This is the Middle's Razor—the safety razor that really shaves. It is quick, clean, and comfortable to use. I consider this razor such good value that one is sufficient to fill the window. One dollar each.Come inside and I'll tell you whyA Middle's Razor you should buy.—Dawson Black.
This is the Middle's Razor—the safety razor that really shaves. It is quick, clean, and comfortable to use. I consider this razor such good value that one is sufficient to fill the window. One dollar each.
Come inside and I'll tell you whyA Middle's Razor you should buy.
—Dawson Black.
When I saw that window it looked to me like a joke. My looks evidently indicated that to Larsen. I had never been much of a believer in stunts for window trimming. I had thought it better to have people come into the store and buy something, than just say what a clever window display we had—and walk by. I was standing outside the window, looking at it, when Larsen joined me.
"You don't like it, no?"
"Well," I said, "it looks to me too—oh, what's the word I want?—oh, you know what I mean—too smart-alecky!" We both laughed. "It isn't dignified enough, you know."
I WAS STANDING OUTSIDE THE WINDOW
"I WAS STANDING OUTSIDE THE WINDOW"
"Say, Boss," said Larsen, and then he couldn't continue on account of a coughing spell. Poor old Larsen. For several weeks he hadn't been feeling right. He had caught a hard cold and wouldn't rest, and it didn't seem to get any better. It had worried me sometimes, because he wasn't as young as he used to be. I suggested to him that he lay off work for a little while, but he wouldn't hear of it.
When he had recovered from his coughing spell, he said:
"Say, Boss, that book on window trimming. It say trim with one line of goods. All razors, or all scissors, make folks stop. If a lot make 'em stop, just one by itself will. Folks'll come across the road to see what it is."
Well, we used the window trim as it was, except that, at the last minute, we changed the sign.
"Do you remember that pencil sharpener salesman that came here?" I asked Larsen. "Remember him telling us about that sale of women's hats, where they could get in only by ticket?"
"No."
"Well, it was a Chicago store. They sold women's hats. On certain days you could get into the store only by ticket, and the store was swamped with people then, because—oh, I don't know why, but they thought that they were favored by getting the ticket. Why not put on the sign that these razors won't be sold until Saturday?"
"That's good. But nothing special here— No new style like in women's hats."
"Well," I said, defending my idea, "the drug stores sell regular candy, special on Saturday."
"Yep, but they give special price. We ain't cutting it."
Then Larsen forgot himself and slapped me on the back, saying: "I got it, Boss. Put this razor on sale Friday and Saturday only, and give a can of shaving powder to each customer!"
"Heavens, no! Shaving powder sells for 25 cents."
"It costs us only twelve. Razor and soap together don't cost a dollar. We make profit on it, and—and—they buy more powder soon."
Well, we did it; we added to the sign: "To every purchaser of a Middle Razor, Friday and Saturday only, will be given a can of Dulcet Shaving Powder."
I wanted to put a can of the powder in the window as well, but Larsen was against it; and, as it was his show, I let him have his own way with it.
"How many of the razors have we in stock?" I asked.
"We got three dozen last week. We ain't broke the package yet."
"Oh, that'll be plenty," I said. . . .
By ten thirty Friday morning we had sold every Middle's Razor in stock, and I had telegraphed for six dozen more to come by express. As they were made in this State, they should arrive the first thing in the morning. By Friday night I had orders for sixty-four razors,—and I also had had to telegraph for more shaving powder. Well, up to closing time on Saturday, we had sold a hundred and fifty-nine Middle's razors! We couldn't supply them, of course, although the six dozen we had ordered came in time, so we merely took orders on Friday afternoon andSaturday, and promised to deliver the razors as soon they came. In practically every case, however, we had got the money.
Think of it, a hundred and fifty-nine razors in our town. I couldn't understand why so many people bought them. Also, it had been a revelation to me to find how many women had come in for this bargain offer. Two or three people had come on Thursday to buy it, but we wouldn't sell them. That window certainly had attracted a lot of attention, particularly at night. There had been a number of people around it all the time.
Poor Larsen collapsed altogether from the strain of the two busy days, and had to place himself under the doctor's care.
The next evening I called at the doctor's and he said that Larsen had really a serious illness.
"You don't mean," I said, "that there is any chance that he will—"
The doctor was silent for a minute, pursed his lips, then said slowly: "I don't know. It would not be a serious thing for a young man, but he is not a young man, and he is poorly nourished."
Larsen's absence certainly made Jones and Jimmie and me hustle. In the first place I had to take out that window trim of the Middle's Razor, for, as our sale was over, we did not want to keep the display going. In fact, when I went to see old Larsen, sick as he was, his first weak remark had been, "You took the trim out, Boss?" I told him yes, and added that we had a fine display of enamelware in its place. Mrs. Larsen told me that he had been worrying all day. He seemed a bit easier when I left.
The whole week was a week of trouble. On Tuesday morning Henderson was driving his car past the store and frightened Haywood's old horse (poor thing, I never thought he could move so quickly) so that he bolted and ran his foolish old head through the store window—just after I had my nice display of enamelware ready. It cost me over thirty dollars to get it put right.
I met old Barlow at the Élite Restaurant that day and he remarked, "Makes it quite inconvenient doesn't it? Have you telephoned the insurance people about it yet?"
"Insurance people?"
"Yes, plate-glass insurance people."
I felt the color surging into my face as I answered, "Why, no, I haven't got around to it yet."
As a matter of fact, I didn't even know I could insure my plate-glass windows. It was another loss I had to bear just because of my ignorance.
There was one funny little incident in connection with the broken window-pane, however, and it came from Jimmie. When I got back to the store, that freckled-face rascal said, "Gee, Boss, I've got a whale of an idea!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"Why not put a big sign in the window offering a ten per cent. reduction?"
"That's a silly idea. Why should we do that?"
