The-Management of the Sales Organization - Forgotten Books

T H E -M A NA G EM EN T

OF T HE

S A L E S O RG A N I Z A T I O N ;

BY

FRED ER I C A . RU S SEL Lu

A S SOCI AT E P ROFES SOR OF B U S I N E S S ORGAN IZAT ION AND OP ERAT ION ,COLLEGE OF COM M ERCE AN D B U S INES S ADM IN I STRAT ION,

UN IVERS IT I OF ILL INO I S .

FIRST EDITION

M cGRAW -HIL L BOOK COMP ANY,I N C.

NEW YORK : 370 SEVENTH AVENUE

L ONDON : 6 8 B OUVER I E ST . , E . c . 4

1922

¢9 é 7 4 4COP YRIGHT, 1922 , B Y THE

M CGRAW -HILL B OOK COM PANY,I NC.

P RE FACE

This i s not Offer ed as a complete tr eatise on sales manage

men t or sales admin istr ation . It aims to treat only on e of the

several phases Of the gener al subject ; viz . , the per sonnel aspect ,or the relations which Should exist between the sales man ager

and the tr aveling salesmen under h im . Th is phase, however , it

attempts to cover rather mor e thor oughly than has been don e

in other works on sales manag ement .

Ther e are two reason s for confin ing the discussion to this

phase of the subject :

Fir st,because the other aspects ar e tr eated elsewher e. The

determination of gen er al marketing policies, Office r ecords ,financing of sales

,market analysis

,advertising

,and sales pro

motion have received car eful study .

Second,because the human element in industry is steadily

g rowing mor e impor tant and now presents what is gener ally

r ecognized as its chief pr oblem . A s the per sonnel man ag er has

made himself indispensable in production , so the per sonn el man

ager is destined to gain for himself a larger place in distr ibution .

Business is incr easingly human,but it is also increasingly

scien tific . AS in pr oduction the pr inciples of scien tific man age

ment wer e r ecognized year s ago , SO in distr ibutio the same pr in"ciples ar e bein g applied with excellen t r esults . T he sales man

ager'

u til izes the follow ing pr inciples Of scien tific man ag ement

The assumption of its full shar e of respon sibility by the

management . The individu al salesman is not cast adr ift to sink

or sw im, but is pr ovided w ith every aid the management can

Offer .

The car efu l selection of salesmen for their tasks . This as

sumes an an alysis Of the w ork to be done,and a m atch ing of

the applicant’

s qualifications ag ainst the r equirements of the

task .

The train in g of the salesman .

4 9 8 5 6 1;

3

11

vi PREFACE

The equipping of the salesman with the best tools for his

work.

T he assignmen t of a definite task, determined only after a

careful analysis Of the factor s involved.

A system of rewards which shall furnish pr oper incentive to

endeavor , and which Shall adjust compen sation to pr oductive

efior t .

The devising and administering Of methods,aside fr om mone

tary compensation, which Shall stimulate the salesman to put

for th his best efior ts and which shall contr ibu te to the pleasurehe der ives fr om his work.

It is hoped that this book will fill a need in colleg es and

univer sities as a supplemen tary textbook in salesmanshipcourses. The author has found that this phase of sales man

ag emen t Should logically be cover ed in a salesman sh ip cour se

because the salesman who would attain r eal success as a sales

man must be able to cooper ate intelligen tly w ith headquar ters .

He cannot do this unless he under stands the pr oblems facing his

employer . E ven though a man may intend to r emain a tr aveling Salesman all his life

,he shou ld by all mean s str ive to catch

and hold the firm ’

S viewpoin t, in order that he may truly repre

sent it .

In addition,m any salesmen expect to r etire fr om the road

after a few year s . On e of the pleasantest avenues of escape

fr om the hardships of a tr aveling salesman ’

s existence is that

leading to the sales man ag er’

s desk. The ambitiou s salesman

Shou ld be prepar ing himself, even as a student, for this upwardstep .

To the sales manager the discussion of some Of the pr oblems

may offer suggestions wor th a tr ial . The theor ies set for th ar e

for the most par t those proved sound in practice by successful

concerns. In those cases w here a difference of op inion existsr eg arding a policy , an effor t has been made to show clear ly bothSides of the question .

FB EDERI O A . RU SSEL L .

UB B ANA , ILLINOIS,Ju ly, 1922 .

CONTE NTS

P REFACECHAP T E R

I . INTRODU CTORY

II .

III .

IV.

V.

VI .

VI I .

VIII.

I".

THE S ELECTION OF SAL ESM EN

T HE SAL ESM AN ’S TRAINING

EQU IP M ENT

COM P ENSATION

CONTE STS

CONVENTIONS A ND CONFERE NCES

L E TTERS,B U LL ETINS AND HOU SE ORGANS

SAL E SM E N’S RE P ORTS AND L ETTERS

INDE"

T HE MANA G EM ENT OF T HE

SA L ES ORGAN I ZA T I ON

CHAP TER I

I NTRODUCTORY

B EFORE we can cons ider the duties of the sales manager of

personnel , it is desir able that we Should under stand clearly just

where he stands in r elation to the sales depar tment as a whole.

I nternal Organization of Typical Sales Department .

There are almost as many forms of organization as ther e are

sales depar tments, but they par take of the same general charac

ter . The sales man ager has similar functions to perform,al

though the emphasis ou each may differ with the methods of

marketing the pr oduct . Among the matters which may be

supervised by the sales manager are these1. Adver tising

—W e Shall di scuss later the relations which

Should exist between the adver tising manager and the sales man

ager . But it is clear that advertising is but one method of

creating demand,and as such comes log ically within the pr ov

ince of the sales manager . I n a small concern the sales manager

might attend to the adver tm deta i ls but as the business grewhew ould be

_ _compelled to deleg ate some of these to a subgrdinate.

If the product wer e Sold dir ect bymail , or wer e of such generaluse that adver tising played a large par t in i ts marketing, it

w ould pr obably be necessary to employ a number of persons to

attend to the adver tising alone. One might g et out the catalog,another look after the house or gan to consumers or to dealer s

,

another supervise the mag azine adver tising, etc.

2 . Records .—The function of this division is to audit orders

,

expense accoun ts , salary and commission accounts, to figure the

2

eificiency S . Here are com

puted each salesman ’s quota, his standing in contests, etc. The

r ecords division conducts market analyses in some concerns , al

though this is often carr ied on by the sales pr omotion division .

T he charts and g raphs showing the condition of the business in

each particular are prepar ed by the records division . This

division of the bus iness may be called the ‘statistical ” or data”

division . It serves all the other divisions in the depar tment by

furnishing them w ith org an ized facts concerning their par tienlar phase of the business.

3 . S ervice—Wher e the ar ticle is sold to the ultimate con

sumer , it may be necessary to in stall a service division to insur e

the permanent satisfaction of the buyer. The log ic of placing

this function under the sales manager is clear . T he purpose of

follow ing up each sale to be cer tain that each cu stomer is

pleased with his purchase is merely to make it easier to make

more sales, either to these same buyers or to their fr iends. The

idea behind it is embodied in the old saying “A satisfied cus

tomer is the best adver tisement. ” As on e busin ess man has

aptly said , and for g et it is not the wisest bu siness policy

in the long run .

”

4. Ofi‘ice M anag er .

-I n a very large sales organization it

may be necessary to place one person in charg e of the r outine

details of the office system to insure smooth oper ation . In the

aver age busin ess , however , the gener al office manag er w ill be

able to supervise the cler ical w ork of the sales depar tmen t.

5 . S ales P romotion —The sales pr omotion division is a con

meeting link between the sales and adver tising manag ers . T he

work is somewhat analog ou s to that car r ied on by the planningdepar tment under scientific managemen t in produ ction . While

practice differs w idely as to just what fun ctions this division

Should per form ,one of i ts duties usually is to take inquir ies ob

tained thr ough adver tising and,by cor respondence, to develop

them to the point wher e the salesmen can mor e easily close the

sales . In this way it takes fr om the salesmen’s Shoulders the

load of sear ching for pr ospects and ar ousing their pr elimin ary

inter est in the pr oposition ,leaving them on ly the w ork of clos ing

the sale. Wher e the pr oduct is sold through dealer s, the task of

the sales promotion division is to develop these dealers into big

I N TROD UCTORY 3

ger buyers by teach ing them better bus iness methods . This in

eludes education in stor e ar r angement, window display, personal

salesmanship , Special sales events, etc. This division may also

study new uses for the pr oduct or investigate the possibilities

for a n ew pr oduct. One of the purposes of such a division is to

keep the salesmen from gaining too firm a gr ip on their ter ri

tor ies. It accustoms the dealer to dir ect contact with the firm

instead of solely with the salesman , in order that it may not be

possible for the salesman to take his customers with him if he

goes with a competitor .

The sales pr omotion department watches the newspapers and

magazines for items which w ill interest and help its salesmen ,turning over to them the suggestions thus obtained.

6. P crsonnel .—This i s the divi sion of the w ork upon which

the attention of this book is mainly concentr ated . This includes

the hir ing, tr aining, equipping, routing , paying, stimulating, and

supervising of the men by their manager .

I n the remainder of the book, where the term sales man

ager”is used without qualification, the sales manager of per

sonn el is meant.

The P lace of Salesmen in a M arketing Campaign —T he importance of the .sales manager in a concern depeflndsfi larg elmthe Importance of the salesmen m it .

“T1156? if the sales force

i srelied upon toSell the product , the sales manager assumes a

highly impor tant place ; if the pr oduct sells itself w ith little

pushing on the par t of the sales force, the sales manager may be

an unimpor tant executive. There ar e, in general , four types of

products,in the marketing of each of which the sales manag er

has a different pr oblem and importance.

Ther e is the high-priced specialty for which there is no de

mand alr eady created. Many new pr oducts come under this

head, as the typew r iter when first intr oduced,the cash r egister

,

the automatic sprinkler system . The customer is not waiting

to buy ; he must be persuaded that he needs the ar ticle. Undersuch conditions the sales for ce is g iven the entire respons ibility

of cr eating demand ; the'

number of salesmen is often large ; the

ar ticle cannot be sold thr ough the r egular retail channels but

can be sold only by salesmen tr ained in the know ledg e of the

product and the most successful specialized methods of“selling.

4 SALE S MANAGEMENT

The sales manager of such a force has a larger task than in any

other type of org ani z ation .

A hi gh-pr iced specialty of this character gradually passes

fr om th is class into the second class—those that are in more

g eneral demand . That is,its mer its have become r ecogni zed

and the public is r ealizing its need. Adver tising has been introduced to influence demand, so the salesman ’

s task i s Simplified somewhat. The talki ng machine

,the automobile

, the filingcabinet have en ter ed this stage. Under these conditions the

sales force does not usually have to be SO large,the ar ticles being

sold thr ough dealers as the in tr odu ctory per iod is passed . The

sales manager shar es author ity with the adver tising and sales

promotion manag ers as a cr eator of demand .

A th ird categ ory is made up of those art icles which may beclassed as necess ities

,but which ar e not in g ener al demand, as

certain types of office supplies, or ar ticles selling only to farmers

or banker s . In the marketing of such ar ticles the sales manager

must shar e the w ork of demand creation w ith the adver tisingmanager and sal es pr omotion manager, the latter assuming a

large place in the marketin g scheme. A dver tising will be done

in specialized rather than in g eneral mediums,and much of it

w ill be dir ect-mail liter ature. The sales for ce sells the pr oduct,

suppor ted by adver tising.

The last stage is entered when an ar ticle becomes a necessity

in general demand,like flour

,cloth ing or foun tain pen s. Her e

competition is likely to be keen ; the pr odu ct is sold through

dealers instead of direct to the user ; the elemen t of service to the

dealer is introduced, so that the salesman must not mer ely sell

the pr oduct—he must Show the dealer how to sell it. Adver

t ising plays a larg e par t, and the sales pr omotion man is also

active,but the sales force sells the goods and develops g ood-will

for the firm .

Types of Sales Organizations—The relation of the sales

manager to his salesmen depends much upon the type of sales

org anization selected . In g eneral , there seem to be fou r main

types of sales org anizations :

1. The home office type—Under this system all the sales

men travel ou t of the city where the factory is located . . I t i s

apparent that if the territory covered i s a lar g e one, the sales

I NTRODUCTORY 5

men ’

s trips w ould be long , cover ing perhaps sever al months .

Clothing and Shoe salesmen are likely to work under such an

organization . Other seasonal products ar e sold in a similar

fashion . T he drawback to this type of organ ization is that the

men ar e not in such close touch with their ter r itory as they

might be, for they ar e at headquar ter s perhaps a third to one

half of their‘

time,leaving the terr itory unpr otected agains t

competitor s. This system was naturally the fir st to develop as

the factory grew and the effor t w as made to find an outlet for

the product.flhen r etailer s bought but once or twice a year

it was fairly with t he 1ncr easin g tendency

among r etailers to depend more upon a~

r apid tu rnover and to

prder oftener and in smaller quantities, this form of organiza

tion has grown less satisfactory.

The sales manager’s r elations to such a sales for ce can be

person al , for they all live in the home office city , and g et in to

headquar ters sever al times a year . He know s each man by his

first name. On the other hand , the men ar e aw ay fr om home

for longer per iods than under other systems, which fact raises

pr oblems of supervision not SO keenly pr esen t wher e the salesm an

is able to get home to his family mor e frequen tly. Such sales

men are subjected to greater temptations , and the weaken ing of

the home ties by long absence makes it n ecessary for the sales

manager to con sider the mor al w elfare of his men somewhat

more than would otherw ise be necessary.

2 . The second type of or g an ization is the same as the fir st

except that the salesmen do n ot live in the headquar ters city ,bu t have their homes in their ter r itory and tr avel ou t fr om those

cities. Ther e is no field supervision of the salesmen under either

of these two plans,all con tr ol bein g from headquar ter s. Under

this secon d type of organization the sales manager mu st lay mor e

emphas is upon means of getting acqu ainted w ith his salesmen,conventions must be held

,and cor respondence with the salesmen

mu st be car r ied on vi g or ously . The house or gan plays an im

por tant par t in making the salesmen feel acquainted w ith each

other,while the other executives at headquar ter s must coOp

cr ate with the sales manag er in maintaining the contact between

the hou se and i ts salesmen .

This form of organization enables the salesman to keep in

6 SALE S MANAGEM EN T

closer contact with his terr itory, to look after the needs of hiscustomers better , to meet competition mor e effectively. But it

compels the sales manager to work at long range w ith his men,

thereby intr oducin g the pr oblems mention ed above.

3 ._When the business g rows sufficiently, a thir d type of or

gan ization is Often adopted . Under this plan distr ict or br anch

offices are open ed at str ateg ic points, each w ith _a _sales manag er

in charge. Thesalesmen usually travelO

ou t of the branch office

city, and the br an ch sales manag er has thus an oppor tunity to

become w ell acqu ain ted w ith each man . The g ener al sales man

ager is in char ge of all the salesmen,but w orks thr ough the

br anch manager,his chief function being to or ig inate plans and

policies to be car r ied out thr ough the branches. Under this

system the contact between the salesmen and the factory is somewhat weakened . While ther e may be an annual sales conven tion

at headquar ters , it may not be attended by anywher e near the

en tire sales for ce. While there may be a hou se or gan for sales

men,it may be supplemented by bulletin s issued fr om the br an ch

offices.

_

Thehir ing andfi

tr ain ing l of s alesmen may be done by the sal es

manager at,

headquarter s if the work is highl y standar dized, bu t

Otherw ise may be deleg ated to the bran ch manager s. E ven under

these conditions , ther e must be some effor t at un iformity of sales

methods and policies. The exten t to w h ich the sales manag er

delegates his author ity to the br anch manager s w ill depend upon

a number of cir cumstan ces .

4. If the busin ess con tinues to expand, it may be necessary

to adopt still a four th type of or g an ization . This type is S im

i lar to the third , bu t pr ovides for fur ther subdivision of the dis

tr icts in to smaller un its. These may be under head sal esmen,

who in turn supervise the w ork of six or eig ht other salesmen .

These head salesmen are corpor als, each commanding a small

squ ad,and repor ting to their super ior officer s in char g e of the

br anch office.

This system appears to oper ate satisfactorily in con cern s

where the type of salesman i s not very high and the class of sales

manship requ ir ed is more of the ploddin g than of the r eal , de

mand-cr eating var iety . These head salesmen may be used to

create new business while the r egular men take care of the old

I N TRODUCTORY

customers ; they may care for complaints, make adjustments, and

render service in their territor ies . I n addition to these func

tions, if the firm handles a variety of products, the head sales

man may be used to push certain ar ticles in the line which ar e

not selling satisfactor ily . He checks up on the salesmen and

coaches them in the field .

Under this System of organization the sales manager must

Oper ate through the br anch man ager s and the head salesmen .

These latter par ticularly must r eceive tr aining and be car efully

selected . In addition,they must be shown how to tr ain and

stimulate the men under them . The house organ may be taken

over entirely by the branch office. I n shor t,the per son al con tact

of the sal es manager with his men is very slight but his policies

are carr ied out through his subordinates.

THE SALE S MANAGER—HI S CHARACTERI ST I CSL et us now turn to a consider ation of the sales manager him

self—what char acteristics he should possess and in what , wayhe w ould secure them .

Exper i cc.—Fir st of all

,he should have had some exper i

ence as E711

aveling'

Sal esman . Whetherl

h'

e"

need'

hav'

é"

b'

ée'

fi'

an

exception ally good salesman is not so clear. S tar salesmen fr o

qiennn dom m u hflw gggggrs m y

to be somewhat impatient and intoler ant of mediocr ity I n other s.

The salesman who was not so good natur ally,but who w as com

pelled to study and w ork for every bit of success he achieved ,would pr obably be able to catch the viewpoin t of the aver age

salesman better than would the man who succeeded in sellin g

goods,without knowing exactly how he did it .

However,it is possible for a salesman to be on the road so

long that he is ru ined as a sales man ager , par ticular ly if he isr eally in love with road life. A dyed-in -the-w ool salesman may

be unable to settle down ,to attend to the r outine, to supervise

in stead of per form . The man with no sales exper ien ce may dow ell enough in the r ecor ds or adver tising divisions of the sales

depar tmen t, but he lacks the qualifications for a personnel man

ag er of salesmen .

Whether the sales manager Should be elevated fr om the ranks

8 SALE S MANAGEMEN T

of the concern ’s own sales for ce or br ought in from another

force depends upon cir cumstances. Unless the salesman so pro

moted has the complete respect of his colleagues , it will be dimcult for him to carry on his work efiectively. Other things being

equal, it is better to pr omote fr om with in the ranks, and, wher ethe business is intricate and peculiar , th is is especially true.

P ersonal Sympathy w ith M en—The exper ience as a sales

man will give the sales man ager the pr oper attitude towar d hismen . It is essential that he r eg ar d them as colleagues in a

common cause,as individuals w ith definite personalities r ather

than as pawn s on a chessboard to be moved here and there,or

even sacrificed,as the Situation demands . The ideal sales man

ager will sympathize w ith the tr ials of his men on the road, w ill

take an active inter est in their pr ivate affair s, and w ill kn ow

enough about each man to enable him to Ofier each the individual

help needed .

Th is indivi dual tr eatment idea is fundamental . While a lar gesales for ce may be handled pretty much en masse, the sales man

ager who wou ld g et the best results must kn ow just what motive

w ill move each man to put forth his greatest efforts . A w r iter

on the subject says : 1

Dur ing the past two year s I have called on scores of sales manag er s

and w ith only a few exception s I find it the r u le for men in charge of salesmen to follow a un iform plan for dealing w ith a ll the men under them .

Only occasionally have I found a man who con sidered each man an in

dividua l problem—who had one ru le for one man and other rules, eachdiffer ing in deta il , for the rest .“I keep a card r ecord on every one of my salesmen , one such sa lesmanager told me. T his i s solely for my own in formation and not for u se

a s a company r ecord . I make no effor t to pry into the pr ivate affa ir sof my men

, bu t I t ry to r emember whatever they tell me volun tar ily abou ttheir per sona l matter s and j ot it down on one of these cards . I t has

helped me to under stand many thing s abou t men tha t w ou ld otherw isehave puz zled me.

”

E very norma l man has a Spr ing of action . I t i s true of most of u sthat w e have an incentive, that w e look for a r ew ard and tha t w e

long for independence . T his i s safe g round to star t on in sales manage

men t . B ut if w e do not pur sue the question so far a s the individua lsalesman and try to find ou t what hi s pr incipa l incentive i s, what soft

1 ROLAN D COLE, in Pr in ters ’ I nk, Jan . 26, 1922 .

I NTRODUCTORY 9

of a reward appeals most to him, and - what his ideas of independenceare, w e have not crossed the threshold of efficient management .

While it may not be essential for the Sales manager to be a

spectacular ly successful salesman, he ought to be a good one,

capable of going out and showing his men how it ought to be

done. A S a matter of fact,he Should make it a point to get out

into the field for sever al w eeks each year , so that he may not

lose the viewpoint of the salesman . New problems in selling ar e

constantly ar ising, and it is necessary for the man ag er to keepin touch w ith the changing conditions under which his men ar e

working.

L oyalty to His M en—The sales manager must be absolutelyloyal to his men . They Should regar d him as a fr iend at court

,

not as their har shest cr itic . Other executives w ill be less toler

ant of the salesmen ’S Shor tcomings than the sales manag er , and

it should be his task to explain and smooth over these causes of

fr iction . Not that he should assume the attitude that his men

ar e always r ight and the home office staff always wrong,but he

can frequently adjust amicably matters that threaten to develop

into petty feuds . Unless the sales manager has backbone enough

to“stand up for ” his men ag ainst unfair criticism,he need not

expect them to exhibit unswerving loyalty tow ar d him .

While the sales manager pr oper ly tr ies to instill loyalty into

his men,he Should take care that this loyalty is for the house and

not mer ely for him personally. The sales manager who permits

his salesmen to place their affection for him before their loyalty

to the concern they all represent is as disloyal to his employers

as the salesman who attempts to“sew up

”his ter r itory—to

g ain such a personal hold on customer s that he could transfer a

lar ge pr opor tion of them to another firm if he should change

employers .

The sal es manager is but an employee, and should never lose

sight of the fact that it is his duty to build an org anization

which w ould fun ction efficiently even without him at the helm .

Organizing Abili ty.—The sales manager must be 5 man who

can build up a strong or ganization . He is not w orking with

machines or statistics, but with men . He must be able to

pr oject his ideals and policies out into the field,and

.to make

I O SALE S MANAGEMEN T

large numbers of scattered salesmen represent the house as he

would represent it were he on the ground . Unless he can

achieve this multiplication of himself through an organization,

he has failed as a sales manager .

This all implies that he Should have some code of admin is

trative pr inciples, to which he must adhere. This code w ill ihelude such things as promotion principles—whether a man canexpect pr omotion and just what he must do to earn it . The

salesmen Should be informed as to who is responsible for every

matter , SO that they need waste no time in making inquir ies.

Absolute Fairness—The sales manager must be careful to

avoid the appearance of favor itism . He must be able to justifyeach move in the eyes of the other salesmen . This tr ait of

absolute impar tiality and justice is perhaps one of the most

valuable the sales manager can develop . It is the foundation

upon w h ich his code of administrative pr inciples must be built.The salesmen Should be en cour aged to feel that merit w ill be

fu lly rewar ded withou t solicitation . The salesman who feels

that he must Obtain an offer fr om an other con cern to for ce a

salary incr ease fr om his present employer is always g oing to becastin g abou t for these other offer s

,at the same time n eglecting

his own business. Such a policy destr oys the morale of a for ce.

Sug gestions fr om the men must be encour aged in every way.

If they are adopted, fu ll credit Should be given . If they are not

adopted , the sales manag er must take gr eat pain s to see that the

salesmen offer ing the suggestions are g iven a complete and con

vincing explan ation of the r easons ther efor.

The position of the sales manager will be clear if we think

of him as a salesman hims elf. He is eng aged in selling ideas to

his men . The tactics he uses will depend upon the class of

salesmen employed, and upon the individual w ith whom he is

dealing. It is necessary for him to ,study psychology , motives

w h ich lead to the desir ed action, and means to appeal to these

motives,just as it is necessary for the salesman to study the

m ind of the buyer.

Know ledge of B usiness as a W hole—While the sales man

ager of personnel must have primar ily the selling viewpoint, it

is vital that he should possess a sympathetic under standing of

the other branches of the business. This point is discussed more

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

12 SALE S MANAGE M E NT

they could otherwise. The loss is sustained by the ineificien t

salesmen who are forced out of selling and may be compelled to

accept other employment at a lower wage.

RE L AT I ON OF THE SAL E S MANAGE R TO OTHE R DE PARTM ENT S

Necessity for I nter-departmental Cooperation—When abusiness outgr ows a on e-man superv ision and is Split Tip

- "

into

depar tmen ts, it usually loses something of its dr iving power .

A lmost inevitably there arises a lack of coOrdinat ion and

coOperation among the variou s depar tmen ts whi ch n oticeably

Slows down the pr ogress of the bu sin ess . The head of each de

par tmen t is bent on making a good show ing i or his own depar t

ment, r egardless of the effects his policies w ill have upon the

business as a w hole. One of the chief’

functions of the ableexecu tive is to bring these semi-hostile depar tments into efficient

coOper ation .

The salesmen are constantly in contact with nearly every

other department of the bu siness . They touch the cr edit depart

men t,the produ ction depar tment

,the adver tising

,the traffic and

Shipping, accounting , the adjustmen t, the ser vice,and even the

finan cing phases of the business. Inasmuch as they are in this

close con tact with the other depar tmen ts of the bu sin ess , it is

vitally essen tial that they be instructed r egar ding the pr oper r e

lat ion s w h ich shou ld exist between them and the most impor tan t

of these other departments . This instruction is natur ally g iven

them by the sales manager . Upon the thor oughness of this ih

struction will depend to a large degree the effectiveness of the

sales force and of the whole or ganization .

P recedence of S ales Department Over Others—One of thefirst pr oblems demanding solution is whether the sales depart

ment takes preceden ce over the pr oduction and finan cing de

par tmen ts . S ome have ar gued that the object of every business

i s to sell g oods, and therefore the sales depar tment is supr eme

that all the other depar tments exist mer ely to make the goods

sold by the sales depar tment and to keep a record of the r e

su ltin g tr ansactions . This viewpoint is false. The purpose of

most businesses is to make profits ; and, while it is true that the

men in the factory and the ofiice are dependent upon the sale of

I N TRODUCTORY

the goods for their very jobs, the interdependence is not all in

on e direction .

Others have contended that it is the function of the sales

for ce to sell whatever the factory decides to make, and to sell

it in any quan tities produced . To these people, the pr oduction

end of the business is the chief consider ation and the sales force

mer ely a necessary evil . This viewpoint is as untenable as the

foreg oing.

The argument as to which department i s most essential or

which Should exer t the lar gest influence in the councils of the

concern is futile. NO on e department isw supr eme ; the business

is the un it , and each department is subordinate“to the inter ests

of theentir e bus iness . This i s the viewpoin t which should be

for cefully impr essed upon the salesmen if they are to avoid creat

ing fr iction in their relations with the various depar tments .

L et us take up some of the departments one at a time and see

just what should be the relation of the salesman to each .

The Product ion Depar tment the most friction

has occurred in relations with the p r oduction depar tment . AS

a general rule, the men in charge ar e of diametr ical ly-Oppositetemper aments and tr ain ing, the production manager being an

engineer accustomed to dealing with fixed and measurable

factor s,while the sales manager is likely to be tr ained in an other

school,and to be unappr eciative of the factory man

’s viewpoint.

The salesmen should be taug h t a number of things about thework of the pr oduction department . For instance, they Should

know how the goods ar e made. One successfu l concern brought

i ts men in fr om the road for sever al w eeks and put them to work'

in the factory during a season when they wer e over sold . A fter

this exper ien ce the men were able to discuss the pr oduct far

mor e intelligently. This point is elaborated in the chapter on

Tr aining.

Another point at which friction may occur has to do w iththe styles and models to be made. The pr oduction manager

views the matter fr om the dollar s-and-cents, cost-of-productionstandpoint . He sees clearly the added burden when a change is

made in the product . He can estimate the incr eased cost of only

a slight change, which the salesman would consider of no couse

quence at all .


The aver age salesman is prone to demand changes in his

pr oduct, believing that these w ould make it easier for him to

sell it. Often he is wr on g in assuming that these would make iteasier for him to sell ; he has g ained this impr ession fr om pr os

pects who have r efused to buy. I n many cases these r easons ar e

not the r eal r eas on s for refusal to pur chase. Therefore, the deman ds of salesmen for chan ges in the g oods must be discoun ted

in m ost cases,althoug h their sug gestion s ought to be heard, sin ce

sometimes they contain a valuable i dea.Indeed, salesmen ar e in clined to favor a mu ltiplicity of

models or styles,believing that their chan ces of makin g sales ar e

thereby in cr eased . The truth of th is may w ell be doubted,as

many con cern s have drastically decr eased the numbers of models

and discover ed little if any decr ease in total sales . There are,

r ather,cer tain advan tages in standardizing on fewer models : a

decr ease in pr odu ction cost, decr ease in ofii ce expen se, and Often

a decrease in selling expense. The sal esman need not car ry so

many samples , he can concentrate his ener g ies on fewer models,ther eby g ain ing a r eputation among the trade as an au thor ity

in a specialized field,his individu al orders ar e lar ger , and he can

call on a g reater number of pr ospects . The salesman Should be

open-minded and Shou ld be w illing to give a fair tr ial to the pro

posal to standardize on fewer models .

The quality of the pr oduct is of genuine inter est to the sales

man . I t is to his in ter est to make cer tain that the quality is not

lowered after deman d has been cr eated. Smokers ar e often hear d

to complain that,after they had become devoted to a par ticular

cigar, the maker s star ted to use infer ior tobacco, eviden tly think

ing that their customer s would not chang e. This is a point on

which sales and pr oduction depar tments Should g et together , for ,if a lower ing of the quality i s not necessary in order to continue

to sell at the same pr ice, the policy w ill alien ate g ood w ill and

make it mor e difficult for the sales for ce to secure or ders in the

future.

Impor tance of Synchronizing Output and S ales—P erhapsthe most important way in which the sales and pr oduction de

par tmen ts can w ork together is in the matter of synchr onizing

sales and output . The lack of this coiirdination takes two forms :

the selling of the var ious articles in wrong propor tion , or the

I NTROD UCTORY 15

selling of too much or too little during a given time. E ach of

these possibilities merits some consideration .

Assuming that the Sales force unconsciously concentr ates its

efforts upon one ar ticle in a line of ten ,neglecting the other

nine,the factory routine will be seriously disarranged . Hur ried

orders for r aw materi als must be sen t in,the tr anspor tation

charges on these will perhaps be higher than usual , machin es

must be adjusted , workmen must be placed upon work to whi ch

they are not accustomed,and after this con fus ion and increased

cost of pr oduction the goods will not be ready to ship on time

to all the customer s,and complaints will en sue. In addition

,

capital w ill be tied up in the other nine ar ticles whi ch have not

sold up to expectations, and stor age space will be occup ied by

them, either in raw or finished state.

The other way in which the two depar tments may fai l to

synchr onize their efforts has to do with selling too much or too

little volume during a g iven period of time. This is perhaps

the most serious point of fr iction .

The steadying of pr oduction is predominantly a sales prob

lem,r estin g back upon an accur ate market analysis. The task

of predicting demand can be accomplished successfully only by

the sales depar tment, working in harmony with the other de

partmen ts . Undoubtedly the cost of pr oduction will govern the

pr ice at which an article can be sold, and the price will influence

the demand . B u t primar ily it is demand which must be studied .

The sales depar tment Should be thor oughly convinced that

regularized pr oduction is important . The individual salesman

Should be made to see the savings resulting fr om steady Opera

tion of the factory at normal capacity. I f the factory i s run

ning on par t time ther e 1S a waste in overhead,w h ich must be

Spr ead over a smaller output . If it is r unn ing over -time,ther e

ar e other w astes,such as the extr a wages w h ich must be paid

to the regular employees to induce them to work over-time. If

the regular employees do this extr a w ork,their efficiency during

the regular working day i s pr obably impaired . I f extra help

i s taken on for the over -time per iod, these workers are far lessefficient than the regular operatives and the cost of productionis ther eby increased . E rrors ar e mor e likely to occur in the

factory and in the office, with resulting dissatisfaction to cus

16 SALE S MANAGEMENT

tomers . Shipments will be delayed, and relations with customers

generally strained . If the salesmen can be br ought to appreciatethese facts, much of the friction can be removed .

How S ales and Output M ay B e Synchronized—S ome of theways in w h ich this fr iction may be r emedied are 2

( a ) Offering special concess ions to buyers who w ill place their

order s in dull per iods . These con cession s may take the form of

lower pr ices or more prompt service. The salesmen Should be

instructed to push for sales in these per iods .a

(b ) Inducemen ts may be offer ed the salesmen themselves tosell more than usual dur ing the Slack season s. This can be cared

for in the system of compen sation .

( c ) The adver tising division Should be persuaded to car ry on

vig orous advertisin g campaigns to aid in mai ntaining theflow oforders dur ing the dull per iods .

(d ) T he salesmen shou ld be en couraged to study conditions

of deman d car efu lly and r epor t pr omptly on any chang es oh

served . This w ill en able the production depar tmen t to r egulateoutput to meet demand and also w ill w arn the sales departmen t

of appr oaching chan ges in their problem,which must be met by

changed tactics.

(e) T he salesmen may be provided with complementary goods ,

par t of which sell w ell in on e season and the r est in another ,thereby permittin g them an d the factory to keep busy the year

ar ound .

( f ) S ometimes it is necessary to Shi ft the salesmen fro-m one

ter r itory to another during dull seasons . For example, they

might Sell in the Nor th dur ing the summer and be tr ansfer red

to a S outhern ter r itory for the w inter . If this is necessary,the

sales man ager must know it before he chooses his men,as some

salesmen might not car e to accept such a pos ition .

(g ) The salesmen should be trained not to accept all ordersfor immediate delivery. It is natur al that the buyer Shou ld w ish

to obtain as prompt shipment as possible, but in most cases hew ill be well satisfied with a later date if he sees that it is the best

he can g et .

Imparting the Sales Viewpoint to W orkers—The sales

2 Cf . T EAD AND M ETCALF, “Per sonnel Adm in istration , p p. 3984 00 .

I N TRODUCTORY 17

manager must go far ther than this, and extend his educational

activities to the office and factory employees. The salesmen ar e

not the only employees of a concern who can help to sell the

pr oduct. During the“buyer s ’ strike” of 1921-1922 many firms

discovered that they possessed an unsuspected sales for ce in the

w orkers who had pr eviously not considered themselves in any

way respons ible for sales . These worker s went about among

fr iends,talking up the pr oduct , they w r ote letters, they thought

in terms of sales as they had never done befor e.

For example, each of the Willis-Over lan d employees was

encourag ed to look up sales prospects by the offer of $10 for

every prospect thus interested , who bought a car within a cer tain

time. The Baltimor e Ohio Rai lr oad made each of i ts em

ployees, whether in ShOp, yar d or office, a solicitor of business.

They Obtained fr eight and passenger business in an astonishing

volume. E very human link in the chain fr om w ork bench to

sales office must be made to realize how much he can do in ih

creas ing sales. T he sale actual ly beg ins back in the shop ; it con

t inues thr ough the inspection process , and is car r ied on by every

office worker who wr ites a letter to a customer or prospective

customer . This sales viewpoint can be pr omoted by the sales

manager in hi s r elations w ith the other executives and employees .

He must Show himself willing to give as well as take,to co

oper ate with each of the other s, to teach his men to cooper ate,before he can expect to r eceive the hear ty coiiperation he desir es.

The Advertising Department—The impor tance of the ad

ver tising depar tment in the sales of a concern depends upon the

method of marketing employed. B ut,whether the pr oduct is a

specialty or a staple, the purpose of adver tisin g it is to make it

possible for the salesmen to sell more of it .

With the Specialty , like a typew r iter , the function of the

advertising is to acquain t the pr ospect w ith the mer its of the

pr oduct, so that when the salesman calls on him,hi s mind i s

par tially pr epared . The proposition does not come to him as

entir ely n ew,but as a familiar one. With the staple, sold

through dealer s,the function of advertising is to help the dealer

sell the pr odu ct by creating con sumer demand.

It may appear str an g e, yet there are many salesmen who do

not believe in the advertising their firms are doing,and who


would prefer that the advertising be stopped . These salesmen

usually believe that if this wer e done the sums spent for advert ising could be added to their commissions, thereby enr iching

them by just this amount . Their entire attitude towar d the ad

ver tising depar tmen t is hostile ; they feel that adver tising has

usurped a por tion of their prerogatives. They see in the g r owth

of adver tis ing a menace to them personally, for is it not the

chief purpose of adver tising to sell goods ; and if adver tising

sells the goods will not the salesman be depr ived of his means

of livelihood?The function of the sales manager in this matter is to edu

cate his salesmen in their attitude towar d the firm ’s advertising.

What th is attitude should be we Shall now inquire.

8

Follow ing Up I nquiries—One way in w hich the salesman

and advertising depar tment should coOperate is in the handlin gof inquir ies sent in by r eaders of the firm ’

s adver tising. The cost

of obtaining these inquir ies is higher than it was a few years

ago,for it costs more to adver tise and mor e firms ar e using ad

ver tising for this purpose. When one of these inquiri es is r e

ceived, if it is not first handled by the sales pr omotion depar t

ment, it Shoul d be acknowledged and then turned over to a sales

man .

Ther e is a tendency among salesmen to treat these leads

rather lightly, particu lar ly ,

when they appear unprO‘

mising on the

sur face. To be sure, many salesmen have wasted much time in

follow ing up leads , only to discover that the inqu ir er s w ere

merely in qu isitive and not ser iously interested . Her e is a poin t

on which the advertising and sales manag er s-can get together .

T he adver tising shou ld be so worded as to discour ag e the idly

cur ious,while it attr acts those truly in ter ested in .

the pr oposition .

Then the salesmen should be instructed to follow up these ih

qu ir ies pr omptly and thor ough ly. Many of them can be turned

into order s.

I f the pr oduct is on e which yields a lar ge pr ofit to the firm ,

as a motor truck, the salesman Should be notified by w ire of theinquiry

,for the pr ospec t may have directed inquiries to other

3 An excellen t t reatmen t Of the subject w ill be found in the booklet,What a Salesman Shou ld Know About Adver tising ,

"published by the

D ar tnel l Corporation , Chicago .

0

20 SALE S MANAGEM ENT

advance of their appearance, together with a schedule of themediums in which they w ill appear and the dates.

The Credit Depar tment—P erhaps ther e is no better illustration of poor coOperation than the r elations which exist in

many concerns between the sales and credit departments. It isthe tendency of the aver age salesman to take orders whereverhe can pick them up ,

and then pass the r esponsibility for filling

them to the cr edit man. If the credit man r efuses to extend

the credit asked for, the salesman is inclined to take sides w ith

the customer ag ainst the house, to join with the disgruntled

customer in condemning the credit depar tment for the“insult

ing” stand taken .

The salesman Should be taught that he is to a large extent

responsible for the credit stan ding of his customer s . If the firm

has a definite,settled policy r eg ar ding the extension of cr edit it

is the duty of the salesman to en for ce this policy . If the credit

policy is too sever e,it is pr obably becaus e the salesmen have

not cooper ated as they shou ld in the past.

This task of teaching the salesman to be a good judge of

cr edi t n atur ally falls upon the sal es manager . The new man

who star ts out Should be taught the Signs of a poor cr edit r isk ,and how to get the facts . He mu st be taught that the hon est

buyer whose credit is good will seldom take Offens e at his effor ts

to obtain these facts .

