great advantage.
hemiop Your i4ififti«ioii;— Ambition should keep pace
progress. Indeed, it always does. The accomplish-
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ments that seemed so difficult and so hard to attain yester-
day will be achieved a year from now. The goal that you
set a year ago will be far in the background.
Salesmanship is, itself, a great developer of ambition.
Selling merchandise brings you into constant contact with
every type of human psychology. In selling, you are
obliged to use judgment in the advice you render, and you
are compelled to make quick decisions.
Perhaps your ambition today is to become the best Uno-
leum salesman in the department. If you are content to
remain in the store and take what little business comes in
to you, your goal has not been set very far ahead. But if
you want to make a record in selling Unoleum, don't worry
about the salesmen in other departments. At least four
out of five customers that come into the store and ask for
Hnoleum are waiting to be sold. Think of the bankers,
lawyers, doctors — in fact, professional men in every line
— who are waiting for you to sell them linoleum for their
offices and places of business! Factories of every descrip-
tion, theaters, stores, hotels, and restaurants are all logical
prospects for the ambitious linoleum salesman. What an
opportunity is yours for development in just matching
your brains against the owners of these establishments!
And if you are successful in selling them linoleum, who
knows but that you may be called upon to sell them other
merchandise — yes, even stocks and bonds, where your in-
come will be measured in thousands of dollars, where now
it totals hundreds per year.
Do It Now: — As I look back over my own life I reahze
now that whatever success I have had has been due to the
fact that I always had a definite ambition just a step or
two ahead of me. When I was a stock boy I didn't dream
about becoming President of the United States, but I did
most definitely want to qualify as a salesman on the floor.
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And then my ambition was to become the best salesman in
my department, and then head of the department itself, or
a similar department in some other store. With a definite
goal always right ahead of me, I had to follow only a
straight line to get to it.
And so with you. Remember that, whatever yom* defi-
nite objective, its attainment will be hastened if you do
your present work just a little better than it was ever done
before. Whatever the future may have in store for you,
your study and practice of salesmanship will hasten your
success, because, as I have said before, all business is
based on salesmanship.
Ju»i a Su§§€8imn in Clmmg:—Why not let your im-
mediate objective be to increase your sales by selling one
more room of linoleum to every customer? Try earnestly,
skilfully, to sell that one additional room. Having deter-
mined to do this simple thing, you will be surprised at the
new mst you will put into your work, and I'll guarantee
you right here and now that your order book wiU show an
immediate improvement, due to your ambition.
3. Courtesy
Wkmi m Coiirfctf?-— Courtesy is not a garment that we
can put on or take off at will. It springs from a sincere
desire to be of service. Service is the only excuse your store
has for existence.
Courtesy is far more than mere politeness. It is innate
good breeding. Any attempt at courtesy that does not
recognize this is only the thinnest veneer, all right on the
surface, good to look at, but it doesn't stand the wear and
tear of usage.
Three Degrees of Courtesy: — The store with a well-
earned reputation for courteous treatment sells its wares
more easily, makes more substantial profits, and com-
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mands the most desirable class of trade. The reputation
of your store for courtesy rests squarely on your shoulders,
because you deal with the public.
There are three degrees of courtesy practiced by retail
salesmen. These are positive, neutral, and negative; and
each is represented by a corresponding type of salesman.
Let us consider them
Positive Courtesy: — How quickly we recognize this
type of courtesy. Eager and alert at all times, with an
enthusiastic desire to be of service, such a salesman prac-
tices courtesy unconsciously. To him the store is a live
thing, and his department is possessed of a character and
personality to be jealously maintained. His wiUingness to
show goods is most noticeable. Nothing he can do is too
much trouble. Such courtesy inspires customers with con-
fidence. People like to buy from such a salesman.
Here is an incident I learned recently. Not long ago a
woman came into the rug section of Halle Bros., of Cleve-
land, Ohio. She said she wanted a few inches of brass nosing
for linoleum. "I hate to bother you about it," she began,
and when she found that a boy would have to be sent to
the warehouse she told the salesman not to take the trouble.