"You don't get me, Boss," he said. "Here!" and he handed me a brick.
"What am I to do with this?" I asked in surprise. "Hit people on the head as they go by the store, grab their money and give them a dishpan in its place?"
I feared Jimmie would burst if I didn't let him finish his story.
"Put the brick in the window, Boss," he said excitedly, "then stick a sign on it saying, 'Who threw this brick through our window, and knocked ten per cent. off the price of everything?'"
It sounded silly; but, somehow, it interested me. I think the thing that interested me most was that Jimmie should be looking for some way to turn misfortune into profit. At any rate, I put that sign in the window just as Jimmie suggested, with the added line that, as soon as the window was repaired, prices would go back to normal.
I believe that Jimmie spent every minute of his spare time out of the store telling people to come and see his big selling idea, for numbers of people said to me, "Yes, I heard about your window with the brick from your errand boy—smart kid that!" and then they would grin. It got me some business, and started a lot of talking. I remembered what Barlow had once said: "Keep them talking about you; and be thankful when people pitch into you. Nobody ever bothers to kick a dead dog." I was mighty glad it had not been our other window, though, for that had contained a splendid show of electrical household goods.
Wednesday I had dinner again with Roger Burns. He told me that the chain store for which he was manager had opened in good shape, and that on the opening day they had given a clock calendar to the visitors as a souvenir. It had been a cheap clock in a metal frame, so made that it would either hang on the wall or stand on a shelf, while attached to it belowwas a year's calendar. Above the clock had been written the slogan:
"All the time is the right time to buy kitchen goods from the New England Hardware Company."
Below the face of the clock was the address and Roger Burns' name as manager.
Roger said something, that night, that interested me mightily.
"One reason why chain stores make a success is that they try to dominate the field in one direction. For example, look at the five-and-ten-cent stores. Notice how they all dominate any other store of their kind. They have something distinctive and unusual about them. Notice the places of the big drug and tobacco chain-store systems. They dominate in some particular way!"
That word "dominate" stuck in my mind. "How do you purpose to dominate?" I asked of Roger.
"Well, in one way we are dominating in the brush field now. At our new store here, I have a bigger variety of household brushes than all the other stores put together. We have anything in the way of a brush that you want; and they're all good ones, too. . . . Most people dominate in some way," he continued. "Mr. Barlow dominates for miles around in agricultural implements."
"And I?" I said.
"Well, you are hardly dominatingyet, but you could, if you wanted to, in electrical domestic goods and men's toilet goods."
"Good Heavens," I said, "they're both side lines!"
"Exactly," he said, "but you were the first in townto push those side lines, so you scooped up the new trade for that kind of goods; and, if any one gets after your scalp, you might dominate in those lines. Marcosson, our general sales manager, says that the first in the field can dominate it if he will vigorously push his advantage. Think of all the well-known advertised things—the people whose names are most familiar to you—those which practically dominate their field—are those which were there first."
After we had smoked another cigar, we parted, but all the way home, that one word, "domination," stuck in my mind. I had what I had thought were two profitable side lines; while other people—people who should know—looked upon them as something which was exclusively mine. Domination! I wondered if I could develop some special lines, such as electrical and toilet goods, which I could consistently and persistently push until every one in town would naturally connect my name with those goods whenever they wanted to buy them.
There's quite a fascination about the word "domination," isn't there? Everybody dominates in some way. There wasHardware Times! They dominated in the trade-journal field. Roosevelt dominates in aggressiveness. Edison dominates in electrical inventions. Burbank dominates in growing things. Jimmie—let's see what Jimmie dominated in—well, I guess Jimmie dominated in freckles. George Field, I should say, would dominate in good nature. I thought it would be interesting to have a little game with myself in looking at people and stores and places and find out in what way they dominated and see if from this kind of observation I could find out notonly in what they dominated, but how and why they dominated!
When I got home I tried for an hour to write slogans, such as "If it's electrical you can get it at Black's;" "Go to Black's for a white deal;" "You naturally think of Black's when you think of toilet goods;" and such-like, but I didn't think much of them, when I got through.
There was one thing, however, that I decided on—and that was to increase my stock of those goods with which I meant to dominate the field. I would always have them on show and advertise them as consistently as my small advertising allowance would permit.
It surely had been a dreadful week with Larsen sick. I never knew how much I had been leaning on him. When he came back, I was resolved, to look after him better than I had done before. I guess there are a lot of bosses, the same as I, who really don't realize how valuable their employees are to them until they have lost them. Some employees probably dominate—there's that word dominate again!—in some phase of the store's activities in such an unobtrusive way that their work is not appreciated as it should be. The trouble is that the good worker is usually a poor self-advertiser, while the clever self-advertiser often cannot deliver the goods that he is advertising. I determined that, if ever I got a really big store with a lot of help, I would find some way of knowing what every one did, so that the fellow that did things would not be pushed to one side by the fellow who merely elevated himself with talk.
Just as I was going to bed I had an inspiration, and I found what I would try to dominate in—SERVICE!
When the Mater got back, I felt more like a human being again. What a wonderful thing a mother is! A fellow doesn't realize how much his mother means to him until he wants her badly.
Barrington's demand that I pay off the mortgage on the farm had been worrying me, so I went to the bank and saw Mr. Blickens to find out if I could get the bank to lend me the necessary $1,250.00. Blickens said the bank couldn't possibly do it, but that he knew a private individual who could perhaps be induced to take over the mortgage. I asked him to look into it and let me know.
A couple of days afterward he telephoned me to call and see him, and then he told me that he could raise the $1,250.00, to be covered by a first mortgage on the farm; but that, on account of the unsalability of the property at a forced sale, his friend would have to have ten per cent. interest.
I whistled at this.
"Well, take it or leave it, my young friend," he said. "If you can do better, why do it; but remember that Barrington will foreclose, unless you raise that money for him by the first of February."