A r cher Wall Douglas, vice-president of the S immons Hard

war e Company, haS this to say on the question

The salesman must r emember that, much a s he desires to S ell goods,he i s doing a very unw ise and ca lami tou s thing to sell them to a new

custom er W ithou t fir st investig ating that cu stomer’s financia l standing .

There are var ious ways of finding this ou t that g ive the salesman a fairmeasur e of hi s cu stomer

’s statu s . I S the dealer prompt in collecting from

his cu stomer s or does he a llow their accoun ts to run and thus fa il to

provide himself w ith funds to meet hi s obligation s? I S he a bor row erfrom the banks, and, if S 0 , to wha t extent, and wha t does he pledge in theway of collateral? Does he car ry sufficien t fire insur ance policies on hi s

store bu ilding s and contents, on hi s stocks of mer chandise, and a lso_

on h i s

own home, if he has one? Has he any mor tgag es on hi s stor e bu ilding ,hi s stock of mer chandise, and hi s own home—and, if so, to what exten t?

4 DOUGLAS ,“T raveling Salesmanship, pp. 134-135 .

I N TRODUCTORY 2 1

Does he take advan tage of cash discounts in his pur chases, and does he

pay hi s bills promptly when due? Has he insurance on hi s own life, if so,to what exten t, and does he meet hi s prem iums promptly when due? Has

he many over stocks, slow -moving goods , and dead stocks in which he hastoo much capital invested for the good of hi s bu siness? Last and mostvital of al l , what are the customer

’s habits and wha t i s his character ?

For in the fina l ana lysis, sales and loans ar e made on character morethan on any other one factor .

The answer s to these quest ion s determ ine the finan cia l status of thecu stomer and the exten t to w hich it i s safe or unsafe to sell to him .

T hey ar e l ikew ise the points upon which the salesman’s firm most des ires

to be posted, and upon which he can be their best mean s of in formation .

Nor are they so difficu lt to find ou t as m ight seem at fir st blush , especia llywhere the salesman pu r sues h is inqu ir ies w ith tact and discretion . I n

many cases the cu stomer him self w ill tell the whole story to a salesman

in whom he has confidence. I t i s Often becau se Of this confidence that thesalesman i s able to determ ine at times, even better than his cred it de

partment,that it i s both w ise and profitable to car ry the cu stomer over

a per iod of distr ess when on the face of affa ir s it may not seem safe to

do so.

On the other hand, the w ell-posted sa lesman w ill advise his housethat it i s high time to collect fr om some customer s , and to collect

promptly, sometimes thr ough the medium of the salesman , tha t there beno delay. I t i s a distingu ishing mar k of a good sa lesman that hi s housedoes not have many bad debts in hi s terr itory.

The purpose of the salesman and credit man are identical .

E ach w ishes to sell as many g oods as poss ible w ith as small credit

losses as poss ible. If the salesman catches this point of view,

he will find that his relations w ith the credit manag er are pleas

ant . I f he pr oves himself to be a co’

oper ator, he may reasonably

expect to r eceive cooper ation fr om the cr edi t man . To be spe

cific : if the salesman Shows himself to be a good judge of credit,

so that the cr edit man can trust his Opinion , the salesman w ill

find that he will have few orders r efused by the credit depart

ment . In the long run ,he w ill far e better and sell mor e g oods

than if he is continually trying to“slip something past the

cr edit man .

The cr edit manager should not expect the salesmen to spend

a gr eat deal of time gather ing cr edi t information unless theyar e paid for it . T he sales manager must protect his men from

too gr eat a bur den of this sort without adequate compensation ,

22 SAL E S MANAGEM ENT

but mus t encourage them to gather the facts if this is asked of

them .

Honest B uyers Will Furnish Facts—I t must be remember ed that many firms make a pr actice of pr eying upon the youngsalesman who is too inexper ienced to make inquiries about the

financial standing of hi s customers . The following exper iences

illustr ate this point admir ably : 5

Not long ago a raw salesman wen t on the r oad, in an old ter r itory,and surpr ised everybody by br ing ing back an unpr eceden ted num ber oforder s . He smashed al l r ecords and pu t the old fellow s to shame . T henthe credit manager got bu sy. I t was as he surm ised : most of the names

w ere new to the house. The salesman had fa llen in to the clutches offaker s who prey upon young and inexper ienced salesmen .

Letter s w er e immediately sen t to all of the houses that had ordered

g oods. The letter was a form letter , and em inently con siderate. I t

s imply suggested that, as the recipient wa s not l isted,i t w ou ld be in

order to send an advance paymen t, etc. On ly ten per cen t answeredw ith money-order s . T he other s either did not an sw er at a l l , or w r otemean letter s

,stating that the or ig inal order s cou ld be cancelled. T hey

w ou ld not do bu siness w ith a hou se that questioned their integr ity—and

mor e a long the same lines .

I t i s an unw r itten law in su ch matter s that the r ight sor t of a firm

w ill never take exception to a r equest for vindication of their ability to

pay. I t i s an indication that the firm w ith which you ar e dea ling i s

condu cted a long pr oper lines. No r ea lly big and w or thy institu tion w illever“get mad

”because the point of credit i s br ought up.

A salesman must r id himself of the idea that his customerwill take ofien se at these i nqui r i es r egarding financial rating and

plans for payment . Fr ankn ess is the best policy.

Claims and Adjustments—I n the settling of claims and

making adjustments the sales depar tment is actively in terested .

The sales viewpoint must pervade the claims depar tment,to

avoid offendin g good customer s who have developed a gr ievance.

It is the task of the sales manager tactfu lly to keep th is idea

before the claims depar tmen t, for if the sales Viewpoint is not

kept forward his salesmen w ill suffer in their contact with ang ry

customers .

On the other hand , he should in struct his salesmen to co

5“Making the Salesman Credit M anager , Pr in ters’I nk, p. 81, Aug . 11,

I N TRODUCTORY

operate with the adjustment department in every way possible.

For example, by greater care in making out orders, many m is

understandings may be avoided . Rush orders ar e a source of

claims,as they may be hurr iedly filled and packed, to the detr i

ment of the goods . The salesman shou ld be cautioned ag ainst

the danger of misunder standings which ar ise from substitutions

for goods ordered . He should be extr emely careful not to sen d

in an or der for an ar ticle which is out of stock. When this is

done, the house usually substitutes,and the customer may not

accept the substituted article. The salesmen should indicate on

the order, when there is any doubt about the ability of the house

to fill any part of it,whether the customer will accept a subst i

tute.

Fr equently a salesman is asked to make adjustments in per

son . He should gu ard against the attitude so often taken

that of lining up with the customer against the house. He should

recollect that,after all

,he is in the employ of the firm selling

the goods,not of the man buying them . The aver age buyer

has scant respect for the salesman who continually assumes an

attitude hostile to his firm . The pos ition of absolute fairness isthe only one which will pr ove satisfactory in the long run .

CHAP TE R I I

THE SE L ECTI ON OF SAL E SMEN

Importance of Careful Selection—When the manufacturerbegins to r eckon up the cost of breaking in a n ew salesman

,he

finds that it is pr obably higher than that for any other class ofemployees. Suppose the new salesman is given jus t two months

to make g ood. Suppose his daily expenses aver age on ly $8.

Fifty working days times $8 equals $400. And at that the $400

may be the smallest single cost involved in the exper iment. T he

aspirant who is being tr ied out may do those thing s which he

should not have done and leave undone those thing s which he

should have done to the exten t of ruinin g thousands of dollars’

w orth of good-w ill in his terr itory—th is big buyer ruffled,that

one n eglected, another one over loaded—truly,the r isks and ex

penses of hir ing salesmen deserve mor e atten tion than they have

been g iven .

1 J. C. A spley estimates that it costs fr om $5 0 to

to tr ain a man .

2 Few firms fin d that new men pr oduce

enough business to pay fr om the very star t,and in lines wher e

competition is vigor ous , it often is several months befor e the

new salesman ceases to be a liabili ty.

That increased business has follow ed a more scientific selec

tion of salesmen is the exper ience of many firms . The P hoenix

Mutual L ife Insur ance Company of Har tford, Conn ,has tr ied

for some year s to select its salesmen w ith unusual care, w ith the

g ratifying r esults that five hundred selected salesmen pr oduced

of business where befor e selection was scien tifical ly

car ried ou t salesmen pr oduced of business . In

other w ords , the aver age business for the selected salesmen w as

each as ag ainst for the unselected salesmen.

3

That car eful selection cuts down the r ate of turnover in theh

1 RAY G I L E S in P r imter s’ I nk, Oct . 7, 1920 .

2 Specia l Repor t No. 40 of Dar tnell Qorpbrat ion .

3 ALB ERT E . HAAS E in Pr in ters’ I nk, Dec. 11, 19 19 .

24

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SMEN 25

sales force has been frequently proved, and to this fact may be

attributed many of the benefits to be derived from such a policy.

How M arketing Policies I nfluence Selection—Before muchcan be done toward selecting the sales for ce, the marketing poli

cies of the firm must be clear ly outlined . For example, if it were

plann ed to sell direct to the housewife, it w ould require a dif

fer en t type of salesman than to sell to r etailer s,while it would

demand still an other type to sell successfully to large jobbers.

Then,too

,whether the ar ticle is to be sold th r ough large metr o

politan stor es or by retailers in small towns w ill make a differ

ence in the character of salesman wanted. T he section of the

country is also a factor , as the salesman must be adapted to the

terr itory he is to cover .

Th is study of the r equir ements for a selling position corre

sponds to the“job analysis ” in factory per sonnel administr a

tion . It is r eason able to suppose that an employer can choose

his employees more intelligently if he has a clear -cut conception

of the task to be performed . This conception may be gained from

first-hand know ledge of selling in the terr itory under cons ider a

tion,or it may be g ained from a careful study of records in the

office,or from salesmen who have traveled in that section .

A salesman fr om New York took a tr ip thr ough Iowa for

the regular Iowa repr esentative, who was ill . The New York

man w as one of the high men in the or g anization in point of

sales,bu t he failed miserably in the Middle West becau se he

car r ied a cane. The Kansas or Wisconsin salesman might have

done much better as a substitute,but the job had not been

analyzed,w ith the r esult that the wrong man was sent .

Bond salesmen are usually of a high standar d as reg ar ds per

sonal appear an ce and social attainments . One big Wall S treet

broker has an alyzed his problem sufficiently to know that these

men can not sell as many bonds among small investors as men

whose appearance, manner and history enable them to make the

small investor feel mor e at ease. An eastern manufactur er found

that his Italian g ardener br ought business out of the Italian

quar ter of New York in greater volume than had been thought

possible.

3

The requirements for a successful salesman differ with the

class of prospects he will be expected to meet,with the type of


work which predominates, as , for example, walking. or carryi ng

heavy sample cases, and with physical conditions in his ter r i

tory, as climate. It is clear,therefore

,that the sales manager

must draw up a set of specifications for each job on his sales

force if he w ishes to handle the situation scientifically.

A fter deciding upon the marketing plan and the type or types

of salesmen w anted,the pr oblem divides itself in to two par ts :

the sour ces of salesmen,and the tests by which the best men may

be culled out fr om the mass of applicants .

SOURCE S OF MATERI AL

1. Adver tising —On e investment secur ity house found thata much higher class of salesmen could be obtained by r eplyingto the s ituation w anted” adver tisements than by adver tising in

the“help wanted” columns of the daily papers.

T here seem to be severa l good reason s for this . Obviou sly, answ ers

to ‘help w anted’ adver tisements a lways include a g ood propor tion of g r eenmen eager to break into the game. Obviou sly also , many g ood men hesitate to answ er su ch adver tisements—par ticu lar ly one w ith a blind signatur e—for fear their desire to change w ill leak back to their pr esen t em

ployer s . T his , how ever , seem s to be the chief r eason in favor of the salesman who adver tises for a new connection—unless he has something w or th

toA dvertise, he l LhesitaE befqre spending hi s money in tha t w ay.

He has got to make his adver tisemen t pul l, and when he star ts towr ite ithe r ealizes that this w ill not happen un less he can poin t to actua l aecom

pl i shmen t in pr eviou s connection . Fur ther , the man who adver tises i s

thr ow ing aside any desir e to get into a place through pu ll or per sona lconnections . He i s convinced that he can sell him self to stranger s as

w el l as those who may be prejudiced in hi s "and tha t i s a goodsign . Also, he “alggad/yfi

hau j ob—another good s ign . Fur ther , he“1s

u sually plann ing ahead, setting him self_

a goal , and adver tises because hefeels that the time has come to take the next step.

” 4

9

T he classified columns of the newspapers ar e gener ally looked

upon w ith suspicion by sales manag er s in sear ch of h igh-class

men,bu t even w her e th is is the case the adver tisements may be

so worded as to attr act good men . For example, L . A . Cer f ,manager of the New York branch of the Mutual Benefit L ife

Insurance Company of Newark , N . J used small space three or

4 RAY G I L E S in Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Oct . 7, 1920 .


ally it pr oves a g ood sour ce, but often it is not . S ometimes , wherean especially g ood man is with a relatively poor house he may beg lad to change and it may be good str ategy to get him on yourside rather than have him against you .

We have never , says one execu tive, “been successfu l in going dir ect ly a fter salesmen employed by competitive houses, bu t we have hadg r ea t success w ith men from competitive houses who come to u s . M en

taken aw ay from competitor s sometimes cast an eye backward at the

old connection , bu t men who volunteer generally do so becau se they be

lieve that w e r ea lly produce better mer chandise than their former em

ployer s . Un less they convincing ly show such a belief we do not wantthem .

” 6

A similar opinion is expressed by the vice-pres ident of an

other corpor ation in these words :

Star sa lesmen hired away from competitor s must a lways be boughtat a prem ium . T he sa lesman developed w ithin the house i s easier tokeep satisfied from the income standpoin t and i s slower to leave . T he

lofty manner in which somebody else’s star sometimes accepts my propos it ion doesn ’t promise wel l for the effor t he w ill pu t for th for me.

” 7

If a firm adver tises w ell and wi dely,it is mor e likely that

competitors’salesmen will w ish to make connections , as most

salesmen ar e now convinced that adver tising makes it eas ier for

them to sell .

On ce or tw ice firms hir ing away their competitor s’salesmen

have been questioned by the government to see whether they w ere

acting in a manner whi ch might be construed as an unfair tr ade

pr actice.

Another reason why it may be bad policy to hire a com

pet itor’

s salesman away fr om him is that a man who has on ce

shown himself w illing to listen to inducements w ill pr obably

be just as ready to quit your service. Th is is especially tr ue

wher e a man quits under cir cumstances that may be embar r ass

ing to his employers . It shows a lack of"dependability and loy

al ty. If a salesman has been in the cus tom of shifting fr om one

employer to another in a given line, hi s value declines rapidly,

0 Pr in ter s’ I nk, Oct. 7, 1920 .

7 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Apr il 2 1, 1921.

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SAL E SMEN 29

as the trade will place little faith in his sincerity if he appearsunder new colors every trip .

The advantage of recruiting men fr om competing organiza

tions is that it is possible to know in advance about what they

are capable of pr oducing. The expens e of tr aining them is also

less . If the hiring of competitor s ’ salesmen can be done on a

larg e scale it may pr ove successful, judging fr om the exper ience

of a large wholesale gr ocery house which, when it established a

br anch in a new city,induced vir tually the whole of i ts str ongest

competitor’

s sales force in that city to trans fer their allegiance

to the n ew firm .

3 . From Non-competing Firms—I n some ways this is a

better sour ce than competing firms. If the salesman is trained

to sell a product sim ilar in character or designed to sell to

similar pr ospects, this may pr ove an excellent sour ce. Friendly

customers can frequently offer sug gestions as to g ood men who

ar e callin g on them fr om other houses. M r . A . E . Corbin of theP ackar d Motor Car Company is author ity for the statement that

they have obtained a number of successful sal esmen fr om spe

cialty lines, mentioning par ticular ly salesmen of adding ma

chines .

8

Whether a man comes from a competing or a non-competing

concern,it is usually better to pick him fr om a smaller firm ,

unless he expresses a w ell-founded pr efer ence for a smaller bus i

ness. The man coming to a small firm fr om a big one is likely

to feel that he is too good for the position—that he has taken astep down . He is likely to make untactful compar isons, and to

pass up small orders as beneath his notice.

4. From Recommendations of the S ales Force—This isbased on the theory that“bir ds of a feather flock together .

”

Andit is desir able to have a for ce composed of cong enial. spir itswho can w ork together without fr iction . S ome sales manag er s

find th is rule to Operate better in theory than in practice, how

ever , as men r ecommend their friends enthusias tically on the

basis of friendship r eg ardless b f specific qualifications for the

place.

“Then, too, a man who g ets his job through a

“pull ”of this kind is apt to feel that he has struck a soft berth and

8 Proceeding s of T hird Annua l Convention of Nat iona l Association ofCorporation S chools, p. 5 66.

30 SALE S MANAGEME NT

does not have to exert himself unduly. This leads to many suchmen being discharged, wh ich causes har d feelings on the partof the salesmen who stood sponsors for them.

On the other hand, it is argued, the man who recommendssuch an applicant w ill exer t himself to help him make good .

But if the men ar e separ ated by a thousand miles th is help will

usually amount to little. However, it is wise to consult themembers of the sales for ce more or less in formally r eg arding

the employment of a new man, as their opinions may containhelpful hints .

5 . From Within the Organization—This sour ce of sales

men is par ticular ly valuable where the pr oduct is a technical oneor where the class of customers called on is not far above the

aver age in education and cultur al attainments.

For example, the Amer ican S teel Wire Company has fol

lowed the policy of developin g br ight ofi'

i ce boys to as sume theselling work as they reach maturity. S ales Manager Taylor

says : 9

W e hire our office boys w ith a view to their becom ing salesmen and

then develop them in the office. I n picking the boys , w e get those ofbig stature, com ing fr om good fam ilies, and having a g rammar schooledu ca tion . B y pr omoting our m en from office boys to salesmen

,step after

step, w e find that they stay w ith u s and feel that the exper ience theyhave in our ofii ce i s a r eason for making their future w ith u s .

”

Mr. Taylor states that they do not w ant boys who are over

educated or too ag g r ess ive, as their pr odu ct is sold to customers

who ar e not over -edu cated and whose good-w ill is valued too

highly to be lost by a salesman who pushed too hard for bigsales . What is w anted , are gentlemanly salesmen who can sym

pathize w ith the customer s .

This pr omoting of office men to sales jobs is criticized by some

on the g r ound that good office men ar e p icked for character istics

quite other than those which make for successful salesmen . But

it is likely that among a lar ge ofii ce force some good sales ma

teri al could be di scover ed

The g reat Sherwin-Williams Company finds i ts salesmen

within its own ranks, often in the factory. Familiarity w ith the

9 Pr in ter s’ I nk, Apr il 30, 1914 .

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SME N 3 1

pr oduct and its process of manufacture is a selling asset of im

por tance in thi s business .

6. From Retail Clerks—Where the product is a staple,sold to the retail trade, it is desirable that the sal esman shall

have had exper ience in retailing, in order that he may under

stand and sympathize with the retailer and his pr oblems . The

National Biscuit Company is one of the strongest advocates of

this sour ce for salesmen , and instructs its salesmen to be con

stan tly on the watch for promising mater ial among the young

clerks in the stores visited . Of course, care must be exer cised

to avoid ofiending the retailer who is being robbed of his best

salesman,but he can usually be made to see that the clerk i s

capable of earning mor e than he could afford to pay and that

he should be encouraged to accept the bigger job .

T o employer s looking for a fresh and vigorou s in fusion into the

blood stream of their sales organ ization s, the retail clerk i s often w orthser ious con sideration .

” 1 0

The general manager of one company attr ibutes this to the

fact that the clerk is w ell educated along retail ing lin es and

thus can better put himself in the dealer ’s place than the sales

man who has alw ays worked for a manufacturer . But this is

not the chief r eas on , in the opinion of the executive quoted . The

big one is that the clerk is accustomed to workin g long hours and

steadily. He is disciplined . His number of calls per day runs

high , and this makes for a big sales total .A sour ce somewhat similar to this is the propr ietor of a

r etail establishment who has failed or is not making a satisfac

tory r ecor d in business . Obviously,inqu iry must be made into

the real causes of his failure, but it will often be found that theywere not of a character to detr act from his value as a salesman .

Indeed, it may easily happen that his failure may be caused byhis sympathy for his customer s who w er e not ready to meet

their accounts. Or he may have been a poor buyer but a goodsalesman. Neither is it always safe to affirm that a man whohas failed in business for himself cannot succeed when workingfor someone else. With proper supervision he may prove asplendid salesman .

10 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Apr il 2 1, 192 1.


7. Schools and Universities—I f inexperienced men are

desired, one of the best sources is found in the many schools

and universities giving tr aini ng along the desir ed lines. Con

cerns wishing technical men frequ en tly favor the graduate of a

corr espondence cour se, for they feel that his having finished the

course indi cates an unusual amoun t of ten acity and ambition .

The same reasoning applies to gr aduates of n ight school cour ses.

For those firms requiring salesmen with a br oad tr aining in

g eneral economic and bus iness pr inciples , the un iversity com

merce gr aduates are pr obably best suited . A t any r ate,ea ch

year the number of sales manager s seeking salesmen fr om the

g r aduating classes of'

our univer sities i s appr eciably gr eater .

A . R . Brunker,president of the L iquid Carbonic Company,

Shor tly after I came w ith this business w e found our selves up againstthe problem of getting fifty additiona l sa lesmen in the shor test possibletime. W e tu rned among other places to the un iver s ities, colleges and

schools for them . W e got most of our men that year from the colleges ,and now , a fter seven year s, between 30 and 40 per cent of them a re stillw ith us and doing g ood w ork . M any more concerns a re getting salesmen

in this way than when I fir st started ou t to do it . The first year I w en tto Cornell looking for selling mater ial , on ly one other company—theStandar d Oil—sen t a man there for that purpose. T hat was ten year sago. The last time I w ent

,two year s ago, I w as the tw enty-n inth man

on the job , and I w asn’t so late in the year either .“

I believe, from my exper ience in college and later a s sales manager

for the Amer ican Steel Foundr ies , that there ar e no conditions better forr eveal ing the qualities that make good sa lesmen

,than the conditions of

college life outside the classroom .

”

S cores of the lar g e companies manufactur ing technical prod

ucts,like the Westin ghouse and A llis-Chalmer s concern s, r ecruit

almost all of their men from the technical schools, later pu ttingthem thr ough a cour se of apprenticeship in the shops fr om a

few months to several year s .

M en who have played football , baseball or basketball in col

leg e ar e pr efer r ed by some sales manag er s because such men

have learned the value of teamwork and how to subordin ate them

selves and their personal ambitions to the good of the org an iza

1 1 System , p. 20, Ju ly, 1920 .

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SMEN

tion. boy who worked hi s way through college is

much in demand as a salesman .

8. M iscellaneous S ources—One of the traged ies of

pr esent system of society is that so many young men drift into

work for which they ar e not the best adapted by nature. It is

the task of vocational guidance to lessen this mal adjustment, but

for the present sales manager s must expect to discover“raw ma

ter ial for their sales forces almost anywhere.

The sales manager for one of the leading automobile com

panics was a plumber only a few years ago. The star salesman

for a well known brand of underwear was a stationary engineer,while lawyers have been known to make excellent salesmen on

account of their tr aining in prying after facts. Reporters,for

the same reason as well as on account of their abili ty to meet

people, frequently can sell goods .

1 One r eason why men who have not been salesmen befor e

sometimes can sell successfully is that they are not filled with

certain traditions which serve to hinder instead of help . They

do not know that cer tain pr ospects cannot be sold,so they pro

oecd to go after them and sell them . They do not know that

orders cannot be taken on S aturday or during the holidays, so

they go r ight on booking business.

An other reas on for their frequent success is that they may

disarm suspicion by the very fact that they do not look nor act

like salesmen, thus obtaining audiences which would be denied

to the typical salesman .

E ven though an applicant has never sold the product he may

know something about it through its u se. Farmer s ’ sons who

have dr iven tr actors might make splendid salesmen . S chool

teachers have made good as salesmen for publi shers of school

books . A g r eat bond of sympathy is at once established by thesalesman who is able to say,

“I used to be in this line myself.

SOME QUE ST I ON S OF P OL I CY

The Green Salesman or the Old Hand?—One question ofpolicy which must be settled before the sales manag er ever con

sider s advertising for men is whether he prefers men with exper ience in selling his product, men with no experience in s elling


his product but with exper ience in selling other lines,or abso

lutely green material with no selling exper ience whatever .

The eas iest way, and the way favored by many managers is

to adver tise for exper ienced men . This saves training and has

the advantage of enabling the sal es manager to know just whomhe is hir ing. T he use of exper ienced men is par ticular ly wisein cases where the concern is trying to open up terr itory in

the face of keen competition where the pr oduct is little known ,or for the firm just putting a pr oduct on the market . A fter itis established and the adver tising has br ought prestig e, the

younger men can hold the tr ade in line.

A difficulty in hir ing men w ith exper ience is that they often

have prejudices which must be over come ; they must unlearn

many thing s before they can beg in to learn to sell in the way

their new manag er wishes them to sell . If they have had too

mu ch exper ience, they are likely to pr ove chang eable and lacking

in the loyalty which is so great an asset to the house.

One of the reasons that many sales manag ers prefer green

mater ial is that,if any attempt is made to

/“manag e

”the sales

for ce, the young fellow is gener al ly mor e easily handled . He

has often just come fr om school wher e he has gr own accustomed

to taking or ders and learnin g fr om others . It is comparatively

easy to train him in the w ay desir ed .

S ome students of sales man agement believe that the hir ingof g r een mater ial has a harmful influen ce on the sales manager

himself. The fact that his men are for the most part young and

inexper ienced causes them to look up to him as a model and

they try to pattern after him . He,in turn , w ill pr obably be

w illing to let them main tain that attitude, as it places him on

a pedestal and enables him to impose U pon them his own ideas

withou t Opposition . Thi s is likely to lull the sales man ager in to

a dr owse of false secur ity, because it shuts out many n ew ideas

wh ich w ould be in tr oduced by salesmen who had r eceived other

tr aining. Car e must be exer cised to avoid getting into a rut and

tryin g to make all the salesmen alike. Room must be left for

the display of individual talents and initiative.

An other disadvantage of employing young fellows exclusively

is that they ar e apt to be more easily discour aged by a run of

poor bus iness. While it is true they rebound quickly when busi


basis, this is fair enough, provided their territories are evenly

divided . But if it is on a salary and commission bas is, the dif

ference in salary is apt to cr eate di ssatisfaction . Reports w ill

exagger ate the amount the star is pul ling down, no matter what

method of r emuner ation is in for ce.

In the second place, the star will think himself entitled to cer

tain pr ivileges and pr er ogatives ; he w ill be likely to disregard

some of the minor rules and regul ations. For example, he may

think that his customers are entitled to the most pr ompt deliver

ies,the best credit terms

, etc. He may feel that he is exempted

from the rule which states that the men shall make a cert ain

number of calls in a week or shall w ork so many hour s a day.

He may be lax in making his repor ts to the main office. Such

tactics cannot fail to engender fr iction . The other men resent

it bitter ly and feel that they ar e not g etting a squar e deal .

I n the third place, the other men are likely to get discouraged

and quit trying . Where, before the adven t of the star , they

were all hitting the ball for about the same average and all had

a chance to make a show ing , now they are outdistan ced and hope

lessly out of the runnin g . And it is not very thr illing to pu t upa fight for second place under such cir cumstances. As a r esult

this system r obs the en tir e for ce of i ts teamw ork and fight .

The star is sometimes a temper amental individual who is not

at all amenable to discipline. He is possibly a poor coOperator ;he does not eas ily subor dinate his own per son al aspirations to

the success of the or g anization . He is likely to work spasmodi

cally,a per iod Of fever ish activity being followed by a vacation

or a per iod of poor selling. S ometimes he may indulge in ques

t ionable tactics to g et orders, tactics whi ch react harm fully on the

house employing h im .

It is equally importan t to avoid having any poor salesmen on

the for ce, as it g ives many a mediocr e man a chan ce to feel

that,

“I beat so-and-so anyhow.

” If there are no poor bus iness

getter s, it w ill make the average men all hustle to be sur e of beat

ing anyone, and self-satisfaction w ill not be disastrously ap

par ent .

S alesmen or Saleswomen?—W e have been speaking thus

far exclusively Of salesmen ,bu t it should be under stood that the

wor d is used in its generic sense, for saleswonten ar e found in

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SME N

many lines now,particularly since the war took so many young

men fr om the sales forces.Opinions differ on the desirability of employing traveling

sal eswomen . The opposition seems to center on a few objections ,among which may be mentioned the follow ing.

It is claimed by some managers that it is difficult to manage

women, par ticularly by correspondence. They ar e apt to r eact

fr om a period of enthusiasm to a fit of depression and find it

difficult to maintain a steady g ait. A lso,they are apt to allow

their per sonal likes and dislikes of buyer s to affect their work .

Fur thermore,they are alleged to lack the philosophical , imper

sonal attitude so necessary to a salesman . Rebuffs discour age

them and they take suggestions as deadly personal insults .

A buyer may feel restrained somewhat in the comments heMwishes to make on the pr oduct . For these reasons some manu

facturer s hesitate about employing w omen on their sales for ce,for they feel it cheapens the product and lowers the dignity of a

first class house.

On the other hand,we find such well-known concerns as the

H. W. Gossar d Company employing women. M r . Gossard bel ieves that it is not the character of his pr oduct gcorsets ) which

makes it possible for w omen to sell them

w omen , but pr efer the latter, largely on account of their mor e

intimate and pr actical know ledge of the client ’s needs.

A s tr aveling representatives for firms manufacturing various

ar ticles of cloth ing for women,it is not uncommon to find

women . One successful tr aveling salesw oman says she thinks awoman can sell more of a purely per sonal article than a mancan . She states that when she enter s a town

,she sizes up

,mor e

qu ickly than a mer e man ever could,the clothes that the women

of that town are wear ing,so she knows just w hat to show . I n

the sale of var ious toilet preparations women have also provedsuccessful .

Among the reasons for their success are that they can make


more calls in a day,owing to the fact that they do not g et too

familiar with the trade and so linger and waste time swapping

stories. In suggesting ways of reselling goods to women the

saleswoman may prove very helpful to the perplexed mer chan t .A g ain , many times a buyer w ill grant an interview to a w oman

pr omptly when he might refuse to see a man or at least post

pone it .

The sources of supply of good saleswomen seem to be chiefly

two in number. Widows of r etail mer chants often make good

saleswomen, as they know something of salesmanship and of

mer chandising. The other main sour ce i s the ranks of the retail

clerks. They are likely to know the product, retailing, and sales

manship .

ME THODS OF SE LE CT I ON

Having discussed some of the mean s of getting in touch with

pr ospective salesmen, we can now turn to the secon d aspect of

our pr oblem, the methods by w h ich w e can select fr om the avail

able applicants those which w ould be best suited to the work.

Variety of M ethods in Use—T he Depar tment of AppliedP sychology of the Carnegie Institute of Technology has con

du cted an extensive investigation into the pr oblem of selection

of salesmen under the dir ection of D r . Wal ter Dill S cott . Re

g arding the methods in general use Dr. S cott makes these inter

esting observations : 1 2

“I n our general survey of the different methods or devices actuallyemployed in vocational selection , w e found very g r eat diversities in

pract ice.All the follow ing have been or are being u sed by bu siness

men : Astrology, augury, chance as man ifested in draw ing of str aw s, ca ste

ing of lots or flipping a coin , chirography, chir omancy, cla irvoyance, character analysis, divination , for tune telling , g raft, horoscope, intu ition ,

mag ic, m ind reading , necromancy, nepotism , omens, occul tism , palm istry,

phr enology, soothsaying , sor cery, sor tilege, subconsciou s hun ches, talisman ,

and telepathy. I t may be difficu lt to prove the inadequacy of any ofthese system s

,but there seems to be no evidence of their value.

“T here i s another gr oup of factor s which seem to possess g reat po

tent ial bu t l ittle actual value. To this gr oup belong inher itan ce or an

csetry, and physiognomy. Histor ically speaking , inher itance has been the

12 Bull . 227, U . S . Bureau of Labor S tatistics, p. 114, October , 19 17.

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SME N 39

g reatest factor in vocationa l selection . We al l make some use of physiOgnomy even though w e are unable to state the way w e do it. A l l attemptsto classify our know ledge of physiognomy or reduce i t to a scientific basishave resu lted in miserable failure when appl ied to vocational selection .

T he bureau has g iven consideration to these two factor s , bu t so far has

been unable to discover any pr actica l method whereby the sales manager

may make u se of either inher itance or physiognomy in selecting applican tsfor selling position s .“I n our deta iled survey of the thir ty cooperating firms in the bu reau ,

w e found that, in selecting their salesmen , they a l l depend on one or mor eof these thr ee factor s ; the pr eviou s exper ience of the applican t ; human

judgmen t concern ing applicant ; and specia l tests adm in istered to the

applicant .

The pr evious exper ience of the applicant is probably best

estimated by means of the application blank and information

furnished by his previous employers or acquaintances .

Application B lanks—The application blank serves at least

two purposes : it elimin ates at once those who have somethin tO’

conceal about their past recor d or those who ar e too indOIeEtto fill it out completely, and it furnishes a fund of valuable in

formation concerning those who do fill it out . I t might be

thought that nobody would balk at the tr ouble of filling out a

questionnair e, but it is related of the sales man ager for an in

stalmen t book house that he evolved a rather extens ive applica

tion blank just for the purpose of weeding out applicants whose

tenacity of purpose was below the requirements.

I n it,” chron icles the scr ibe,“he covered to the m inutest details theman

’s life, adventur es and hopes . The qu estionnair e covered severa l

pages . D id the sales manager care a r ap about al l these deta ils ? No

indeed"B ut befor e hi s applicant was u shered in to hi s pr esence he hadto fill out a questionnaire. Very often he w ou ld look it over and qu itthen and there

,w ith some reference to a

‘nu t sales manager

’or some

unguarded statemen t to the effect tha t he gu essed he didn’t w an t to w ork

for a man who w as a w a lking can Opener . I t was differen t, however , w iththe truly tenacious ones .

”

No attempt is here made to compile an ideal application

blank,because each bu sin ess has i ts own pr oblems and wan ts

to know certain things about the applican ts wh ich w ould be of

little interest to some other sales manager, but it w ill pr ove help

fu l to glance over a few of the questions which appear fr squently on such blanks . One point which should not be. over


looked is the necessity for getting a line on just what the manhas been doing since he left school . There

‘

should be no gaps nuaccounted for.

Of course the blank would provide for information regard

ing name, address, age, height, weight, and perhaps religion.

Nationality should be kn own,as it might be a big asset or a

tremendous handi cap in cer tain ter r itory. Then, too, each na

t ional ity is likely to possess certain char acter istics, as, for

example : the Ir ish ar e fluent talkers and make fr iends, the

S cotch are persistent, the E nglish never lose their poise an d

continue to believe that they are as good as any one, the Holl and

Dutch and Germans ar e plugger s.

M ar r ied? How long ?“W ha m

te°

tories wher nece as they ar e anx

ious\to get home as often as poss ible and sometimes rush thr ough

the work in too gr eat haste. A t least the cor respondence with

the bride is apt to cut into the time for making ou t r eports .

How many dependen t on you ? What r elationship? This g ives

a g ood idea of whether a man has a real in cen tive to w ork and

also is a g ood guide as to his solidity. E ducation? I f a man is

r equir ed to w ork among college gr aduates most of the time, it is

almost essential that he h imself shall have a college education .

One of the most impor tant of all questions i s the one“Why

did you leave each of the last thr ee ( or five posi tions? These

can be checked up with the previous employer s and often revealmuch of the applicant

’s char acter. Another question almost

equally import ant is,“Why do you w ish to make the pr oposed

connection?” So many applicants have no very defin ite r eason

for wishing to come to that particular firm that it is r efreshing

to find one who kn ows exactly why he is seeking the job. The

man who i s tryin g to land a job merely because he thinks there

is big money in it often pr oves unsatisfactory, wher e the man

who seeks a position because he has studied the situation and

believes that he would like to make it a life work makes a real/success of it .

S ome managers like to get a line on the thrift of the applicant

by asking such questions as : What percen tag e of you r income

have you saved since you beg an to work?or Check the forms ofinvestments you now have—r eal estate, r eal estate mor tg ag e, sav


ings bank, life insurance, bonds, pr efer r ed stock, common stock.

If the position is one of any r espons ibility, it may be wise to

ask the applicant if he can furnish a sur ety company ’

s bond .

T he chances ar e good that the man who cannot is trying to hide

someth ing. The early habits of the applicant ar e inquired into

by some managers,who ask whether he w orked as a boy

,w orked

his way through college, etc. I f he is a college man , it helps

to know whether he took part in any of the activities of the

school, as athletics, campus publications, class offices , etc. S ome

manager s judge a college man about as much on these counts as

on his scholastic r ecord,although they usually like to know

something of the latter.

S ome of the questions asked may make it necessary for the

man to give a sor t of an estimate of himself and must be dis

counted a tr ifle, but they are of some value. Among such the

following are typical : Wha t per iodi cals do you r ead? What are

your favor i te forms of recr eation? You r thr ee favor i te books?

What have you studied since leaving school, and how much? It

i s true that a man may incline to exaggerate a trifle on these

answers,but they cannot be absolutely valueless .

A question which may uncover the ingenuity of the appli

cant is“What are the thr ee best sales you ever made?” It also

gives a line on what he con siders good salesmanship . Other

more or less miscellaneous questions cover the per sonal habits Of

the applicant, the territory pr efer red , when he could begin work ,salary expected, health , and club or society affiliations . On e

sales manager says he counts the facts r evealed by the applica

tion blank as being wor th about four t imes the appear ance of

the candidate. Many others r ely strongly upon it.

One type of question, however , is of little value. To ask the

applicant to tell what he believes are his w eak poin ts, or str on gpoints

,helps little.

“Self-gr ading” questions of this sor t should

be avoided for the most par t . E ven though a man w er e str i ctly

honest it is impossible for him to form a cor rect estimate of

himself.

The following blank , us ed by several hundred concerns , w as

devised by the D ar tnell Corporation of Chicag o and is an attempt

to combine the best features of some twenty blanks used by

var ious firms. 1.

42 SALE S MANAGE MEN T

Application for Posit ion as Salesman

YOUR FI RM NAME HE RE

Name in full

PHYSI CAL RE CORD

T aken r ecen t physica l exam i

For w hat pu rpose

Wha t ser iou s illness have you

had w ithin last five year s

What i s pr esen t condition of

Ar e you w illing to take physi

cal exam ination

GENE RAL I NFORMAT I ON

dependents

Va lue —I ncumbrance 35

Value 35

Have you any loan s or debts past due

Have you any other income besides whatyou w ill r eceive fr om u s

M ember of what lodges ( g ive number s )

T o wha t m ilita ry, r elig iou s , athletic or so

cia l organ izations do you belong

What in su rance do you car ry—Life

Have you ever been employed by u s before

Name relat ives in ou r employ, if any

N ame per sona l acqua intances in ou r employ

Have you ever been bonded , and for what

Has bond ever been r efused

Can you g ive a su rety bond ( at our expense )

B ar t nett S tandard Form—S A e—A ll Rights Reser ved—1 9 2 1


E ducat ion and Selling Exper ience

Did you attend high school _ Where long

Have you taken a specia l sales tra in ing cour se w ith any pr evious em

G ive five. D o not r efer to mere acquai n tan ces ,CHARACT E R REFERENCES p revi ous employer s or relatives . Refer to peo

p le w ho know you w el l , ei ther per sona l ly or in

busi ness .