"Madam," said the salesman, "we pride ourselves on
our service. This store exists to be of service to you in
whatever way possible."
When the boy returned with the nosing, the lady paid
the bill, thirteen cents, and left. A week later, however,
she returned, hunted up this salesman, and purchased
three rugs from him, the bill amounting to over eleven
hundred dollars. She told him that his courtesy was the
reason why she had come straight to him for the rugs she
had expected to buy at another place.
Doubtless you can also relate many instances where posi-
tive courtesy has paid unusual dividends.
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Jfenlrol Couri€»§:—\Jp and down this country, it
seems to me, I have met a whole army of indifferent sales-
men whose courtesy is distinctly neutral. They work be-
cause they have to. For them the store exists simply as a
means of supplying them with a living. They are never
deliberately discourteous. They speak when they are
spoken to, but their minds are not on their work. These
siilesmen show their merchandise in the easiest possible
way. They make no movement to show the goods on the
ioor, and should the customer have enough nerve to ask
that it be shown that way the indifference with which they
concede her wish is, to say the least, disconcerting.
A few weeks ago a well-dressed, but modest, little woman
walked into the fur department of a well-known store.
After trying on several garments she told the clerk she
would like to see a wrap that was in the window. "Oh,"
said the clerk, "that is a very expensive garment. It is
over two thousand dollars." The clerk did not even offer
to get the garment, and the customer left.
That same evening the lady, who was stopping with her
husband at one of the downtown hotels, passed the store
and she showed him the coat in the window and related to
him her experience. The next morning, accompanied by
his wife, the gentleman visited the department. He in-
sisted that the clerk who had so indifferently served his
wife be pointed out to him, then, turning deliberately to
another saleswoman, he asked her to bring the wrap from
the window. In a very few minutes he had purchased it,
paying 12,200 in cash.
As this store pays its salespeople largely on a commission
basis, the first girl lost at least $50 through her negligence.
The store might have lost a customer.
Whenever you see two salesmen, each claiming the sale
of a certain piece of linoleum, the first stating that he
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waited on a customer yesterday or a week ago, and showed
her the identical pattern which she is buying today, you
can be pretty sure that he is of the neutral type. If he
didn't have enough personality to impress himself on the
customer so that she could not forget him, he deserves to
lose the sale.
Negative Courtesy: — It is easy to picture to oneself
those salesmen whose courtesy is purely negative. Haughty
and overbearing in manner, with almost sneering con-
tempt for the customer's seeming ignorance, they are a
menace to any store. One is never at ease in their presence.
Their words are often politeness itself, sometimes almost
cutting in their very smoothness.
With the proverbial "chip on the shoulder," these sales-
men are forever driving customers away. The would-be
customer instinctively feels the salesman's lack of courtesy.
Those customers who are peaceably inclined merely drift
out of the store, others of a more combative nature start an
argument with the salesman, who usually is unable to resist
the temptation to show the customer how much he knows,
or, rather, how little he knows about the merchandise.
Courtesy Cannot Be Forced: — Courtesy cannot be
forced to do your will. It must be a part of your very self,
and must be practiced without any conscious effort on your
part. It is a habit, the acquisition of which depends on
your desire to be of genuine service. Sham courtesy, put on
for effect, is easily detected and brands the salesman as a
hypocrite.
QUESTIONS FOR SELF-STUDY
1. Have you ever made up a plan or set down in writing
what you want to be at age 30? age 40? age 50?
2. Are you a salesman because you love selling, or be-
cause circumstances put you in the selling field? Are you
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willing to pay the price to become a 100% efficient sales-
man?
3. The proprietors of your store take inventory once or
twice a year. Have you inventoried your health, one of
your most necessary assets?
4. What is your ambition for next week? for next month?
next year? Are you making definite progress toward your
immediate goal?
5. Why does courtesy pay in selling more than in any
other activity of life?
6. What is your definition of a really courteous person?
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