Blickens had a note all made out, and I noticed his name appeared on it.
"I—I thought it was—some one you knew who was going to—"
"A mere formality; I am just doing it for a friend."
I knew at once that Blickens was his own friend in this case. I noticed also that I had to reduce the loan at the rate of $50.00 a month.
"That may seem a high rate of interest to you," said Blickens, smoothly; "but really I am doing it for your good."
That was what Dad had always said when he spanked me, but I never could see it his way!
There was nothing else to do, so I closed the deal with him and the mortgage was transferred from Barrington to Blickens, who, I guess, borrowed the money himself from the bank at three or four per cent., and pocketed the difference for his trouble. It seemed to me that there were more ways than one of making money in a bank.
That day I lunched at the Élite Restaurant, where I met old Barlow. To my surprise he asked me to go around to his house to dinner that night. I told him that I couldn't do that very well, because the Mater had just come home.
"Bring her with you," he said; so the Mater and I went to Barlow's house, where, for the first time, I met Mrs. Barlow.
Mrs. Barlow had been an invalid for a number of years and consequently had not been a factor in such social life as Farmdale boasted of. I was surprised to see how different Mr. Barlow was while with his wife—as sweet and kindly and gentle as a woman. I couldn't help comparing the difference between him at his home and at his business. There, while alwayscourteous, he was considered cold and hard and exacting. When I came to think of it, however, I was not surprised at finding him so kindly, considerate and full of love for his wife, because I remembered the many kindnesses and quiet help that he had given me.
After dinner Mrs. Barlow and the Mater went up to the little sitting-room, while he and I stayed behind to smoke a cigar. We smoked in silence for a while. Then Barlow said abruptly, "By the way, Dawson, do you know how many automobiles went through Farmdale last summer?"
"No," I said, "I haven't the least idea—nor frankly any interest, either. I don't own a car."
"Neither do I," he said (he didn't, but he owned the finest pair of trotters in the county), "but we have some interest in everything that affects Farmdale."
"Surely," I returned, "and I quite agree that, if a lot of automobiles come through Farmdale, and stop at the Farmdale House, it helps their business and indirectly helps us."
"One hundred and seventeen a day," said Barlow.
"One hundred and seventeen what a day?"
"One hundred and seventeen automobiles a day. Every day from April to October, an average of a hundred and seventeen automobiles passed through Farmdale."
I didn't know what he meant.
"Frankly, Mr. Barlow, I know you have a good idea in mind, but really I don't see what you're driving at."
"About twenty-four thousand automobiles altogether come in and out of Farmdale during the summer season. If only ten per cent. of those people stopped here for gasoline, and bought an average of ten gallons each, there would have been sold 23,570 gallons of gasoline. Suppose there was only a profit of three cents a gallon on that, it would have meant net income of $707.10. Now I think that figure could probably be multiplied by three, although, of course, I don't know how many stopped here, and how much gas they bought. We have only two garages in this town. One is a fairly good one, Martin's, and the other, Joe Sneider's—well, I'd sooner trust my car, if I had one, to Stigler than to Joe Sneider."
It was a fact that Sneider had a very bad reputation around town. Indeed, they called him the legalized robber.
"So we may say," continued Barlow, "that there is only one real garage in town. There are eighty-four automobiles registered in this town, but we are near enough to Harton for many of our people to go there for all repairs. You see, the makers have agencies there, and that is one reason why they go there for all car adjustments and new parts. The other reason is that Martin has more work than he can possibly take care of."
"Say," I broke in impetuously, "are you thinking of opening a garage?"
"Not by any means," laughed Barlow, "but you're situated in one end of the town, and I am at the other. People coming in or out of town have to pass both our stores. I have had a very good contract offered me for Starling gasoline; but I don't think Icould sell all they want me to take. Now, how would you like to sell gasoline and join me in this contract?"
"But, Mr. Barlow, I'm a hardware man—I'm not—" and then I stopped, remembering how old Larsen felt at that attitude and how he jeered at the tendency of all-too-many hardware men to let drug stores and department stores sell legitimate hardware lines, and do nothing but retaliate; and so I finished "but I'm not averse to adding to my line, if I can see a profit in it."
Barlow noticed the change in thought and smiled.
"You think it over to-morrow; and if you would like to join me in it, why I don't see why we shouldn't both make some money out of it."
Then I remembered the state of my bank account. It reminded me of the story of the man who complained that some one had broken into his house and stolen his over-draft.
"I'm very sorry, sir, but I haven't the money to do it."
"If you had the money, you think you would like to do it?"
"Why, yes, it looks good to me on those figures you state."
"Well, suppose I were to buy all the stock, and pay for it, and then charge it up to you at half a cent a gallon profit, and then let you pay me each week for what you have sold. You would perhaps be interested in buying it?"
"Yes, indeed. But frankly, Mr. Barlow, I can't see why you would want to do that."
"The reason is, young man," said Barlow grimly,"that, if I contract for twenty-five thousand gallons I can get a much better price than if I contract for, let us say, half that amount. Also, I don't think I could sell it all from my store. The garage is near the center of the town; so that, unless some one is selling gas the other side of the garage man, his would be the first station reached by people entering the town from that side. Consequently, he would get half the trade. Now, he runs a competing gas station, so I couldn't possibly work with him. Hence I am willing to back you on this, because it won't cost me anything. And even if I make half a cent on all you use, it doesn't cost you anything, because you buy at even less than you would buy a smaller quantity direct from the Starling people."
Pretty shrewd reasoning, wasn't it? When I got home, I talked it over with the Mater. She said, "But, Dawson, my boy, if people were to stop at your store and buy some gasoline" (the Mater is very old-fashioned, and doesn't believe in clipping words and thinks it vulgar to call it "gas"), "would not some of the owners of the automobiles want supplies of different kinds, and if they want supplies, aren't they likely to go to the garage for them, and then buy their gasoline there? Now, Mr. Martin is a very nice gentleman, and you don't want to do anything that will hurt him—"
"Unless I can materially help myself!"