NAM E ADDRE SS

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SME N 45

I n the space below applicant w ill w r ite a letter , br iefly sett ing for ththe reasons why he des ires a connection w ith this hou se ; why he thinkshe would make a successful representative, and why he w ishes to changehi s pr esent position

I t i s under stood and agreed that any agr eemen t entered into betweenthis Company and the appl1cant i s predicated upon the truthfu lness of thestatements herein conta ined

S ig natu re of appl i cant

N ote : I f thi s app l icati on i s made by mai l app li can t shou ld a t tach a r ecen t photo

g r aph so mar ked tha t i t can be i den t ified.

APPLI CANT I S NOT TO U SE SP ACE BE LOW THI S LI NE


How to I nterpret the Appli cation B lank—After a firm has

adopted an application blank, plans should at once be made for

interpr eting the facts shown . For example, shall it be considered

an advantage or a disadvantage to the applicant if he is mar r ied ?

A t what age should he be g iven the most favor able con sider a

tion ? Wou ld a man with a college education be of greater or

less value than on e who had mer ely completed high school ?

This suggests that car efu l records shou ld be kept of each

salesman employed, and his per formance compar ed with the facts

indicated on his application blank . The facts should be tabu

lated in var ious combin ation s and con clu sions dr awn as to the

weight which should be g iven each answer . For in stan ce,one

life insur an ce company r ates each point in this fash ion :1 3

E ducation

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

With a scale like the for eg oin g for each fact stated on the

application blank , it is easy to understan d how an applican t

could be scor ed accu r ately, as he w ould r eceive either a plu s or

minus scor e on pr actically every answer. The impor tan t th ingis to calculate an accur ate bas is for these plus and minu s scores

to be g iven each r eply, w h ich can be don e on ly thr oug h a car eful ,compar ative an alysis of the r ecor ds made by the salesmen already

in the employ of the firm .

References—Most employers requir e refer ences of some

sort fr om applicants for positions on the sales for ce. It is r eason

able to assume that a man will continu e to act a good deal as

he has acted in the past , so references ar e used to check up .

1 3 From a pr ivately published pamphlet :“A S tudy of Five Hundred

Per sonal History B lanks,” by Dorothy B . Goldsm ith, The Guardian Life

I nsur ance Company of Am er ica . Quoted in T he Service Bu lletin of the

B ureau of Per sonnel Resear ch , Carneg ie I n stitu te of T echnology, vol . 4,No . 5 , p. 13 .


The letters which the applicant brings with him are of little

value, especially the Open letters addr essed“To whom it mayconcern .

”A much better way is to have the applicant give you

the names of all his pr evious employers and then wr ite to such

of them as you w ish, asking them specific questions about the

man . The average employer is glad to coOperate in th is exchan ge

of information . Mor e satisfactory r esults will be attained if you

send a prin ted form , with blank spaces for check marks or br ief

supplementary statemen ts of opinion . For example, a list of thedesir able qualities might be given ,

with four columns for check

marks one column headed“excellent the second“good,

”the

third fair,

” and the fourth“poor .

“A check mark after the

word P er sistence” in column 1 w ould mean that the applicant

was,in the opinion of the pr evious employer , entitled to high

rank as r eg ar ds persistence. Then it i s a g ood idea to ask spe

cific questions, follow ed by two columns, one headed“yes and

the other headed“no,

so that the replies to the questions can

be made as easy as possible.

Such questions may be asked , as, Why did applicant leave

your “Were his expense accoun ts too “W as

he a steady w orker ? “W as his pr opor tion of cancellation s high

or“W as he popular with the tr ade t

”,etc. By asking

questions of this kind much definite information is elicited wh ich

w ould never be ofier ed in a letter replying to a gen er al inquiry .

It is not safe to r ely on having the applicant in tr oduced

by some mutual acquain tance,although some man ag er s ask no

more. T OO much r eliance cannot safely be placed on refer en ces

fr om unkn own persons or fr om persons of the same race or r e

l ig ion as the applicant . One sales manager says

I n hir ing over salesmen I have found that r eferences from

previous employer s are invar iably biased by any racia l or r elig iou s tiesthat may exist between the two

,and so qu ite often I have one of my

men cal l on the old employer before I hire the man and find out hi s

national ity, and if he can , hi s r el ig ion .

S imi lar testimony is offer ed by A . Z immerman of the S tanley

Works, New Britain , Conn .,who says

My exper ience has proven the letter of r ecommendat ion to be of su chlittle value that the filing of them w ith application i s di scour aged ;. in fact,


in a general letter in reply to inqu ir ies relative to our requ ir ements w e

state, ‘ letter s of recommendat ion ar e not wanted, but we requ ire the names

of s ix per sons to whom you are personally known .

’

On one point regarding a man ’s business history ther e seems

to be a difference of opinion among executives . S ome maintain

that they hesitate to employ a man who has made fr equent

changes of employment or position between 25 and 35 years ofage. One employer states :

1 4

“N ine such men out of ten are inefficient, hard to handle, self-opin ionated w ithou t r easonable backing , and sometimes dishonest . So r ar ely i s a

w inner found among this class that it i s time wasted to g ive an interview .

”

The other side of the controversy is presented thus

“A s a matter of fact , the man best fitted for a selling position , pro

vided he has been honest in a ll hi s connections, i s the man w ith the var iedexper ience.

” 1 5

The Personal I nterview .—The third method of forming a

judgment r eg arding an applicant is the interview. L et u s as

sume that the applican t is being interviewed in person . And

it may be mentioned in passing that it is a good plan to interv iew

every applicant for a position , whether there is a vacancy or not,

as he may prove to be the very man wanted later.

S ome sales manager s rely str ongly on the physical char acter

istics of the applicant to r eveal the mental tr aits for which they

are seeking. The shape of the head , the set of the jaw ,the leng th

of the nose, or the color of the eyes ar e supposed to indicate

certain things,so that an exper t in

“char acter an alysis ” couldtell very soon after looking at a person whether he w ould be a

successful salesman for the concern . M r . J. Geor ge Freder ick ,who has wr itten much on sales manag ement, says ,

“Ther e ar e

simple-minded types of people who imag ine that externals

indicate a salesman, but no greater mistake can be made.

”

P sycholog ists for the most par t insist that there is no known

connection between a man ’s physical and his mental make-up .

14 LOUIS N . DE NN I S 'I ‘ON , Ag ency

O

'I nstructor of T raveler s’ I nsuranceCompany in Convention of Nationa l Association o f Corporation S chools .

1 5 M . J . HALLEY, of the T row Pr ess , N ew York.


In spite of this oppos ition to the theory, it has many adherents.

Whether or not we believe in character analysis of this sort,the appearance of a man does tell us something of him whi ch

we are glad to learn . W e can discover whether he is fat or lean ,for instance. The day of the fat, jovial salesman seems to be

pass ing, and there are some managers who pr efer men of the

lean,wiry type

,on the theory that they are able to cover more

g round and will attend mor e strictly to business . However,the

man with a strong constitution and abounding health,the type

who is likely to have a powerful personality, i s inclined to take on

flesh . A good digestion goes w ith good nature usual ly, and sales

men with dyspepsia do not often g et on well .

W e can also learn whether a man i s handsome or homely.

Here ag ain w e find a divergence of opini on among manager s.

S ome prefer men who can present a pleasing appearance,while

other s have gone on record as favor ing the man who is so

homely that he knows he will have to work hard to make up for

it. Much depends on the product to be sold, of course. W e can

tell a good deal about his groomin g, even though he may have

obtained a shave,manicur e and shine just before applying for

the position. Such things have a habit of appearing unnatur al

when they are not customary . A man ’s gramm ar

,his voice, his

social accomplishments and gr aces can be eas ily discovered in a

shor t interview, especially if he be invited out to lunch .

I n a per sonal interview we can learn whether a man has a

quick temper, for if he has w e do not wan t him unless he can

con tr ol it. W e can learn whether he insists upon ar guing. The

exper ienced sales man ager knows that ar gument is no way to

make sales,and he can test the applicant as to his ability and

diplomacy by trying to dr aw him into a hot ar gument . An

applicant’s resour cefulness can also be tested . S ome sales man

ager s suddenly confr ont a man with a specific problem in sales

man ship and ask the applicant to tell at once how he would

have met the trying situation .

Of cour se, the applicant i s pr actically selling his own services

when he meets the sales manager, so it may be easier to discover the desir ed char acteristics than i f he wer e applying for a

position as accountant or truck dr iver . Nevertheless,it is not

always true that the man who sells hi s own services the best

5 0 SALE S MANAGEMENT

proves the best salesman. This is particularly true in staple sell

ing, where the ability to win and hold friends is of more im

portance than the ability to make an impression on the fir st interview . Besides, when a man is selling his own services

,he is

self-conscious. When he is selling a pr odu ct he may easily forget

himself, his whole interest and thought being w r apped up in his

pr oposition . Many a g ood salesman gets embar r assed when he

tr ies to tell about himself or feels that the“pr ospect” is cri t i

cizing him . Out on the road the shy man may make fast

fr iends , for buyers do not feel it necessary to don their armorto repel his onslaughts.

It is also possible to get a line on an applicant’

s tenacity or

persistence even in the fir st interview by pictur ing to him the

g loomiest aspects of the position he is seeking. I f he still is

undaun ted and insists that he wants the place, it would appear

that he is endowed w ith the power to stick .

The E laboration of the I nterview .—Hugh Chalmer s said,

“No man shoul d be employed on the fir st inter view . I believe that

it i s necessary to see a man a t least two or thr ee times before you can

s ize him up proper ly. Then aga in , I believe i t i s a good idea to have morethan one man see a man before he i s employed .

”

Both of these statemen ts are pr ompted by the same thought

that it is wise to look a man over pr etty carefully and give

him plen ty of Opportun ities to make some fatal slip which he

might avoid for a short time. The elabor ation of the in terview

by having the applican t see mor e than one per son is common

now. It may be qui te informal , the differ ent men meeting later

to talk the matter over, or it may be made very formal . The

method evolved by the Bur eau of S alesmanship , connected with

Carn eg ie Institute of Technology in P ittsburgh , may be given

as a sample of these more formal interviews.

1 6

S uppose you are a sa les executive. A par t of your job—and a big

par t of i t—i s the hir ing of salesmen . T od ay you need, say, four men .

You have a dozen applicants ava ilable for those four jobs . B efor e youinterview the fir st of the dozen , you make up a sca le by which you ar e

to judge them al l . A s the mater ia l that goes into the make-up of you rscale, you u se the tra its and character istics of men you know—you r own

salesmen .

1 6 L . H. ALLEN, B usi ness , January, 192 1.


Thus you apply each division of you r scale to each man seeking a

j ob. When you have fin ished w ith each one you have g iven him a valueunder each of the division s and the total of those divisiona l values has

g iven you his tota l score—h i s ‘weight .

’

“You, a lone, m ight do al l the interview ing and all the w eighing of

appl icants . I n practice, how ever , i t has been found best to br ing to bearthe independent appra isa ls of two or more interviewer s . According ly, when

you have finished w ith each applican t you tur n him over , say, to the genera l manager . T he g eneral manager has on his desk an interview scales imilar to your s—sim ilar except that the g eneral manager has made up

the divisional selections of men for himself. The names on hi s sca le may,

or may not coincide w ith your s . I n any event , they r epr esent hi s opin ionsas to how the men rank under the five divisions . Withou t know ing howyou sized him up, the genera l manager i nterview s each applican t and ap

pra ises him . T hen a third in terviewer , and possibly a four th and a fifth,pass independen t judgment as did you and the g eneral manager .“With the interview s complete, the several verdicts of the interviewer sare assembled and the

‘weights

’are averaged and the averages r ecorded

on master scores for the appl icants . The rest, of cou r se, i s obvious ; out

of the dozen appl icants you s imply pick the four men whose scores are

highest .”

Another sales manager has evolved a list of plus and minusqualities as follows :

Plusagreeabledign ifiedloya lw illingtru stwor thyw ell-poisedfine appearancebroad-visionedenergeticstrong per sonality

per sistentr egardfu l of discipline

E ach man i s scor ed, the total of the minus column being sub

tracted from the total Of the plus column . The r emainder indi

cates the man ’s ability or value to the firm as evidenced by the

tes t. This test was w orked out by M r . R .

‘

E . Tucker,who

states 1 7 that when the men on a sales for ce w ere scored in this

way the results tallied w ith actual sales in every case but one.

1 7 System ,October , 19 18.

M inusbad temper edg rouchyin temperatevar iableeas ily discouragedjealou ssen sitivetreacherouslacking in sp1r 1t

egotisticlazyunambitiou s

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SMEN 5 3

A lthough it is offered here as a method of judging applicants

for positions, it may be seen that it has other uses . Such a test

could profitably be applied to any sales for ce, as it would bringout the weak spots in each man and give the sales manager some

thing definite on which to work .

Another thing which w ill be r evealed in the personal inter

view is the genuineness of the appli cant ’s desire to come w ith

the company. The man who is manifestly eager to make con

nect ions w ith a par ticular concern will pr obably prove to be a

most enthus iastic and loyal employee. A writer on the subject

tells an incident which illustr ates this point .

While I was w a iting one day for a fr iend, a man came out of hisoffice.

‘I have just hir ed that fellow ,

’sa id my fr iend, w hen I en tered hi s

room .

‘I know very little about him except that I never met any one

who wanted so hard to be w ith u s . He was so choked up w ith desirethat he cou ld hardly form an intell igent sentence in ta lking w ith me.

’

A rul e laid down by Hugh Chalmers is interesting. He

states that as a rule he thinks “that no man should be em

ployed who cannot as easily be fir ed as he was hir ed. Thi s refers

par ticular ly to the employment of your relatives, your wife’s

relatives, or the sons of your fr iends .

”

On e man who employs scor es of men a year emphasizes some

inter esting aspects of interviewing

The fir st thing I look for i n a man i s natu ralness of manner , frankn ess of speech . I f he has neither , I mu st by analysis find ou t why.

I n sizing up a man you must do what you can to place the candidate at

ease—therefore, be at ease your self. Many men in high positions are poorjudges of men because they cannot assume tow ards the appl ican t an easya i r

,or the applican t, becau se of the environm en t of the big man , i s ill

a t ease. I prefer to see the man on some neutra l g round if poss ible—at

least for the fir st interview . I n a few momen ts I turn the conver sationso as to find ou t what the man l ikes best . L et him tell the story of hi slife, par ticu lar ly of hi s boyhood . I tell some of my exper iences and it i snot long before I have my man at ease (pr ovided h is r ecord i s clear as a

young man ) and w e are conver sing as boy to boy, guards down , and I

look for fa ir play.

”

I n conducting the interview it i s well to avoid questions whichar e too direct or too bluntly put , especially at the outset . The

place for su ch questions i s in the application blank . A s the

interview pr oceeds, if it is apparent that the applicant i s not

5 4 SALE S MANAGEM ENT

fitted for the place, the employer should try to set forth so

clear ly the qualifications of the position that the applicant may

draw his own conclusions as to his unfitness.

If the applicant is not hired, it should be the aim of the inter

viewer to dism iss him without having lost any of his good-will .The r ejected applicant who leaves feeling that he received asqu ar e deal is an asset to the firm instead of a liability. In

case it is evident that the applicant is fitted to sell some other

line, it may be wor th while to call the attention of some otheremployer to him,

as it helps g r eatly to have salesmen in other

lines friendly towar d your house. And if the man is employed ,he should not be over sold on his new job

,or he will snfler a

r eaction of disappointment which w ill ser iously impair his selling efficiency.

Tests—The fourth and last method of selecting salesmenis by mean s of var ious tests . It seems likely that in the fu tur e

this method will be much mor e w idely used than it is at pr esent .The tests are of two kinds

, physical and mental .Physical T ests—These ar e more in the form of an exam

ination than a test, but the main purpose is to discover whetherthe applican t is physically fitted for the work. Wh ile ther e have

been many g ood salesmen with flat feet,it woul d be w ise to

elim inate these if ther e were much walking involved. Hernia,

poor hear ing , w eak heart, tuber cular symptoms , etc.,can be de

tected and, if too pr on ounced, may be sufficien t cause for r eject

in g the applicant. A fter all,these physical tests ar e a g r eat

kindness to the applicant for a position if they are adm in is

tered in the proper spir it and may serve as a guide in selecting

and car rying on fu tur e w ork.

P sychological T ests—Ther e is still mu ch differ ence of

Opin ion regardi ng the value of psycholog ical tests for deter

min ing the ability of salesmen . On e sales man ag er says,

“A s

for the written tests compiled by the psycholog ical sharks, they

ar e,in my opin ion , useless. They serve to indicate the speed

and accur acy of a man ’

s mental processes . If these hig hbr ows

had spent a few year s at my desk , they’d kn ow that these qual i

ties have little bear in g upon salesmanship . I have bookkeepers

r ight her e in the office who can r eg ister 100 per cen t on tests of

that natur e and couldn ’t sell wh iskey in the state of Maine.

THE SE LE CT I ON OF SALE SMEN 5 5

And I have star salesmen who present a pitiful shon when

confronted with them .

”

The other side of the question is ably represented by D r .

Walter Dill S cott, now P residen t of N or thwestern Uni versity .

D r . S cott was in charge of the psychological tests given in the

army dur ing the w or ld war , has used them widely in selecting

salesmen,and thinks highly of them . He used a g en er al in telli

g ence psychological test on the sales for ce of a large tobacco

house and the r esu lts of the test corresponded very closely to

the r anking of the men in point of sales, indicating that there

might be a close connection between gener al intelligence and

ability to sell goods .

Ther e ar e many varieties of mental tests,and since the pub

licity given them during the days of recru iting our army and

navy they ar e virtually public pr oper ty. Ther e ar e a number of

g ood books which give complete instructions as to methods of

administer ing such tests.

In order to determine whether a particular test is r eally

doing w hat it is supposed to do—sift out those who will make

the best salesmen—it is w ise to subject it to sever al checks. By

thus checking up on various tests , the sales manag er can soon

learn which test is the most suitable for his purposes .

In gener al there ar e two kinds of check . T he fir st i s by

allow ing a number of salesmen who have made good to take the

test and see whether they r ank high . If the test is adm inister ed

and taken in good faith,the r anking in the test ought to be

somewher e near their rank ing as salesmen . If it i s discovered

that the poor est salesmen rank high in the test, it is obvious

that the test is inadequ ate. This check may be var ied in dif

feren t ways,but the pr inciple is the same.

The other check is to keep the r ecords of the gr ades made on

the tests and later see if the men hir ed r ank the same as sales

men as they did on the tests. In other w ords this is mer ely

compar ing the show ings made on the mental tests w ith the show

ing s actually made as salesmen,the same as the fir st men tioned

check, only the salesman takes the mental test befor e he takesthe selling test . The pr inciple is practically identical .

Any test which will check with actual performance is a good

test to r etain in use.0

CHAP TE R III

THE SAL E SMAN’

S TRAIN I NG

Are S alesmen B orn or M ade? -The idea that salesmen,like

g r eat actor s or poets, are born and not made” is true to a

cer tain extent . Mu ch has been wr itten and said on both sides

of this subject,which has at times assumed almost the aspect of

a contr oversy,the net r esul t of which seems to be that sales

man ager s ar e r ecognizing that training may impr ove the ef

ficiency of almost any salesman . L ooking back over the history

of this con tr over sy it seems str an ge that any one should ever

have denied it, yet they did—and vigor ou sly. The ability to sell

was r egarded as a native g ift, an indefinable something which

some men possessed and other men did not. That was all there

was to it .

S low ly the conviction dawned that men could be tr ained to

sell much as they could be tr ain ed to do other th ing s, and then

the pendulum swun g in the other dir ection . It was loudly pr o

claimed that any man cou ld sell,if he wer e pr oper ly tr ained

‘

.“If a salesman would accept ins truction and con stan t rehear sal

w ith the same good g r ace that the tradition s of the stage r equ ire

of the actor , it w ould be compar atively easy to develop any

in tellig en t person into a g ood salesman .

” 1 The pendulum

swung far in th is dir ection and not un til r ecen tly has it begun

to r etu rn to a middle position, which seems to be the log ical one.

W e now recognize that a human _being 1s a pr odu ct of both

her edity and envir onment, and that the discu ss ion as to wh ich

was the mor e impor tan t was as fru itless as it was violen t . No

amount of tr ainin g will make a Ken tucky thor oughbr ed able to

pu ll as heavy loads as his Clydesdale cousin ; nor can year s of

work on the tr ack teach the latter to run a mile in T o

be su r e,these ar e physical char acter istics , but mental charac

ter ist ics ar e likely to be about as firmly r ooted and not susceptible

to chan g e. In con sequen ce the scientific sales manager selects

1 WILLIAM MA"WELL, Pr in ter s ’ I nk M on thly, Ju ly, 192 1.

5 6

THE SALE SMAN ’S TRAI N I NG 5 7

his men with care and then proceeds to train them after his own

ideas.

Reasons for Recent Emphasis on Training—The need forthis training became appar ent some thi rty or thir ty-five years ago

as selling, particular ly specialty selling, continu ed to incr ease in

complexity. S ome of the specific factors in the situation which

emphasized the need for traini ng w ere the following

1. The increase in number of specialties sold . T he sale of

a specialty is not so likely to depend on fr iendship,as is the

sale of a staple. P ersonality still has i ts place,but time is short

and the salesman must make the most of his limited opportunity.

2 . The increased size of sales for ces . P er son al supervision of

salesmen at a distance fr om headquar ter s became impossible, so

it was thought w ise to supervise them before they Went out, as

well as after they reached their ter r itory .

3. Mor e active competition in almost every field . As in agri

culture, medicine, law,and other phases of business

,the un

tr ained man must succumb in competition with his mor e highly

tr ained competitor.

4. The increased complexity of business , as it has developed

into huge units . The salesman must under stand so much more

than he once had to,because bus iness as a whole is more varied

and complex.

5 . The increased emphasis being laid on good-will by manu

factur er s . A s the size Of the business unit incr eased,it became

necessary to plan for repeat orders to a greater extent,and

the untrained salesman is likely to miss many oppor tunities for

cultivatin g good-w ill .

6. The increased use of cost accounting methods which re

vealed how very costly had been the r apid turnover in the sales

for ce. Training was resor ted to as one means for reducing this

high labor turnover.B enefits and Drawbacks.

—The benefits der ived fr om tr ain

ing salesmen may be br iefly summar ized un der a few heads

1 . Incr eased sales i s the most obvious benefit . Man y spe

cialty manufacturer s could not sell their pr oduct at all if they

did not teach their men how to present the pr oposition . E ven

in staple selling tr aining helps .

2 . Decreased selling costs per unit of sale.


3. The goods stay sold” better when they are intelligentlysold in the first place. The Yawman E rbe course of instruo

tion is so designed as to cu t down the amount of g oods returned

to the factory by users who have found them unsuitable to their

needs .

4. Future good-will of the firm is pr otected and enhanced .

A tactless salesman may do untold damage to his employer

thr ough alien atin g the good-will of the people to w hom he tr iesto sell .

5 . Higher gr ade men are attracted to the firm ofler ing ag ood train ing cour se.

6. L abor turnover is decreased,which has numer ous bene

ficial r esu lts,as every employer kn ows fr om exper ience. The

Nation al Cash Reg ister Company , sin ce it in augurated i ts pr esen t

system of tr aining salesmen,

finds that 78 per cent of them

make g ood, which is sever al times the aver ag e for most con cerns .

The for eg oing is not in tended as a complete list of the ad

vantages of tr ain ing methods ; it merely explains why they have

been so w idely in tr odu ced . However,it must not be under stood

that the idea has been unan imously and en thusiastically adopted .

The main r eason s why many manufacturers have held back fr om

in augur ating tr ain ing cour ses are :

1 . The difficu lty of developing a r eally satisfactory cour se

of study. It is not easy to find a man to head or plan a tr ain

in g cour se, and not always easy to g et the men to do the

teach ing.

2 . Natural iner tia w ould accoun t for the lack of thousands .

New ideas must be absorbed slow ly by the aver ag e mind .

3 . Many sales man ager s have felt that ther e w as little use

in establish ing su ch a school until the plan w as more gener al,for they fear ed that the men they had tr ained wou ld soon qu it

them and thr ow to their competitors all the benefits of the tr ain

ing they had r eceived .

B eg innings of T raining Movement—A s with most greatmovements, the tr aining school star ted modestly. Cr edit for

pioneer in g in th is field is g ener ally given to the late P r esiden t

P atter son of the National Cash Reg ister Company , and date of

the beg inn in g u sually stated as about 1892 , at which time P resi

dent P atter son thought he detected signs Of an appr oaching pan ic


It is not necessary that a concern confine itself exclus ively

to any one of these methods. Indeed, it i s usually desirable to

combine them in some manner. For example, the National Cash

Register Company uses all three methods in the training of its

salesmen,while many con cerns use two of the thr ee methods .

Requi rements for Admission—One of the questions of

policy which must be answered at the outset has to do w ith ado

mission r equirements. Who shall be allowed to take the course?

Obviously it is an expen sive pr oposition to conduct a salesschool

,and if some of the students ar e not wor th working with ,

there is much waste. A lso , as has been mentioned,most con

cerns feel that they do not car e to tr ain men who w ill leave

almost immediately and start selling for someone else, perhaps

a competitor .

This difficulty is avoided in several ways : 1. By char g ing a

small tuition fee or by asking the student to pay a certain

amoun t for books or supplies. This serves to bar the man who

is seeking mer ely a free cour se in salesmans h ip, and it also makes

the student feel that he is getting something valuable,as he is

compelled to pay for it . Few of us value highly that which

costs n othing.

2 . T he cour se may be so highly specialized that the student

learns little wh ich w ould be of value to him in any other em

ployment . It is well kn own today that, while a man does learn

certain g eneral pr inciples in such courses,the application of

them is so specialized that the know ledge obtained w ould helphim very little in selling any other ar ticle.

3 . S ome firms w ill not admit to their tr aining classes

students who have not alr eady shown their w illingness to work

and manifested some promise of selling ability. Young fellows

thus ar e expected to try out as jun ior salesmen for a time,and

only if they make good, are they permitted to take the regular

training cour se.

S ome firms insist on certain education al attainments,as a

high school or college diploma . Other s have psycholog ical tests

as entr ance examinations,but these are r are. I n gener al, the

r equir ements for adm iss ion to the training school ar e the same

as for employmen t on the sales for ce.

In any event,the men to be tr ained are often selected some

THE SALE SMAN ’S TRA I N I N G 61

time in advance an d their pr eliminary tr aining begun by mail .

“Th is pr elimin ary training is par tly for the purpose of arousing

the man’

s in terest and en thusiasm for the work to follow. He

may be sent sections of the sales manual, a few pages at a time ;he may be sent parts of his equipmen t

,so that he can be getting

fam iliar w ith it ; he w ill receive letters fr om the sales manag er

and perhaps fr om the other officer s of the firm . The result is that

w hen the tr ain ing class Opens he is par tly prepared and en tir ely

en thus iastic . If the salesman is r equir ed to learn a sales talk

verbatim,he can be learn ing it in this per iod of pr elimi nary

tr ain ing as well as later.

I . TRAI N I NG AT FACTORY OR B RANCH OFFI CE

This division of the w ork natu r ally falls into two phases ;the methods of in struction used , and the subject matter studied .

E xamples of M ethods .—T he methods used depen d much

upon the char acter of the pr odu ct to be sold. If it is in sur ance,the course is much like a colleg e cour se, con sisting mostly of

r eading,discussions

,lectur es , and pr actice. On the other hand

,

if the pr odu ct is a tang ible one which has to be manufactur ed or

assembled,the course must include some instruction w h ich is

design ed to fam iliar ize the salesman with the pr odu ct . In thiS‘

event,it is likely that his time in the tr aining per iod will be

divided between shop or labor atory and office or class r oom.

The mor e complicated the pr oduct or var ied the line,the

longer w ill be the term spent in the factory. One larg e con

cern makin g a var iety of pr oducts used in engineer in g construe

tion w ork r equir es pr ospective salesmen to spend two year s in

the shops , even though the men ar e g r aduates of a four -year uni

versity engin eer ing cou r se. I n other con cerns the per iod var ies

fr om a few weeks to a year, and the candidate for a sales job

is r equ ir ed to don over alls and take his place alongs ide the r egu

lar workmen . This par t of the tr ain in g cour se serves a double

purpose inasmuch as it familiar izes him w ith the pr oduct in all

its details and also eliminates all those who ar e not tenaciousenough to stick thr ough months of blister ed hands and aching

backs.

One larg e S t . L ouis firm keeps its prospective salesmen in the


factory for six months, on the theory that those who fall by thewayside would not have the per sistence and stamina to makegood salesmen . The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company statesfr ankly,“Wher e we think it for any reason necessary as a means

of br inging out cer tain qualities or determin ing if we are wast

ing time w ith the w r ong kind of mater ial, the cour se is made a

little more str enuous by w ay of the shipping and packing depart

ments,which means overalls and r oughing it with packing boxes

and shipping trucks. If a man goes thr ough th is cour se and

sticks to the finish,we kn ow he is in earnest and w ill make good

at the end.

” 2

An inter esting variation of this factory training is that given

by the Mid-West Box Company. Their men must be sales eng i

neer s, devising new contain er s for special needs of their cus

tomers , so the tr aining course in cludes four months in the labor a

tory,four months in the dr aftin g depar tmen t

,and fou r months

in the office, w orking on estimates and corr esponden ce. Th is

ofii ce tr aining links up the bus iness end w ith the mechanical as

nothing else could.

I f the pr oduct is one which has to be either demonstr ated or

kept in r epair, this factory tr ain in g is indispensable. The sales

man for a computin g scale manu factu r ing company can take

apar t and put in w orking or der any scale whi ch is not conduct

ing itself pr oper ly, mechan ically speaking. The Nation al Cash

Register salesman kn ows how each model of his own machin e is

made and he is also familiar with any competing machines, of

which ther e w ere former ly qu ite a number .

This business of w orking ar ound in the var ious depar tments

and coming into intimate con tact w ith each of them w ill teach

the salesman , as nothing else w ill, the r easons for the rules he

is supposed to obey when he gets out on the road. When he is

actually in a position to observe the delay, confu sion and cost

caused by the tran sg r ess ion of one of these rules or the neglect of

instruction s,he is not likely to forget it . T he policyof the house

is thor oughly instilled into him du r ing his sojourn ther e, and

he g oes out feeling that his inter ests and those of his employer

ar e iden tical . “T he firm ”is something tang ible of which he is

2 Letter to au thor .

THE SALE SMAN ’S TRAI N I NG 63

still a part , while the old man is a friend and not a distant

potentate to be feared and disliked. L ikewise,through his stay

at headquar ters he obtains a conception of the whole dealer situa

tion,assum in g that the product is marketed thr ough dealers .

He learns i ts possibilities and difficulties, not alone as applied to

one small terr itory but as applied to the entire country . A fter

this exper ien ce, he kn ows that his troubles out in Oklahoma ar e

being duplicated by the man traveling in Idaho or Vir gini a, and

he is less inclin ed to con sider himself the victim of peculiar and

unrelenting cir cumstances .

While the salesman is learning the fundamentals of pr oduc

tion,his pr ogr ess is usually helped by l iterature of various kinds

explaining the pr ocesses of manufactur e in terms of their history

and development, the reasons for them , the sources of the raw

materials, etc. This makes the drudgery more bear able.

The Yawman and E rbe Manufactur ing Company has had a

training school in oper ation for about fifteen years . A fter ex

per imen t ing with various length cour ses , they settled on a six

weeks ’ cour se as the best for their purposes. The fir st par t is

devoted to a study of the product , while the second par t takes

up the study of system . This period of study is inter sper sed

with actual w ork in the factory for a mor e detailed kn owledge

of factory methods. The pedagogical methods employed in this

school ar e in teresting because they follow the modern idea of

university education so closely.

3

Fir st the salesman i s told to imag ine he i s the cu stomer . The manu

factur ing bus iness i s considered fir st.‘Suppose you w an ted to go into

bu siness, ’ I tell the new men .

‘What i s the fir st thing you w ou ld have todo a fter you r company w as organ ized—that i s, which depar tmen t in a

manu factu r ing bu siness w ou ld have to be system atized fir st ?’“They are al lowed to str ugg le w ith this question by themselves . I t

g ives them a new slant on the whole proposition . N ear ly a lways theyar r ive somewhere near the cor rect answ er w ithou t help. I follow thismethod throughou t the en tire cour se. S omet imes it takes them a halfhour to discover why the pur chasing depar tmen t mu st be proper ly organized fir st, in order that r aw mater ials may be pur chased, stock r ooms

equ ipped, cost systems w orked out and sales and office r ecords installed .

Then I show them a model pur chasing depar tment in full operat ion ,w ith

3 ROL AND COLE, Pr in ters ’ I nk, p. 120, Feb. 5 , 1920.


systems for issu ing requ isition s, indexing catalogues, recording ordei ‘ s,

filing cor respondence, follow ing up prom ises and carding pr ices.

The new salesman gain s a comprehension in this w ay of the systemr equ irements of a pur chasing depar tment which he never forgets . I t

g rounds him in the fundamenta l pr inciples of the pur chasing function ofevery bu siness, large and sma ll . I t show s him how pur chasing is relatedto a l l the other depar tments and how other systems grow ou t of i t .

Imag ine, if you can , how many differen t kinds of bu siness systems

there are. I t w ou ld be imposs ible for an ordinary mor tal to r em emberthem . B ut when these are reduced to eight standar d or fundamen tal system s

,the w ork i s easy. These eight ar e ( l ) pur chasing , ( 2 ) stock, ( 3 )

cost, (4 ) order s and cor respondence, ( 5 ) ledger and sales ( 6 ) credit and

shipping , ( 7 ) rea l estate and insurance, and ( 8 ) profess i onal .”

A fter the men have studied the purchasing department,they

ar e asked“What next ? M r . Butler ur ges them to find the

corr ect answer themselves, and they gener ally do . The mater ials

pur chased by the purchasing depar tment must be stored and

listed. So stock keeping is taken up , r eceivin g goods, filling

r equ isition s, the perpetu al inventory and the other details.

A model stock r oom,with all its records

,is shown them.

Under -lying pr inciples mor e than the application of the system

to par ticular conditions ar e emphasized . S tock recor d keeping ,like the rest of the eight standard systems

,runs common to

thousands of businesses . A mastery of the pr inciples of a system

qualifies the n ew man to under stand the stock keep ing needs of

a factory,a r ailr oad

,a hospital or a zoo.

An inter esting pedagog ical point i s br ought out by one of the

instru ctors in the successful Sherwin-Williams’

school,Mr. A . E .

Kydd,who says z“

The men ar e not a llowed to see the manu factur ing processes untilthey have fir st been told abou t them in the classr oom . T his saves time.

After a man has been made to w restle w ith a subject men ta lly the observation of the process in the factory br ing s back most of what he has beentold in the classroom and fixes it in hi s mind .

”

New salesmen in this cour se are not talked to by representa

t ives from the factory. It is better to have manu factur ing de

tails pr esented to them with the sales significance head foremost,and this

,M r . Kydd believes, can best be done by representatives

4 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, p. 25 , Jan . 22 , 1920 .


of the selling force. A fter the two weeks ’ course is finished the

man is sent out on the road for two weeks alone. Before he

starts he is given a notebook and told how to use it . When he

r eturns to headquar ters his real edu cation begins. Two w eeks ’

tr ial by fire has taught hi m that he n eeds everything he learned

in the cour se, and he has his notebook full of question s to ask

his instructor . Thus he receives a valuable post-gr aduate course

in selling.

In most firms where a knowledge of engineer ing is consider ed

essential to the salesman , the policy has been to r ecruit the sales

for ce fr om the techn ical schools and colleg es of en g in eer ing, g iv

ing them the training in business and salesmans h ip in a shor t

course and sending them ou t to sell . In some firms wher e the

knowledge of engineer ing requir ed is not so extensive, it is the

custom to recruit the men fr om the better colleges of commer ce

and to teach them the fundamen tals of engineer ing as they apply

to the part icular pr oduct. The pr ocedur e followed will depend

on the r elative emphasis placed upon the know ledge of engineer

in g and an under standing of the fundamentals of business.

A few g ener al suggestions for the conducting of such schoolsar e ofier ed by an authority :

5

1. Where possible, do not mix cubs and older men in such

classes. The two types may have equal exper ience, but I have

found the older men someth ing like the older boys in a youngboys ’ class in gr ammar school . They are apt to be aloof and

make it difficult to maintain unity of efior t .

2 . Avoid conventional class -r oom furniture—small desks,

blackboards or a“teacher ’s desk .

” This seems to make many

good men feel awkwar d and silly. And there ’s no real need for

such furnitu r e, anyway.

3 . For the same reason,salesmen ’s class work should not be

made undu ly formal . They should be talked w ith—not lectur ed

to. Find out how mu ch they know before bor ing them with

material wh ich is too elementary . When you find that any Of

your men have particular ly str ong points , encour ag e them to talk

fr eely. The best teaching is to get the men—as far'

as possible

to teach one another .

5 FRANK L . SCOTT, Pr in ters’ I nk, Dec. 22 , 192 1.


The I nstructor .-I n such courses as w e have been discuss

ing, it is necessary that some one man should be in char ge.Th is

does not mean that he shall teach all the classes and give the menall the instruction they receive ; as a matter of fact, in most

cases he does not . But he must organize the work and di rect it .The methods in the clas ses cannot be the methods used in theaver age school r oom,

as the men ar e too matur e,and there is not

sufficient attention paid to individual students . By the time men

have r eached the age of salesmen,their per sonalities ar e fair ly

well developed and their individual tr aits must be considered if

the best resu lts are to be attained .

The selection of the teacher i s made the more difficult by

reason of this fact . It takes a big ger , mor e r esour ceful man

to command the respect and coOperat ion of a bunch of more

or less blasé male adults than of a g r oup of gr ade school pupils .

He mu st have a str ong person ality , mu st kn ow the pr oblems and

w ays of salesmen,and mu st be able to impar t this in formation

to them . I n many cases the sales manag er himself assumes th is

function ; in other s ther e is an edu cation al director in charge,w ith assistan ts under h im . On e large tir e manufactur ing com

pany has over thir ty instructor s in the school . If the sales for ce

i s larg e, as is the case wher e the pr oduct is marketed thr ough

exclus ive agencies and every retail salesman is vir tually w orkingfor the manufactur er

,the w ork assumes lar ge pr opor tions and it

may be a payin g investment to call in one of the best salesmen

and pu t him in char g e of the w ork, pr ovided he has sufficient

education to enable h im to plan and org an ize it .

In most tr ain ing cour ses the w ork of the r egular instructor is

supplemen ted by special lectu res from heads of depar tmen ts,salesmen who have made good r ecords, and outsiders who ar e

author ities in cer tain lines .

Subjects Covered.—N atur ally

,no list of subjects can be

given that is applicable to every tr aining cour se, but some may

be suggested as typical .

The pr odu ct itself is usually studi ed first , the man being pu t

thr ough the shOp work if deemed necessary to familiarize hi m

w ith it .

The or ganization of the firm ought to be impressed on him ,so

that he can know just what becomes of every order or r epor t


discuss ion of the psychological phas es and the specialized appli

cation of the art of elocution . This i s the par t of the coursewhich r equ ir es the most car eful instruction

,as each salesman

usu ally has his preconceived notions on the subject. It is at this

point that a weak instructor will fail in his effor ts.

Miscellaneous instructions and ru les w ill be intr oduced

throughout the course,such as methods of main tain ing health

while on the road,personal appearan ce and depor tmen t

, policies

towar d competitor s, expense accounts, etc.

