Personal salesmanship .. online

also finds awaiting him from the house congratulatory
letters upon orders secured at his last stopping place;
criticisms, suggestions, encouraging sympathy and full
information concerning people he must see in this par-
ticular place. If anything of particular moment has
happened since his last visit, or quotations have been
made to any customer, all these are placed before him,
and he starts upon his rounds, fully equipped with every
possible bit of knowledge which may aid his work. If
any customer has failed, he is advised, so that none of
his time will be wasted ; if a new concern has started up,
he is given as complete data as possible concerning it.
If inquiries have reached the house through advertising,
or other mediums, which may be turned into business



122 HOW TO USE HOUSE CO-OPERATION

by a personal representative, all the facts are placed in
his possession.

By this close co-operation, a salesman is not omy en-
abled to make his work effective in least time and at
lowest cost, but he is inspired with confidence in the
interest of his house in his personal success, and this
engenders enthusiasm which could be cultivated in no
other way.

Eight Kind of House Co-operation Inspires
Confidence in Salesmen

Presumably less than a sixth of the entire time of any
traveling salesman is spent at headquarters. He is
usually a sensitive, impressionable, enthusable sort of
fellow, for that is the sort to make the best salesmen.
He is more or less easily affected by conditions. It
doesn't take much to depress him. Should he be hav-
ing a hard trip, injudicious criticism might drive him
to resign.

But let criticism come in the form of suggestions for
more effective work, and accompanied by useful data
and encouraging approval of the things he has done
well, relations are soon established between himself and
employer upon a basis which no amount of adversity
could suffice to disturb. He will be loyal, faithful,
painstaking the very best kind of "a hustler,' and
one whom no amount of persuasion could induce to leave
the employ of his house. He will always say 'we' 1
when he mentions the concern and that's the sort of
salesman every up-to-date and wide-awake sales man-
ager is looking for all the time. If he gets an offer
from a rival concern, "my boss' 1 will be the first man
he'll tell about it, and whose advice he'll ask and think
more of than any other.



>"tr>:-v- '. - f-r ]if' *?. c,




CHAPTER XIX

Posting the House on Trade Conditions

BY CHARLES E. CAKE

Of the Office Appliance Company

The traveling salesman is a variable quantity. To se-
cure the best results from his trips, to reduce expenses
to a minimum, and to figure accurately profit and loss,
is one of the first duties difficult and of considerable
detail of the sales manager.

The chief principle is to make effort and expense co-
productive that is, let every dollar spent and every
effort made yield together. And it can only be done by
the closest union between house and traveler.

This union can be accomplished by the most careful
attention to detail the reporting to the house of every
step the salesman takes.

His first step is the leaving of his route list (Form I)
with the sales manager before he takes his trip, giving
the name of the salesman, the towns, and the hotel in the
towns at which he will stop and the dates all telling just
where and when he may be found. This is usually for
one week ahead; the route list cards for the succeeding
weeks are sent to the house from time to time.

As the salesman finishes each day he forwards to the
house his daily report (Form II) giving first, general in-

123



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formation regarding the towns ; the population, the con-
ditions of the town or surrounding country such as the
conditions of the crops or of the general business situa-
tion at the top of the report. Next follows the names
of the firms called on, the business of each, whether he
is a customer or not, " if he sold, ' ' if not sold, the reason ;
and a space on the end for remarks on each firm. At the
bottom of the report is a space for * l firms in our line not
called on, why not called on. ' ' By this report the sales-
man is compelled to visit every firm in his line in the
town the chance of " stuffing " the report is thus almost
wholly eliminated.

When the salesman finds a dealer not a customer who
he thinks ought to be worked on, or when he receives
instructions to look up some merchant thoroughly, he
makes out a "Special Report" (Form III), a thorough
and detailed lot of information on the man, giving facts
of value to both the sales and the credit departments.
On the reverse side of this card (Form IV), the sales-
man indicates what dealings he has had with the pros-
pect.

At the bottom of the reverse side is a space used by
the home office for the sales "follow up,' indicating
when written and when sold. This serves to give a
complete line on every good prospect; by it the house
has full information at a moment's notice without hav-
ing to ask for " report " on the firm, and can follow
the firm up with the same convenience. The special
report is filed alphabetically in the prospect file until
the dealer is made a customer. Then it goes in a cus-
tomer's file.

At the end of each week the salesman renders his
expense account (Form V) by item. After the date
and town, the general items of expense under "hotel" is



128 HOW TO USE HOUSE CO-OPERATION

given, which includes the bed, breakfast, dinner and
supper ; the next general item of expense, under ' ' trans-
portation/' gives the number of miles traveled, whether
"interchangeable" or cash, livery, or 'bus; there follows
a column for miscellaneous expense, and explanation.
At the bottom of the card is given the "total hotel"
expense and the "total cash paid.'

This is merely the original data; to be of advantage
to the sales department it must be put in condensed
and classified form.

In the first place the sales manager wants to know
what a man's total sales were and what his total expenses
were for a month, in order that they may judge of the
profitableness of the man. Each salesman is given a
monthly card, on the face of which (Form VI) is en-
tered the month's record of the salesman's expenses,
week by week, of the money he has received from the
firm, and the balance he has on hand. On the reverse
side (Form VII) the month's sales, week by week, are
entered, and then the percentage of expense and sales is
figured out. These cards, properly filled out, are handed
to the sales manager at the end of every month, and he
can see exactly the work and the value of each of his
galesmen.



The Men Who Know

SCIENTIFIC training is the only
^- sure means of increasing efficiency.
The strongest sales managers have al-
ways been those who could tell the
"how" and the "whv" of salesmanship.




UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA LIBRARY



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