The Mater shook her head. "These new-fangled business ideas are strange to me."
But what the Mater said made me think; so that, in the morning, I went to Barlow and told him I would really like to go into the gasoline business, but that,if I did, I would have to go into the automobile accessory business also.
"When any one is buying gas," I said, "they are good prospects for oil and accessories generally. If a man has a break-down, why that's a job for the garage; but, if he wants only supplies, I don't see why he couldn't get them from a hardware store just as well as anywhere else. Now, Mr. Barlow, I'll gladly pay you that half a cent on the gas, and I'll push it for you all I can, but I feel that I would have to sell automobile accessories too. So, if you will buy accessories also, and let me have a small stock, on sale or return, for just three months, I will pay you a small percentage of profit for your help, and guarantee, at the end of the three months, to carry my own automobile department without any help from you."
He tapped his counter slowly with his pencil for a few moments.
"I don't want to go into the automobile accessory business. I have no room for it at all; but I do want to sell gasoline because it is easily handled and earns a good profit. However, I will help you to get a supply of accessories. You go to Boston and find out just what it will cost you. Go and see Alex Cantling of Cantling & Farmer. They're big machinery people, and Alex Cantling is a good friend of mine, and is as shrewd a man as there is in the trade. Ask him how much you would have to buy, and then come back and tell me. If it is a nominal amount to start with, I wouldn't mind guaranteeing the account for you for three months. Now you will have to excuse me, for I am very busy. Come and see me as soon as you get the thing worked out."
"When are you going to start the gas?" I asked.
"Not before April. By the way," said he, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I must ask you not to say word of this to any one."
"But I have already mentioned it to the Mater."
"H'm. Well, would you ask her please not to mention it to any one? If, by any chance, she has, I must reserve the right to call off all offers. By the way, I expect my boy, Fred, home in about a month's time."
Fred was old Barlow's one and only child. He had been in Detroit, working in a big automobile shop for some time, and I had understood that he was coming back on a visit to Farmdale. The old man and Fred had never got along very well together, and Fred had left because the old man wanted him to work in the store and he positively refused to do so.
I didn't know what it all meant, but I had a feeling that Barlow wasn't offering to set me up in the automobile business just out of love for me. He had some other reason for it and I decided to think twice before I definitely accepted. I knew he would give me a square deal, because he was such a white man, but it looked almost too good to be true that he would carry a gas account for me, and then guarantee an automobile accessory account for three months. He had never asked even for a note, or anything, for his own protection.
The sun had begun to shine once more. I had a feeling as if a little dicky-bird were singing in my heart. There was blue again in the sky and the wind didn't always come from the East. I had received a night letter from Betty. She was leaving Birmingham the next week and was going with the aunt to a place she had in Florida to stay there a month, and then she was coming right home! I don't think I had realized how much I missed my dear one until I found she was coming home and was feeling herself again. I had just finished reading the telegram when the Mater came downstairs, and in my joy I caught her around the waist and swung her round twice until her feet left the floor.
"Mercy on us!" she exclaimed, as I set her on a chair gasping, "what has got into the boy?"
"Just happiness, that's all! Betty is coming home in a month."
"Gracious," said Mater, with a twinkle in her eye, "I really thought it was something important!"
When I got down to the store who did I see but Larsen, still weak and very pale, but dear old Larsen back again. I suppose I'm sentimental, but I had grown to like the old chap, and it sure had been mighty hard while he was away.
The doctor had said he could come down for twoor three hours each day for a few weeks, but must not put in his full time yet.
Of course I had paid him his salary all the time he was away, and would continue to do so, for I'd come to realize that a boss owes it to his employees to look after them if they are in hard luck, and incidentally it is good business to keep one's employees happy. I believe that happy, cheerful employees keep the cash register ringing, "Welcome, little stranger" chimes.
Just as I got in, old Peter Bender, the carpenter, came in the store. He came very seldom, for, since I had stopped his credit, he could only come when he was able to pay cash. Now, before I tell you what happened, I must remind you of what had taken place some few months before when I pulled off my stunt of buying mail-order catalogs. Well, for a time it had looked as if the stunt had done good to every merchant in the town; but it wasn't very long before mail-order catalogs were in town again as thick as ever.
I had had an occasional "ad" in our local paper saying, "Buy it in town if the price is right, but don't pay more than you can buy it for elsewhere. If it is anything in hardware, I will guarantee to supply it at the same price as the mail-order houses, and you can see what you are getting before you buy it."
I don't think the "ad" had done us a great deal of good generally, but there were a few people, who used to buy from the mail-order houses, who had begun to buy from me.
Now, I'll tell you what happened between Peter and Larsen.
"I want an ax like this 'ere one," Peter said, displaying the picture of an ax in a mail-order catalog which he had with him. "How much is it?"
"Seventy-five cents," said Larsen.
"A-ha!" snarled Peter, "I'll give yer sixty-three cents for it. Yer say yer can sell it as cheap as a mail-order house—and that's their price!" He put his finger on the catalog to verify his statement.
"All right," said Larsen. Whereupon Bender belligerently planted sixty-three cents on the counter.
"Hold hard," continued Larsen. "Gimme three cents for the money order, a cent for yer letter paper, and two cents for the stamp. That's another six cents. That's fair, you know—you must pay us what it would have cost yer."
Peter looked at me. "Guess you're right," he said, and threw the other six cents on the counter.
"Now," said Larsen, as he picked up the money, "you come back in three weeks. You can then have the ax."
"What do yer mean?" asked old Peter, with astonishment.
"You sent Chicago, that's how long you wait to get it."
"Well, I want itnow."
"Yep, but not from a mail-order house," said Larsen.
"What will I have to pay to get it at once?"