M ethods and E quipment .—I t w ould not be expected that

the men would work as much fr om textbooks as studen ts in col

lege, but ther e is usually a fair amoun t of r eading to be don e. A

con cern which has been tr aining its salesmen for any length of

time w ill have built up quite a libr ary in i ts par ticu lar field,

and assignmen ts ar e made in var ious books and bound per iodi

cals . L ectur es play an impor tant par t in the plan , as it has been

foun d that the aver ag e salesman feels that he has fin ished school

and does not like the idea of studying his lessons and r eciting on

them as if he w er e in the seventh g rade.

The ster eopticon and moving p ictu r e may both be utilized to

advan tag e l n visualizing var ious poin ts , par ticu lar ly the history

of the pr odu ct , adver tising pr in ciples , and char ts show ing facts

abou t the bu siness. When the time ar r ives for the pr actice in

sellin g , the stage may be set r ather elabor ately,a complete office

being fitted up ,or a section of a r etail stor e, in which the sales

man encounter s condition s appr oximating those he w ill meet

when he star ts out .

The M anual .—The near est appr oach to a textbook is the

sales manu al pu t ou t by the firm for the purpose of gu idi n g the

salesman . Th is manual is often used as a textbook in the course

and r etained for r efer en ce after the train ing per iod is over . It

may be pu t up in loose-leaf form and changed to meet n ew con

dit ion s as they ar ise. A lthough the sales manu al is als o a par t

of the later train ing of the salesman ,the pr in ciples govern in g its

comp ilation and construction may pr operly be discussed at this

point .

It i s w ell to sell the salesman thor oughly on the value of the

manual before he is sen t ou t, or he is likely to ign or e it after

he star ts selling. The ideal aimed at is to have him keep the

4,

THE SALE SMAN ’S TRAI N I N G 69

manual,refer to it frequently, and prize it highly. T O this end

he should be taught to consider it his“bible. The size and

form of the book ar e impor tant, the best practice now being to

pu t it out in pocket size and in loose-leaf form if it is to be used

by r oad men . I f it is too bu lky,the salesman will not carry it ,

even in his gr ip ,and if it is not constantly r evised

,he w ill for g et

it . The ar r an g ement of the mater ial should be log ical and w ell

indexed, so that new pages can be inser ted quickly . I t is best to

have the main divisions alr eady indexed, perhaps leaving the

salesman fr ee to devise supplementary indices.

e mater ial for the sales manual is compiled fr om many

sour ces. Other manuals furnish ideas,while the salesmen them

selves can help gr eatly. One firm had each salesman subm it a

paper about cer tain articles in the line,which contr ibutions

,

coupled with those of the sales manager , eng ineers , heads of other

depar tmen ts, etc.

,furnished the nucleus for a good manual . D is

eussions at conven tion s,articles on salesm ansh ip and business,

letter s from customers and salesmen,all may be made to yield

valuable facts for the book.

The typical manual contains pr actically nothin g that is not

mention ed as par t of the subject matter of the course,but it is

likely to go into con sider able detail on salesmanship ,methods of

meeting objection s,appr oaching a customer , closing the sale

, etc.

If it i s to be used as a par t of the selling equipmen t, it may

contain letter s fr om pleased buyer s,illustr ations of the pr oduct

in use, and sim ilar mater ial . S ome manuals ar e design ed to be

shown to the pr ospect to rein force cer tain statements made by

the salesman,while other s are for his per sonal perusal only, a

heavy fine being levied on the salesman who loses his manual .

Wher e manuals ar e in loose-leaf form the salesman himself can

add to them fr om time to time by the 1nser tion of clippings,Or

Of his own ideas and exper ien ces .

I I . ROAD OR FI E L D TRAI NI NG

P urposes of Field Train ing—E ven after a systematic tr aining cou rse taken in the classr oom under a competent in str u ctor ,a man may not be pr epared to go out and make a success of sell

ing. Ther efor e,many concerns believe in following up the

’

young


fellow and giving him some fur ther in struction in connectionwith the actual work of selling.

There is , however , a difierence of opinion on this point amongsales managers . On e believes that a n ew salesman gets mor e good

by working alone than he wou ld with an instructor or coach to

lean on . Yet even this manager makes fr equent trips in to histerr itory and does what he thinks necessary to help the new

man g et well started .

The benefits to be der ived from this field tr aining are pro

claimed by one sales manager as follows :

“I t ra ined in the field for a g oodly number of year s, staying from

three days to three w eeks along w ith the men . Some of the mater ial Iw orked w ith w as good educated mater ial ; other s w ere picked up salesmenhere and there and everywhere, and yet I found that by tra in ing them in

the field I never got less than 100 per cen t increase in efficiency from anyman at any time, and by a mathematical r ecord I got as high as per

cent from some of them and 5 00 and 600 per cent from many.

”

M ethods.-One common method of conducting this field

trainin g is to send the new man out w ith one of the older salesmen

, letting h im w atch the mor e exper ien ced man sell for a fewweeks and g ivin g h im an Oppor tunity to learn at fir st hand howsales ar e made under actual conditions . The choice of the older

man must be car efully made. Not every g ood salesman makes a

g ood teacher or coach,even though he tr ies . He may be lacking

in patience, sympathy, or a belief in the rules laid down by the

house for successful selling . Many older men have gotten aw ay

fr om the rou tine selling methods taug ht in the training course,and do not appr eciate that , while they may be able to sell by

some other mean s,it is undoubtedly w ise for the beg inner to use

the tactics taught him in the training class . I n this w ay the

older salesman may undermine the teachings of the school and

g ive the n ew man the handicap of a poor star t . The salesmanwho depends chiefly upon a power ful personal ity to put acr osshis sales may pr ove a poor teacher .

S ales manag ers discover that occasionally Older salesmen teach

beg inner s some bad selling tr icks as w ell as g ood ones. S ome

times they cher ish petty g rudges again st some official in the home

office, and harp on these so continually that the young man is


robbed of much of his loyalty and pr ide in the house he r epr e

sents. Other salesmen dislike to sell befor e a cub,or perhaps

appr oach on ly the easy pr ospects, thereby giving the n ew man

the impression that selling is composed mostly of vis iting with

fr iendly customer s who welcome the sa lesman w ith an invitation

to dinner . Occas ional ly the old-timer passes on some lax habits

to the younger man ; they have been kn own to offer thor ough ih

struction in the technique of padding expense accoun ts"When the n ew man has w atched the old-timer sell for a time

,

he shou ld be allowed to“t his hand” on some pr ospect . Rig h t

here the coach has an Opportun ity tm p ny

“m at fiity in the

selection of the prospect for the young chap to tackle. If the

boy needs confidence in himself, he should be allowed to star t on

an easy prospect who i s almost cer tain to buy . But if the youth

is complacent and over -confiden t , he ought to be intr oduced to

some par ticul ar ly difi‘i cult pr ospect to take some of the conceit

out of him . A fter he has made the effor t,whether successful or

not,the tr ainer should go over the sale w ith him and di scuss it

thoroughly,with the aim of bringing out the strong and weak

points displayed .

This need for treatin g n ew men differ ently is on e of the ad

vantag es of the field tr aining method. One experien ced trainer

illus tr ates this idea thus

Wherever assistan ce i s needed , ther e the instructor g oes to help.

Differen t individuals, how ever , need difl'er en t treatmen ts . You go out and

help one man close a sale and he learn s by w atching your m ethod . An

other type, how ever , becomes lazy when he finds he can g et help in closinghi s sales and i s con stantly com ing in w ith stor ies of how he cou ld surelyget this or that order if I w ou ld on ly go ou t and help him . T hen aga inother s never learn to stand on their ow n feet and never develop the con

fidence to close a sale as long as they are g iven a ssistan ce.“Upon that type of salesman I often played a tr ick which w orked

su ccessfu lly. I w ou ld make an appoin tmen t to meet him at a prospect’s

office . T hen I w ou ld fa il to show up ; and the salesman,w ith the ap

pointmen t made, w ou ld have to go through w ith the story a lone . Thenlikely he wou ld, to hi s ow n surpr ise, r eceive the order and delightedly r u shto the ofli ce w ith it . Of cou r se I w ou ld apolog ize for not being able tokeep the appointmen t ; ‘

bu t , you see,’I wou ld r emark, ‘

you didn’t need

me a fter all"’“A s to the type w hich through mere laziness w as a lw ays trying tosel l me on his prospects, I would s imply turn him down and tell him he


must close the business himself. With this man I usually acqui red a

reputat ion for hard-heartedness, but i t worked for the g ood of his soul .”

Variations of Field Training M ethods—S ome large firms

have special trainers who do nothing except coach the youngermen in actual field work

,sometimes w orking with them in

groups . This method is to be commended where the sales forceis large enough to make it possible. I n city selling it is often

poss ible, and even where the salesmen ar e somewhat scattered asupervisor can tr avel among them and help them pick up bus i

ness. This sort of teaching should be done very tactfu lly , as themen are likely to be more exper ienced and r esen tful of bluntsuggestions. A bout six salesmen is as many as the aver age

tr ainer can handle satisfactorily,although some firms put him in

charge of a larger number .

One house cater ing to the technical field has i ts eng ineers

tr avel periodically with the salesmen . The eng ineer is simplythe salesman ’s assistant

,and in this guise can car ry on his w ork

as coach most successfully. The salesman condu cts the sal e and

the engineer assists only when engineer ing poin ts come up which

the salesman is weak in handling. Incidentally the eng in eer s

benefit gr eatly from this direct contact w ith user s,and fr om

their field work have arisen many improvements in the com

papy’s pr oduct .

This field training may be made a sort of perpetual affair.

One very large and successful con cern has i ts salesmen visit the

br anch Office every two weeks for instruction at the hands of the

manager . The men br ing up var iou s pr oblems they have en

countere’d,which ar e discussed and decided .

One device used in the ear ly tr aining of the new salesman is

to let him go out and sell , or try to sell , a pr ospect who is in

league w ith the selling firm and who w ill the'

youn g sales

man work hard and long. Th is“stool pi can then r epor t

to the salesman ’s manager on the way he

This little scheme permits the manager to get a line on a sales

man befor e he has a chan ce to lose any business by poor methods.

A combination of the factory and field sales tr aining is found

in some or g anizations having a very large sales for ce and many

br anch offices. This method takes the form of a traveling sales


school which makes it possible for the salesmen everywhere to

have the benefit of the tr aining without the expense of tr aveling

to headquar ters . It also enables the di r ectors of the cour se to

adapt it to local conditions better than when it is conducted at

the factory.

I I I . L ONG-DI STANCE TRAI NI NG

This third method of tr aining is closely allied to the methods

of stimulation repr esented by the house organ,bu lletin

,and

letter fr om the home office in that all these ar e designed to be

mor e or less educational in char acter. The differ en ce lies in the

fact that the regu lar bulletins and letter s go to old as well as n ew

salesmen and con tain much that cannot be classed as edu cational

in purpose. They are to some extent inspirational also . When

we discuss the trainin g of salesmen by cor responden ce we have

in mind something definitely educational , something that is de

signed for no other purpose.

I n case it is impr acticable to give the young salesmen the

benefit of personal field tr aining, corr espondence may pr ove a

g ood substitute. I t may be used with or w ithou t personal in

stru ction . The impor tan ce of follow ing up the gr een salesman

cannot be over estimated , as it is in those first few weeks that hew ill“make or break . A s one writer puts it : 6

“When a green horse i s broken to harness and put on the r oad i nactive service, the cr itica l time in his l ife occur s . The attention and treatmen t which he then r eceives determ ine largely whether he i s to

,

become

a healthy, steady worker or broken -w inded, balky or cr ippled. So, too,

w ith the salesman . I t i s then the new salesman mu st be g iven mostwatchfu l attention , and t reatment taken to nur se him to r ecovery if a t anyt ime he show s signs of slipping . T his tenden cy to fa ilu r e applies not

a lone to the raw r ecru it w ithou t previous sell ing exper ience, i t occur s alsoamong those w ith su ccessfu l sell ing r ecords in other l ines . T ransplanted,these men find themselves lost ; the methods w hich previously won order sare unavail ing .

Another trainer of many successful salesmen voices agreement thus : 7

6 HE NRY B URW E N , P r in ter s’ I nk.

7 L . N . DE NN rs '

rON , T r aveler s’I nsurance Co.


The work of the tra in ing school should follow the new men into thefield, and the instructor ’s influence shou ld be continued in order that thetheoretica l may be merged into the practical w ithout loss of enthus iasm ,

loyalty, or interest .”

TheWestinghouse L amp Company star ts a n ew salesman on a

correspondence course cover in g the manufacture, application andsale of the pr oduct. The course is handled in the same way as

that of the In tern ational Cor r espondence S chools and extendsover a per iod of two years .

8

One Successful Course—The Bur r oughs Adding MachineCompany has an elabor ate cour se requir ing one year to complete,with the student putting in about two hours a day in study. C.

W. Treadwell , manager of sales instruction for‘

the BurroughsCompany, says

“This i s the fir st t ime we have ever said ‘M ust’ to our salesmen .

We have outlined a defin ite cou r se of study, of which they a re expectedto master every deta il . I t i s in tended to make this the best t rainedselling organ ization in the field

,if not in the wor ld.

” 9

Because of the su ccess atten ding this tr ainin g effort, perhaps

it may be wor th while to exam ine the details a little mor e closely.

About tw en ty textbooks ar e used,in addition to the r egular sell

in g manuals, bookkeepin g systems,etc.

,whi ch the salesmen u se

in the r egular selling w ork. The full cour se is divided into six

sub-cour ses,each vir tually complete in itself . They ar e gr aded,

and bear the following titles : Jun ior Tr ain in g Cour se, Jun ior

Course Advan ced,The Distr ict S chool

,E lemen tary S en ior

Course,S ellin g S chool for Senior s , A dvan ced S en ior Instru ction .

The mater ial is sen t to the men in small installmen ts, which in

su r es their r eading it when they w ould falter at attacking one or

two formidable appear ing volumes .

Fr equen t examin ation s ar e held and the questions asked are

very sear ching. I t is expected that a studen t w ill r esor t at times

to his textbooks in an sw er ing the qu estions, bu t this does not

matter . If he answer s them all satisfactor ily, he w ill be sur e

to read the en tir e cour se thor oughly, which is pr ecisely what is

w an ted . On on e chapter ther e are twenty pages of questions to

8 J. C . AS P LEY,

“Modern Sales Organ ization .

”

9 EUGENE WHITMORE , Sa les M anagemen t , December , 1921.


in formation that much of it must remain undigested or be for

gotten. Much expensive sales educational material has been

given out but no check provided to learn whether the men w ere

making use of it as they should.

To have a cor r espondence course succeed,a check must be

placed on the men to make sure they are studying, and they must

be offered an incentive to study. I t operates best when used in

connection with one or both of the other methods of tr aining.

In concluding th is synopsis of training methods it is in ter

esting to note what an old salesman has to say on the subject .

His w ords are,

‘The scheme of shoving a grip into a man

’

s hands

and telling him to go out and make good after a tr ip to the

factory and a little preliminary fussing, is nothing but cruelty.

My r eal message from the salesman ’s point of view about sales

schools is that it is the first real square deal the salesman’s tribe

ever got from employers . The sales school is therefore the greatest ally of the salesman

,because it is like military training and a

kn apsack to a soldi er at the front. ”

CHAP TE R I V

E QUI PMENT

THERE are very few propositions which can be pr esented to

the prospect without the aid of some sort of selling equipment .

Th is may be the dozen trunks of the clothing salesman or the

little booklet of the insurance solicitor,but it is equipment

,and

necessary. As A . W. Douglas,vice-pres ident of the S immons

Hardwar e Company, says,“One of the most import ant elements

of w ork on the road is car rying samples .

” 1

Ther e ar e thr ee W M govern the use of

equipment : it should aid in getting an audience, it should ass ist

in making sales, and it should be as simple as possible. With

these three principles in mind, it w ill be easy to work out the

policies regar ding equipment for any line.

I . TO AI D I N OB TAI NI NG THE I NTERVI EW

The Advance Card.—Under this head w e may consider the

advance card, sent out by the salesman to notify his prospect that

he is on his way and will call on a certain date. I t is the

custom of many salesmen calling on a r egular tr ade to use ordi

nary government postcards for this purpose. Where the sales

man is well liked and his visit welcomed, this pr actice may pr oveentir ely satisfactory

,but when he plans to call on a pr ospect

who is perhaps not handling his line or who is not buying very

much from him,the problem becomes more acute. Under these

condition s it is necessary that the advance car d ar ouse genuineinterest in the appr oaching call ; in other w ords, it should par

take lar gely of the char acter of an adver tisement . The following discu ssion of the subject of advance cards is so adequate that

little r emains to be added 2

1“T raveling Salesmanship, p. 28.

2 C . B . LARRAB EE, Pr in ter s ’ I nk M on thly, Ju ly, 1921.

77


“Ask the average salesman what he thinks of sa lesman ’s advance

cards. Probably his answer w ill be non-comm itta l . Has he ever used

them ? No, but he know s severa l fellows who have. A sk the salesmanif he has ever thought of u sing them. Yes

,bu t he seems to be getting

a long pr etty w ell as it i s . B usiness i s rotten—bu t then Does he believe in adver tising ? Sure he does, but what ’s that got to do w ith ad

vance cards?“On my desk i s a letter from the sales manager of-a large cloak and

su it company. I t says, ‘Frankly, I think the card i s being somewhat over

done.

’T o which the an sw er i s,

‘Frankly, how often have you seen i t

done r ight?’B ut that i s an attitude that i s pretty common among sales?

men and sales manager s in a gr eat many lines.“On the other hand, I have a half dozen letters of which this i s a

good sample :‘Our advance card by no mean s satisfies us, and w e ar e con

stant ly trying to think of a more dign ified and effective means of announcing our salesmen

’s calls.

’

“A study of the advance cards now in u se w ill r eveal abou t a dozentypes, runn ing from pla in postcard announcements to car efu lly preparedblotter s and elaborate checking lists . The pla in announ cemen t probablydoes have i ts value, ju st the sam e as a new spaper adver tisemen t that sayson ly ‘W e are selling this w eek a fine line of fan cy gr ocer ies

’has i ts value.

I f the salesman feels that i t i s sufficien t to appr ise the dealer of his com

ing , that nothing mor e i s needed, then he can u se a postcard on which i sw r itten ,

‘Dear S ir : I w ill call on you on or abou t Ju ly 5 in the interestof Smith T ir es .

’ How ever , one question a lw ays occur s to the man who

r eads this card : Why bother to have it pr in ted?“A var iation of this pla in announcemen t idea which i s effective, how

ever , can be u sed by compan ies that sell high class goods to an exclusivetrade. A salesman who i s selling on ly the best g rade of s ilverw are in the

best class of jew elry stor es can tell of hi s n ext visit very effectively w ithan almost pla in ,

heavy car d w ith an engr aved message runn ing some

thing like this :‘M r . M . B . Blue has so ar ranged the schedu le of hi s pres

ent tr ip as to be w ith you abou t July 7. He tru sts that you w ill find itconven ient at that t ime to look over his line .

’T o be sur e, it doesn ’t have

a gr eat deal of pun ch, but it i s calcu lated to appeal to one class of trade.“Now to jump to advance ca rds that show much thought in prepara

t ion , that are clever and effective pieces of dir ect-mail adver tising .“The B . F. Goodr ich Rubber Company has been u sing a most com

plete and efl'ect ive line of cards . They r ange al l the way from fr anklyhumorous cards to those having a dign ified and qu iet appeal . For in

stance, there i s the Fiftieth Ann iver sary card, which in illustration , decoration and typogr aphy identifies itself at once w ith the company

’s maga

z ine and new spaper adver tising . I t i s headed ‘Fift1eth Ann iver sary’ and

beneath the heading i s a l ine cut of a dock scene. The message r ead s :‘To

have l ived fifty year s i s much—to have g rown the full fifty i s mor e. The

true test of an inst itut ion is more than age—it i s how much it has wr itten

advan ce card w hich suggests clev

bOth the produ ct and the con temca ll .

(Faci ng Pag e 78)

A n advance ca rd which enhan ces the

dign ity of the firm and salesman .

T his advance ca rd saves t im e for cu stom er

and sa lesman .

E QUI PMEN T 79

int o the progr ess of the w or ld . Will ca ll on you w ith a full l ine ofRubber Goods about July 2d.

—James A . G reen , the Goodr ich M an .

’

“Of just the opposite appeal i s a card bear ing the pictur e of an olddarkey, w ith a watermelon under each arm . He stands looking long ing lyat a n ice fat pul let . The message i s,

‘You can ’t have everything . B u t i t’

s

a cinch to make you r choice in rubber goods . I’

ll see you Ju ly 10 .- James

A . Gr een , the Goodr ich M an .

’

“There ar e a dozen other cards, but these illustrate what Goodr ich

i s doing a long that line. These cards g et the dealer’s attent ion and hold

it for the same r ea son that an adver tisement g ets the con sumer’s a tten tion

and holds it . They ar e pr inted on blotter s, so that, instead of g iving a

careless look at the card and then chu cking it in to the basket, the

dealer w ill keep i t on h i s desk—for every dealer can u se a blotter . I n

this w ay he has a lw ays before him a rem inder that the salesman i s goingto ca ll—and more than that, a r em inder of the Goodr ich l ine. T his i s a

big poin t in prepar ing advance cards—make them so effect ive that thedealer w on ’

t w ant to throw them away.

”

The Whitaker P aper Company card represents another type,and appeals especially to a dealer whose stock has a r apid turn

over and r equir es fr equen t checking up to avoid shor tages . On

one side appears the s imple ann ouncement :“I expect to call onyou .on or about July 21.

—R. M . Hunt .” Underneath this is

the,

company’

s tr ademark and the line,“S ee other side of card .

”

The purpose of this card is to avoid the usual confusion attendant

upon a salesman’s visit which comes at an inopportune moment

when the dealer i s busy w ith other matter s. By using this card

he can check over the stock at his leisure, ther eby making a mor e

careful inventory than he otherwise would make. This saves the

time of . the salesman and leaves him free to push the sale of

special items .

The types of cards mentioned do not include all, by any

means. S ome firms u se pictur e post-car ds of the factory, or of

un ique uses to which the product may be put , or of differ ent

products in the line. S ome of these ar e educational,as those put

out by on e coffee impor ter , show in g the variou s stages thr ough

which the product passes enroute fr om the plantation to the

table.

The chief objection voiced by salesmen to the use of advance

cards is that it offer s the dealer a chance to prepar e for the cal l ,to for tify himself with r easons for not buying, or perhaps to

absent himself from his place of business when he thinks the

80 SALE S MANAGE M EN T

salesman is due to arrive. B ut this is no argument agains t theadvance card ; it is r ather a confession of weakness on the par t

of the salesman. The salesman who cannot serve his customersso that they are w illing and glad to see him

, should revise hisselling methods .

In brief, the advance card should conform to some of thesimple rules governing the plann ing of dir ect-mail advertise

ments , among which may be men tioned the follow ing

Avoid mon otony by fr equent chang e.

Don ’t compel a salesman to u se them ag ainst his better judg

ment . If he sees the other men ar e using them to good advan

tage, he will give them a tr ial .

Make them interesting and snappy, but not cheaply clever .

Mere car toons are often poor salesmen.

Make the cards of some use to the customer , either as a

blotter , a calendar, a checking list, or in some other way. Then

he will keep it by him .

The B usiness Card—S ome of the same pr inciples apply to

the business car d car r ied by the salesman . The business car d

really is adver tising and should be tr eated as such . I n the fir st

place, it should r eflect the character of the busin ess the salesman

repr esents . If that busin ess is pr in tin g , the card should be

pr in ted, not en graved . If the lin e is mechan ical stoker s, the

type used w ould be differ ent fr om that on the card pr esented

by the salesman for toilet pr epar ations.

In the secon d place, the card should be novel if possible.

Her e is the w ay two w ide-awake New York houses got away from

the conven tional in bus iness car ds 3

T his firm w as in the engraving business—the photo-engraving end ofthe bu siness—and it specialized in adver tising plates . I t employed six

or seven sa lesmen , who w ere constantly calling on new prospects and in

t roducing the firm to these pr ospects . T he head of the plan t w as a strongbeliever in the advan tages of g iving a novel punch to a l l adver tising .

And he was a lso a firm believer in the ability of the bu siness card to act

as adver tising . So instead of equ ipping hi s salesmen w ith the u sualform of card, he supplied them w ith half-foot celluloid ru ler s upon whichwere pr in ted m easu r emen ts for type . With the a id of this ruler the

adver tising men cou ld easily determine how many lines of var ious-sized

3 FRANK WILLIAMS , Pr in ters ’ I nk Mon thly, May, 1920 .


dealer can stop him,he is star ted on a selling talk. This has in

creased g reatly the sales of the L ee repr esentatives and they are

enthusiasti c over the idea

I I . TO I NCREASE SAL E S

The second pr inciple governing the salesman ’s equipment is

that it shou ld be designed to aid him in making sales. This rests

back on fundamental human nature—w e g et mor e interested in a

thing if it is made to appeal to u s through mor e than one of ou r

five senses . Therefor e,if we can see and hear and touch an

object,we ar e mor e likely to be inter ested in it than if w e only

see it or hear it. This is particular ly true of mechan ical devices.

There is a certain fascination in playing w ith a cash reg ister ,pushing down the keys

,turning the lever , ringing the bell . The

automobile salesman knows that he seldom has the pr ospect,

thoroughly “hooked” un til he gets him behind the steering

Wheel .

The Use of M odels—There ar e some l ines wher e it is har d

to carry samples of the pr oduct, as it is bu lky or heavy . S ome

firms have solved th is difli cu lty by turning ou t miniatur e models

for the use of their salesmen . The Cowan Truck Company ,

manu facturers of trucks for internal tr an spor tation in factor ies,furnishes its salesmen with miniature models which pr ove of gen

uine inter est to the pr ospect . The Wetzel Mechanical S toker

weighs tons,but a tiny w orking model can be car r ied in the sales

man ’s grip, and most pr ospects like to

“play with it . These“toys” serve to ar ouse inter est and also to make clear er the me

chan ical construction of the product .

P lanning the Kit—Much can be done to add to the effec

tiveness of the demon stration by car efully planning the trunk or

sample case. Ther e should be a place for each i tem and these

shoul d be ar ranged as near ly as possible in the or der they ar e

used . That is,the salesman shou ld not be compelled to stop his

demonstration to search the depths of his case for the article he

wishes to show next . Such a lapse in the selling talk inter rupts

the progress of the sale, gives the buyer a chan ce to think up and

voice his objections,and furthermore

,makes a very poor im

pression on the pr ospect. I f the salesman does not know his line,

(Faci ng Pag e 82 )

A w ell -plann ed kit which con serves space and di 5 plays the samples .

E Q UI PM E N T 83

he cannot expect to interest other s in it . Confidence,on e of the

pr ime requisites of a sale, is destr oyed .

It w ill frequently pay to have special kits made up for the

salesmen , so that these advantag es may be utilized . A good illus

tration of this principle is the kit used by the Borden salesmen .

In this little kit, scar cely larger than a portfolio, are contained

an electr ic disc stove, heating pan for w ater , thermos bottle, four

metal cup holders, a supply of w axpaper cups, four spoons, two

glass mixing spoons , and paper napkin s . The salesman open s the

kit, puts a teaspoonfu l of cocoa or coffee in a cup ,

pours hot

water in to the cup fr om the thermos bottle, stirs it up and Ofiers

it to the mer chan t ready to dr ink . The pr ocess of pr epar ing it is

so in ter esting and,largely because the kit is so well arr ang ed,

takes such a few moments , that the mer chant is sold on the idea

that the pr oduct can be pr epar ed almost instantly. When the

hot w ater in the bottle is g one, the salesman heats more on his

little stove and is ready for the next call . In this illus tration it

can be easily seen how greatly a well-organized sample kit mayadd to a sal esman ’

s efficiency.

In those cas es where the samples ar e used primarily to illus

tr ate the selling talk,it is imper ative that they be ar r anged so

that they may be br ought out without inter rupting the demon

str ation . Wher e the samples do the selling,it may not be quite

so essential,but it is still impor tant.

To avoid disorder and to insu r e that every ar ticle goes back

in to i ts place in the case, the samples may be number ed . Or it

may be desir able to put them out in different sizes,so that they

w ill fit in no compar tment bu t their own . Finally the sales

manager will do well to examine the sample cases of his men

frequently. On e sales manager says :

I t 1s an in ter esting study of human nature to exam ine a man’s

sample case a fter he has l ived w ith it a few w eeks . You g et a pr ettyfa ir idea of the salesman him self from the w ay hi s sample case looks a fterhe has dom inated it for a matter of two or three w eeks .

” 4

The r i ght use of his equipment is somethi ng the salesmanshould learn befor e he star ts on his first tr ip . A very exper i

4 RAY GILES , Pr in ter s ’ I nk M on thly, M ay, 192 1.

84 SALE S MANAGEM E NT

enced salesman once said, The successful use of samples con

sists in know ing them and showing them.

” 5 Unl ess pr oper use

is made of them ,they cost more than they earn. One of the

first matter s to be decided is the number of samples whi ch will

be car r ied . This depends on sever al factors, such as the gener al

business conditions which ar e reflected in the ease of making

sales ; the natur e of the goods ; the terr itory bein g worked. Where

fashion i s a factor and the character of the goods is chang ing

frequen tly, it is more essential to car ry samples than wher e the

items ar e staple fr om year to year . I n gener al,new goods shoul d

be sampled, for every buyer wishes to see what he is going to

receive. The more expen sive an ar ticle is, too , the more likely it

is that the salesman shou ld car ry samples.

How to Show Samples—Now as to the method Of display

ing them to the pr ospect, it may be said that it is possible to

show too many samples at a time and ther eby distr act the at

tention of the buyer . This point is illustrated interestingly in

the follow ing accoun t .6

“Not so very long ago I had the pleasure of shar ing a large sample

room w ith a salesman for a very larg e and w ell-know n drug jobbinghou se. T hey ‘car ry’ most everything that i s sold in the modern drugstore, from hou se pa in t to r at poison . Hi s ‘line’ w as car r ied in threelarge trunks, and a good ha lf day was r equ ired to unpack and ar range

it around the var iou s display tables .“This par ticu lar salesman had not been in this line very long , al though

he w as an exper ienced salesman ,and was fam iliar w ith a gr eat many of

the item s in hi s var ied line. He had the idea that it w ou ld only be nocessary to get the drugg ist in the sample room , and then pr oceed to sel l himan order ‘

as long as you r arm ,

’as he expressed it .“

The display was really bew ilder ing . I t rem inded me of a three-r ingcir cu s . You simply cou ldn

’t see it al l in one tr ip.“I w as pr esen t when hi s fir st customer appear ed w ith him . I n steadof being dazzled by the m agn ificent display of

‘red hot seller s’ the drug

g ist appear ed bor ed . I t w as an old story to h im . Like the g ir l whoworked in a candy factory, he had lost hi s appetite, so to speak . The

customer s imply w ou ldn’t w a it and listen to any selling talk on any s ing le

item .

‘There’s on ly a few things I need, what

’s you r pr ice on so and so?

’

By the time the pr ice was quoted he had passed on to something else, andsoon he had looked over the entire line, and on ly ordered a few hot water

5 DOUGL AS , “T ravel ing Salesman ship, p. 31.

6 Sa les M anag emen t , September , 1920 .

E QUI PME NT 85

bag s, and some finger na i l buffer s , and a supply of chill ton ic which thejobber adver tised exten sively under hi s own pr ivate label , which w as prac

tically staple in this ter r itory. Befor e the salesman knew i t the in terviewwas over . Half a dozen g ood items r ema ined forgotten ,

he was astoundedat the smallness of the order . Yet the situation seemed to be beyond him ,

and the drugg ist depar ted w ithou t having bought enough‘to pay for my

dinn er , ’ as the salesman expressed it .“T her e w ere five other drugg ists in the town , and a lthough he did

manage to sell one a fa ir -sized order , n one of them came anywher e near

buying al l of his requ irements un til the sa lesman w ou ld visit him ag ain .

Her e was a situation that shou ld be r emedied . The line w as al l r ight , the

pr ices in line, and the house well known .“The salesman talked i t over w ith me and I ventu red the Opin ion

that too mu ch mer chandise was in view .

‘I f ha lf of this stuff w er e in you r

trunks and out of sight I think you wou ld be better w as my candidopin ion ,

expr essed w ith a vehemen ce that impressed him .“So he set abou t to rear range hi s en t ire l ine. On ly the most a ttractive

items w ere displayed . The comm onplace item s , the every-day, pla in , un

attractive items w ere set aside, and the displays gr ouped together as theywou ld be in amodern store. B u t on ly the best of each line w as allow edto show . Space w as left between each exhibit so that the drugg ist wouldnot be tempted to look at two or thr ee different lines at one time.“

One or tw o of the drugg ists w ere induced to r etu rn to the sampleroom to ‘look over some specials that I forgot to show you this morn ing .

’

“This time r esu lts w ere far better . They noticed the differ en ce, al

though they did not r ealize i t . M any attr active-looking item s caught theireyes that had been entirely lost in the con fu s ing ar ray of the fir st display.

Those items tha t w ere furn ished w ith display car ton s, or on displaycards w ere featured . Severa l a ttractive a ssor tments of toilet ar ticles w ere

gr ouped tog ether , and a pr ice named for the assor tment. Although the

pr ice was not cut , i t w as easier to sel l a ‘shipment

’than to sel l i t item

for item . I n other words the salesman d id par t of the thinking and buyingfor the customer .“Although it w as impossible to i nduce all of the druggi sts to make a

second tr ip to the sample r oom , those that did come more than boughtenough to pay for the trouble. I noticed tha t w hen the trunks w ere packedone of them rema ined behind .

‘Store this away un til I come back aga in’

w ere hi s instruction s to the hotel por ter . The item s that he left behindw ere so w ell known that samples w er e unn ecessary—they cou ld be sold bvdescr iption or from a pr ice book, bu t they took up so mu ch r oom

, and di s

tracted so much attent ion from the more profitable items that theykilled bu siness .

”

Use of the Sample Room.—Suggestions as to the best

methods of utilizin g the sample room ar e wor th consider ation,

as a lar ge per centage of the mer chandise distributed in this


country is sold in sample rooms . I n some lines retail buyersspend on an average of two hours a day in sample r ooms.

” 7

Where fewer goods are displayed,it is possible to go thr ough

them more slowly, br inging out special bargains from trunk orgrips when inter est begins to wane.

I t is possible for the salesman tr aveling a trunk line to carry

with him a few bits of stag e scenery whi ch may be of gr eat

help in displaying his goods or lending a favorable atmosphereto the sample room. The background should be considered

,as

this is an impor tant element in effective display . A black or

purple velvet background against which to show cut glass or

fine china w ill add materially to the sales total . S ome salesmen

have been known to car ry pictur es whi ch they hung in the

sample r oom to give it the pr oper atmosphere and place the pros

peet in the right fr ame of m ind . On e china salesman car r ies a.

complete assor tment of silver,napery

,etc.

,and sets a table com

plete in the sample r oom . A salesman for dog collar s carries a

pedigreed bull ter rier who“poses” as a model .

This concentrating of the buyer’

s atten tion on fewer items

has an inter esting reaction on the salesman also. He begins to

give each item mor e thought, studies it more car efully and“digs

”for talking points as he did not have time to do when he

had mor e items in his display.

I t is a g ood idea to include something n ew in the sample kit

fr equently. This n ew item may be necessary to get the inter est

of a prospect who kn ows al l abou t the r egular pr oposition and

inquires,“What h ave you got that ’s new this trip ?

” Inciden

tally,this inclus ion of a new item fr om time to’ time keeps the

salesm an fr om“g oing stale” on his canvas s .

On e thing which should be impressed on the salesman is the

vital n ecessity for keeping his samples in good condition.

S amples deter ior ate g r adually and the sales man fails to appre

ciate the change. It is much like the case of the man who b uys

a new sui t ; he continues to reg ar d that as his“n ew

”su it long

after it has ceased to impr ess other s as n ew . Wher e the samples

can be renewed, one evening a w eek may be set as ide for g oing

over the kit and making out r equisitions for n ew items to replace

7 MARTIN HASTINGS , Pr i n ter s’ I nk M on thly, October , 1921.


true, but if so, it constitutes an argument for the use of samplesin cases where competition is keen.

S ome very successful firms,like the Addressograph and the

Dictaphone Companies, emphasize the value of car ryin g samplesalways and have waged vigor ous campaigns to sell their own

sales for ce the idea of“car ry and sell. S ome firms have pushed

this idea still farther and have used samples to interest the prospeet and then deliver ed a supply on the spot before he has a

chance to change his mind .

Reasons for L imiting E qui pment .—Now let us take up

some of the r easons why we should try to cut down the equipment as far as is safe.

( a ) In the fir st place it saves money for the firm . The chief

items of direct ou tlay r esul ting fr om an extens ive line of trunksar e

, of course, exces s bag gag e, tips to por ter s and bag g ag emen ,

drayage, r ent of sample r ooms , and the cost of buying and main

taining the equipment . It seems safe to say that the cost ofoperating a sample trunk is in the neig hborhood of $300 a year ,and pr obably more if it is always excess baggage and travels

many mon ths of the year.

(b ) In the second place it saves energy. The salesman who

car r ies a couple of heavy sample cases ar oun d w ith him and

staggers into a pr ospect’

s place of business w ith perspir ing br ow

and gasping for br eath is not in the best condition to pu t up a

hard fight for busin ess . He will pr obably make few er calls in

a day and w ill be inclined to pass up towns w her e he is compelled

to carry his own gr ips for any distan ce. Then , too, he w ill be

tempted to leave his kit at the check r oom at the hotel or station

and attempt to sell w ithou t it, especially if he is callin g on old

cu stomers . This is a dan g er ous practice, even w ith r egular cus

tomer s . In ciden tally ,the shape of the case w ill make a differ en ce

in the fatigue of the man who is compelled to car ry it . A flat

cas e is easier to car ry than.

a squar e on e,and will mor e conven

ien tly slip under the seat in the P ullman .

One of the reasons why many firms ar e sending their sales

men ou t in automobiles is to save the energy used up in tugg ing

heavy sample cas es about .

( c ) A th ir d r eason for cu tting down on equipment is that it

saves much time for the salesman . The trunks ar e not so sure

E QUI P ME NT 89

to come through on the same tr ain the salesman takes as is a

han d gr ip . Then there is time consumed in getting them up to

the sample room or buyer ’s place of business, the unpacking, the

repacking, the r eturn dr ayage, the extr a time to look after check

ing them ,etc. This time element amounts to many days in the

course of a year .

How to Cut Down on S ize of E quipment .—I t r emains for us

to examine the means by which the equ ipmen t may be cur tailed .

I n gener al,the seller seeking to cut down the equipment used by

his salesmen can accomplish his purpose in any or all of thr ee

ways .

( a ) I n the fir st place,he may eliminate certain items com

pletely, either by discontinuing their sale or by selling with

out sample. This may perhaps safely be attempted w ith well

known staples where the salesman is calling on an established

trade.

(b ) In the second place, where the line is subject to fre

quent mail orders fr om the regular tr ade, a complete outfit of

samples may be made up by the seller and furnished the buyer ,so that the salesman need not car ry the entire line w ith him ,

know ing that the buyer has a sample case of his own . This

method has been w idely adopted by paper manufactur er s and

jobbers,who have furnished pr inter s and stationer s w ith elabo

rate samples car efully indexed , so that order ing is made easy

w ithout looking at the salesman ’s samples. This enables the

salesman to sell without car rying more than a few“specials in

a por tfolio .