"Six cents more—that's seventy-five cents. Otherwise yer can't have it fer three weeks. But yer can look at it now, if yer want ter, so yer'll see what yer will get!"
"Aw, cut out the funny stuff!" said Peter, puttinghis hand in his pocket, from which he produced another six cents. "It's worth it to get it right away."
Larsen wrapped up the ax and passed it over to him, and, to my surprise, old Bender said: "I guess you're about right on this thing, after all. You know I never sized it up like that 'til you pointed it out to me. Here," and he tossed the catalog on the counter, "I guess I won't need this no more."
Larsen had handled several customers in the past in a similar way to this, and, in nearly every case, had won a friend for us and the mail-order houses had lost a customer.
You remember I had decided that I would dominate inservice? Well, I got hold of Fellows of the Flaxon Advertising Company, and told him what I wanted and that I'd a hunch that if I had a little leaflet or something of that kind, telling people I wanted to give them service, and put the leaflet in all the packages that left the store, it would help out a lot. I gave him a few ideas I had on it and asked him to work up a little folder. When I received the layout of it I was tickled with it. It was so good that I ordered some at once. The beauty of the folder was that it didn't matter what you were selling or who you were selling to, it applied, because it was general, not specific.
Fellows told me I ought to copyright the idea and then sell it to other stores in other towns. I told him he could do that—I was in the hardware business—not the advertising business.
I give this little folder here, because I thought it was very good.
It had four pages and the size of it was about 4 × 7½ inches.
WE ARE IN BUSINESSTO SELL GOODSTHAT WON'T COME BACKTO FRIEND-CUSTOMERSWHO WILLThis one-minute sales talk tells howwe try to do itTHE BLACK HARDWARE STORE32 Hill Street, Farmdale
WE ARE IN BUSINESSTO SELL GOODSTHAT WON'T COME BACKTO FRIEND-CUSTOMERSWHO WILL
This one-minute sales talk tells howwe try to do it
THE BLACK HARDWARE STORE32 Hill Street, Farmdale
A well-known business man once said that salesmanship "is selling goods, that won't come back, to customers—who will."It requires more thansalesmanship to do this—it also requiresbuymanship andservice.We realize this. We know that every purchase you make in our store must haveservicewith it.Service—good service—is supplying your needs in the best, quickest, and most economical way.So we start by buying right. When a clever salesman offers us some job goods at a long-profit price, we just can't hear him, but, when he offers us goods that will win us satisfied friend-customers, we can easily hear his faintest whisper.We don't blindly take his word for it, either; for, while we have a lot to learn, we know how to judge values, because we know our business—we are practical.Butservicedoes not stop here. Our goods must be kept in perfect condition. Our goods must never get into a "frowsty," shop-damaged state.Careful buying helps us to get goods that command a ready sale. They are fitted exactly to our friend-customers' needs.
A well-known business man once said that salesmanship "is selling goods, that won't come back, to customers—who will."
It requires more thansalesmanship to do this—it also requiresbuymanship andservice.
We realize this. We know that every purchase you make in our store must haveservicewith it.
Service—good service—is supplying your needs in the best, quickest, and most economical way.
So we start by buying right. When a clever salesman offers us some job goods at a long-profit price, we just can't hear him, but, when he offers us goods that will win us satisfied friend-customers, we can easily hear his faintest whisper.
We don't blindly take his word for it, either; for, while we have a lot to learn, we know how to judge values, because we know our business—we are practical.
Butservicedoes not stop here. Our goods must be kept in perfect condition. Our goods must never get into a "frowsty," shop-damaged state.
Careful buying helps us to get goods that command a ready sale. They are fitted exactly to our friend-customers' needs.
This is why we have earned the confidence and good-will of so many people. They know they get what they need—and not just what a salesman wants to get rid of.We sometimes refuse to sell to a customer because we know that he needs something different from what we have.Sounds funny, doesn't it, to turn money away? But it pays us, because people know we consider their needs first—our welfare automatically follows.Most stores have policies. One of ours is: "No goods must be sold, unless they will be of real service to the customer."Another fixed policy is: "We must show our friend-customers by our conduct that we are glad to serve them."Here's a confession. We actually make a profit on everything we sell. Doesn't matter what you buy, we make something on the deal.We think it better to do this than to "cut" the price on some goods and add it on to others. Don't you?Just one other thing. There's no such word as "trouble" in our dictionary. We are glad to go out of our way to supply your unusual needs.
This is why we have earned the confidence and good-will of so many people. They know they get what they need—and not just what a salesman wants to get rid of.
We sometimes refuse to sell to a customer because we know that he needs something different from what we have.
Sounds funny, doesn't it, to turn money away? But it pays us, because people know we consider their needs first—our welfare automatically follows.
Most stores have policies. One of ours is: "No goods must be sold, unless they will be of real service to the customer."
Another fixed policy is: "We must show our friend-customers by our conduct that we are glad to serve them."
Here's a confession. We actually make a profit on everything we sell. Doesn't matter what you buy, we make something on the deal.
We think it better to do this than to "cut" the price on some goods and add it on to others. Don't you?
Just one other thing. There's no such word as "trouble" in our dictionary. We are glad to go out of our way to supply your unusual needs.
This little sales talk is neatly printed for you to read; we mean every word of it.We would like to tell it to you in person if we could—Of course! So we can. We can prove it all to you bydeeds!Call and look at our goods; then check up our service by this sales talk.
This little sales talk is neatly printed for you to read; we mean every word of it.
We would like to tell it to you in person if we could—
Of course! So we can. We can prove it all to you bydeeds!
Call and look at our goods; then check up our service by this sales talk.
At the bottom of the fourth page appeared, "Yours for hardware service, Dawson Black," reproduced in my own handwriting.
"Get the idea?" said Fellows. "If you're a grocer, you could write, 'Yours for grocery service, John Brown,' or if a retail merchant wanted to specialize on one particular thing he could say, 'Yours for carpet cleaning service,' or anything he liked."
The whole thing was so worded as to fit in with any kind of goods one might be selling.
Fellows said he would look after the printing of the circulars and supply them to me at a very low price, four dollars a thousand; and he said he wouldn't charge me anything at all for working up the idea, because he was going to try to sell some of the folders to other stores in other towns. I didn't mind what he did with it, for it let me out very cheaply. He said he would let me have some in a week, so I ordered two thousand to begin with. I was going to put one in each package, and mail one to every one of our charge customers, besides sending them to a select list of "prospects."
As soon as I had time, I went to Boston and saw Alex Cantling, as Barlow had suggested, to find out how much money it would take to start an automobile accessory department.
Alex Cantling was a big-boned, clean-shaven, healthy-looking man. He was what I would call a brass-tack man. When I told him my business, he pushed his papers aside and gave me his undivided attention. Then after a little while he did some figuring on a piece of paper.
"Well," said he, "I should say you would want to spend at least five hundred dollars for such a department."
He promised to work out and send to me a list of the different items which I ought to stock, and he also gave me the name of one or two good people to buy my supplies from.
"Now, come along and have some lunch with me," and he took me to a place near Faneuil Hall Market, where I had about the finest meal I ever had in my life.
After lunch, he advised me to go to see Barker. As soon as I entered the store, and looked up at the little mezzanine floor on which he worked, he looked up and called out cheerily, "Hello, Black, come right upstairs."
I was surprised that he should remember my name, for he had only seen me once before.
Well, he told me just about the same as Cantling, so I left him and went to see George Field, who said, "Well, if Cantling and Barker both tell you that, you may be pretty sure it's right."
When I got back to Farmdale I had a long talk with Barlow about automobile accessories. After I had told him how much money I wanted, he looked out of his office window, and leaned back in his chair a few moments, then said, "I'll lend you three hundred and fifty dollars toward your stock of those goods. I think that that should be sufficient to encourage you to work with me on this gasoline deal."
"There's one thing I'd like to ask Mr. Barlow, and that is, if I have to buy gasoline second-hand from you, shall I be able to sell it at the same price as Martin's Garage, and make a profit on it?"
"Quite as much, if not more," he replied. "You remember I told you I would supply it to you at half a cent above what it cost me. Now, by buying twenty-five thousand gallons' worth, I get a very low price, and can make four cents a gallon profit on it. You then buy what you need and make three and one-half cents profit. If you bought a small quantity yourself, you would not make more than two and one-half to three cents, so you really make more money, buying it through me, than buying it direct."
"I can't for the life of me," I said, "figure out why you are so anxious about selling gasoline."
"Can't you conceive of my wanting to make some profit on gasoline?" he said, smiling.
"Yes," I drawled, "but—"
"See here, Dawson," he said, putting his hand on my knee, "don't you worry about reasons, if you get a square deal. I've helped you before, haven't I?"
"Yes, indeed," I answered quickly.
"Well, I'm helping you this time, and I'm going to make some profit on it, as well. There'll be room enough for you and me, Black, don't worry."
Finally it was agreed that I should see these two firms which Alex Cantling mentioned to me, and try to arrange for three hundred and fifty dollars' worth of accessories, with the account guaranteed by Barlow. He said it might not be necessary for him to put in any money, but that if he did, I must give him my note for whatever he put in. I got a bit scared when he told me that, but he said all he would ask, as security, was the stock of automobile accessories, so that I didn't stand to lose anything.
I was not going to put in the supply until the beginning of April. Barlow said he would be glad if I would not mention a word of it to any one until that time, so I agreed not to have my automobile accessories delivered until the oil tank was ready.
Just as I was picking up my hat to leave Barlow's office, he called me back and said, "Do you know why your friend Stigler isn't getting on very well? It's because he's always talking about what he is going to do."
"Yes, he is always shooting off his mouth," I said, "but—"
"But what?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh, nothing," I answered, "except that, when I hear he's going to pull off some stunt, I try to get there first!"
"Exactly; if you want to make a real success of yourself, never tell any one what you are going to do until you really do it. It's much better to have people find out what you do by showing results, than have them know beforehand what you are planning to do and see you fall down."
"I'll take the hint," I said; then I left him.
I wondered what Barlow's real reason was in encouraging me to go into automobile supplies. I didn't think it was the profit he expected to make on gasoline. I was beginning to have more respect for Barlow than I ever had in my life, and, frankly, I was beginning to have less fear of Stigler.
Stigler's five-and-ten-cent store had been very slack the last few weeks, and really it was helping, rather than hindering, me, for, while he displayed cheap kitchen goods and was selling them just because they were low-price, cheap articles, I was displaying similar kinds of goods of real merit and quality, and selling them at a good profit. Any one, looking into his window and mine, could see no competition, for, while the goods were similar in kind, they were so different in quality as to preclude any possibility of comparison.
At the last meeting of our Merchants' Association, we had had a speaker who was the advertising manager for a chain drug-store organization. He had interested me very much in the need for increasing the amount of sales per customer. He said:
"I wonder if you people here know how much each customer spends on an average. For instance, our chain of drug stores must average thirty-five cents a customer; that is, excluding the soda counter. Have you ever added up the number of customers anddivided them into the day's cash total, and found how much each customer averages in expenditure?
"Suppose you have an average of one hundred customers a day, and that, through good salesmanship, you increase the sale to each customer ten cents only. That means that, at the end of the week, by good salesmanship you have increased your sales sixty dollars without any increase in your expenses at all, with the possible exception of the supplies or delivery. Now, suppose your average gross profit on sales is twenty-five per cent.; your increase of ten cents per customer means that you make fifteen dollars a week of additional profit, or a profit of seven hundred and eighty dollars a year. All this profit is yours, if you will only increase the sale of each customer by ten cents!