( c ) In the thir d place, pictures may be used instead of actual

samples . Th is thir d method is perhaps the on e which received themost atten tion when every effor t was being made to cut down

on equ ipment . One big wholesale dry goods house in 1918“junked ” one hundr ed and for ty-eight trunks by adopting thisexpedien t . The method used was to photograph a sweater or

other g arment on a live model , and attach the pictur e to a card ,together with a sample of the mater ial . This saved 90 per cent

of the w eight of the sample line,saVed 5 0 per cent on cost of

getting them ready , kept them in better condition , as they couldbe replaced , and resulted in g r eatly incr eased sales

,which the

men attr ibuted to the g reater ease w ith which customers could


examine samples and the increased number of calls the men wereable to make.

8

S ometimes a compromise may be effected, as was done by a

linoleum manufacturer, who put out pictures of the variousdesigns in color s, including samples of the actual product only

for the purpose of showing quality and weight. P hotographsare selling heavy machinery , furnitur e, cr ockery and enameled

ware, clocks , textiles , hardwar e, and scor es of other articles which

formerly were sold almost exclusively fr om samples .

The P ort folio.—The B utterfield Trunk Company of Seattle

uses an elabor ate por tfolio fu ll of pictures for its salesmen . They

make trunks for other salesmen, but theirs sell fr om pictures .

The port folio costs almost $50, which may seem quite a price,

but it would soon be exhausted in supplying a salesman with

samples and a trunk to carry them .

The great Glidden Company , w ith its four hundr ed salesmen

and thousands of deal ers , is a str ong believer in the pow er of

the por tfolio to make sales . The Glidden por tfolios comprise

thr ee books,one for the salesman , on e for the dealer and a sales

promotion folio for both . The salesman ’s por tfolio is a ser ies of

beautiful r epr oductions from life-sized or ig inals and bound in

leather . It contain s color cards, w indow tr ims, advertising book

lets,and in fact everyth ing which the salesman might w an t to

use or r efer to. E very illus tr ation is pr inted in color s, the idea

being to make the por tfolio so impr ess ive from a physical and

artistic standpoint that the pr ospect w ill recogn ize at once that

he is dealing w ith the repr esen tative of an import an t con cern .

Regarding the efi cacy of the por tfolio, one writer sug gests

The sales-pul ling por tfolio should include everything that tends to

promote the produ ct truthfu lly, and om it anyt hing which cannot be ver ified in fact . I n br ief, the pu rpose of this salesman

’s a id i s not to elaborate

on the mer its of a l ine through the u se of words , bu t to pictu re the productas it actually i s, so that the prospect can see for him self . The por tfoliothat fills these r equ irements i s the best a id a sa lesman can have, for itrepresents seven ty-five per cen t of hi s selling argument .” 9

8“Saving T ime on S alesmen’s Samples,

” System , M ay, 19 18.

9“How the Por tfolio Aids Salesmen ,

”The Sa les M amager , January,


With respect to new samples which the salesman does not

seem able or willing to sell, it appears that he should not be

g iven free rein about sending them in . An effor t shou ld bemade to stimu late his sales on those items on which he seemsw eak

,so that there w ill r eally be few samples in his trunk which

he is not using. The time to elim inate doubtful samples is when

the salesman is star ting for his ter r itory. A t this time cer tain

number s may be left out , due to defin ite peculiar ities of his terr i

tory, bu t after the line is star ted over the ter r itory,it shoul d be

the aim of the house to see that the salesman pushes every

item . It is obvious that a recor d must be kept of each man ’

s

sales by items to enable the manag er to dir ect his activities intelli

g ently, and any w ell managed sales depar tment has such information available.

I f a firm is tr aveling one hundr ed men and can save each

man one trunk by cutting these unused samples, it w ill amount

to an annual saving of about which is wor th looking

after .

The S ales M anual as E quipment .—I n a w ay, the sales m an

ual may be consider ed as a vital par t of the salesman ’

s equ ipment

,inasmuch as most firms puttin g ou t manuals w ish their

salesmen to car ry them con stan tly. A lthough this is the w ish ,it is often un r ealized

,as many salesmen g r ow careless about their

manuals,frequ en tly leaving them at home instead of keeping

them con stan tly with them . To obviate this difficu lty certain

suggestion s have been made.

The six outstanding reasons why only about on e manual out

of five is in active use ar e :1 0( a ) lack of u tility value, (b ) sales

men ’s unw illin gn ess to car ry it, ( c ) failur e to sell salesmen on

value of standardized sales talk and arguments, (d ) no allowance

made to keep manu al r evised and salesman ’s inter est al ive

, ( e)loss of manu al thr ough failu r e to reg ister it, ( f ) impr actical

size and ar r an g ement of conten ts. Of the six the last is pr obably

the most importan t.

The size of the manual depends larg ely upon the use to

which it is to be put . That is,if it is to be car r ied on the r oad

it should be smaller than if it is for office use by city salesmen

1 0 Specia l Repor t of The Dar tnell Corporation on Sales M anua ls .

E QUI PME NT 93

for,say, an automobile. The pocket size manual has much to

r ecommend it . S ome simple manuals have been devised which

combine the diary featur e w ith timely selling suggestions. Others

area combin ation of manual , catalog and price list , the idea be

in g to make a par t of the book . so indispens able that the salesman

w ill car ry it w ith him everywhere. Many manuals ar e now be

ing made up in loose-leaf form to facilitate keepin g them up to

date. When new mater ial is frequen tly bein g sen t to replace

obsolete pag es, it is a constant r emin der to the salesman that

his manual is a year -r ound pr opos ition . When he opens it upto inser t some n ew pages, he is likely to have his attention called

to some other par t, and pr ofit thereby . When the book is loose

leaf in form the indexing is very impor tant . It should be made

easy for the sales man to find any facts he seeks, and to file

quickly n ew mater ial .

S ome small pocket manuals combine the indexed information

w ith a filler, which can be chan ged often . They may be used

for r epor ts or expen se accoun ts . It is inter estin g to n ote that

some firms have found that the w or d“manual ” is distas teful

to salesmen ,but if it is called“Inform ation Book for S alesmen ”

or“Facts for Ready Refer en ce” or something of that sor t they

w ill be mor e likely to use it . T he aver age salesman is sen sitive

about r eceiving unsolicited sug g estions from some desk man,

especially if that desk man be a youth earning about on e-four th

the salesman ’s in come

,so it is necessary to handle the pr oblem

diplomatically to in su r e the most effective use of the manuals .

It may be w ise to let the member s of the sales for ce contr ibu te

to the m anual , leaving the editing to be done in the office. This

makes the manual a cooper ative proposition, and relieves it

of the stigma“theor etical and impr actical .” A letter to each

salesman asking for the pr oblems he found most baflin g mayoffer a good place to star t the compilation of a manual. Or

it may be accomplished at a convention session . If the salesmen

feel that they have had a hand in getting it up,they will be

far mor e likely to use it .

SALE S MANAGEMENT

APPENDI"TO CHAPTER IV

OU TLI NE or TYP ICAL SALE S MANUAL A s SUGGESTED BY THE DARTNEL L

9-9

57

?

w

a

n-

9

9‘

s

cu

p

c-go

CORP ORATION

DIVISI ON ONE

HIS TORY OF THE BUS INES S AND I T S POLICIES

Impor tan ce of S elling the House as Well as Products.

Hum an I nterest Story of I n ception Of B u siness .

Something About the Founder s and T heir Per sonalities .

The D istingu ishing Policies—How T hey Gr ew Up.

Organ ization—“Who’s Who” Among Executives .

Char t Show ing Gr owth of B usiness in Late Year s .“The Futu re”—Signed Statemen t by President.

DI VI SI ON TWO

PERS ONAL SELLING SUGGES TIONS

HOW to Get“Live Leads .

Qual ifications of a Good S alesman—Self—analysis Chart .

What a Salesman Shou ld Study—Outline Cou r se .

M ental E qu ipmen t E ach Salesman Should Develop.

Physica l E qu ipmen t E ach Salesman M ust Car ry.

Suggestion s for U sing S a id E qu ipmen t to B est Advantage.

DI VI SI ON THRE E

THE PRODUCT—WHAT I T I s

Points to Remember About Raw Mater ials .

D istingu ishing M anufactur ing Processes and M ethods .

I llustrations that Demonstrate Super ior ity in M anu facture.

M a in T alking Points in T abloid Form .

DIVISI ON FOUR

THE PRODUCT—WHAT I T DOES

Analysis Char t of U ses, Both Developed and Undeveloped .

Photog raphic and Documenta ry E vidence of Super ior ity.

Letter s from U ser s—Fac-sim iles of B ig Orders .

List of“Halo” Customers by T err itory.

CHAP TE R V

T ERRI TORY

S EVERAL import ant pr oblems which must be settled befor e themen are sen t out on their in itial tr ip have to do w ith the ter ri

tory they ar e to cover . For example, shall each man be perm itted to r oam at w ill

, picking up bus in ess wher e he can ,or shall

he be limited to a cer tain ter r itory and compelled to find all his

busin ess ther e? To be sur e,most con cern s follow the latter plan ,

g ivin g each man a defin ite ter r itory for his own,in which no

other salesman for the firm is permitted to sell,under ordinary

conditions.

But this is not a univer sal p ractice. The Ford Motor Com

pany has r emoved r estr iction s on ter r itor ial lin es,so that their

salesmen ar e free to sell wher ever they can find a buyer . Other

firms follow this plan w ith in a limited ter r itory,as a city . A

bond house or in sur an ce company may have a dozen salesmen

in a city w ithout ass igning any one of them a defin ite ter r itory.

Purposes of Assigning Definite T erritories— I n view of

this var iation of Opin ion and pr actice on so impor tant a policy,it will be wor th ou r while to stop a momen t and discuss the

question . The r easons why most firms pr efer to ass ign definite

ter r itor ies may be br iefly summar ized as follows :

1. To prevent cr iss-crossing and waste motion ; in other

words,to cu t down traveling expenses in pr opor tion to sales .

2 . To enable the home office to develop a set of r ecords which

will g ive the facts desir ed . These facts must tell the sales man

ager something of the way in which each salesman is per form

ing , and it is easier to estimate his value when his sales ar e

compared w ith the potential sales in a definite territory .

3. To meet competition effectively. Territor ies must be lai d

out as sectors of a battlefield and definite men be assigned to de

fend each one. I f this were not done, sales would soon become“spotty

” and uneven.

TE RRI TORY 97

4. To enable a firm to get and hold good salesmen . I f a

man is given a ter r itory for his own and assured that he wi ll

receive cr edit for all sales made therein , he will cultivate that

territory with an eye to futur e business . He will not be con

tent to pick up the business available at the moment,but w ill

plan ahead and develop good-w ill which will yield a harvest

later . A s most firms r ealize that a salesman incr eases steadily

in his value to the firm under these conditions, most of them

deem it a w ise policy to enable him to feel sur e of his terr i

tory .

5 . To avoid a high failur e rate among salesmen and ag encies.

If ter r itor ies wer e not laid out scientifically and w ith some idea

of equalizing oppor tunities for the men ,there w ould unavoid

ably be many failures,as salesmen and ag encies w ould be com

peting vig or ously with each other in terr itor ies where there w as

not sufficient business for all . This would g ive the firm a bad

r eputation and make it more difficult to secure good r epres en

tatives.

6. To cover the country as evenly as possible. I f each sales

man w ere allowed to sell wher e he w ished , ther e might be a rush

for,

S outhern California while North Dakota might be utter ly

neg lected . This w ould result in leaving gaps in the defenses,of

w h ich competitors would promptly take advantage. Terr itory

mu st be cover ed in an or g anized fashion if consumers or dealers

are to be kept satisfied . L ikewise, where service is a factor,the

dis'

bu t ion must be general enough to place this serv ice within

the r each of all .

7. To make it possible to develop a raw terr itory into a

productive one. If the ter r itory w er e not contr olled fr om head

quar ters,salesmen would avoid undeveloped terr itory. But by

handling this ter r itory in a different manner from the older sec

tions,a firm is able to br ing sales up to a pr ofitable point .

A ll this i s not designed as a cr iticism of M r . Ford ’s policy,

but it is the purpose of the for egoing discuss ion to show the

r easons why most firms have held to the policy of assigningdefin ite ter r itor ies. With a product as well known as M r .

For d ’s,with as little competition , and with as wide distr ibu

tion obtained under the other plan , it might be possible to r emove

territor ial barriers and make the fight for business a free-for-all

98 SALE S MANAGEM E N T

among all the agencies and salesmen, but for most products itwould pr obably be unw ise.

P r oceeding on the assumption that we are to lay out ou r

territor ies and assign them to defin ite representatives,w e find

that the pr oblem resolves itself logically into two question s : ( 1 )accor ding to what pr inciples should these territories be laid out,and ( 2 ) how may each best be covered?L aying Out the Territory.

—The old-fashioned custom inlaying out a large ter r itory was to divide it on state lines

,giving

one man P enn sylvania,another Oh io , another thr ee or four

Western S tates,and so on . Th is w as the line of least r es istance,

for the maps w er e pr in ted on that basis and it made things

simpler . B u t w ide-aw ake concern s soon saw that states weredi ffer en t in the amount of bus iness they could produce, and

fur thermore,railroad lines w er e not laid ou t to cor r espond with

political divis ions. So the state has ceased to be the unit w ith

many firms,unless they are Oper atin g br anches and sub-agencies

wh ich cover the country very thor oug hly.

A s a terr itor ial unit the county is much more satisfactory

than the state, for by using it as a unit , ter ritor ies may be built

up to fit selling condition s . A county may be detached fr om

one man ’

s ter r itory and added to an other ’s if good reasons ap

pear , and ter r itor ies may thu s be kept flexible to meet changing

condition s of transpor tation , competition ,or demand .

Some firms have made a pr actice of sending a s

each city over a cer tain size,as or T

rived at this figur e mor e or less arbi

On ce or twice they failed to sell satis

places . When they adopt the county

ately ar e for ced to r ecogn ize the adj

may double the popu lation of the city as far as buying power

is con cerned . Th is is par ticular ly true in the West where the

population of the tr adin g area may equal or exceed the popula

tion of the city. In the E ast where cities are closer together ,this is not so likely to be the case, and E astern sales managers

often over look sales possibilities of this kind.

A ssuming that w e have adopted the county as our chief ter r i

tor ial unit for a nation-wide sales organization , how do we deter

mi ne how many and which counties a salesman should be as


most firms grow into the pr oblem,having star ted from a modest

beg inning where on e or two salesmen could br in g in all thebusiness the factory was prepar ed to handle. These salesmen

sold where they could,usually hitting the high spots, skimming

the cr eam, trying for the big order s on ly. As mor e men wer e

added to the sales for ce,defin ite ter r itor ies were allotted

,u sually

based on state boundar ies , un til the time came w hen the sales

manag er was compelled to face the pr oblem of r evising his ter r itor ial assignments because of the obvious fact that man y salesw ere being lost on account of the inability of the salesmen to

cover their entir e ter r itories .

Frequency of S alesman ’

s Calls—Having determined the

number of pr ospects in the ter r itory, the second poin t is to fix

the number of times each must be seen in a year . Thi s,oh

v iously, applies only to staple selling. If it is necessary to call

once in two w eeks,as it may be in some lin es

,the ter r itory must

be mu ch smaller than where it suffices to call tw ice a year . The

fr equen cy w ith w h ich a cus tomer must be seen depends somewhat

upon competition also . It depends, too, upon the activity of the

sales pr omotion depar tmen t in keeping in touch w ith customer s

by mail between the visits of the salesman . By pr oper con tact

of this kin d,the per iod between calls may be appr eciably length

ened,en abling a salesman to cover much mor e ter r itory.

Number of Calls Salesman Can M ake.—The thir d

,and per

haps the most di fficult factor to determ ine, i s the number of

calls the salesman can make in a given time, as a day or a w eek.

When this i s found, it becomes rather a simple mathematical cal

culation to fix the boun dar ies of the ter ritory.

I t may be stated without fear of con tr adiction that most

salesmen make too few calls. One wr iter insists that most sales

men cou ld increase their sales from 5 0 to 100 per cen t s imply

by working fou r hours a day instead of two"2 He estimates that

few salesmen spend more than two hour s a day in the pr esen ce

of pr ospects, and this calculation i s for city salesmen and not

for men on the r oad. The Addr essograph Company some time

ago issued an edi ct that each salesman must make a minimum of

2 GEORGE W . GETHER, “Making a Fortune on Four Hours a Day,

Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Jan . 19 , 1922 .

TE RRI TORY ». 101

five calls each day. Thi s was more than thé‘

hién had been°

mak~

in g and sales increased forthwith.

Of course,where a man is on the road this may not be so

applicable, but it does imply that he may be doing one of two

thing s : either over looking some pr ospects on whom he has time

to call between tr ains , or else he is in too big a hur ry to get on

to the next town and is passin g up some pr ospects for lack of

time. This point links up closely with the fir st—the n umber of

pr ospects in a ter r itory—and is so fundam ental that it war r ants

some elabor ation .

The Average Territory I s Too L arg e.—The usual result of

an analys is based on the three steps just outlined is that the sales

manag er w ill conclude that most of his salesmen ar e tryin g to

cover too larg e terr itor ies. The opin ion s of some succes sful sales

man ag er s on this matter may pr ove of value.

It is a district sales manager speaking ~ 3

I n the case of another concern, one man’

s ter r itory cover ed a numberOf states . For thr ee or four year s hi s sales r an abou t the same, whichthe manag em en t con s idered equ ivalen t to a decrea se, inasmu ch as the

popu lation had steadily in cr eased in a l l the geogr aphica l un its . S a les forthe ter r itory averaged around a year . After a survey Of the

ter r itory, the sa les manager decided to make two ter r itor ies out of whathad been one

,w ith a man in each . The division w as made on a stra ight

geogr aphica l basis . A t the end of the fir st year one man sold sl ightlymore than while the other sold over a tota l ofas aga inst when one man w orked the ter r itory a lone.

A recent investigation among sales managers disclosed thefact that out of 99 questioned

,85 w er e cuttin g ter r itor ies, seven

wer e standing pat ,”whi le only five w er e in cr easing the size of

ter r itor ies. T he Un ited Drug Company has been r educing thes ize of its sal es men

’s ter r itor ies lately because the salesmen r e

quested it , having learn ed that they could thus sell mor e. Heath

Millig an cut its ter r itor ies in half before being taken overby the Glidden Company . The r esult w as that the men doubled

their quota . One man got from one-hal f the territory

which had pr eviously pr oduced in sales. An I ow a salesman who had worked 43 counties was cut to 11 and produced

3 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, p. 85 , Aug . 25 , 1921.

ySALE S‘

.MANAGEMEN T

more business from the 11 than he had from the 43. Thi s

exper ien ce is so common that further proof is needless.

Why Smaller Terr i tor ies Yield More Sales—The reasonsbehind th is r emarkable tendency are not far to seek. When a

salesman is limited to a smaller territory he is forced to be

come better acquainted w ith its possibilities and is compelled todig for new business. He un ear ths pr ospects on whom he never

before consider ed it wor th while to call ; he discovers n ew out

lets for his pr oduct . I n these days the tr adition al retail out

lets ar e undergoing rapid changes and it is not safe for a salesman to assume that his on ly pr ospects ar e drug stor es or hard

war e stor es. W e find handker chiefs and gar ter s on sale at drugstores

,automobile accessor ies at hardwar e stores , jewelry at cloth

in g stor es,w atches at stationery stores, etc. It may be that the

salesman can find many n ew ou tlets for his pr odu ct if he takes

time to search . It is often r evealed by a survey that some sales

men avoid selling to certain types of retail establishments, while

other s sell this type almost exclusively . A paint manufacturer

found that one of his salesmen avoided drug stores,whi le others

sold large orders to them . By cutting down the first man ’s terr i

tory he was compelled to sell drug stor es,—so he did.

T here M ay B e B usiness in the Small T own—Too often asalesman passes up the smaller towns because the hotel accom

modations ar e not of the best, even thou gh consider able business

may be secur ed ther e. The H . D . L ee Mercan tile Company,manufacturers of L ee Union -Al ls

,finds that much business can

be obtained in small towns. The sales manager says 4 “L astNovember our man cal led on a buyer in a small Idaho town of

402 popul ation ; in that hamlet he took one order. for

A calendar salesman r elams an exper ien ce illustr ating the same

poin t .5 He was str an ded in a tiny Mon tan a town

,had to sleep

in the bunk of the night barkeep , an d arose thor oughly disgusted

with the w hole place. B ut he star ted in at 8 : 15 in the mornin gand sold $670 wor th of calendar s befor e his train left at 9 : 30.

His comm issions wer e

This inten sive cultivation of ter r itory is par ticular ly de

4 Sys tem , M ar ch , 1920 .

5“S alesology and the Sales M anager M on thly, February, 1922 .


over thoroughly by every man on the sales force,with the r esult

that a pr ospect who could not be sold by one was often easily

closed by another salesman with a different approach and mann er . Thus the entire city was gon e over and at the end of thetime each salesman had a list of customer s larger than he w ould

have secur ed by a hit-or -miss method of cover ing the city.

E xperience of the P ackard Company.— I n the management

of some of its branches the P ackar d Motor Company has takenthe step of limiting terr itor ies . Usually cr itics of the idea poin tou t that it might work with a low class of salesmen who were

content to obey instructions w ithout r eason in g and who w er e

held in line thr ough fear of losing their jobs, bu t that it w ould

not work satisfactorily with a high class of men who could

easily obtain other positions . But the exper ience of the P ackar d

Company seems to indicate that the plan may be success ful even

with the latter class of men .

The followi ng accoun t of their exper ience illustr ates so many

poin ts involved in ter r itor ial r eadjustmen ts that it is given in

some detail.7

“The company, in looking around for an explanat ion of i t s increased

selling costs ran in to a nest of remarkable m ileages that i ts salesm en

r olled up in the cou r se of a year . I nvestigation broug ht ou t the fact thatan alarm ing ly large per centage of the salesman

’

s time w as spen t in traveling between prospects and an a larm ing ly sma ll per cen tage in produ ctivework . The figur es show ed that a sa lesman traveled betw een thr ee and five

hundred m iles a w eek ; and this, together w ith figures garnered from salesmen

’s cal l r epor ts and observation of salesmen

’s w ork, proved that less

than half their time w as spent in w ork that r eally counted . Packardsalesmen worked on the same plan existing w ith many specialties wherethe pr ospects ar e not defin ite ly known in advan ce. The sales for ce operated on the pr inciple of unrestr icted ter r itory w ithin the l im its of theB oston office, which extended w est as far as Athol and on the nor th, east

and sou th to the ou ter boundar ies of the state. After a study of thes ituation , the Packard people r ealized that ther e was a tr em endous wastewhich ther e must be some w ay of avoiding . The r esu lt w as an assignmen tof salesmen by ter r itory. I n effect it w as the equ iva lent of making thesa lesman h is own local ag en t in the ter r itory which he was allotted . The

s izes of ter r itor ies and their locations w er e determ ined according to thesalespossibilities Of each and upon the salesman

’

s capabilities . T herewas plenty of Opposition , bu t the plan w ent into effect. For a time it

7 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Nov . 20, 19 19 .

TE RR I TORY 105

seemed that the objector s were r ight , for the sales curve took a suddendownward sweep. Some of the sa lesmen who had been good pr oducer sseemed to go dead . T here w ere many head-shaking s and

‘I -told-you

bu t the managemen t stuck to i ts gun s . And even ts proved the plan was

r ight. The top-notcher whose ‘Life work was taken aw ay from him

’sold

mor e trucks in n ine months than he ever did in tw elve. A passenger -car

sa lesman in hi s new distr ict, while he sold pr actically nothing in the fir stthr ee mon ths of the new plan ,

i s now leading by fu lly tw en ty-five per cen tthe quota tha t w ou ld have been set for h im under the old method . T he

tota l bu siness of the company has jumped beyond expectations . The average number of calls per day has in creased .“

B ut elim ination of waste motion was not the on ly product of the

plan . Pr eviou s tendencies had been to follow most vigorou sly those pros

peets close to the home office and neg lect those in outlying distr icts . A s

a resu lt, competition around the centra l office w as very keen ,while in

outlying ter r itory poss ible business w as neg lected or on ly ha lf followedup. B ut more than this

, since he no longer has the stream of ‘livetips

’ com ing to him ,the salesman has to dig . U nder the old system there

was practica lly no m issionary w ork . I t w as a case of finding a man who

was going to buy a truck or a car and selling him a Packard in prefer

en ce to some other kind . The salesman now , in the tr uck division at least,finds the non -u ser s in hi s ter r itory who shou ld be u s ing motor tran spor tation and proceeds to conver t them to a new system of conveying . And tohi s surpr ise he finds i t easier selling , becau se, in stead of having to bidaga in st a dozen other tru cks, and finally have the sale go another w ay

becau se a competitor i s w illing to a llow fifty dollar s mor e on the oldvehicle, such sales are now frequen tly made w ith an en tire absenceof competition . Pr eviou sly old customer s had been lost S ight of . No

one had the r espon sibility of follow ing up owner s who had bought fromsalesmen no longer w ith the organ ization . Pu r chaser s located at a di s

tance from town were rar ely called upon . M er ely thr ough neg lect manyPackard ow ner s dr ifted to other makes . The sa lesman has now ,

how ever ,an incentive to cu ltivate al l the ow ner s in hi s distr ict . With the

salesman’s prospects now close together in stead of being scattered over a

whole state, the effect i s to keep the repr esen tative working a longer day.

While the salesman’s comm ission s rema in at the same r ate, the selling

expense ha s been r educed because of decr eased overhead per un it. An

importan t by-produ ct of the new method w as a stronger feel ing of loyaltyamong the sa les for ce. One of the g reatest troubles has been dispen sedw ith—dispu tes over the r ight-of-w ay on prospects and quar rels over cr editfor sales when , as often happen s, two salesmen had worked on the pr

ospeot and both cla imed cr edit on the gr ounds of pr ior ity. E ach salesman

now receives cr edit for a l l the bu siness com ing out of his ter r itory.

”

Some Further Considerations—N atur ally,in working ter

r itory in th is fas h ion , there will arise difficulties of adm in is


trat ion . For example, in this cas e there was sometimes con:

fu sion on account of the fact that a pr ospect had his r esidencein on e territory and his place of business in another. In consequence Boston and its residen tial suburbs within a radi us of

abou t ten miles were made open ter r itory, with sever al salesmen as signed to it as under the old basis .

I n the laying out and assigning of metr opolitan ter r itory

mor e atten tion may be paid to r acial differ en ces than I n allotting

lar ger ar eas . It fr equen tly occurs that a section of the city is

popu lated almost exclusively by Italian s, P oles, or Gr eeks who

can be best sold by a salesman speakin g their languag e.

S ales manager s shou ld avail themselves of the services offered

by many metropolitan newspapers in cover ing the city. Thisservice embr aces complete lists of dealer s in every impor tan t line,tog ether with cr edit r atin gs, class of customers

,and maps show

in g the best way to cover the city. Often ,also

,the new spaper is

pr epar ed to sen d on e of its men ar oun d w ith the salesman to

in tr odu ce him to the dealer s an d help him make sal es. N atu

r ally,a newspaper offer ing su ch assistance w ould expect that the

salesman ’

s firm w ould do some adver tising, although some of

them ar e extremely gen er ous with their market data. Where

the n ew spaper has not under taken a su rvey, it may be that thechamber of commer ce or other local or g an ization has don e so.

Transportation Facili ties—A n impor tan t factor in laying

out ter r itor ies is the tr an s P ostpon ing for

the moment the discussion of automobiles salesmen,let us

consider the regular means of tr an spor tation ,steam and electric

lines . Tr avel rou tes fall under thr ee g en er al classification s : the

w eekly or sem i-mon thly sw in g used by men r otating r egular ly in

a comparatively r estr icted ter r itory ; the season al route com

mou ly employed by firms who tr avel men over a ter r itory from

two to four times a year ; the special tr ip taken by emergen cy

tr aveler s or special salesmen .

The“Sw ing

” Route.—Of these the sw ing is perhaps the

most g ener ally used by firms covering local areas. Theoreti

cally it should requ ire the least supervision because a man cover

in g a smal l ter r itory so fr equently should learn themost efficien t

w ay of doing it . For th is reason supervision tends to g r ow

lax and the salesman is allowed to develop rather fixed habits,

108 SALE S MANAGE M E N T

tar ily black-listed a town and was not contradicted. Where thishappened the town was taken from his list and placed in the

nearest“sw ing. The result was that when the men started out,

every man was scheduled for a complete list of towns every on e

of which was viewed fr om an impar tial basis . A more intensive

w ork ing of the ter r itories br ought g reatly incr eased sales.

The use of m aps w ith difier en t color ed tacks is a great aid in

visual izing ter ritor ial conditions . The trouble w ith most map

and-tack systems is that they show on ly those town s wheresales ar e m ade. A fter the survey has been completed, r ed tacks

should be stu ck in the map to indi cate towns where there is

poten tial busin ess not yet secur ed,while g reen or yellow tacks

can show those places wher e g oods ar e sold . In most terr itor ies

the r ed tacks w ill stand out so clear ly that the tru th is driven

home to the salesman that he is not r eally exhausting the poss i

bilit ies of his ter r itory .

The Seasonal Route.—T he seasonal r oute is a more com

plicated pr oposition than the“sw ing

” and offer s gr eater oppor

tun ity for er r or. This is due to the fact that the itiner ary must

often be chan ged to conform to local condition s. For example,a cer tain case may requ ir e immediate attention , so the salesm an

r evises his schedule to make that town ear ly on the tr ip . Ther e

ar e so many th ings en ter ing in to the laying out of such a route

that it should be the r esu lt of confer en ce between the sales

manag er and the salesman in the ter r itory. P r obably the best

w ay to g et the facts w anted is to ask for them,on the gr ound

that the house w an ts them in case the sal esman should be taken

suddenly ill and a substitu te be sen t out to take his place. Th is

i s a reason able r equest and almost any salesman w ill w illin g ly

furn ish the desir ed in formation . The in formation has been ac

qu ir ed at the expense of the firm and therefor e rightfully be

long s to it .

The Special Trip.—The special tr ip salesman ofier s no

pr oblem to the firm that has proper ly handled the two pr eviously

named types of rou tes. If the sal es m anager has g athered the

in formation as indicated and kept track of his men careful ly,he w ill know just the weak points to wh ich it is desir able to send

a special salesman or “pin ch hitter. ” This custom of u singspecial men for filling in the gaps or bolster ing up the sales of

TE RR I TORY 109

weak or ill regular s is gr owing. There is sound logic behind it .

In the fir st place, the new man is fresh ; he br ings a new point

of view ; he has not been previously turned down by the pr os

pect . Fu r thermor e, the pr ospect has not g one over w ith him all

the r easons why he will not buy, and often buys rather than

r epeat the entire per formance. The special salesman enj oys a

sort of pr estig e w ith the buyer ; the latter is flatter ed by the

thoug ht that the firm has sent a man to call es pecially on him .

Another advan tag e of using the special salesman is that it keeps

the r egular s on their toes, because they kn ow that if they over

look cer tain pr ospects or allow the sales to r egular customers

to fall below a certain figur e,the sales man ag er w ill send a

special man in to the terr itory to do what they failed to aecom

pl ish.

This special selling work is usually taken care of by the sales

manag er himself or one of his assistants,although it may be

handled by having a r egular salesman fr om an other ter r itory

go a tr ifle out of his way to tackle some har d pr ospect . Wher e

this last method is used care mu st be exer cised to see that it

does ,not ar ouse jeal ousies and str ife between the men . I t shou ld

bemor e near ly on a voluntary basis ; that is , the salesman shou ld

ask his colleague to“come over into Macedonia and help u s .

”

A few lar g e concerns keep one or two men for this special

selling,using them also as sor t of supervisor s of ter r itory.

M aking Readjustments in Terri tory.—When r eadjustments

of ter r itory are found necessary, discr etion must be exercised in

putting the idea up to the salesman whose ter r itory is to be r e

duced. On e way to per su ade him that the change will not injur ehim is to guar antee him that his income w ill not be diminished.

Another way is to r aise his salary when the reduction in terr i

tory takes place. I n gener al , how ever, a car eful statement of thefacts w ill be sufficient

,if these facts ar e as r eliable as they ought

to be. They will show low er tr aveling expen ses , mor e time with

the family , and an increasing business due to possible miss ion ary

w ork in the smaller territory. The Baker -Vaw ter Company madea market survey in coiiperat ion w ith sever al non-competitive con

cerns selling to similar prospects. The findin gs of the surveywer e published in a booklet which was used to help convince thesalesmen that their ter ritor ies were too large.

SALE S MANAGE MEN T

Of course one solution . of the too-large terri tory may be theintroduction of junior salesmen to

,

assist the regular man . Under

this arrangement the salesman gets a small percentage of thesales made by each junior

,but it is obviou s that the sales in the

ter r itory w ould have to be incr eased befor e it would pay to putthem on .

S ometimes a ter r itory is divided in another way. The reg ularsalesman mig ht be str ong in selling city customers but weak on

small-town pr ospects, or vice ver sa . Under these conditions a

second salesman might be intr oduced to cover the class of townsthe regular man could not handle w ell. This w ould not payexcept in those sections wher e towns w er e close together , as

otherw ise tr aveling expenses w ould mount too high .

Routing Salesmen on a S et S chedul e.—The question of

Operating salesmen on a set schedule has two sides. On e camppr oclaims that the men can be routed on a defin ite schedule,while the other points out that such a pr actice is an insult to themen

,and fur thermore, that it is impossible.

John Br ace,who has r e-rou ted men for many lar ge concerns,

such as the Beech-Nut P acking Company , the Amer ican Tobacco

Company, etc.

,says

,

“There is no sales org an ization in the country that cannot increase its volume fr om 5 0 to 80 per cent by a

systematic r e-r ou tin g of salesmen by an exper ienced railroad

man .

” 8 M r . Br ace advocates the hir ing of an aler t young clerk

from the in formation desk of some r ailr oad company and letting

him work out schedu les on the basis of the number of calls in a

town and the tr ain schedules. T ry out the plan for a couple of

months,he says

,and make the salesman write a letter of ex

p lan ation every time he deviates from his schedule. Finally he

will exhaust his excuses and stick to his schedule. This scheme

can be applied to specialty selling as w ell as staples , in sists M r .

Br ace. Under such a plan the coun try would be divided in to

r outes, each number ed and indicated on maps. Thus a man ’

s

terr itory ” might in clude“rou tes” 4, 5 , and 6.

Other firms confine their routing to furnishing the salesman

with complete information reg ar ding tr ade poss ibilities, tr ans

por tation facilities , time tables, etc.,and r equest that the men

8 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Jan . 27, 1916.


Advantages of Using Automobiles—The advocates of theautomobile for salesmen insist that it has these definite advan

tages over travel by rail

1 . It enables the salesman to make a greater number of

calls per day and consequen tly in cr eases the amoun t of goods

he can sell . I n a r ecent questionnair e sen t out to 46 sales man

ager s, 29 said that the incr eased sales justified the extr a expense

of the automobiles, 13 said they did not, while four wer e doubt

ful. This is a matter which each firm must work out for itself

on a basis of costs,but it seems cer tain that a salesman in an

automobile can make mor e calls under most condition s than can

a man dependent on train service. And scientific sales manag ers

have thoroughly learned the lesson that, other things being equal ,the salesman who makes the most calls w ill sell the most goods.

2 . A second advantag e is that the automobile enables sales

men to r each otherwise inaccess ible cus tomers . The testimony of

the sales manager of the H . D . L ee Company is interesting as

illustrating both these points.

9

We have demonstrated that each salesman ’s sales increase from 40

to 100 per cent as soon a s he beg ins to Oper ate a motor car . T his i s because he makes s ix or eight town s a day, wher e he former ly made from

one to fou r . T ake, for in stance, the state of I daho . T he fir st Of 1918we had 112 accounts , al l of which cou ld be r eached by tr a in on ly. After

we equ ipped a salesman w ith a car , he has been able to r each 319 ao"

coun ts, of which over 100 are in town s off the ra ilroad . M al lad C ity can

not be r eached from the I daho s ide, except by motor . I n 1918 w e had no

accoun t there. I n 1919 w e had three accoun ts, w ith a tota l Of

wor th of bu siness . Our centra l M issour i r epr esentative recently calledon a buyer n ine m iles from a r a ilroad . The mer chant told h im that except

for one gr ocery salesman ou r man had been the on ly sales'

man who had

called on him in the past four mon ths . Our E astern I owa r epresen tative

has r ecen tly made ca lls in town s that do not show on the map. E achtown has just one stor e, bu t he got bu siness in every one of them ,

hi s

average order amounting to abou t I t seem s that the far ther

r emoved from the beaten path a dea ler may be, the more r eceptive he i s

to sales effor ts . A dea ler who i s not har assed con stantly by salesmen

w ill be found in a more pleasant frame of m ind than one who i s beinghounded daily. The small mer chant i s u sually r eady to g ive a g lad hand

to any salesman who i s w ide awake enough to call on him and solicit hi sbusiness . I t i s an even t of importance for the average small-town mer

9 System , M ar ch, 1920 .

TE RR I T ORY 113

chant to see new faces and hear messages from the outside wor ld which heseldom visits.

”

3. Ther e is an advertising value in an automobile,bear ing

the name of the firm or the pr oduct . In addition to the pur ely

adver tising featur e ther e is a pres tige which makes for sales.

The salesman who can dr ive up to his pr ospect’s place of busi

n ess in a car , par ticular ly in the smaller town s, enjoys a standing

not shared by his brother -salesman who walks up from the station

lugging his sample cases.

4. Ther e is a service value in using automobiles. A sales

man can perform little services for his customers,as are per

formed by the salesmen for one house, who ar e instructed always

to stop at the freight depot when they enter a town and in

quire whether ther e is any fr eight for their customer . I f ther e

is,they telephone and learn whether the customer w ishes them

to load it on and play dr ayman . This of course builds good

will . Often,too

,a salesman can deliver packages to farmer s

alon g his r oute,or car ry a par cel to the next town . I t is hard

for a merchant to r efuse such a salesman an order.

5 . The salesmen ar e enabled to car ry a mor e complete line

of samples than when they tr avel by train . Not on ly this , but

they can often car ry a stock of the commodity and let the cus

tomer have a small supply if it seems necessary.

Objections to Using Automobiles—Now what objectionsar e r aised to the use of automobiles by salesmen?

1 . The chief one is the expense. M ost firms believe that it

costs more to travel men via auto than by tr ain . F ig ur ing depr eciation ,

maintenance,insurance, etc. ,

it i s likely that this is true

in most instan ces . The matter should be settled,how ever, on a

basis of un it costs,because the incr eased bus iness may compen

sate for the added costs . The cost of oper ating a car , in cludingall costs

,is pr obably not Often less than $50 a month, and often

more.

2 . Another objection often raised is that the possession of acar tempts a salesman to neg lect his business . He may take a

notion to joy-r ide a bit , or to pick up companions not wholly

desir able.

3 . P erhaps one of the chief objections is the difficulty of


control over the s ituation . The sales manager feels that when

he sends a man out into the field with a car he has lost hi s grip

on the situation. The expense account may pr esent pr oblems

not hither to encountered . Whereas under the old r egime things

had been pretty well settled, now there are many n ew items in

cluded. How much gas oline shou ld he need? How much ought

repairs to cost? I sn ’t this gar age bill too hi gh ? I s it real ly

eighty-five miles by r oad from Smithville to Jonestown ? I s this

detour put in for the purpose of padding his gasoline expense

account ?

In other words,the average sales man ager does not p ossess

suffi cient information on the subject to feel sure of himself

in handling the situation . For thi s r eason a var iety of methodsar e being tr ied. S ome firms own their cars and rent them to

the men . Other s own the car s and allow the men a fixed sum

for oper ation . Others own the car s and have their men send in

itemized expense accoun ts cover ing oper ation . Other s sell the

car s to the men and then rent them,either for a fixed sum or

by the mile. Other s simply pay the men liber ally enoug h so

that they can afford to own and Oper ate their own cars . Ther e

is no un iform ity of pr actice, bu t these ar e the chief w ays used,

un less w e in clude the pr actice of some firms in havi ng their men

tr avel by rail most of the time and hire automobiles to r each

cer tain inaccessible places. It is not n ecessary that a firm use

one method w ith all its men . For in stan ce,wher e a man al

ready own s a car,he may be allowed to u se it

,the firm paying

him for its use.

The policy used in contr olling the salesmen in this matter

depends lar g ely upon the closeness w ith which the m anag er is

in tou ch with them,and upon the class of salesmen employed .

If the ter r itory is compact and the men come in every w eek or

so,it is compar atively easy to check up, wher eas, when the

men ar e working a thousand miles away it is mor e difficult .

A lso,if it is the pr actice to hire men who r equ ire close super

vis ion in all matter s,they w ill need checking up here as well .

There are cer tain leg al angles to the case which should be

investigated before salesmen ar e sent out in machines. Compli

cation s may ar ise if the salesman gives a fr iend a lift and an

acciden t occur s . The firm may be held liable. Insurance must


town, is compelled to wait perhaps hours for his train, while he

could move on to the next town easily with a car.

5 . Obviously, the condition of the roads i s a factor. The

chief application of th is principle has to do with seasonal condi

tions. I n some sections the roads ar e well-nigh impassable in

winter, while the r ainy season in other parts of the country may

have the same r esult .

6. The distance between pr ospects is a fundamental factor.

I f the distances ar e gr eat, the automobile is infer ior to the train .

Under these conditions the salesman may do much of his tr avel

ing at night, leaving his days fr ee for selling work .

7. The size of the sample kit is another factor. I f it is too

large, requir ing sever al trunks , the automobile may not be suit

able, although some firms use it even under these conditions.

8. L as tly,the costs of traveling by rail , changing as they

have r ecently,is a determinant . I f they should dr op 5 0 per cent,

the use of automobiles by salesmen wou ld decrease greatly .

CHAP TE R VI

COM PE NSAT I ON

I N its gener al outlines the pr oblem of choosing a system of

compensation for salesmen is similar to that of selecting a

method of w age payment for other types of employees . From

the viewpoint of the employer of any class of labor , a deter

mining consider ation in paying his“help ” is to help to make

profits for himself, and that system or method of payment which

yields the gr eatest net profits in the long run is most to be

desir ed .

But this ideal—greatest n et pr ofits in the long run— is ca

pable of an alysis. L et us break it up into i ts elements and dis

cover what these elements ar e and in what proportions they ar e

found

Objects of a System of Compensation—1. I t should at

tract to the organization the type of men des ir ed. If it is de

sir ed to hire plodder s w ithout in itiative or high hopes for the

future, a different method of compensation w ill be used than if

it is the aim to build up a for ce of self-r eliant r epresentatl ves ,eager to grasp every Opportunity to better themselves through

in cr easing their value to the house.

2 . I t should be reason ably easy to administer . S ome sys

tems ar e so complicated that,while they may be des ir able in

some w ays, they ar e little us ed .

3 . It should be absolutely fair and impartial . Any system

resting entirely upon the judgment of the employer is apt tobe fau lty in this particul ar , as the judgment of no man is in

fallible.

4. It should provide payment or r eward for doing what theemployer wishes to have done. He may w ish merely volume,

or he may w ant the sal esman to per form“missionary” work liketr imming w indows , making towns wher e the volume of bus iness

does not yet cover expenses,etc.

, or he may wish immediate117


profits . His system of compensation can be so devised as to

obtain just the type of effort from the salesmen that may bedes ired .

5 It should keep the salesmen on the job and satisfied. D is

satisfaction mar s the efficiency of a salesman more than any

other type of w orker, for his effectiven ess depends so lar g ely

upon the mental attitude,the spir it with which he appr oaches

his w ork . The dissatisfied w orker may poss ibly r un a wheel

bar r ow,w ield a shovel

,or feed a machin e almost as well as the

happy workman . But the salesman is dealing w ith psychological

values and in tan g ibles , and he s imply cann ot put his pr opos i

tion acr oss unless he can muster some genuine enthusiasm for thehouse as well as for the pr oduct .P roblems P eculiar to P ayi ng Salesmen—These objects

ough t to be attain ed by a system of compensation for any typeof w orkers . Ther e ar e some problems which ar ise in paying

salesmen which are,how ever

, peculiar ly difficult . T he salesman

i s often mor e temper amen tal than the desk worker or the manual

laborer,for which reason the method of payment may be quite

as important to him as the amount paid. Ther e is actually a

possibility of paying a salesman too much and dulling his ef

fectiveness . This dang er is perhaps n ot so great , however , as

when dealing with employees of lower g r ades of intelligence and

w ith lower standar ds of living. S alesmen can ,for the most

par t , use a little more money and u se it wisely.

It is fundamental that the sales manag er should make a

careful analysis of the requir emen ts attaching to the positions

he has to ofier befor e he adopts any system of compensation. I t

is as unw ise to employ too high a gr ade of salesmen as it is to

hir e too low a gr ade. One lar ge con cern discover ed that their,system of compen sation attracted , but did not r etain , high class ,ambitious men when the real need was for pluggers with little

vision .

An other r eas on for the acuten ess of the pr oblem in some

or g an izations is that the system of compen sation was devised in

a time when sellin g was extremely difficult, and later, after the

pr oduct became better kn own and sales came easier , the old

system w as retained , working g reat in justice to the employer .

S ince the war ended and it became apparent that we might


increase in business to be r easonably expected, the type of pros

pect to be called on, competition, etc.

Four M ain Kinds of Compensation Plans—There are reallybut four fundamental pr inciples involved : wage payment on a

t ime basis, a commiss ion on sales, profit-sharing, and a bonusbased on some variation of the point system .

These four pr inciples may be combined in a great variety of

systems, bu t the sales manager should keep in mind that in no

system, however complicated , ar e ther e likely to be involved mor ethan thr ee and usually not more than two of the above-n amed

elements . The pr oblem is one of emrthasis with most sales manager s. If they w ish to emphasize volume, perhaps commission

will secur e it . If it is developmental work that is desir ed, a

salary w ill pr obably get it done. And so on thr ough the list.The system must be w orked out to fit the type of salesmen and

the kind of work he is supposed to do.

No matter what system is adopted, it must be sold to the

salesmen the same as any other policy of the firm . No system

will oper ate au tomatically. A system is successful on ly when it

induces the salesmen to per form the work desired by the sales

man ag er , and the salesmen w ill not do th is unless they ar e per

suaded that it is to their in ter ests and those of the house to do

so. It is a problem in applied psychology, not in mechan ics

or mathem atics .

S traight Salary. The method of payin g salesmen a sal

ary and expens’

e'

sf‘

s the oldest and probably the most preva

lent. 3

“U ntil recently the stra ight salary w as regarded as the best all

r ound plan Of paying sa lesmen . Probably i t i s st ill the most ext ensivelyu sed of all systems .

” 4

Reasons for I ts P opulari ty.—The reasons for this popul arity

ar e not far to seek.

( a ) It is simple. Bookkeepin g is r edu ced to a mi n imum and

it is easy to in stall . It cor responds to the daily or w eekly w age

3 JOHN G . JONES ,“Sa lesmanship and Sales M anagemen t, p. 282 .

4“How Shall I P ay My Salesmen Under Presen t Condition s?” Pr in tm ’

I nk, p. 3 , Apr il 7, 1921.

COM PE NSAT I ON 12 1

of the manual laborer, which is the next step up fr om serfdom .

(b ) I t facilitates the making of budgets and financing opera

tions. The treasurer can estimate closely the exact amount

n ecessary to cover salesmen’S salar ies and expenses.

(o) It gives the sales manager greater contr ol over his men

than any other method?This is perhaps the most impor tant

advantage of the method. When salesmen ar e employed to do

w ork wh ich is lar gely missionary in char acter the strai ght salary

is about the most feasible plan of payment . Thus a salesman

may be pu t into an undeveloped ter r itory where he will be ex

pected to call on many dealers who will not order, to visit many

towns wher e the business is too small at first to pay the firm a

profit,to help the n ew dealer s in many ways, as in trimming

windows,giving demonstrations to the local tr ade, making ad

justments or collections. It is not expected that his effor ts will

result in immediate sales,but they are supposed to bu ild good

will for the future. If he were under the necessity of selling

enough each day to pay his salary, he would be inclined to over

crowd the dealer,to overstock him

,to try only for the large

sales. The theory is that when it is desir ed to have the sales

man'

assume the r61e of“ambassador of the house” he will bestper form this function when guaranteed a steady income. The

control exer cised by the sales manager is complete in other ways .

He can exact 'detailed repor ts ; he can insist that his men work

Saturdays.

I t offer s the salesman a certain and assur ed income.

There are many men who cannot do their best work under astrain . When anxious about the r ent

,or the building and loan

payment, they cannot sell goods as well as when relieved fr om

these and similar financial w or ries .

Another condition under which the salary often oper atessuccessfully is in the selling of w ell-kn own staples . I t may be

wise to supplement it with a bonus of some kind , but many firmsare pleased w ith the workin g s of the str aight salary wher e thework is lar g ely routin e, as calling on grocers every ten days and

filling in the gaps in their stocks of adver tised,fast-moving

g oods .

Disadvantages of S traight Salary.—I n spite of these ad

vantages of the straight salary method of payment, it has been


losing gr ound steadily. The chief drawbacks may be outlined

thus :

( a ) It does not furnish a strong incentive to push sales , it

does not ofier sufficient inducement to increase volume,nor does

it develop the ini tiative of a salesman as some other systemsdo. J. George Frederick states

The straight salary plan i s w rong in pr inciple. Although it doesto some degr ee make ambassadors and bu siness developer s ou t of sa lesmen , the tendency i s too extr eme in this direction . Stra ight salary men

are too su re of their income ; too much tempted to r epor t pr og ress and

developmen t rather than fight through to a larg er record of actual sales .

” 5

(b ) It involves considerable fin ancial risk on the part of

the employer. I f the salesman does not make good, he loses

nothing and the firm loses his salary. Many employers feel that

salesmen as a class ar e business men enough to assume a shareof the risk involved in placing a pr oposition on the market .

( c ) In spite of i ts apparent simplicity, the str aight salary

plan is not alw ays easy to administer . The tendency is to adopt,consciously or unconsciously

,a policy of raising the salar ies of

all good men $25 to $5 0 a month the first of each year. This

policy often develops when the firm is new and the salesmen

ar e young fellow s who have started out at a modest salary in

the hope of advancement as the business might gr ow. But th is

policy cannot continue indefinitely, for after five years'

or so

it imposes an unr easonable burden upon the firm . The sales

man ’s living expenses , however , have increased with his in

come, so that even though he i s getting $500 to $600 a month , he

can see jus t where he is going to use the extr a $25 a mon th which

he w ill receive next year. If he does not receive it, he is likely

to become discouraged . He may gr ow indifleren t , and either

settle down to a pace just fast enough to hold his job or he

will cast about for a n ew connection . The thought that his

employers think that he has r eached his limit may pr ove dis

astr ous ; it may mark the beginning of the end for him ; his

initiative dies w ith his hopes .

Concerning the difficulty of administering this system,one

wr iter says :

5 J. G . FREDERI CK ,

“M odern S ales M anagement,” chap. 13 .


It seems logical,however, to believe that such a system would

be satisfactory only while the pr ice level remained fair ly uni

form . With a ris ing pr ice level it would w ork unfair ly to the

firm,while w ith a falling price level it works hardship on the

salesman . P erhaps this difficulty could be overcome by suhati

tuting some other unit of measure for the dollar, as, for example,g ross , or pounds , or car loads . This latter meth od would beworkable only when the lin e was s imple and easily measured.

S traight Commission—Next to the str aight salary,the

system of compensation most widely used is pr obably some, form

of commission. There ar e many var ieties of commission, but in

the discussion here we are assuming the commiss ion on total

sales in terms of dollars .

I ts Advantages—Among the advantag es of the flat com

mission form of compensation may be men tion ed

(a ) It furn ishes a power ful financial incentive for the sales

man to sell. The salesman is vir tually in bus iness for himself,as keen ly inter ested in selling his company

’s pr oducts as any

execu tive could be. The mor e he sells,the more he earns . This

ar r an gement wou ld seem to be an ideal one for both par ties , as a

lar ge volume of sales is usu ally the aim of the sal es man ag er .

(b ) It is simple to administer. There is little debate as to

how much the salesman is entitled to each mon th,as he can

check up on the hous e and be sur e he is r eceiving his fu ll due.

Bookkeeping is not complicated , for the salesman usu ally pays

his own expen ses under this system,and the bookkeeper needs

only to dr aw a check for,say, 10 per cent of the mon th

’s sales

made by each man. S alesmen are not continually demanding a

higher r ate of commission . A ltog ether , it is about the eas iest

way ou t for the sales man ag er who is disin clined to set himself

the task of devi sing a compensation system to suit his needs .

( c ) It is easy to fin an ce. A sales manager usually has in

min d a certain per centag e of g r oss sales whi ch he can affor d to

pay out in the form of compensation . When the men sell on a

flat commission,this percen tage is au tomatically fixed

,and the

company is not obliged to fin ance the sales for ce through a

dull per iod, as is the case often wher e the str aight salary is

u sed . S ome sales manager s ar gue that , no matter what form

is used, the amount expended for salesmen

’s compensation

COMPENSATI ON 125

usually approximates very closely thi s fixed percentage of gross

sales. Gr anting this,they con tend that it is better to pay it out

at once in the form of commission and be done with it .

Disadvantages of S traight Commission—On the other

hand,ther e ar e weakn esses in the flat comm ission system . As

one sales manager of twen ty-five year s’experience puts it :

The uncompr om ising believer s in payment solely by comm issions on

sa les have not proved their contention .

”

These weaknesses may be summed up as follows\ ( a ) P erhaps the outstanding defect in actual operation i s

that i t g lor ifies volume of sales above all else. I n other words,it w orks too well in stimulating sales, at leas t for the time-being .

T he salesman in hi s eagerness to sell goods,is tempted to over

sell his customer,to push him too hard

,to sell him something

which perhaps is not exactly what he ought to have. The sales

man”

who leaves in his wake a trail of dissatisfied dealers is

stor ing up tr ouble for himself or for his successor . Of cour se,the expon ents of the commission plan con tend that no salesman

in his right mind would deliber ately lessen his chances for fu

ture sales,but as a matter of fact they sometimes do

,either

because they do not expect to be long w ith the firm , or merely

becau se it is human nature to prefer a bir d in the hand to two

in the bush.

(b ) Ther e is a tendency for the salesman on commiss ion to

work his ter r itory only superficially,skimming the cr eam ,

pick

ing up the easy orders and leaving the har d-to-get busin ess . He

tends to call chiefly on the big buyers and to neglect the little

fellows who may be big buyers later.

( c ) The contr ol of the hous e over the activities of the sales

man is greatly weakened under this system . The salesman feels

that he owns his ter r itory and is free to work it as he wishes.

I f he is disinclined to work M ondays and S atur days,he lays ofif.

I f he is asked to stay over in a town and help a dealer solve

some of his problems,he resents it strongly

,and i s apt to ex

pr ess the Opinion that his business is selling , not wr iting adver

t isements or tr imming windows. I f he is requested to visit a

town where no large order s are to be anticipated , he feels thatthe sales manag er is exceeding his authoyféy. I n a way the


salesman is justified in th is attitude,for he is usually paying hi s

own expenses and,of course

,assum ing any losses thr ough idle

n ess . The firm does not feel so free to ask a salesman on com

mission to make out repor ts of var ious kinds as if he were on a

salary.

(d ) When the commission salesman has a large lin e and the

r ate on each item is the same, he is likely to sell ch iefly thoseitems which are easiest to sell, neg lectin g those which ar e har der

to sell: This may not be at all to the advantag e of the house,for the pr ofit on the“easy-to-sell” items is likely to be low. B e

sides,there may be other good reason s why the firm wishes him

to push the articles wh ich ar e not easy to sell at the time.

(e) Ther e are many men who cannot do their best w ork

unless they ar e assur ed of a cer tain,dependable in come. The

commission salesm an ’s income i s uncer tain, and if he is inclin ed

to w or ry,th is fact may impair his efficiency. The same m ay

apply to young salesmen just star ting out . They do not make

a bar e living at fir st, perhaps, and in this way either become

over -eager to sell and fail on account of this very over -eagerness ,or they gr ow discour aged and fail . Old

,exper ien ced salesmen

who kn ow their ability often prefer the commission form ,as they

feel sur e of an adequate income.

( f ) If the salesman is perm itted to cut pr ices, that is, to

u se his own judgment in the quotation of pr ices , the commission

basis of payment is apt to pr ove unsatisfactory . Busin ess bought

at a price which yields scant profit to the house is not worth

booking.

(g ) It"is not so easy to administer sometimes as it appears

onthe sur face. Ter r itor ial infr in g ements ar e not uncommon ,

one salesman sneaks into an other’

s ter r itory. A djusting these

cases is not pleasan t w ork for the sales manag er .

(h ) I t en cour ages“discount slipping” or splitting commis

siohs with the buyer s. That is,the salesman may sell at a pr ice

lower than the list pr ice, taking the loss h imself. I n other w ords,if he sells a bill of goods amounting to $100 and gets $10 as

his commission, he agrees to pay the buyer $1, $2 , or perhaps

even $5 out of his commission when he comes around next time.

It may perhaps be argued that this pr actice harms on ly the

salesman and not 1?house, but this is not the case. It i s


to financing a salesman without maintaining a closer contr ol

over h im than th is method gives . The averag e sales manag er, if

he is to pay out money to a salesman ,whether that sal esman

sends in any orders or not,prefer s to pay it out as salary so

that he can contr ol the activities of the salesman more definitely.

A fur ther disadvantage of the draw ing account is that it fre

quen tly happens that salesmen do not earn commission s equal; -“l

to the amount they have drawn in advance. Th is is par ticu lar ly

true w hen the market is falling, as it did dur ing 1921. A sales

man who has failed to earn comm ission s equal to his draw ing ao

count is technically in debt to the firm for the differ ence and

sometimes is expected to pay this debt . In any even t,if he

r esign s or is discharged,the company

’

s books show that he left

their employ ow ing them money. This i s embar r assing for the

conscien tious salesman,who may have done all that any man

could have don e in his situation . He may .have w illin g ly car

r ied on mission ary or developmental w ork, but it does not affect

the balance against him .

S till an other w eakness of the draw ing account is the fact that

unscrupulous sales men may obtain positions w ith mor e than on e

firm at a time, pr oceed to dr aw as liber ally upon their dr aw ing

accoun ts as possible, and when the deception can no lon ger be

maintained,disappear . This difficulty is not so common as it

used to be,as sales man ag er s ar e hi r ing w ith more care

,and ar e

also in closer touch w ith each other,so that the crooked sales

man is more likely to be detected .

The idea back of the dr aw ing account is that it offer s an

incentive to the salesman to get busy and earn sufficien t com

mission s to r epay the amount advan ced him . I n pr actice, how

ever,this incen tive is not very str ong , in the Opin ion of many

sales manag er s . With a high g r ade of salesmen the plan might

not oper ate so poor ly, but salesmen of this class are usually

able to finance themselves on a str aight commission basis w ith

out the aid of a draw ing account.

Salary and Commission—W e have r eview ed the str on g

and weak points of both the straight salary and the straig ht

commission methods of compensation. Many firms, recognizingthese points , attempt to retain the advantag es of each by a

judicious combination of the two. That is , they pay the sales

COM P E NSAT I ON 129

man a basic salary, large enough for a bar e subsistence, and then

in addition pay him a commission on all sales . Thi s is supposed

to ofier the salesman the assurance that he will have a steady

income,to give the sales man ager the necessary control over

him,and at the same time to pr ovide the incentive needed to

induce him to work har d . The salesman ’

s expenses may or may

not be bor n e by the house. I f it is desired to mai ntain str ict

con tr ol over him,the firm may pay his railroad expenses

I n pr actice,this simple combination of salary and commis

sion does not w ork out as satisfactor ily as some other var iations.

It is a rar e combination whict esults in a survival of only the

str ong points of each element . I t is quite as likely that the

disadvantages w ill per sist .

S traight P rofit-shar ing .—One such plan ofier s the salesman

a percentag e of the g r oss profit r emaining after deducting those

sCllin g expenses over which he has dir ect control . He may per

haps be allowed tr aveling expenses or a drawing account . I n

determining g r oss pr ofit either of the two follow ing bases of

cost may be used : ( 1 ) actual cost of the mer chandise, or (2 ) the

actu al cost plus some of the overhead‘The second method is

used when,for any reason

,it is considered undesir able to allow

the salesmen to kn ow the cost of the goods they ar e selling. Of

course,if this method is used the commission should be a trifle

lar ger than under the fir st method .

It is necessary to prepar e differ ent sets of costs for the goods,as they will car ry varying costs

,depending on whether they ar e

shipped dir ect, thr ough br anches , etc. When the salesman takes

an order he shou ld know the exact cost of the goods he is selling .

S tatements shoul d be r endered about month ly to the salesmen ,

although they ar e usually furn ished daily r epor ts or copies of

invoices for shipments . In th is way they can keep account of

the amount of the pr ofit they are to shar e.

The sales man ager shou ld r eceive a per cen tage of the profitson all“house” accounts , but this percentage should be small

and pr obably based on a sliding scale.

Advantages—The system is alleged by its fr iends to pos

sess cer tain clear ly defined advantages, among which may bementioned these :

130 SALE S MANAGE MEN T

1 . I t eliminates the unprofitable salesman automatical ly. I f

he does not make a good income,he r esigns.

2 . It avoids the dreaded annual sessions at which the salesman ager and salesman decide on the latter ’s salary for the

en sum g year.

3 . Tr avelin g and selling expenses are reduced and gross

pr ofits incr eased.

4. The salesmen,w ithout urging , concentrate their efior ts on

selling the most profitable lin es , for by this means they make the

g r eatest income themselves. The men are vir tually in bus inessfor themselves and take the same in terest in promoting the prog

ress of the firm as if they were owners .

5 . P rice cutting is reduced to a minimum . Wher e under acommission form there is con stant temptation to slash pr ices,under th is system any such cut woul d come en tir ely out of thesalesman ’

s own pocket ; in consequence he does not usually cut

the price.

Disadvantag es—Those not in favor of this form of pr ofitshar ing poin t out that it g ives too little con tr ol over the men ;that it is but little if any better than str aight comm ission in

th is particular . They w ill feel that they ar e even mor e their

own task-master s than under most other forms of compen sa

tion .

A second disadvantage is said to be the added complications

of bookkeeping involved . To figure the cost of each item in a

lar g e line is difficu lt, especially when those costs ar e r apidly

changing. Many concern s do not have adequate accounting and

recor d systems to determine these costs. It w ould seem that for

a con cern selling a w ide line of pr oducts the system would be

unw ieldy. I t Oper ates better in selling a specialty or semi

specialty where the accounting is simpler.

Regarding profit-shar ing schemes based upon the total pr ofitsof the concern , the same arguments apply as in the case of office

workers,only perhaps m or e for cibly. That is

,if each man is

en titled to a shar e in n et pr ofits made by the firm, this

share being determined by his salary, commissions, gross sales ,

or in some such manner , the system does not accomplish all it

I s supposed to do . The shar e which each man draw s fr om the

fund is not necessar ily equal to his value to the firm . For ex


a var iation of the salary and commi ssmn on total sales. I t aimsto emphasize volume while maintaining control over the salesman . The bas ic salary should not be enough to enable the salesman to do much mor e than exist

,while he should be able to

incr ease his earning 5 0 per cent or even 100 per cent by earning

a bonus .

An advantage of a bonus arrangement with quota is that itsets a mark which the salesman feels he must attain . Without

a definite set task, few men will do their best in any li ne of

endeavor. In addition to this advan tage,the scheme appeals to

the spor ting instincts of the aver age man . It contains a chal

lenge. To be efiective,this task which the salesman is chal

lenged to per form should not be too difficult . That is,it should

be w ell w ithin the limits of possibility, or the salesman will not

make the effort to r each it. An ambitious salesman , eag er to

make his qu ota,may become so thor oughly discour ag ed by a

failur e to do so that his value to the house is seriously im

paired If thi s happens two years in succession he w ill pr obably

resign .

S liding Commission—This s cheme r ecognizes that as the

sales of a g iven salesman incr ease, the un it selling cost is de

creased . ambitious salesman a chance to make a

of commission increases w ith the sales.

mon th as a un it,under this schema the

salesman might r eceive 15 per cen t on all busin ess under

20 per cent on all business if he sold 22 per cent if he

sold etc. The rate applies on all his business, not merely

on the amount over the next lowest figur e. As a stimulus to

great effor t this scheme is effective w ith salesmen who have a

high standar d of living , but all the emphasis is placed on volume.

The system,therefor e

,has the w eaknesses of any commission

plan .

The Group Commission Plan .—This system divides the

items in the line into a number of gr oups , the classification de

pen ding lar g ely upon the pr ofit to the house of the var ious items

and the difi culty with which they are sold . These different

groups car ry varying rates of commission , so that a salesman

may earn more by selling items in cer tain gr oups than in other s .

The tr ouble with the plan is that it tempts the salesman to sell

COM PE NSAT I ON 133

the customer something which he may not really need, mer ely

because that item car r ies a higher rate of commission than the

one the cus tomer w anted to buy. The difference in commission is

not usually sufi‘icient

,however

,to bring about this r esult . The

plan is in wide u se and peculiar ly adaptable to such lines as

hardware,dry goods

,and other s which include a lar ge var iety of

items,some of which yield a good pr ofit while others ar e sold

at a nar row pr ofit . The plan is simple, in that the salesman him

self can figur e his own earnings each w eek.

Salary, Expense and Commission—This is mer ely a var iation of the salary and commission plan . Un der this method the

house has an account with each salesman , charging him with

his salary and expenses, and cr editing him w ith a comm ission '

on

all sales,

figured usually on the amounts actually paid by his

customer s. When his commissions exceed his salary and ex

pen ses, he r eceives a profit-shar ing check, once or tw ice a month .

The aim of thi s plan i s to keep the men satisfied that they

will r eceive a decen t living,while at the same time offer ing them

an incentive to sell volume. The idea of paying different com

miss ions for selling difier en t items or to difier ent classes of cus

tomer s may be incorpor ated in this system.

Task and B onus System—This is one of the most modern

of the systems,being based upon similar systems used in the pay

ment of factory workers . The theory under lying it is that thesalesman i s expected to do a number of things besides sell goods

,

and that some system should be devised which will pay him for

doin g these things .

The system used by the Remington Typewriter Company isan illustr ation of this . A man ’

s“task is the number of calls

he makes , and he gets paid for every call, even though no sale

i s made. For some cal ls he is paid mor e than for other s, as

for example, calls on n ew pr ospects ar e cons idered w or th morethan repeat calls on old pr ospects . If the salesman is ableto inter est the prospect so that a demonstration can be made

,he

is paid for that at a rate varying with the type of machinedemonstr ated.

I f the salesman is in charge of a distr ict office and carriesa small stock of machi nes

,he is paid for looking after the stock

,

making out reports, etc. He never knows just when his work


is going to be checked up , but every once in a while it is . Th iskeeps him on the alert and also helps to correct any faults hemay show in his methods.

The bonus is in r eality a commission on all sales. The r atevar ies with the profit on the sale. It is thought that thi s systemis best adapted to salesmen whdare not above the averag e, whoare w illing to do routine work without question . I ts value for

the h igher gr ades of sa les w ork has yet to be pr oved .

9

The P oint System.—This system may or may not be a com

pensation plan . That is,it may mer ely indicate the mathe

mat ical method of ar r iving at the amount of compensation duethe salesman . E ven so defined, it is entitled to discussion here.

M any sales manager s feel that this method offers the best opportuni ties for accomplishing just what they have been trying un

successfu lly to accomplish with other systems of compensation.

For this reason i ts u se is growing rap idly.

P oin ts may be g iven the salesman for anything and they mayal so be deducted . For example, he may be g iven five points for

making a call and fifteen poin ts for makin g a sale. I n addi

tion to this he might receive credit for an extra point on each

hundred pounds or gross sold . For putting in w indow tr ims,sellin g certain items, etc.

, p oints may be given . S imilar ly, if

a salesm an fails to do what he i s supposed to do , his account

may be debited w ith a cer tain number of points . In other

words,he may be penalized. This pr in ciple is illustr ated by the

method u sed ' by an electr ic light company of Wisconsin . Their

scale runs as follows 1 °

Credit

Classifica ti on of B usi nessN ew cu stom er s on existing linesNew business on extended linesAdditional l ighting bu sinessAdditional motor service bu sinessAdditiona l successor cu stomer s

Renewals of contracts

9 J . G . FREDERICK ,

“Modern Sales M anagemen t, p. 15 0 .

1 0“Charg ing S alesmen for the Business They Lose,” System, July,1910 .


For in creasing the total net sales of the pr eceding year—25 points .

For follow ing accurately and promptly al l instructions received fromthe sales department—20 points .

Special cooperation rendered at the request of the sales depar tment

5 0 points .

For decreasing the ratio Of expen ses to sales, compared w ith the

previous year—25 points.

Here are the penaltiesFa ilure to repor t on calls made on either prospects or customers

2 5 points .

Fa ilure to acknow ledge each notice on day received—5 points.

Ratio of g ross to net sales, incr eased—25 points .

For decr ease in total net sales compared w ith preceding per iod—5points .

For each complaint from customer due to the fau lt of the salesman

—2 5 points .

M isrepresen tation , proved beyond doubt—15 0 points .

E ach accoun t lost ( except when closed by house or passed up at re

quest of house or directly the fau l t of the house )—25 poin ts .

E ach a ccoun t decr eased (un less the decrease i s a t lea st 20 per cen tbelow the previous per iod the accoun t w ill not be considered a s decreased )—5 po ints .

Fa ilure to call on reta iler s in at least 5 0 town s—25 points .

Fa ilur e to show line to at least 60 r eta iler s—25 po in ts .

Under any var iation of the point system the ch ief advantage

is i ts flexibility. It can be var ied to meet chang in g conditions.

It recog n izes the difference between opening up n ew ter r itory

and selling volume in established ter r itory . It pays the salesman

for doing what the man ag er w ants him to do .

The chief ar gument advan ced ag ainst the poin t system 1s i ts

complexity. Th is may be well founded, but it is n ot necessary

to make the system complex . Bookkeeping can be s implified so

that little time is requir ed to compute each man’

s earn ings.

P ensioning Retired Salesmen—P en sion systems for factory

and office employees are in common use, the purpose being to

en cour age the worker to stick to the firm over a cons ider able

per iod of years,ther eby r educing the rate of labor turn over .

It w ou ld appear that enlightened sales man ager s shouldconsider putting into operation some plan for pr oviding for the

salesman when he becomes too old to tr avel . Yet investig ation

fai ls to r eveal many such plans . This is not an indication that

sales managers are unappreciative of their men’s effor ts or that

COMPENSAT I ON 137

they ar e particular ly unenlightened as to modern methods of

cr eating content among their employees . It is simply that pen

sion systems have not been needed .

One leading sales manager says

I t i s my opin ion that if a salesman has been successfu l in hi s pro

fession he w ou ld never need a pen sion when he reached old age. I haveknown of a gr eat many salesmen who have been able to r etire at the age

of s ixty and live on their incomes .

”

P erhaps another reason for the lack of pension systems is

the fact that such a system would pr obably not hold salesmen on

the job if they wanted to take another position . The salesman i s

by natur e not a routine w orker ; he is a pioneer . In him the

in stinct of caution is not developed so greatly as in most inside

w orkers or factory hands. His is not the type which str ikes root

deeply into a j ob , sticking by that one job larg ely becau se he

fear s to change. Change is the breath of life to a salesman , and

he w elcomes the unknown . For that reason he seldom stays on

one j ob long enough to earn a pension if the firm had su ch a

plan in oper ation, and further, such a plan would not hold him

anyway.

Another reason why pension systems are not in u se is the fact

that most salesmen do not con tinue to travel until they ar e sixty

year s of age. They have either been pr omoted to an in side

position as br anch manager, sales man ager, or some similar job,

or else they have star ted in busin ess for themselves as retailer s,br oker s

,or even manufacturer s . Many a salesman sticks to the

road jus t long enough to save a little capital and pick out a nice

town in w h ich to settle down and Oper ate a r etail stor e.

The New York L ife In surance Company has a system of

pension s in force which is reg ar ded favor ably by many. It isr ather complicated, bu t , in br ief , it pr ovides that after a sales

man has been w ith the company twen ty year s he is entitled to a

pension for the rest of his days. This does not always mean

that he stops working . Many such men continue to sell in sur

ance as actively as dur ing the former period , but it lifts from

1 2 SAMUEL DUB L I RER ,

“How Shal l W e P ay Our Salesmen : Commi ssionor Salary?” P m

'

n ter s’ I nk M on thly, p. 27, Ju ly, 1920 .


their minds the load of worry whi ch might keep them from suc

cessful selling as they grew older .

There are a few other pension plans in operation,but it may

be said that the need for them is so slight that no general policy

is usually necessary. It is ordinarily sufficient to care for any

individual case on its own mer its.

Conclusion—I t should be pointed out in conclusion that themethod of payment and the amount of compensation ar e not the

only factors involved . The sales manag er who w ould make a

success of h1s work with his men must bear in mind that they

value other things as well as money. Among these other impor

tant factors may be mentioned :1. An opportunity to grow is valued by the good salesman as

much as the immediate salary . By this is meant not only that a

man likes to see an opening up ahead for him ,but that he ap

preciates the chance to learn how to fill it. I n other words he

wan ts to be shown how to earn more.

2 . The organization in which a“pull is essential to pro

motion will not attr act the better grade of salesmen . An investi

gat ion cover ing four hundr ed salesmen a few years ago showed

that a surpr isingly large number of them felt that mer it was

not r ewarded in their or g anizations, but that relationship , fra

ternal ties, and plain“pull ” counted far more heavily.

3 . The good salesman likes to work for a firm with definite

business policies as to prices, terms , shipments, numbers, etc.

Furthermore,he likes to feel that ther e is a reason behind

‘

each

policy, so that he can feel justified in upholding it . And he is

entitled to know the reason for each policy.

The sales manager who supplements his compensation policy

with these policies will find the former much more effective.


4. Working at long range with the home ofi ce, he is likely

to develop the feeling that he is unappr eciated, that the“sw ivel

chair loafers back there”

are indifferent to him and to histroubles, that there is often needles s neglect . He forgets thathe is only one of perhaps scor es with whom they ar e maintain

ing contact, and his tr oubles are aggravated by exchang ing taleswith his fellow tr aveling men .

For these reas ons, the sales manager should give special atten

tion to those means by which the salesman on the road can beencouraged to put for th his bes t effor ts Constan tly. In this andthe next two chapters are consider ed the methods

,aside from

the form of compen sation , which may be u tilized .

Contests for S taple and Specialty Salesmen—On the de

sirabi lity of u sing the contest idea to stimulate salesmen to

gr eater effor t , opin ions of sales managers di fier , as they do onso many policies . In some staple lines, like dry g oods or shoes

,

con tests for salesmen are seldom held,the feeling bein g that the

conditions of such.

businesses ar e differ en t fr om those of the

g reat specialty manu factur ers who have so w idely exploited the

plan, as , for example, the Nation al Cash Reg ister Company, theS herw in -Williams Company, B ur r ou ghs Addin g Machine Com

pany, Addr essog raph Company , and so on .

Th is feeling that con tests ar e not suitable for salesmen ofstaples is g iving way , how ever , and w e find many such firmsnow making u se of them . The or ig in al idea w as that the staplesalesman made sales more on a basis of fr iendsh ip and ser vice

to the r etailer who w as his customer , and if the contest was

intr oduced it wou ld tend to make him over load the tr ade, thereby

piling up futu re trouble for himself and the firm . Then ,too ,

staples ar e g r ow in g mor e like specialties in some ways,being

br anded and sold as Specialties, while many specialties ar e assum

ing the guise of staples . Ther e seems to be less of a fundamental

distin ction between the two types of selling , so far as the applica

bilify of con tests is con cern ed, than was former ly the case.

Arguments Against Using Contests—T he case ag ain st the

con test is w ell formulated by the sales manager of a large paper

mill 1

1“Do Sales Contests Really P ay?” Sa les M anag emen t, p. 5 15 , Augus t,192 1.

CONTE ST S 141

“A sales contest i s a competition . I t ra ises dissension and r ivalry.

Old T homas Hobbes who l ived in E ng land in the s ixteen th cen tu ry and

who made a specialty of a rguments, summ ed up the matter of sa les con

tests in this w ise : ‘Competition of r iches, honou r , command of power ,inclineth to contention ,

enm ity and w ar ; becau se the w ay of one com

petitor , to the atta in ing of hi s des ire, i s to kill , subdue, supplant, or r epelthe other . And therefor e, if any two men desire the same thing ,which never theless they cannot both en joy, they become enem ies ; and, in

the way to their end, which i s pr incipa lly their own conservation and

sometimes their~

delectation on ly, endeavor to destroy or subdue one

another .

’

“Do you think, M r . S ales M anager , that su ch a spir it helps upbu ildyour sales for ce? M r . S tar salesman desir ing to subdue or kill—in the

figu rative sense on ly—M r . N ear star i s hardly a g ood ba sis upon which tobu ild a spir it of g ood fellow ship and camarader ie to meet the r ea l enemy.

Competition , i s it?“Sa les manager s w ant to make a show ing ; they wan t a big M ar ch , abigger M ay, and they stag e a contest . I t br ings home the business

,ju st

as now and then a w ar of aggr ess ion br ing s home more ter r itory to theinvading pow er . B ut the wa r spir it r ema in s w ithin the people and br eaksdown their mora le. I n order to improve their standing in a con test, salesmen w ill dr ive the prospect to a decis ion which w ill be the cau se of manyyear s of future wor ry—for some fu tu re sales manager , in a ll probability"You can whip a prospect to a decis ion , bu t in the end he w ill whip yourcompany for having for ced him .“Sa les con tests mean more to the mu ltipl ication o f tu rnover amongsalesmen ,

in my Opin ion , than anything else. I n stead of getting a man

to join you a s a sa lesman , as in the old days , and w orking him up as an

owner in the bu siness , you g et a man for a salesman mu ch as they hirethe gr andstand baseba ll player s Of the day. T hey go l ike a hou se afire

for a mon th , a season , or longer , and then you‘let them ou t

’or they get

fir ed, or they r esign . A man sore at the hou se because he los t a contesti s not the man who can best represent that hou se to a prospect . Yet

follow ing every contest there are bound to be on ly a few w inner s , and

many who w ere loser s .

The contest system of sales stimu lat ion sacr ifices the many for thefew ; it breaks the spir it Of salesmanship ; it does absolutely nothingto impr ove the standards of salesman ship ; it breeds ill-w ill , discord,envy, hatr ed , and disloyalty. I n stead of spending thou sands of dollar s in pr izes, why not try Spending thousands of dollar s in salest ra in ing ?

I n addition to the above cr iticisms, one of the most im

pressive is the ar gument that after a salesman has striven har d

to win a pr ize in a sales contest, ther e must inevitably follow a

per iod in which his sales will slump . In other words, a contest


system simply results in a sales force doing most of their selling

w h ile the contest is on . If this is the case,the amount g iven as

pr izes must either be deducted fr om the pr ofits of the firm or elseconsidered as a par t of the salesman ’

s regular compensation.

A s one sales manager phrased it :

Sales con tests ar e demora lizing . They are like a‘shot in the arm .