"That is what it means every time you increase a sale: You increase total sales; you increase gross profits; you lower cost of doing business; you lower percentage of controllable expense; you lower percentage of advertising expense; you help cut down surplus stocks; you increase your turnover; you improve your service.
"All these things happen every time you increase a sale by as little as a dime."
I remembered particularly the way in which he had said, "Isn't it worth while, gentlemen, to encourage your sales people to sell every customer an extra dime's worth, over and above what they had intended to buy?"
Seven hundred and eighty dollars a year extra profit, by increasing the sale to every customer by ten cents. That certainly had got me going, and I intended todevise some ways and means of increasing the sale to each customer.
I thought this a good point for discussion at our next Monday's meeting. We had dropped them while Larsen was ill; but, as the dear old fellow was better again, though not quite well, we were to start them again on the next Monday.
When Larsen was first taken sick I had hired a young fellow, named Charlie Martin, to help out. Charlie was a college graduate, with a father who was quite well-to-do. After he graduated from a college of business administration, he had spent a year with a big chain cigar store organization, after which he had been six months in a department store in Detroit.
He and Fred Barlow had gone through college together and they were good pals. He happened to be visiting the old man Barlow when Larsen was taken sick, and it was through Barlow that he had come to me. Martin told me that he would be glad to get some small store experience, so I had hired him and he had been working like a Trojan at $8.00 a week. His father was a banker in New York, and I had heard that he had been a little bit disappointed in Charlie because he didn't take to banking; but Charlie said that what he liked best was retail merchandising, and he had spent a great deal of time and money preparing himself for such a career.
When Larsen came back I told Martin I didn't see how I could keep him, but he pointed out to me that our sales had been increasing, and that, as Larsen was not yet well, it would be putting too much of a burden on him, especially as we would really be short-handed. So I had kept him on and I was rather gladI had, for his college training certainly helped us at our Monday night meeting.
It surely had seemed good to get my small staff around me again at a Monday night meeting. Mater had taken over Betty's usual task, and sent in coffee and doughnuts, which quickly went the way that all good coffee and doughnuts should. It was really a treat to see Jimmie eat doughnuts. I didn't believe he did eat them; he just inhaled them.
Of course, Jimmie was there with all the importance of a young boy who had been taken into the confidence of his grown-ups. Jones and Larsen were there, as well as Martin. What a contrast there was between Martin and Larsen—Larsen sadly in need of a shave, in rough home-spun clothes, sitting in his shirt sleeves with the wristlets of a red woolen sweater showing underneath them; and Martin, who always looked like the last word off Fifth Avenue, in spotless linen, narrow sharp features, with the air of a regular debonair young man about town. These two people, the exact opposites of each other, had quickly grown to be good friends. The one had gained his knowledge through more than two-score years of rather bitter experience; the other had gained his through five years of specialized training. Martin, the trained man, had the keen analytical sense which only comes from training. Larsen, through intuition, backed by practical experience, blundered more or less after the more quick-thinking Martin. Yet theory and practice thought pretty much alike. It certainly showed to me the advantage of training, for Martin had mastered in five years all that Larsen had learned in forty.
The matter for discussion at our meeting had been, "How to increase the amount of sales to each customer?" Frankly, it was Martin who solved our problem for us, and six ways were developed whereby we could increase the sales of each customer.
The first was by applying the law of association. It was a simple thing to do, and yet it astonished me to find that, while we all knew about it, we had not been applying that law. For instance, only that morning Mrs. Wetherall had come in for a clothes line. Jones had got the line for her and had said, "Nothing else?" and she had said, "No, thank you," and walked out.
Martin asked Jones if he would allow him to make a suggestion relative to that sale. Jones was a pretty good scout, and he said he didn't mind.
"I don't think," said Martin, "we ever ought to say 'nothing else'? Because the natural thing for the customer to say is 'no.'"
"By Jove, you're right. I should have said, 'Anything else,' shouldn't I?"
"That I think would be better," continued Martin, "but even that puts up to the customer the burden of thinking if there is anything else wanted. It would be better to suggest some articles. That is, of course, applying the law of association."
"I see," said Jones thoughtfully, "I should have suggested she buy clothes pins before I let her go."
"Yes, and other things."
"Well," said Jones, "I don't see anything else I could have suggested to her, except that electrical washing machine we have got in, but it's sixty-five dollars, and people won't pay that price for it."
Larsen snapped him up at that very quickly, saying, "Do you think, Jones, that you know more about washing machines than the people do who make them? Do you think those people would be such fools as to set a price that people wouldn't pay for them? We've only had it in a couple of weeks. No wonder we can't sell it, if we don'tthinkwe can. Wetherall's quite a well-to-do young fellow, and he could afford to buy that for his wife if she wanted it, especially as she can buy it on the easy payment plan."
I had bought this washing machine on the understanding that I could sell it at the rate of ten dollars down and five dollars a month, and pay them at the same rate for it.
Then Jones said, "Huh, I suppose I didn't do a blame thing right in that sale. Well, I guess you can't kick at my sending the parcel home for her. That little booklet we got out said we were 'long' on service."
"I guess you're all right there," I said, smiling. "What do you say, Martin?"
"Why, yes, of course," responded Martin. "It is fine to give service." Then, as if it were an afterthought, he added, "I wonder if it would have made any difference if instead of saying 'Shall we send it?' you had said, 'Will you take it with you?' Most people act on the suggestion that is given. That is why, when we suggest to people to buy goods that are associated with what they ask for, we put the thought of buying those associated articles into their minds."
"And," broke in Jimmie impetuously, "they fall for it. I got yer!"
We all had a good laugh, and then continued the discussion of the law of association. We decided that, whenever a man came in for a hammer, we would always suggest nails, and vice versa. To every one who bought a razor we would suggest shaving appliances. If a customer came in for some paint, we would suggest brushes, and ask if he was going to paint the barn, and, if so, whether he wanted some new door hangers, and such like.