’

Once you g et in the habit of offern you r men a specia l pr ize for doingwhat they are pa id to do, you never can g et any w ork out of them w ithout Offer ing something in addition to sa lary. I t i s like br ibing a child tobe good . I nstead of developing the child you on ly teach i t to expect payfor being w el l behaved . I t

’s a ll w rong . I t

’

s a most disastrou s habit intowhich to get—a most unfor tun ate thing to let permeate a sales for ce. I

know a lot of men who t r ied it, but i t did more harm than good in the

long run .

”

One investig ation among twenty-two sales managers disclosedthe fact that half of them were in favor of the contest and theother half definitely opposed to it .

2

Arguments in Favor of Using Contests—The case in favorof the con test idea is suppor ted by much testimony fr om sour ces

en titled to r espect . For example, the sales manag er of a pub

l ishing house states

W e w ere not very ambitious or hopefu l abou t the ou tcome of our

fi r st contest . T oday w e a r e absolu tely sold on the contest idea . Our w holesales organ ization i s bu ilt around permanen t contests which come r egu

lar ly each year and which the sales people look forw ard to w ith a g reatdeal of an ticipation . T hese contests of our s have not only led to an

increased bu siness, but they have produced the r ight kind of team spir itwhich leads to team-w ork . The older , exper ienced member s of the salesfor ce jump r ight in and help the beg inner s get star ted because the latterm ight hold back the scor e of the team if they fail to get a good star t .

” 3

Another exponent of the contest puts it this w ay

“I f every salesman w orked every day at 100 per cent capacity, thenI w ou ld say that sales contests w ou ldn ’t pay. T her e w ou ld be no needof them . B ut it has been repeatedly proven that every man i s capable

2“Survey of Sales M an agement Practices, The Dar tnel l Corporation ,Chicago, I ll .

8 Special Repor t No. 5 2 .

“One Hundred Plans for Stag ing Sales Con

tests .

”I ssued by T he Dar tnel l Corporation , Chicago .


Where there are defin ite seasons,it may be wise to hold the

contest during the dull season in order to equalize sales inthe interests of steadier pr oduction . In this case a contest oftwo or t hree months ’ duration is pr obably about right . When

for any unfor eseen r eason a slump in sales seems immin en t, the

contest may be invoked to br idg e the gap , even thoug h the fallin g off may not be due to season al factors . I n any event

,it is

a mistake to let a contest drag ou t too long, as the men lose

inter est . S imilar ly,it is an er r or to hold contests too often

,as

this dulls the edge of interest . For an in ten sified effort , the

leng th shou ld not be over thr ee mon ths at the outside, while most

firms have found that wher e more than two shor t contests a yearare held they lose their spice.

The annu al contest,runn ing thr oughout the entir e year is

used by many con cerns,and seems to be a perman en t feature in

many systems of sales stimu lation . Wher e the con test runs the

whole year it is usual to star t immediately follow ing the big con

ven t ion of salesmen and to announce the winners of the pr evious

year ’

s contest at one of the conven tion sessions . More detailed

descr iptions of some of these con tinual con tests are g iven later

in the chapter.

Where the contest is continuous,it has been thought neces

sary by many firms to in ject sever al sub-con tests into the scheme,

much on the same pr inciple as the w inn er s of cer tain laps in an

automobile r ace may be g iven pr izes even thou g h they do not

even tually w in the r ace. Thus,it might be poss ible to offer a

pr ize for the most new cu stomer s in Mar ch,or for the most sal es

of a cer tain item in June, thereby allow ing salesmen to w in

pr izes for special effor t even though they mig ht not w in the

main contest . This method maintain s in ter est in a year -r ound

con test as nothing else w ill .

T o M ake Contests Successful —1. P erhaps the m ost im

por tant pr in ciple in making sales contests su ccessful is to ar

range them so that every contestan t has a chan ce to_

w in _some

thing. Th is does not mean that every man wi ll w in ; merely

that he has a chance. I f thi s is not don e, the major ity of the

men w ill view the contest w ithout en thusiasm and w ill pu t for th

little extra effor t,know ing that they cannot w in . I n other

w or ds,if the men are w orking ter ritor ies which ar e not pre

CON TE STS 145

cisely equal in possibilities ther e must be some handicap system

so that those in the poorest ter r itor ies may feel that they have a

chance w ith the men in the best ter r itor ies. The best men natu

r ally g r avitate to the best ter r itor ies, the same as the best ten ant

farmer s g et the best farms or the best mer chan ts the most de

sir able r etail location s, so it w ould be manifestly unfair to give

a salesman the double advantage of native ability and the best

ter r itory.

2 . Another requisite for a successful con test is that ther e

shall be ample time for working out the plan s befor e the idea is

put up to the salesmen . It is su icidal to announce a con test

w ith vague r u les,and per haps even w or se to star t it w ith cer tain

under stood r egulations and then later chan ge the rules because

they w er e un satisfactory in some w ay. Care in thinking through

the details w ill avoid th is blunder .

3 . The sales man ag er should devote considerable attention to

the lagg ards and not focus all his in ter est on the leaders. It

is by br ing ing up these laggar ds that a r eal contest is en

gender ed . Ther e is nothin g in any race so thr illing as to see

a contestant who has been tr ailing for a time sudden ly spurt

and'

challen ge the leader . In a sales contest th is gives the other“tr ailer s ” r en ewed hope and ambition,which is lost where cer

tain men stay out in fr on t w eek after w eek . In stimulating the

slow men , the sales manag er must make use of his own know l

edg e of salesmanship , and deal w ith each individually. One

w ill r espond to an appeal to pr ide, an other needs to be scar ed,

while the th ir d w ill r eact favor ably to an appeal to personal loy

alty . S coldin g s and en cour ag in g wor ds must be distr ibuted

judiciously by the w atchful sales manager .

4. The contest mus t be sold to the men in advance. It is

not sufficient to send each aw ie'

f'

i i dte to the effect that our

summer con test will star t Jun e 1st . The pr ize w ill be a tr avel

ing bag . Your handicap is 18. T he contest closes S eptember1st

,so g et busy.

”No, the contest m ust be adver tis ed to the

men by mean s of letter s,the house or g an , bu lletin s , and speeches

at the conven tion . Withou t this,the men ar e slow in getting

star ted and the whole scheme seems to flatten ou t .

5 . Wher e possible, the inter est of the execu tives should beenlisted . A letter fr om the president, or a pr ize donated by


him, comments or articles in the house organ by other home officeexecutives ; these all help to give the salesman the impression

that he is being watched—that there is a cr owd in the grandstand .

6. The team spirit can often be introduced profitably. By

pitting ri val ter r itor ies ag ainst each other mu ch healthy inter est

may be ar oused . Detroit and Clevelan d ter r itor ies cou ld be

pair ed OR to good advantage,as they have been more than once.

To make this idea effective,the terr itor ies must be fairly equal

in possibilities and be natural r ivals. A s w ill be seen later, this

plan has been used clever ly by var ious concerns .

7 . And last of all, but perhaps the most fundamental of all,

is listed the pr inciple that prizes shou ld be offered for doing whatthe sales man ager w an ts done. For example, if the sales for ce

1s selling staples to a r egular ly established tr ade, it wou ld be

folly to offer the pr izes pur ely on a basis of volume, for this

w ou ld undoubtedly place a pr emium on over loading the cus

tomers, and make no allowance for the cultivation of future

good-w ill .

Why Contests Sometimes Fail . -I n summing up the r ea

son s why some con tests fail,one investig ation , already quoted,

enumer ates the follow ing :4

1 . Failur e to pr ovide pr oper quota , or basis of award, so

that all salesmen,regardless of natur al ability or terr itor ial con

di t ions,have an equal chan ce at the pr izes .

2 . Failur e pr oper ly to the contest to the sales force

at the start , and failure to adopt methods that will mai ntain inter est thr oughout the contest.

3. Failure to use pr ecautions in awar ding pr izes to guard

again st over stocking tr ade,cancellations, and other results of

hur r ied salesmanship .

4. Failur e pr oper ly to g rcnrp—cqntestan ts so that salesmen in

equal ter r itor ies w ou ld be pitted again st each other.

5 ._

Over : doing the contest idea . Runn in g a ser ies of contests

in quick succession-

Nifhout regar d to general business and stock

conditions .

6. L ack of advance planning. Some concerns r epor t that

4 Special Repor t No. 5 2 .

“One Hundred Plans for Stag ing Sales Contests,

”p. 6. I ssued by T he Dar tnell Corpor ation , Chicago .


C lub each year . I n acknow ledg ing the pr ize that w as g iven him as a.

token of the place he had won , he said to the owners and executives ofthe company,

‘Gen tlemen , I wou ld not take cold ca sh for this

honor .

’And he r eally mean t it .” 6

Another w ay of putting the same idea is found in these w ordsof another su ccessful sal es manag er ,

“When the w or th of the

pr ize outweighs the honor of w inn in g in the eyes of the sales

man, then you ar e in for tr ouble.

”

Char les W. Hoyt, himself a sales manager for year s,says

“Contests are often spo iled becau se the pr ize i s made the biggest

featur e of them . Once I attended a salesmen’s convent ion at which the

head of the con cern announced that for the next year the salesman who

did the best in a cer ta in l ine w ou ld r eceive a pr ize of $5 00 . T he an

nouncemen t fellflat . Dur ing the r ecess the salesmen discussed this point .I heard many of them say they didn

’t like it . They sa id they w er e now

doing the best they possibly cou ld and no matter if the boss offered sev

eral pr izes of $5 00, it w ou ldn’

t make them w ork any harder than theyw ere w orking now . I ndeed, there w a s so mu ch Opposition to this pr izethat the offer was w ithdrawn at the next day’s session of that conven

tion .

” 7

S im ilar testimony is offer ed by Jack Spear e, adver tising man

ager of the Todd P r otectogr aph Company

Our sa les contests in the past have pr oved that the aver age specia ltysalesm an w il l work harder and produ ce a g r eater volume of bu siness fora pr ize su ch a s a gold w a tch or a diamond r ing than for i ts equ iva len tin cash comm ission s or bonu ses . He w ill work harder for a $5 goldmedal or button than for a $5 00 pr ize. B ut the

‘ne plus u ltr a ’ of the

salesman’s desire i s a

‘cer tificate’ or an‘honorable aw ard of distingu ished

service, ’ or anything that has an eng raved in scr iption and a bunch ofseals hang ing on to i t—provided it i s s igned by the heads of

‘Dear Firm ’

and i s of a shape to be framed and hung up in the par lor for the adm iration Of poster ity.

”

This all sounds cynical , but within cer tain lim its contains

an undoubted elemen t of truth .

The most effective pr ize is on e w h ich is lasting , so that it

con stan tly r emin ds the winner of his victory . Mon ey is soon

spen t and noth ing r emain s by whi ch to r emember the event . For

6 H. E . STEINER, Genera l Sales Manager , Holcomb Hoke M fg . Co . ,

Our Exper ience w ith Pr ize Con tests ,” Sa les M anag emen t , August, 1920 .

7“Scien tific Sales M anagement,” p . 115 .

CON TE STS 149

this reason merchandise prizes ar e much in vogue : such things

as tr aveling bags , watches, r ings, loving cups, or ar ticles for the

home. On e con cern makes a pr actice of ofier in g its prizes in

pair s ; that is, one for men and another of equal value for women .

The winn er may choose. The very fact that a man ’

s w ife is

likely to help him select the pr ize means that the pr ize is doubly

efiect ive in ur g ing him to do his best w ork . T he natur al in

terest of the men ’

s families,under su ch a plan , is a wholesome

spur . If the pr ize is for winning a really big contest , it should

be something which the w inner can show his fr iends. A g old

mounted fountain pen ,costing $25 added to $225 in cash w ill

mean mor e to the salesman than $250, for it gives him a peg on

wh ich to hang his story of how he won the contest . When he

takes his pen out he is ofiered an excuse to relate the cir cum

stan ces su r r oundin g the big con test,and to tell how the pr esi

den t,after signing the pr ize check w ith the pen , presen ted it to

him before all the other salesmen assembled at the annual con

ven tion .

A sales manager may be excused also if he intr oduces a bit of

the dr amatic into the pr ize-aw arding occasion . I t means much

to a salesman to be seated at the speaker s’ table at the banquet ,

and to be s ignally hon ored by being asked to r ise and r eceivehis pr ize, bestowed w ith the best or atorical flour ish the pr esident

of the firm can muster . I f the pr ize were sent to him by mail,it would lose half its charm .

Var ious w ays can be devised for singling out the contest win

ners and g ivin g them especial hon or s . On e firm presen ts its con

test winn ers w ith un ique can es w hen they ar r ive in the city for

the conven tion,and these men ar e perm itted special pr ivileges

not g r an ted the common salesman who failed to w in anythin g .

Of cour se,it is easy to overdo this“featur ing” idea

,but a little

has been found helpful .

Few concern s offer booby prizes , but some have worked

out the idea w ith success. T he P ackard Motor Company once

pr esented the salesman who made the poor est r ecord w ith a mu le,calcu lated to impr ess the en tir e sales for ce w ith the firm ’

s idea

of th is man ’s speed and perhaps his natur e also . These booby

pr izes ar e bestow ed w ith mu ch pomp and ceremony,and natu

rally no salesman wishes to be the recipien t .

15 0 SALE S MANAGEM EN T

Occasion ally a contest can be successfully staged with pr izes

of little or no value, the whole being merely a game, viewed as

mor e or less of a joke by the men . One experienced sales man

ager says

“I t isn’t for the pr ize that I run a contest . I t i s for the game. I

have secured better resu lts when the pr ize was nothing but some jokethan where ther e has been a valuable one at stake. However , I have seen

and run both kinds . L et me illustrate this by two contests in which the

pr izes were distin ctly difi‘

erent . Some year s ago a company w ith whichI was connected was not selling very mu ch of a cer ta in produce. W e

owned a lot of this product, however , and w anted to 86 0 111 8 business .

Our salesmen didn ’t seem to know how to sell it, as it w asn ’t in theirl ine of work . One day I made up a m imeog r aph bu lletin which showeda picture of a road race cour se and announ ced that w e w ou ld run an automobile enduran ce race. The picture showed a track which r an a l l the

w ay around the paper . I n one corner w e pr inted some pictures of automobiles w ith the name of a sa lesman on each one. T he r ace cou r seshow ed un its ; w e called a pound a un it . W e announced that theman who fir st sold pounds w ou ld be the w inner and that the

pr ize was to be an automobile. Now I m ight tell you that the sellingpr ice of this produ ct wa s so small that nobody supposed for a m inu tethat w e w ere g oing to g ive an au tomobile to the sa lesman who sold

pounds, especially as ou r organ ization was on ly abou t 25 salesmen .

T he little con test excited a lot of interest and sold a lot of the produ ct .T he pr ize in this case w as a little mechan ical toy automobile.

On the other hand, another depar tmen t of this concern w ished tomake a big show ing on one of their produ cts . They announced that theyw ou ld send the w inner from each ter r itory to the ma in Office. I t aver agedto cost $200 per man to do this . I t mean t that vir tually the pr izes w erew or th $200 . W e w orked har d on this and boosted i t al l w e cou ld, bu tI think I am qu ite fa ir when I say that there w asn

’t a par ticle morein ter est in i t than there was in the other contest which w as merely a

joke.

”

This comic tw ist has been used by many concerns when they

find the salesmen are g ettin g tir ed of the r egular inspir ation al

appeal . A con cern manu factur ing paint pu t on a com ic con

test to stimulate the sale of scr een pain t one season . This w as

afly-swatting contest"E ach $10 assor tment sold counted as

flies killed . The salesmen received stick pins from the 10

cen t stor e w ith flies on them , each got afly-swatter and lots of

com ic j ingles in the letters and bulletin s . The men wer e split

into two teams,the Bon eheads and the Rufinecks , and much spir


straight volume method of scoring men may be mentioned thefollowing :

1. Territor ies in the average business are unequal in possibilit ies. S ome territories are fully developed, having been

worked for year s, while other s ar e fr ontier sector s wher e thesalesmen ar e still pion eer ing the way. It is obviously unfair to

pit the men in such ter r itor ies ag ainst each other on a simplesales-volume basis.

2 . The amount of the order , or aver age size of order , is an

other impor tan t factor . The salesman who works a ter r itory con

tain ing quite a number of large user s of his pr odu ct has an eas ier

time of it than the man cover ing a ter r itory wher e the buyer spurchase in small quantities .

3 . The var ious ar ticles sold by a firm making a lin e of

pr oducts do not yield the same pr ofit and, fur thermor e, ar e not

sold with equal facility . That is,ther e may be a mar g in of 40

per cen t on a cer tain br and of paint or varn ish , w h ile another

must be sold closer, perhaps on a 20 per cent mar g in of pr ofit .

S ome ar ticles in the line are har der to sell than other s,bu t it

may be des ir able to push them , either to keep ou t competition or

to in cr ease the factory output to a poin t wher e the un it cost of

production w ill be low ered. Ther efor e,in many con tests w e

find extr a poin ts being given for sellin g these items which yield

high pr ofits or which ar e difficu lt to sell.

How to Operate the“P oint System.—S ome of the factors

for which poin ts may be g iven ar e

1 . For lar g est number of calls made or town s visited . This

is based on the idea that the man who sells the most,other th in gs

bein g equal , is that man who is on the job the most hour s per

day,who spends the most time in the pr esen ce of the pr ospect .

A s a matter of fact, many salesmen have been su rpr ised at the

incr ease in their sales when they star ted out to pile up poin ts

under some such system as th is.

2 . For the lar gest number of n ew customers . This places a

pr emium on n ew busines s and min im izes the tenden cy to sell

only the easy pr ospects who ar e known to be fr iendly .

3 . For the larg est in cr ease in busin ess over quota or over

same per iod last year .

4. For the lar gest number of order s . Th is str esses not vol

CONTE S TS 15 3

ume alone but emphas izes the value of continual plugg ing. It

is introduced to encourage the man covering a territory in which

the aver age size of the orders is small. It also stimulates the

sal esman in metr opolitan terr itor ies to call on some pr eviously

over looked small prospects instead of merely skimming the

cream .

5 . For the lowest ratio of expen ses to sales. Where the firm

pays the traveling expenses of i ts men th is tends to keep ex

penses down to a minimum . The poin ts aw ar ded for this factor

should not be high enough to tempt the men to adopt a pinch

penny policy in the matter of expenses , for that would cast r eflection on the firms they represent .

6. For the smallest amount of cancellations. This encour ag es

the salesman to make a thorough job of selling, to avoid over

stockin g or selling the wrong goods . Thus is neutralized one of

the evils of the contest based upon pure volume.

7 . For the lowest amount of past due accounts. This em

phas izes the value of watching the cr edit standin g of the cus

tomer s and secures coOperation between the salesman and the

credit manager.

The advantage of using the point system in scoring salesmen

in a contest is i ts extreme flexibility . It can be adapted to anykind of busines s and to any kind of contest . I t ofiers a means

by which the sales man ager may per suade his men to do the

th ing which seems to need doing. A ll that is necessary is to

incr ease the number of points given for doing this thing. I t

enables the sales man ager to keep his business in perfect bal

ance,for he can lighten or increase the stress upon any part icu

lar phase of the w ork.

Usually the point system is Operated in connection with

quotas for the salesmen , but this is not absolutely essential . A

con test cou ld be stag ed w ithout setting any definite goal forthe men except a time limit . This, however , is fair only wher ethe salesmen are w orking territor ies approximately equal in

possibilities . As already explained, the territorial factor s vary

so widely that it is usually fair er to handicap the men by setting

quotas, the same as a golf player or a runner may be handi

capped .

Special Honors Aside from Pr izes—Aside from the prizes


which are awar ded, special honors frequently add much to thestimulus of a contest . One lar ge organi zation has what they call

their“Hundred P oint Club,

” to which belong those men who

have sold at least one hundr ed poin ts a month for the entir e

year. One poin t r epresents $25 in sales,so that it is necessary

to sell w or th of the ar ticle per month . The first sales

man to reach th is total of poin ts i s au tomatically elected

pr esident of the club for the follow ing year, the second manis made vice-pr esiden t , the third secr etary, and so on . The

names of the men m aking this club ar e w idely adver tised in

the hou se or g an ,so that the hon or is eager ly sought . I n addi

tion , these men ar e entitled to the trip to headquarters to attendthe annual convention . S ometimes a separ ate convention is heldfor those men who did not attain their full quota

,and it is

the ambition of every man on the sales for ce to climb out of that

class into the hig her one.

Many other firms have similar honor clubs,member ship in

which can be attained only by selling a cer tain amoun t or ac

cumulatin g a cer tain number of poin ts in the con test . T he S . F

Bowser Company of Ft . Wayne has i ts“P ace-Maker s ’ Club ,

member s of which g et their expenses paid to the conven tion and

in addi tion receive special bonuses as pr izes . They oper ate under

the point system,a point varying fr om $40 to $100 in sales ,

depending on the line of equipmen t and type of customer to

whom it is sold. T he hardest items to sell and the har dest busi

n esses coun t mor e in the poin t column . The salesman fir st reach

in g 5 00 poin ts is p resident , and so on down the line even to the“board of dir ector s .

”Special contests ar e also used to push

specified items , and distr ict pr izes and con tests ar e u sed .

T he Addressogr aph Hundr ed Club , the Bur r oug hs Adding

Machine Company A ll-S tar Club , the Baker -Vaw ter P ion eer’s

Club,are all s imilar in purpose to those descr ibed. T he value of

these organizations lies in the publicity given them with the sales

for ce.

Types of Contests—Indeed , the success of the entire con

test depends mu ch upon the publicity given it and the mann er

in which it i s depicted to the men . For this r eason it is common

to stage it as some sor t of a physical con test, the simplest and

most obvious being the race. The idea of having the racers


up and to his pride at making a good record. Too

cannot be laid on the need for keeping contestants informed at

all times as to their standings, and in general playing the con

test up str ongly . Mer ely to announce a contest and then say

nothi ng more about it avails little.

CHAP TER VIII

CONVENTI ONS AND CONFERENCE S

THE sales convention in i ts elabor ate form i s a compar atively

modern in stitution . When busin ess units w ere small and fac

tor ies supplied ter ritory limited in size by the meager tr an spor

tation facilities,it required but a small for ce of salesmen to

cover the market. Then,when business un its began to expan d

,

the natur al tendency was for the leaders to skim the cr eam,to

w ork on ly the h igh spots w ith a small for ce of salesmen . In

either event , the sales for ce was small as compar ed with the

armies w h ich today sell cer tain w ell-kn own pr odu cts. Under

these conditions,the salesmen could keep in fair ly close touch

with headquar ters ; they knew the pr opr ietor per son ally and

in timately ; and selling w as easier than it later became. The n eed

for conven tions had not yet ar isen .

Reasons for Development of S ales Convent ions—But w ith

the in cr ease in the size of sales for ces and the establishmen t of

br anch offices,the contact between house and salesman w as

g r eatly w eakened . The sales manager at headquar ters did not

know the men tr avelin g out fr om the br an ches,and the sales

men had n ever visited the factory nor become acquain ted with

the officer s of the firm or w ith the men cover in g other sections

of the coun try . L ar g e scale industry has i ts advan tag es, but it

also has its w eakn esses , and this loss of person al contact between

a hou se and its tr aveling repr esentatives pr oved to be a r eal

weakn ess.

The S herw in -Williams Company of Cleveland held one of theearliest sales conventions on recor d in 1881

,when its for ce of

eight salesmen met with the four officials of the firm for a day

spent largely in pleasu r e, w ith chicken dinner, athletic sports, a

show,and a gener al soc ial g ood time. S in ce this ear ly conven

tion , this company has held one pr actically every year,but a

pride is still felt in this pioneer effor t .For the most par t , however , the specialty manufacturers

15 7 o


adopted the convention fir st and developed it to its highest ef

ficiency. Maker s of typewriters, adding machines, cash r egis

ters and similar articles, w h ich had to be sold direct r ather than

thr oug h the regular r etail tr ade,have been among the for emost

expon ents of the convention idea . From insignifican t junketing

expeditions the convention s have g rown to hug e pr opor tions, and

have to a lar ge extent abandon ed the good time” purpose in

favor of a more serious aim .

Arguments Ag ainst Sales Conventions—I n spite of the fact

that conven tions ar e w idely used, enthusiasm r eg ardin g their

value is by no means g ener al . Ther e are many sales manager s

who feel that the convention is a snar e and a delusion . P er haps

the sen timen t of these cr itics can best be set forth in their own

language. One w r iter who w ields a tr enchant pen , paints a

w or d pictur e of an un successful convention which, wh ile semi

humor ou s in its treatmen t,never theless port r ays actual condi

tions in too many such gather ings.

1

“A sales conference u su ally sta r ts ou t pretty w ell, except that everybody i s more or less embar r assed . M ost of the boys have on their stor eclothes and feel a little bit foolish—the sa les manag er i s nervou s abou this carefu lly prepar ed impromptu oration . T hing s move a long al l r ightun til he says

,

‘N ow M r . Star , you

’ve been high man for a con siderable

per iod . I’m su re w e

’d al l l ike to be told how you do it. How do you

a ccoun t for the very satisfactory sa les in you r ter r itory?’“Then Star tells pr etty n ear ly everything but the tru th, which i s

that he doesn ’t r ea lly know ju st how he does do it.“After Star fin ishes saying nothing in a g ood many w ords, the cha ir

man says, ‘You a l l know tha t w e have placed specia l empha sis on M odel

K-11-44—most of you have done fa ir ly w ell w ith it, bu t M r . P lodd leadsby severa l leng ths . P lodd, please tell u s abou t i t .

’

“P lodd squ irm s a little and finally says, ‘Oh , I don ’t know—I just

talked it whenever I got a chance, and the buyer s seemed to l ike it .’ A nd

that ends him . You may poke at him l ike a cat under a cou ch, bu t hew on ’

t come ou t . He’s through .“I t i s possible that M r . Gabb i s among t hose presen t and makes a

fir st r ate uplift ta lk . Never has any troubles becau se the g oods are

r ight and the hou se g ives top-notch service—to be sure, the pr ices ar e

pretty stiff a s compar ed w ith those of competitor s—he loses a sale now

and then s imply on pr ice, but on the whole the goose maintain s i ts a ltitudinou s pos ition .

1 CHARLES AUS TIN BATES , “A Few Confidential Remarks Abou t SalesCon ferences ,” Pr in ter s ’ I nk, Nov . 4, 19 15 .


An ar ticle in System for January, 1922 , set for th the nega

tive case str ongly

Un successful and partly successful sales convention s are decidedlythe rule. One able sa les manager recently estimated that less than five

conventions in one hundred accomplish fu lly their purpose, and that not

over one in fou r justify the cost in t ime and money in their stag ing .

T his seem ing ly pessim istic opin ion i s confirmed by many other sa les man

ager s . One vice-pr esiden t in cha rge of sales in an internationa lly knownenterpr ise hit the na il on the head in hi s frank statement, ‘After over a

dozen annual sales conventions, w e have decided to abandon the year lycalling together of our salesmen ,

not becau se w e believe that a successfu lconven tion of this type i s impossible, bu t becau se w e frankly do not

know how to plan and execute such a conven tion .

’

“A very interesting S ide-light on the success or lack of success ofconvention s i s included in a letter from the genera l sales director of an

Ohio corporation . He makes the poin t that r eally su ccessfu l sales con

vent ions ar e g iven the l imelight ; par tial su ccesses ar e lauded as entiresuccesses ; in fer ior convention s are deemed su ccessfu l because of lack ofa standard for compar ison , and the fa ilur es ar e never exploited .“A few year s ago,

”he emphasized,

“w e received a questionna ire on

sales convention s,and we w er e told that in r etu rn for the cou r tesy of our

coOperat ion w e w ou ld r eceive an advance summa ry of the exper ien ce ofeach corporation con tr ibu ting to the discussion . The topic w as , and i s,

a l ive one w ith u s . W e gave ou r exper ience qu ite fu lly, playing up ou r

best points and forgetting our fizzles . When w e received the prom isedadvance summary it was easy for me to identify the contr ibutions ofhalf a dozen brother sales execu tives . The unan im ity of pr a ise for salesconven tion s and their endor sements based on their ow n exper ience puzzledme. I knew the men and knew the ups and downs of their attempts inconvention bu ilding .

”

His letter concludes

SO I made it a poin t to sound out these men , and found each fu llof misg ivings . T heir r eplies to the questionnaire had been based on theirbel iefs r ather than on their exper ience. T hey, like us , had based theirr ecita l on the high lights and the fragments . I f typical of the wholeof their conven tions , these w ou ld have justified their favor able verdict.B ut my visits and letter s pr oved to me that in every case the fu ture ofconvention holding w as at stake. A s a matter of r ecord, on ly one ofthese six now holds annual conventions ; fou r have dropped them en

t i rely, and the other holds a nat ional convent ion only once in threeyear s .

”

One big danger of sales conventions is the temptation to play

CONVENT I ONS AND CONFEREN CE S 161

politics . The salesmen reporting to the Denver office want a

lower priced article to meet pur ely local competition, the San

Francisco men want permission to use datings frequently ; the

New Orleans group wants a 10-cent shoe polish . In consequence

the natural leaders of these gr oups get together while their satel

lites play poker . As a result, at the convention there appears to

be a nation-wide and crying need for all three of these sectional

matter s .

L og rolling politics may result in the revamping of an entire

adver tising campaign because some salesmen have dealers who

want local newspaper adver tising or posters instead of the kind

that was planned .

Another difficulty often encounter ed ar ises from the fact that

the men g et tog ether and exchange talk about salar ies. A veteran

sales manag er says on this point :

I pay Bill Sm ith a year more than h i s sales total proveshim to be w or th, becau se he i s better than the ter r itory 1 can now offerhim . Some day, perhaps tomor row , I

’m going to need him to fill a gap

tha t on ly a high-g rade man can fill . T om Jones, whose terr itory i smiles aw ay and whose salary i s a year less , has no par ticu larvalue beyond what each year ’s sa les Show . He feels that he i s w ell pa iduntil he gets to swapping sales and salar ies w ith Bill Sm ith .

”

The Affirmative S ide of the Argument—The for egoing

cr iticisms ar e perhaps sufficient to indicate that the ar guments

are not all in favor of holding r egular sales conven tions . How

ever,ther e are many who take fully as vigor ous a stand in de

fense of the institution . One wr iter on the subject says

A proper ly condu cted sales convent ion i s an investmen t,_

not an

expense. When I hear of hou ses g iving up their sales meeting s I am

con stra ined to believe that the fau lt did not l ie w ithin the idea but

r ather in i ts execution . Sim ila r ly, Opposition to the holding of such

g ather ing s by con cern s which have not en joyed the exper ience i s u sua llybased upon ignoran ce or prejudice. Anyone who fa ir -m indedly studiesand investigates the exper ien ces of those concerns whose meeting s ofsalesmen have become a par t of the gener al plan of operat ion cannot helpbecom ing an enthusiast ic advocate of the idea .

”

3 EARL D . E DDY,“Sales Cdnvent ions that Prove Wor th While,” Pr i nt

er s’I nk

, Jan . 4, 1917.


The Sherwin-Williams people, who have held conventions of

their salesmen since 1881,say :

4

Do conventions pay? Our exper ience has been that every conven

tion w e have ever held has paid , and paid big . I t has not on ly pa id inincr eased bu siness (we place that last ) ; i t has pa id i ts biggest dividende in men .

”

The loyalty of the sales for ce is l ikened to that of the students

attending a colleg e, whose loyalty is unshakable. T he Sherwin

Williams Company is proud of the fact that the labor turnover

amon g their salesmen is very low,many men having been w ith

them fifteen or twenty year s,in spite of effor ts of other concerns

to attr act them .

P au l H . Nystrom ,mer chandising counsellor

,is a strong advo

cate of sales conventions .

5

I t wou ld be har d to imag ine any live sales concern which w ou ld not

have sever al specific objects or pu rposes for holding a sales convention at

least every s ix mon ths, and ther e are not a few who hold at least distr ictmeeting s a g r eat deal oftener than that .

”

These ar e the words of Char lesW. Hoyt, sales and advertising

exper t .6

There i s no mor e effective w ay to secu re the cooperation and con

fidence of salesmen than by the u se of meeting s or councils .

”

P oints to B e Considered.—Befor e a sales man ager finally

decides to call a sales convention he shou ld consider the pr oposi

tion very thor ou ghly. T . W. Van,who has condu cted many suc

cessful conven tion s for his firm says the situation should be

analyzed someth in g as follows

1 . Just why is the conven tion being called ? I s it because

ther e i s some defin ite pu rpose or purposes , or mer ely because

other firms have them and we wish to keep up w ith the fashion s

of business ?

4 C . M . L EM P ERLY, Adver tising M anager , Sherw in -Williams Company,How to Car ry T hrough a B ig Sales Conven tion ,

” Pr in ter s ’ I nk,Dec. 3

,

19 14 .

5“Some Points on the T echn ique of a Salesmen’s Conven tion ,

”Ad

ver t i sing and Sel ling , Apr il , 19 18.

6 HOYT, S cientific Sales M anagement,” page 89 .


This makes a tidy little total of before we havehardly started.

The institution of an annual convention,in the Opinion of an

exper t who has continued his investigations over a per iod of

a dozen years and m or e,is that this convention should be

charged with the follow ing—the tabulation being the annual

number of hours pr oper ly spent on conven tion w ork by the

executives named . The figures include attendance at conventionsessions .

Two sales manager’s assistan ts

Adver tising manager

A ll others

The cost of this time on a salary bas is he estimated to be

$4,871 .

Based on the best of curr en t practice it w ould be entir ely

fair to allow an even $1,000 for decor ations and enter tainmen t

to wives of executives and salesmen . A second is safely

budg eted for the daily conven tion paper , menu s, advan ce bu lletins

,etc. A thir d is alloted for souven ir s

,cost of conven

tion g athering in plant, carpenter work , and excess cost of ban

quet over the $7-a-day living expense figure.

Thus far w e,have not taken in to con sider ation the loss of

business due to the salesmen’s absen ce from their ter r itor ies

,

the br an ch managers ’ and assistant br an ch managers’ absen ce

fr om their posts, and the disruption of business at headquar ters

due to convention activities. Nor have we char ged the conven

tion w ith the lost profit which headquar ter s and the br an ches

would have made if they had spent time on other methods of

sales pr omotion .

These items can be estimated—based on a normal perform

ance of a 20 per cent semi-gr oss profit over salary and expense

for salesmen and a 20 per cent semi-gross profit over salary for

inside w orker s—as

This g ives us as a cost :

CONVENT I ONS AND CONFE REN CE S 165

T ranspor ta tionT raveling expensesT raveler s’ salar iesI nside sa lar iesDecoration s, etc.

Conven tion paper , etc

Souven ir s, etc.

Lost profit

T ota l

Th is is admittedly conservative in every item . It makes no

allowan ces for costs often assumed by conventions, such as

tr aveling expen ses for salesmen’s w ives

,expenses and payment

for outside speaker s, and elabor ate sight-seeing excursions . It

is a low estimate for a straight-ahead businesslike type of con

ven tion w ith ‘ only a fr action of possible entertainment features

for the outs ide force, and the w ives of the outside force, and

home-office executive staff.

It is fair to estimate that a convention w ith 100 men fr om

outside will cost a min imum of that a convention half

that s e w ill cost and that where national distribution

is cover ed by 25 salesmen and two branches , the cost w ill be

S ome conven tions cos t huge sums,even as high as

A ims of S ales Conventions—I n view of this s tagger ing

expen se, what do sales manager s expect to achieve by holding

conv'

entions? Obviously,in cr eased profits ar e the ultimate goal ,

but this is attained through various means . Among the th ings

the conven tion is supposed to accomplish in order to increase

pr ofits may be mention ed the follow in g

1 . To corr ect faults of attitude and selling methods on the

part of the salesmen .

2 . To impar t n ew ideas so that they are assimilated thor

oughly , thereby making the salesmen mor e efficient .

3 . To teach salesmen how to an alyze themselves,their goods ,

their ter r itory and their customer s. Th is ability to analyze is atthe foundation of any system of training.

8 J. G .FREDERICK ,

“M odern Sales M anagement,” page 177.


4. To turn complaints and grievances into constructive sug

g estion s for impr ovement .

5 . To induce salesmen to take active par t in the di scussions .

If they expr ess real reg ret when the conven tion is over , it maybe assumed that it has been a success, pr ovided it has not been

wholly social .

6. To implant in the hear ts of the men a larger feeling of

pr ide and loyalty in the hou se, i ts policies, products , and in their

associates,at the headqu ar ter s and on the r oad .

It will be seen fr om the above that the convention is to a

degree educational in char acter . I ndeed,the Nation al Cash

Reg ister Company classifies the conven tion under the head of its

educational activities . S ome concerns have r ecognized the edu ca

t ional character of the convention by employing the services of a

pr ofessional educator to help in planni ng the program and pre

senting the ideas.

I f a conven t ion i s anything i t i s a school . T herefor e educationalmethods shou ld be employed . M ost sales conventions, it may be sug

g ested, fa il to cash in most fu lly for the simple reaSOH that they do not

employ the best educational methods.

” 9

The other phase of the convention is inspir ational . One

writer on the subject calls it the “r evival meeting of business .

” 1 ° The salesman , w orking alon e in the midst of condi tions

tending to discour ag e, n eeds this contact w ith his fellows and a

refresh ing of his confiden ce in house and pr oduct .

Then , of course, ther e is the feature of en ter tainment, which

is usually a par t of the convention pr ogr am,but which may be

planned to par take of the education al and inspir ational elements ,so that it is not str ictly an end in itself.

When Should Conventions B e Held?—A ssuming that w e

have concluded to hold a sales convention , the n ext question to

be settled i s as to the best time to hold it . A cor ollary of th is

is the question - how often shou ld w e hold our conven tions ?

Most bus inesses have a slack or du ll season , no matter how

well balanced they may be. The pr actice has thus g rown up of

9 Adver ti sing and Sel ling , page 8, Apr il , 19 18.

1 0“Sales Conven tion s , the Revival M eeting s of B usiness, Pr in ters’

I nk, page 26, Oct . 19 , 19 11.


should be just that time necessary to accomplish what must be

accomplished. No"~better or more accur ate rule can be formu

lated. As a matter of practice,however, the usual convention

seems to have varied occasionally by shor t

en ing it to two days or lengthening it a day or two, sometimesto a full w eek .

Suppose we take the three-day progr am as standard,which

thr ee days of the week shoul d we utilize? Most convention s are

held either on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday, or on Thur s

day, Fr iday and S aturday , so that the men may u se Sunday for

tr avel. Those who favor the first thr ee days point out that this

ar r angemen t gives the headquar ter s personn el a day of rest be

for e the har d dr ive of the convention . Those who favor the

Thursday,Friday and S aturday dates have the strong ar gument

that the day befor e the convention should find all sour ces of con

vention supplies Open and every man on the job. Fur ther than

this,they poin t out that a day

’

s r est after conven tion is a physi

cal and mental necessity and that the idea of the Sunday pre

ceding the convention as a day of rest is a rar e joke, s ince it

g r ow s in practice to be a day at the office for all red-blooded

insider s.

On e author ity on the subject solves the problem in this wise

My own preference i s for a Wednesday, T hur sday and Fr iday con

vent ion . T his star ts the w eek r ight, kills ofi‘

the‘double ma il ’ of Mon

day, and g ives two mor e‘clean -up

’ days and n ights befor e the convention .

I t g ives a half or whole day Satu rday—pr eferably a half-day—for emer

gency dictation and con fer ence before the w eek-end of rest . I t u sually

proves that many salesm en w ill r equ ir e both Satu rday and Sunday, at

least, for their retu rn tr ip, and so the Wednesday, Thur sday, Fr iday dateswaste no time on that score.