I told Martin that he had better make a list on cards of the articles which can be associated with each other, and then we could tack up the cards where we could see them and quickly suggest the associated articles to the customer.
"I tell yer what," said Jimmie, "let's have a lot of cards printed, and then, if a carpenter comes in, shove out a card at him and say, 'Look through this and see what else you want'?"
That didn't strike me as being such a bad suggestion after all.
The second plan for increasing sales was to suggest novelties, or new articles in stock, to customers.
"Look what we did with that Cincinnati pencil sharpener," said Larsen. "Do you remember how we mentioned that to every one who came in, and we sold a bunch of 'em."
"And they're still selling, for I sold three last week," said Martin.
"Gosh," said Jimmie, "everybody must be giving 'em to everybody else for presents."
"I don't think," said Martin, "we have anything like exhausted the sales possibilities of those pencil sharpeners, and I am going to suggest that we makethat our novelty suggestion for the next week. What do you say, Mr. Black?"
I shook my head dubiously. "We seem to have pushed those so much," I said, "I should think there would hardly be a novelty here now."
"There has not been one on display for a couple of months," he answered, "and we have about half a dozen in stock. Let's put those around the store in different parts and then put a little card over each one saying, 'Sharpen your pencil.' I will wager that every man who comes into the store will sharpen his pencil, and if he does—"
"And if he does," the irrepressible Jimmie broke in "good-by pencil sharpener, you're going to a new home!"
A thought had occurred to me which developed into the third method of increasing sales. I had remembered that, when Betty and I were in New York, she had lost her handkerchief, and we went into a store to get one. When Betty said she wanted one handkerchief, the girl brought out one and said, "Ten cents. Anything else?" I had thought at the time that she could have sold Betty half a dozen just as well as one, and, furthermore, if she had brought out one at twenty-five cents Betty would have bought it just as readily.
Then I remembered how often we did the same thing with our customers, to whom, when they came for a pocket-knife, for instance, we offered a twenty-five cent one when we might have sold a fifty-cent or a dollar one just as easily. I said to myself, "A number of our customers will go into a restaurant and spend two dollars for a meal and then they will comeinto our store and we will insult them by saying, 'Do you want the five-cent size or the ten-cent size?' In other words, we treat them like pikers."
So with this thought in mind, I suggested that another way to increase the amount of each sale is to suggest higher-priced goods than the customer has in mind. Yet another plan would be to suggest larger size packages. For instance, we sold both ten- and twenty-five-cent packages of some articles. Once a customer had come in and asked for a stick of shaving soap and Jones had brought down the ten-cent size and the customer put the ten cents down and walked away with the soap. He might just as easily have been sold the twenty-five-cent size.
So we decided that, when a customer asked for an article, if there was a larger size package, or a better quality, we would always show the largest or the best, taking care, however, in every case to show reasons why the better quality or larger package was best for the customer to buy.
From all this we finally developed three rules. One was to offer higher-priced articles, another to offer a larger size package, and another to offer a larger quantity.
Jimmie asked irreverently, "What's the diff between them last two?"
"Well, for instance, we sell scouring soaps for enamelware, and, as we have two sizes, we always want now to sell the larger package. If, however, a customer comes in for, say, seven pounds of nails, we want him to take twenty-eight pounds, or a keg, if we can."
The last rule was one suggested by Martin, and itwas this: Always watch the customer's eye, and try to sell any article in which he appears to be interested.
We decided that we must not ask the customers if they were interested in the articles they are looking at, nor must we bring the articles to them, but we must casually say, "That's quite an interesting so-and-so, and is proving a mighty useful little thing," or some such remark as that. In other words, just make a casual comment on it, and then, as Martin said, "If they respond with a remark expressing interest, the sale is half made."
I really felt that Martin had, in his quiet way, dominated the whole of this meeting, but he had done it so neatly, and without in any way trying to overstep my authority, that I really felt that he had been a lot of help to us without making his show of knowledge obnoxious. I really believed Martin knew more about retail merchandising than all of us put together. What he had done was to suggest that itmightbe a good idea to do such and such a thing, instead of arrogantly thrusting his knowledge on us by saying weoughtto do so. He was a clever man, Martin, and Barlow's son was lucky to have a fellow like him for a friend. I wished I could tie him up to my store somehow, but, of course that would be impossible in a little store like mine, for there were no prospects for a young fellow like him. . . .
The day after our meeting I saw the cleverest example of selling that I had ever seen. Probably it was old, but it was surely new to me, and the man got a small order from me, too.
About 10:30 in the morning, a well-dressed, jolly-looking man came into the store. I was busy servingat the time. In fact, we all were busy, but Larsen was disengaged first and so he asked what he could do for him.
"How do you do?" said the stranger, smiling. "I've got a message to tell Mr. Black," and he nodded toward me.
"He'll be free in a few minutes," said Larsen.
"Thank you," replied the salesman. Then, noticing a display of electrical goods which we had on one of our center tables, he said, "The man who dressed that table knows something about display, doesn't he?"
"I did it," said Larsen.
"Oh, I beg your pardon; I thought that one of your assistants had done it."
I heard this even while serving my customer and I don't think I had ever seen Larsen act so pleased. The old chap almost purred with delight. The salesman didn't say any more to Larsen, however, but turned around and inspected the electrical goods.
When I was disengaged he walked over to me.
"Good morning, Mr. Black; I have a message for you; but, before I deliver it, I wonder if you have such a thing as a bit of scrap zinc or tin around the place?"
"Yes," I said, and told Jimmie to bring a piece.
The jolly-looking man then took a pocket-knife from his pocket, opened it and cut two or three slivers off the zinc. Passing the knife over to me, he said: "Did you ever see a pocket-knife before that could do that without denting?"
"No. But I never heard before of any one cutting zinc with a pocket-knife."