” 1 3

Deciding Where to Hold the Convention—The next question is as to the place of the conven tion . Other things beingequal, where the en tir e sales for ce can be br oug ht in, the factory

is the best place. This is especially true wher e the pr odu ct is

more or less complicated in i ts process of manu factur e or w her e

the lin e is exten sive. The Sherw in-Williams Company finds its

conven tion s mor e su ccessfu l w hen held at the factory, although

1 3 Sys tem , page 107, January, 1922 .

CONVEN T I ON S AND CONFE REN CE S 169

they have been held at other places. The advantage - of holdi ng

it at the factory is that it ofler s opportunity for letting the salesand headquar ter s forces become acquainted.

“M ost of the troubles w e have w ith ou r sales for ce are troubles ofm isunder standing . How can you expect a sa lesman ou t in S eattle to ap

preciate produ ction difficu lties when he doesn ’t even know how the stuffi s made? I t i s no w onder they r ave abou t slow del iver ies

,for they

don ’t know what w e ar e up aga inst . And then ther e i s the other sideto i t . I

’m not satisfied that w e have a fu l l under standing of the sales

man’

s troubles her e at the factory. T he sa lesmen who are w r iting in ,

compla in ing , ar e probably not a bi t mor e un reasonable than we are ifal l the tru th w er e know n . I t isn ’ t that either side i s unr easonable. T he

trouble i s w e haven ’t a l l of u s—salesmen, officer s and depar tm en t heads

got the same broad, g enera l view on the whole selling problem .

”1 4

Another sales manager stresses the impr oved cooper ation r e

sulting fr om the min g ling of factory and sales for ce :1 5

The factory executives—super intenden t and for emen—s it in the

meeting s , and w e have noted a g ood dea l better team-w ork and cc-ordination betw een the selling and manu factu r ing for ces s ince they began . T he

factory has r eally got the selling poin t of view to an extr aordinarydegr ee

’

. I n one r ecen t meeting severa l sa lesmen ag r eed that the stitchesin som e of ou r number s shou ld be shor ter . T he sa lesmen adm itted thatthe stitching w as as substan tia l and lasting a s anyone cou ld w an t it tobe, and if I reca ll cor r ectly the factory poin t of view , as I r eflected it inthe old days when I was a factory man exclu sively, ou r r eaction thenw ou ld have been ,

‘Well , then , what ar e you kicking abou t?’ W e w ou ldn ’thave caught the fine selling point involved . B u t in this case, thanks tothe mutua l under standing bu ilt up in the m eeting s, the factory men

listened and saw what w as in the salesmen’s m inds . T he tr ouble, it

seemed, w as that the long stitches g ave the g arm ents a less fin ishedappear ance, and made them harder to sell . The for emen and super in

tenden t w ere a s keen as the salesmen themselves to have the troubleset r ight .

”

Besides this increased cooper ation and knowledge of factory

pr ocesses and pr oduct, ther e is the pr estig e g ain ed by the salesman who can go out into his ter r itory and r emark casually tohi s customer ,

“When I was at the factory a couple of w eeks agoI took that very matter up w ith the .presiden t (or the pr oduction

1 4 Pr in ter s ’ I nk, page 65 , Ju ly 15 , 1920.

1 5 Sys tem, page 239 , August, 192 1.


manager or the treasur er or the adver tising manag er ) and hesaid to me It gives the salesmen added authority as the

direct r epresentative of the firm .

On the other hand, it may be advis able to hold the convention

in some mor e accessible place, bearing in mind the costs of tr an s

por tation . Hotel accommodations and facilities for adequate en

ter tainmen t ar e also factors in locating the convention place.

The Open-air Convention—Occasionally,a concern br eaks

aw ay and holds its convention ou t in the open, and this pr acticeis appar en tly gaining popular ity in those industries in which thesummer is the dull season . One elabor ate effor t of this kind isdescr ibed thus

“A tented city was put up w ith very comfor table tents of the latestcon struction for the men . The city itself was la id out in streets w ith

proper number s and w ith walks runn ing between the ten ts . A t one end

of the field was a splendid ser ies of shower baths, piped for hot and coldwater , lavator ies, a very com for table barber shop, w ith a complete outfitsuch as you w ou ld find in a w ell r egu lated hotel . A din ing tent, splendidly equ ipped, a lounge tent , filled w ith easy cha ir s and cou ches, postoffice in charge of an official , w ith boxes just the same as a regular postofl‘i ce—a box for each man ; a proper ly equ ipped telegraph office ; a tentequ ipped w ith a dresser for each man , w ith toilet ar ticles on eachdresser . Long befor e the men came from the station their baggage w as

del iver ed. A laundry system,a lecture tent, w ith stereopticon and mo

tion pictures, electr ically lighted, w er e operated . T he camp w as situa ted ou t in the country, m iles from the factory. I t was the most amazingthing that the men who attended it had ever known and of cou r se i t leftan impression on the men which brought increased efficiency in selling .

”

It may be doubted whether such elabor ate plans are ordi

nar ily wise.

The Au tocall Company of Shelby, Ohio, a town of on ly

population , was con fr on ted with the problem of staging a helpful

convention in such a small place. The executives felt that the

salesmen,accustomed to w orking in the lar g er cities and putting

up at g ood hotels, might not enjoy the w eek at headquar ter s.

One convention held there had not been fully successful .

The solu tion w as to establish a camp about a mile from the

center of the town in a shady g rove. It w as not so elaborate

as the effort just descr ibed, but comfor table tents , shower baths,etc.

,w er e pr ovided . Splendid meals were furnished in the mess


in cluding time en r oute, was two weeks . The result was an at

tendance that br oke all records.

It will be seen that if a concern really wishes tohold a salesconven tion

,it can be done—somewhere.

Preparations for the Conventi on—Now let us examin e thepreliminary w ork of pr epar in g for the convention . It is theconsensus of Opinion that the star t should be made six months

before the date set for the convention . Th is ear ly start is neces

sary for two r easons : the plan s for the pr og r am and physical arrangemen ts mu st be complete, and the salesmen must be sold on

the conven tion idea so that they ar e eager for the time to ar r ive.

S ome discussion of the or ganization beh ind a big convention

may help to an understanding of the pr epar ation s which should

be made. The Beaver Boar d convention is held the fir st week in

January,thus making good use of the dull season . In pr epar a

tion for the January conven tion the executives at the home office

get tog ether ear ly in Au gust. They hold a regular ly org an ized

meetin g wher e things ar e n ot simply talked of, but decided .

E ach man is g iven some par t of the job to handle, and when it

has been assign ed to him it is up to him to see that it is done

on time. For in stance, on e w ill be g iven the j ob of handling the

traffic end of the convention . Then there are the decorations,

accommodation s, enter tainment and all the other headings which

natur ally sugg est themselves. E very man takes at least one job .

They elect a chairman and go to work.

The committees n ecessary, w ill natur ally depend on the type

and activities of the convention , but one con cern divides the

work among the follow ing : gener al , hotel, enter tainment, tr an s

por tation ,decoration and display, reception , estimates and ex

penses. E ach of these comm ittees has abou t thr ee workers and a

chairman . It is the usual pr actice to have these committees r e

por t to the sales man ag er, or to the vice-pr esiden t in charge of

sales . A s an example of the detailed work which some of the

comm ittees per form,we may cite the instan ce w her e the chair

man of the tr an spor tation comm ittee ar r an ged for a special tr ain

fr om Chicag o to the convention city, r ode in with the men ,and

g ave each on e the key to his hotel r oom while he w as still on

the tr ain . T he hotel comm ittee had pre-r eg ister ed each man so

he n eeded only to go to his r oom when he arr ived, ther eby saving

CONVE N T I ON S AND CONFE REN CE S 173

the tedious delay and con fusion of r egistering. Fortunately, a

convention of this sor t is something which can be planned in ad

vance and in m inu test detail , and it is just such planning which

alone makes for success .

The task of ar ousin g the salesmen’s in ter est in the appr oach

ing con fer ence is accomplis hed chiefly by means of letter s and

bu lletin s. The hou se organ ,if ther e be one, also beg ins to

“talkit up

”several w eeks ahead of time. It matter s little whether

the salesmen have their expenses all paid or whether they ar e

compelled to stan d their own hotel bills while at the convention ,

it is neces sary to sell ” them on the desir ability of attending .

E ven though they w er e compelled to come, w ith all expen ses paid

by the house, it w ould be desir able to stir up their interest , for

unless this w er e done they would not enter pr oper ly into the

spir it of the session s and the convention w ould“go dead .

” This

selling the conven tion to the salesmen is usually car r ied on by

the chairman of a committee, a man who is ver sed in the theory

of adver tising and able to turn out letters and bulletins that

will“pull . ”The ton e and spir it of these ann oun cemen ts to the sales force

i s typified by the follow ing, sent to its salesmen by one big con

cern .

You ar e interested to know abou t that g ood old genera l sales con

ference. I t w ill be the best ever this year .“The T im e I s : September 9 , 10 and 11 . The Place I s : The M on

mou th Hotel, Spr ing Lake, N ew Jer sey, over looking the Atlan tic Ocean .“Type of Con fer en ce : E ducational , School , Small Class I nstru ction

Plan to make i t par t of or a ll of your vacation ; here’s whySpr ing Lake i s a s beau tifu l a seaside r esor t a s lies a long the

Jer sey Seaboard .“The M onmouth Hotel stands 300 feet back from a 6-m ile bathing

beach . N ot far behind the hotel l ies Spr ing Lake, w ith sai l boa ts and

other a ttraction s of a still , fresh-w ater lake.“N ear the Hotel ar e tenn is cour ts and golf l inks. A lso there are

hor ses for those who are inclined to equestr ian habits.“Aeroplanes at your service.“I t ’s a w onder ful place for w ork and recreation .

There w ill be morn ing session s and shor t even ing sessions, w ith theafternoon off for the recreations which please you most .“

I nstead of being tired a t the end of the con fer ence, w e intend that


every man shall leave feeling mentally and physically fit for the nextyear

’s w ork.“This i s such an attr active and restfu l place that it w ill be w el l to

a r range to make this you r summ er vacation , or a t least a par t of it.“How to en joy the confer ence most : Pu sh forward in sa les w orkbetw een now and then . Secure enough orders so that you can come tothis g et-tog ether w ith a sm ile a l l the w ay across you r physiognomy.“

A s you w ork from day to day, think about the con ference.“You ’ll hear mor e abou t this con ference in letter s which you wi llr eceive every few days .

”

A ll letters r elating to the big event wer e sen t on a special

letterhead .

B uilding the P rog ram.—Much of the inter est is ar oused

throug h the pr elimin ary discussion of pr ogr am subjects . I n

most con cerns the fr am ing of the pr og r am is not don e withou t

consultin g the men on the r oad who ar e supposed to ben efit fr om

it. On e firm sends to each member of the sales for ce a ques

tionn ai re, mon ths before the convention date, w h ich car r ies about

a scor e of questions on var ious subjects touchin g sales problems .

T he qu estions are car efully selected and carefully w orded,so

that by studying the answers the sales manager is able to g et a

pr etty good idea of wher e his men stand on selling policies .

The questionn aire has something of the atmospher e of a secret

ballot blended with a prize competition . Thr ee pr izes ar e offered

for the best answer s first prize, $60 second,and $40 th ir d .

E ach of the questionnaires sent out is numbered and comes back

filled out but not signed . The gener al sales manager holds the

key and he is the only one who knows fr om whom the answers

come. This pr otects the salesman fr om the possibility of stirr ingup any ill-w ill in case his replies to the questions are too fr ank.

A fter these r eplies ar e all in and digested they ar e used in se

lecting subjects for discussion at the convention ,and the men who

seem most in terested in a particular subject ar e chosen to lead

the discussion , the gener al sales manag er acting as chairman and

r efer ee. In or der to be sure of what subjects are the most inter

esting the r eplies to the questionn air e are discussed at a meet

ing of distr ict sales manag er s held befor e the executives ’ meet

ing .

1 8

1 8 Pr i n ter s ’ I nk, page 66, July 15 , 1920 .


by more talk, follow ed by a g roup dinner , followed by a smoker , w ithnext morn ing a lectu re a t 9 by the super intenden t . T here shou ld benothing on the progr am for the fir st day. L et all the boys g et themselves talked out, and let everybody who has a kick to make about hi sexpense check , etc., get it off his chest . T here shou ld be no enter tainmen t ar ranged for the even ing ; the w ay shou ld be cleared for little

pr ivate par ties . N ext day have a shor t meeting at 11 w ith the pr esidenta s the big gun . T hen have the r ea l stuff—w ith discu ssion of sellingmethods, an sw er ing objection s, etc.

‘A few w ell-chosen enterta inmen tstunts a re better than too many.

The other extreme is r epresen ted by the very successful con

ven tions held for many year s by the Koken Barber Supply Com

pany of S t . L ou is w ith sixty salesmen . They car ry thr ee ses

sions a day for five days. Real w ork pr edom in ates,beg inn ing

with the morning session fr om 8 : 30 to 12 : 30. In the aftern oon

the session r uns fr om 2 to 5 : 30 and in the evening fr om 8 to

The most essen tial featur e of a good pr ogr am ,in the

Opinion of the sales man ager , is that every hour of every day and

every n ig ht be filled w ith activities which ar e so well balanced

that no exception can be taken to them .

Regarding the E ntertainment Features—I t seems fair ly

clear that to-day it is unpr ofitable to enter tain the men too

lavishly. A s a matter of fact,aside fr om in ter fer ing w ith the

ser ious purposes of the convention, su ch a policy cau ses the con

cern to lose caste w ith its own salesmen . S ome diversion mu st,how ever

,be pr ovided to avoid the dan ger of dissipation . If the

number of men is small,a theater party w ith special featur es is

popular . NO matter how lar g e the con cern , a banquet is always

a featur e of the enter tainment pr og r am . I n the summer some

sor t of an outing or picn ic can be held. A smoker w ill serve to

occupy on e even ing pleasan tly, if sufficient car e is devoted to

or ig in ating and stag ing clever stun ts. I n on e large or gan ization

the smoker is the big event of the conven tion , each year fu rn ish

in g some su rpr ise to the men . This event should be in formal ,some firms pr efer r ing to hold it in a r oom with small tables to

facilitate the serving of r efreshmen ts.

In the case of ou t-of-door conven tions the enter tainment prob

lem solves itself. The men play baseball, pitch hor seshoes, sw im ,

or hike,in the daytime and ar e u sually r eady to r etire at a

fair ly early hour . The task of appealing to their j aded appetites

CONVE NT I ONS AND CONFE RENCE S 177

is also simplified, as twenty-four hours a day in the Open air

serves to aid digestion better than any sauce. Where the con

vent ion is held in a small town , the noon meals may perhaps be

served by some local organ ization of women . Such a plan has

worked well more than once, the home cooked food being g reatly

relished by the men ,w eary of hotel far e. S ome plan of keeping

the men fr om scatter ing at noon is wise if the afternoon session

is to be star ted on time.

The follow ing account of an out-of—door convention makes

clear the pr ogr am,so long as the weather is pleasant .

“After a sound sleep out in the Open , a br isk cold show er and a

leisurely peru sal of the morn ing paper , they w er e ca lled in to wonderful breakfasts . There never were any better meals than those servedout in the Open those fou r days . After a hear ty breakfast there camean hou r of loung ing around, and then the morn ing convention sess ion in

the ma in tent .“At noon , dinner , then an hour for r est or recreation and then an

all-afternoon session w ith no r ecess—and despite the long sessions the

time w as so w ell spen t and the salesmen w ere so keen ly a ler t to the problem s that came up that they a rose from their cha ir s r egr etting that thet ime g iven over to business had flown so fast . T hey craved more.“

There w as an hou r of leisu r e before supper ; then , a fter a big meal ,some sor t of enter ta inmen t was provided . One n ight it w a s a vaudeville show g iven i n the village Opera house, to and from which the salesmen w er e transpor ted in au tos . Another n ight they held the in itiationin to the Ancien t and Aromatic Order Of the P ink Goat, an Au tocallOrgan ization . I n to this order al l salesmen who had not sold their quotasdur ing the year past were in itiated by the char ter member s, salesmen

who had sold their quotas . I t w as an even ing of hilar iou s bur lesque.“Dur ing the leisu re hour s of the day ball g ames w ere played, whilethose who did not en j oy the n ationa l pastime tr ied their skill at pitchinghor seshoes, playing cards , or simply resting under the t rees .“

One of the most in ter esting and novel par ts of the convention was

the mock tr ia l held the fir st n ight . Dur ing the year two sales repre

sentat ives had star ted an argumen t over splitting a comm iss ion . T he

home office, a fter much effor t, had been unable to r each a decis ion as towhether or not the comm ission shou ld be divided . SO the conventiondecided i t .“

An honest-to-g oodness cir cu it judge was Obtained to hear the caseand two attorneys w er e indu ced to handle the two sides of the case. Aju ry w as impaneled from among the salesmen . Both par t ies had agr eedto abide by the verdict, which the jury returned w ithout delay.


Another Typical Program. Here is another typ ical pro

g r am,emphasizing the group discussions for the salesmen and

the entertainment features for the ladies :

9 :

10 :

12

(13

03

t

H

it—i

w

a

p

w

w

w

ha

co

WEDNES DAY

For M en

00 Reg istration00 General Sess ion: 30 Luncheon at factory: 30 Group session s: 10 Group sessions: 25 Group sessions: 00 G roup dinner s: 00-10 :OO Confer ence smoker at

factory

For Ladies

THURSDAY

For M en

zoo General session: 15 -12 15 G roup session s: 30 Lun cheon at factory: 30 Group session s: 10 G roup session s: 25 G roup sessions: 00 G roup dinner: 00-11 : 00 I ndividua l con fer ences

at factory

For M en

: 00-12 30 Genera l session: 45 Lun cheon at club, or

hotel, if nearby: 45 G r oup session: 00 Fina l business session: 30 Announ cemen t of votes

and decisions when

possible: 00 B anquet at hotel: 00 B anquet novelty en

t er ta inment

For Ladies

M orn ing—FreeLuncheon—M r s . S a l e s M anager

and M r s . Adver tising M anager ,

hostesses at club or hotelAfternoon—FreeE ven ing—Free

For Ladies

Address of welcomeB alance of morn ing , sightseeingtr ipAfternoon—FreeE ven ing—D inner par ty, w ife of

pr esiden t as hostess, assisted byw ives of vice-presidents and

genera l manager s

M orn ing—T r ip through factoryLuncheon—Fr ee or g iven by vis itor s to w ives of management andexecutivesAfternoon—FreeD inner—G iven by company to a l l

w ives of salesmen and execu tivesE ven ing—T hea ter par ty g iven bycompany


counsel it may be desired to seek on points of policy raised at the

convention .

Selecting and Coaching the Chairman—As suming thatthere are to be several gener al sessions , the first matter is that of

a chairman . Opinions difler as to whether the sales manag er

should act as chairman . In most conven tion s he does so act as

a matter of cou rse,but ther e ar e alternatives . One sales man

ager says that he has discover ed that much better r esults ar e

obtain ed through allow ing a salesman to act as chairman w h ilehe occupies a seat on the

“floor ” w ith the boys .

”Or one Of

the other executives may act as chairman,per haps taking turns .

NO matter who acts in the capacity of chairman, the choice

shou ld be car efully made. The su ccess of the convention depends

lar gely upon his ability to contr ol and vitalize the discussions.

The most glar ing fault of most sales con fer ences is that they

dr ag. The chairman w ill see to it that the debates ar e not pro

longed beyond a pr ofitable point ; he w ill keep the discussions

on points of g ener al inter est andw ill not permit two or three men

to car ry on a discu ssion in which they alon e are in ter ested . He

will in sist that every remark be addr essed to the chair,thereby

eliminating the desul tory debate which so often deadens a meet

in g .

He will emphasize the absolute necessity for star ting each

session on time and w ill br ook no tardi n ess fr om anyone. He

will do th is in a tactfu l manner,bu t he w ill g et the idea across .

He w ill br eak up little“sub-conven tion s ” composed of thr ee or

four kindr ed sp ir its who conven e in the r ear of the hall and

carry on a low-voiced conversation which i s vastly distu rbing to

the assembly . He will insist upon the speaker sticking to hi s

time lim it,whether he be the newest jun ior salesman or the

pr esiden t of the firm . He w ill sum up the impor tant points in

the talks and pr esent them for discussion to the convention in

the most tan g ible form . He will not keep the meeting w aitingone minute for him to ar r ive, nor w ill he leave the meeting w ith

out a chairman while he attends to his duties elsewher e. He w ill

not permit fr equen t inter ruption s of the pr oceedings , especially

by anyone seekin g’

to consult him or call him to the’

phone. He

w ill realize that such inter ruption s distract atten tion fr om the

speaker. And above all,he will not attempt to do all the talk

CONVE N T I ONS AND CONFE REN CE S 181

ing. He wi ll appreciate that the highest su ccess of the conven

tion depends upon his inducing the salesmen to talk, fr eely but

to the point,while he merely dir ects without stifling helpful dis

cussion .

M odern Improvements in P rogram B uilding —The methodsof pr esen tin g the ideas at a conven tion h ave changed greatly in

r ecen t year s . As on e salesman says,

“Ther e have been tremeudou s impr ovemen ts in sales conventions dur in g pas t year s. I n

stead of r eading dry,dehumanized lectu r es

,sales manager s n ow

aim to visualize their story thr ough g raph ic char ts , diagr ams ,motion pictu r es and models—g et it acr oss the footlights .

” 2 °

And speaking of footlights, those in char g e of the pr og r am for

some conventions have gone to gr eat len g ths to prepar e r eally

high-class plays for the enter tainment and in struction of the

salesmen . The Beaver Board people got up a play that w as so

good it had to be repeated for the ben efit of the gener al public

of Buffalo . William Maxwell,sales manager for Thomas A .

E dison,I nc.

, w r ote five shor t plays for his 1920 convention ,each

to illustr ate one Special point. P r ofession als w ere engaged for

the par ts and r ehearsals began a month befor e the date set for the

conven tion . A scen ic ar tist was employed , special scenery ar

ran ged for , costumes and all accessor ies provided .

Movin g pictur es have been used to quite an extent,special

scenarios being wr itten for the occasion s. This p r inciple of v is

ual izing every idea has been worked ou t to the uttermost lengths

by the Nation al Cash Register Company in its conventions . A

salesman does not tell his fellow s of a newer or better w ay to sellcash register s . He gets r ight up on the platform and demon

str ates,an other man acting the par t of pr ospect . Char ts

,mov

ing pictur es, placards, models , etc.,all make the appeal to the

eye while the speakers appeal to the ear .

Of cour se ther e mu st be speakers . Ther e is a differ ence ofOpinion on the advisability of impor tin g outs ide speaker s—menfr om outside the organization . The consen sus of opin ion is thatthe number of such shou ld be kept at a min imum . If it seems

necessary to br ing in one or two to speak on special matters, it

2 0“Sa les Convent ions from a Salesman ’s Viewpoint , Pr inters’ I nk,Oct . 19, 19 16.


may be a g ood policy, but speaker s fr om outside are likely tolack the backgr ound and the spir it of the meeting. Their mes

sages ar e likely to be general and of slight pr actical application

to the w ork in hand .

Fr om within the organization the cr edit manager,the adver

t ising manag er, and the pr esident usually make a few r emarks .

Of the three, the session in charge of the adver tis ing manag er islikely to be the most spectacular. A t this meeting he tells the

men what the company is planning to do to help them sell goods,

the complete campaign for the coming year is on display some

where in the room,and the adver tising manager explains to the

salesmen the r easons for the campaign, di scusses its str ong

poin ts , and tr ies to pr ove to the men that the advertising w ill

in crease their sales . If an advertising agency is used, the agency

should be r epresented at the conven tion .

The Physical Arrangements—Ther e are some details of

physical ar r ang ements for a convention which may be men tioned .

S ome concern s fail to grasp that there i s a money value in thecreation of a“Conven tion Spir it . It never occur s to them to

have headquarters chang e i ts appear ance dur ing convention time.

B u t the most car eful convention man ag ers make it easy for the

sa lesman to distinguish between the convention visit and any

casual visit he may make to headquarter s. Often the per sonnel

at h eadquar ters r eg ar d conventions as disturbing abn ormal ities

which must be endur ed for a season, even though they do inter

rupt the regular routine. This antag oni stic fr ame of mind must

be cured, as the salesman must be made to feel that the head

quar ter s staff is behind him and working harmoniously with h im.

A bulletin sent to each member of the home office for ce befor e the

conven tion w ill help to make him appr eciate that company is

coming and that he mu st be on his good behavior .

The r ight sor t of a meeting place must be provided . Good

acoustics must be assu r ed , so that speaker s can be eas ily heard ,and an abundant supply of pure air must be furn ished . The

men are likely to smoke qu ite a bit , and if the ventilation is not

first class the air will become SO foul that clear thinking is quite

out of the question . The temper atur e of the room must be right,or the men will not be comfortable. P lenty of cool drinking

water must be available.


mu r,Thank goodness

,that ’s over for another year. In a few

months he mus t start planning for the next conven tion, but in

the meantime he must in augurate a vig orous“follow -up to be

cer tain that the firm cashes in on the ideas br ought ou t at the

conven tion just closed. P erhaps th is w ill take the form of print

ing the paper s and discuss ion s, and sending them out to themen . For some w eeks bulletin s must be filled with post-conven

tion matter,and special letter s to the men will keep them fr om

for g etting the lessons lear ned . In other w or ds,just as they

mus t be sold on the idea in advance,they must be kept sold

after they have returned to their w ork .

Finally,any firm contemplating holdi ng a sales conven tion,

should keep sig ht of the two big under lyin g facts involved : that

conventions cost money, and that they ar e pr imar ily for the

purpose of making pr ofits. If every plan is measur ed by these

two standards,applied in a far -Sighted and enlightened fashion,

the convention will be likely to succeed.

CHAP TE R I"L E TTERS , B UL L E T I NS AND HOUSE ORGANS

T HE salesman is adm ittedly an isolated worker, subject to

many disheartening influ ences. If the sales manager could get

each salesman face to face in his Office once each week,it would

be fairly easy to inspire him to greater effort by the sound of

the voice, the glance of the eye, the fr iendly smile,the slap on

the back, the thump on the desk or the warm hand-clasp . But

to carry this impression to him when he is on the road , perhaps

stranded in some fourth-rate town ,i s a pr oblem to be solved only

by dir ect and highly specialized communication in the form of

the per sonal letter , form letter, bulletin , or house organ .

A s the gener al purpose of all these forms of communication

i s identical,so, too , is the gener al tone which should char acter ize

them . I t may be said that there ar e two principal types of com

mun icat ion ; the pur ely“pep

” or“ging er ” type, and the kindwhich is w r itten w ith a sympathetic unders tanding of the sales

man ’s needs. The two types will be clearly distinguished in the

examples and discussion which follow.

Keeping L ines of Communication Open—The fir st requis

i te to a successful system of communication with the man in thefield is the assur ance that he will receive the matter sen t him .

This assumes, first,that the home office kn ows just wher e he is

each day ; and, second, that the home office is able to time themailing of these communications accur ately

,to have them reach

the salesman at the appointed place. The first point can be cared

for by requiring the salesman to send in w eekly an exact itinerary for the coming week, and by insisting that it be mailed in

ear ly enough to be of the most value to those at the home office.

The second matter depends upon a know ledge of distances andsometimes of train schedules

,which can be acquired by keeping

a recor d of the time required for first-class matter to reach cer

tain sections. I t is not usually necessary to prepare a char t withthe time for each town, but an accurate general knowledge is

185


needed. P er haps the point at which failure occurs most often isin the sending of mail to salesmen in the far western part of

the country. Some clerks, accustomed to the shor ter distances in

the E ast, fail to r ealize that it takes about five days to g et a

letter fr om New York to the man in the Californ ia terr itory.

Certain sections ar e afflicted with poor tr ain connections,also,

which shou ld be con sidered .

It helps g r eatly to enclose the salesman’s mail in a distinctive

envelope to enable him to distinguish it easily fr om the rest of

the mail which the hotel clerk han ds him . This distinction may

be secur ed either by an unusual color or size of envelope, or by

both . One firm uses large r ed envelopes in their correspondence

with salesmen . This prevents their being filed i n the wrong

pigeonhole by the hotel clerk or overlooked by the post office

clerk at the general delivery window.

A double return address on envelopes may be used in those

cases wher e the salesman does not return to the home or branch

office,but goes to his home w eek-ends . T he return addr ess

,in

the upper left-hand corn er , should car ry the salesman ’s home ad

dress, so that if he misses the letter it will be forw arded to his

home instead of tr aveling all the way back to the office. The

company return addr ess should be pr inted in the low er left

hand corner in smaller type, to be used on ly if the letter is un

claimed at the address shown in the upper left-han d corn er .

A thir d device des igned to make cer tain that the salesman

receives his mail is the numbering of the letter heads and en

velopes. For instance,if he r eceives letter Number 33, he looks

in his pocket and discover s that the last pr evious communication

was Number 30. Th is shows him at a g lance that two letters ,Number s 31 and 32 , have gone as tr ay. A note to that effect

to the home office w ill br in g copies of the two communication s

promptly. Or he can telephone or w ire his last stopping-place

and order the missing letters forwarded .

Importance of Regular Communication—I n this connection it may be well to point out that theflow of communicationsfrom the house to the salesman Should be maintained at a fair ly

even rate. I t is inefficient to permit him to receive three or four

on one day and none for several days thereafter . The fine edge

of his enthusiasm must be kept keen by frequent whetting . For


T he far -seeing sales manager has learned the value of putting rea l

per sonal interest and new s value in to su ch letter s . T her e i s an objectlesson in this . Have an idea to convey that the salesman w ill be g ratefu lfor . Have something of genu ine inter est to impar t . U n less you are a

salesman your self—that i s, un less you have the selling sense—you cannotw r ite letter s to other salesmen . T he best letter approaches the salesman on hi s own level . I t i s fr iendly. I t i s informal . I t i s w arm . I t

i s en thu siastic . I t i s s incere. I t makes the salesman feel he i s w orkingw i th you ,

not for you . G ive your pill of edu cation a sugar-coating of

anecdote, or a l ittle home office new s or a m ild bit of humor or a story,or a pictur e of what some of the other boys ar e doing . I n between the

lines he w ill r ead the sales education you have skilfu lly implanted there.1

John G . Jones,sales manag er of the A lexander Hamilton

I nstitute ’s lar g e force of salesmen, says

A sales manager once sent ou t to each of hi s men a letter r eading in

par t as follow s : “Why did you fall down in m aking this sale? For

your own benefit and ou r s , w r ite me frankly.

” He w as r ather star tledto receive from one of h i s men this r eply :

“B ecause I did not know my

goods . You have been filling u s so fu ll of ‘

g ing er’and

‘boost’ that wehave not had a chance to learn anyt hing abou t the g oods .

Not TooMuch“Ginger .

—I t is easy to overdo the ging er

idea. The stimulation is temporary and usu ally does not make

the man a better salesman . Fur thermore,many such letters

irr itate more than they inspir e. The salesman pictures his man

ager sitting in his private office, his feet on the desk, dictatingthe letter telling the men that the buying or gy is over and that

they must now g et down into the collar and make the gravel fly .

Then , in the salesman ’s mind ’s eye, his manager picks up his

bag of clubs and star ts for the golf links at 4 p m . T oo Often

these g ing er” letters ar e w r itten by some youthful cor r espond

en t withou t actual selling exper ience, and sent ou t to the men

without car eful editing by the sales manag er . The seasoned

salesman is quick to detect the letter w r itten by an inexper ien ced

cor respondent, and it is safe to say that most such letters ought

never to be sent .

One sales man ager points out that it is easy for any office

man to wr ite a salesman which seems to“talk down ”to him . J. in an addr ess before the Better L etters

Association,came out flatly on this point

1 E . B . DAVISON,“The M aster Letter Wr iter , p. 239 .

LE T TE RS , B ULLE T I NS AND HOUSE ORGANS 189

I don ’t suppose that any of you her e today think you r self any betterthan the salesmen r epresenting you r hou se on the r oad . N o doubt youwou ld hotly r epudiate the accusation i f it were made, but you cannotdodge the fact that most of the letter s w r itten by office people to salesmen ,

consciou sly or uncon sciously, take a holier -than -thou attitude . Don ’ t

g ive the letter a tone or a tmosphere that str ikes a discordant note at the

outset . If you w an t your salesmen to cooperate, make your letter s a

man-to-man ,brother -to-br other proposition . T ry to g et the viewpoint that

you are a brother salesman, which you are, and g ive the salesman credit

for al l he know s , and over look what he doe sn ’t know . T his may soundlike a t r ifling matter , bu t , gentlemen , I have seen some cases where a“shor t and sweet” letter from the home office cor responden t has put a

$ 100-a-week salesman“off hi s feed” for several days . And you know

what tha t means . I t mean s half-done w ork , half-closed sales , i t means

the loss of more bu siness, perhaps, than the cor respondent who w rote theletter cou ld close by ma il in severa l w eeks .

2

One large concern insists that every letter going out of the

office to the salesmen must be signed by the sales manager . This

does not mean that he wr ites all the letter s,but that he sees and

signs them all . This prevents some clerk fr om wr iting a sar cas

tic letter to a salesman just to relieve his mind . And it is a g ood

rule to avoid sar casm in all letter s to salesmen . It hurts mor e

in a f letter than when spoken face-to-face with a kindly smile,

and is likely to rankle. It is har d to kn ow when you have g onefar enough and it is easy to go too far .

The ton e to aim at is the Sincer ely fr iendly tone,calcu lated

to make the sal esman feel that he has a friend back in the

home office. The salesman r espon ds readily to the truly fr ien dly

tou ch in a letter, pr obably because he spends so much of his

time in a hostile atmosphere.

The happy medium between the too-serious tone and the fr iv

olous is desir able. While the salesman is usually thought of as a

jovial soul,he does not like to have his efforts r egarded as a

subject for jest . He is likely to be sens itive and somew hat h igh

str ung,and rebuffs wound him mor e than they w ould a man of

more phlegmatic type. Cr iticisms fr om headquar ters must alsobe couched in car eful terms .

The Contents of the L etter .—The purpose of the letter is

two-fold —to inspire and to educate.

2 P r oceedings of the Better Letters Associat ion for 19 18, p. 14.


I n a way, the letter to the salesman may be thought of as asales letter. I ts purpose is to convince and to obtain action ; inshort, to sell him an idea. With this viewpoint in mind we can

better plan our letter, remember in g that the man who reads italso is skilled in the ar t of influencing others .

As the good sales letter opens with some statement of interest

to the one addressed,so the letter to the salesman may open with

some friendly statement of appreciation for the w ork he hasdone, the order sent in . This is perhaps the most usual opening,because it i s certain to inter est the recipien t and to be something

with which he can agree—another point in a g ood sales letter .

The letter received that day from the sal esman w ill in most

cases provide the needed sug g es tion to the sales manager ; it will

furnish him his cue as to what line of attack to take in his reply.

If the man is obviously di scour aged, the treatment w ill be di f

fer en t fr om that given the self-satisfied sal esman who has been

sending in his scant quota of orders when he should be doing 20

per cent more.

The Opening of the letter is not usually the pr oper place for

criticisms of the salesman ’s work. If these must be included

in a letter instead of being offered in person, they should be

placed somewhere in the body of the letter , sandw iched in be

tween more agr eeable por tions. This offering of kindly cr iticisms

is.

the par t of the sales manager ’s task which demands all the

di plomacy he can mus ter.

The Purpose of the L etter .—I t should be borne in mind that

the purpose Of every letter w ritten to his men is to incr ease sales .

None should be sent which is merely written to relieve hi s mind .

E ach letter should be car efully analyzed with the one idea in

mind,it must be subjected to the one test—will it make the r e

cipien t a mor e loyal and efficient salesman? If it will not sustain

such scrutiny,it Should not be mailed .

The aver age salesman,who has been doing his best but has

failed to pr oduce the expected busin ess, requ ir es encour agement

and constructive suggestions r ather than cr iticism . A loyal sales

man who has been honestly trying w ill have his efiectiveness ma

ter ial ly reduced by a fault-finding letter fr om hi s manager. If

it is necessary to r epr imand a salesman,it should be done in a

letter only after each wor d has been carefully weighed.


Inspiration as well as information may be conveyed in theseform paragraphs. Talks on salesmanship

,deportment, talking

points for the product,health hints

,etc.

,ar e common subjects.

The mor e purely per sonal par ts of the letter might contain

facts of in terest about their customer s gleaned fr om the firm’

s

cor r espondence with them . These bits of news ar e usually w el

comed by the aler t salesman,for they help him to formulate a

tactful appr oach when he calls on the customer in question .

Comments on how some other salesman is selling cer tain pr od

ucts in the line may be helpful to the man whose sales on that

pr odu ct are consistently low.

The content of both the form par agraph and the personal

letter will depend largely upon the type of salesman employed ,the length of time he is aw ay from headquarter s

,whether he is

selling specialties or staples.

These Salesmen Help Wr i te L etters to T hemselves—One ofthe lar gest corpor ations in the United S tates has a un ique w ayof making its letter s per son al, although each is not individually

dictated . The gener al sales manag er sends out a letter each

w eek to all the men on the road . The g r eater par t of this letter

is made up of communications from the men themselves . A ll ar e

asked to contribu te something fr om their own exper ience that

might help , interest , or en ter tain the r est of the boys : some deal

they have made, some success or failur e fr om w h ich they de

r ived valuable exper ien ce, some snag they have met,some di scov

ery made, some obstacle over come. These extr acts are quoted

word for wor d . Then the sales man ag er puts in his comments .

These comments make the sales education . In this w ay the in

struction is based on real exper ience. The men r ecognize it as

real . They see the very pr oblems that they have to face pu t forth

in another man ’

s w ords. They ar e consoled by the know ledge

that other men have the same difficulties as they. They are en

cou r ag ed by seeing how other men have met them . Thus the

sales talk they r eceive is not fin e-spun theory that a man com

fortably seated at his desk inven ts as an Object lesson . Then ,

too,the letter is a sor t of a fr iendly bulletin that keeps the scat

tered for ce un ited ; a kind Of family t ie that binds all together

in a common cause.

The President Should W ri te, Also.—The sales manager

LE TTERS, B ULLE T I NS AND HOUSE ORGANS 193

Should never let himself lose Sight of the fact that it is a great

stimulus to salesmen to hear from the head of the firm occa

sional ly. The president i s the strongest ally the sales manager

can have in his fight to keep the sales force up to par. These

letter s should not be mer e rubber-stamped fakes, either, but

should be bona fide letter s, dictated and signed by the pres ident

or g ener al manager himself. E . C. S immons,for many years

head of the wholesale hardwar e business which bears his name,maintained close touch with each of his many salesmen thr ough

a score of years. His letters,many of them penned by hand, ar e

even yet cherished by the veterans of the sales force. The facts

on which such a letter should be based can be furnished the

pr esident by subordinates,thereby saving his time. These facts

will include the standing of cer tain accounts in the salesman ’s

ter ritory, recognition of good w ork, or indeed almost any sub

jcet cover ed in the regular letters sent ou t by the sales manager.

Of late years sales manager s ar e wr iting to their salesmen

on illustr ated letterheads,these illustrations being in the nature

of car toon s,designed to impress some definite idea on the minds

of the salesmen . A variation of this i s the poster stamp or

sticker,which can be pasted on a regular letterhead . These add

life to a letter and ar e calculated to put the salesman in a good

humor before he reads the letter.The Pur ely Personal L etter .

—Ther e is a large place for thepersonal letter in any system Of communication between salesmanager and men . While we may seek g reater efficiency thr ough

standardization of cor respondence, the personal letter cannot besupplanted. As one authority puts it

Letter s to salesmen are in a class by themselves . Salesmen havesuch difi'eren t problems to handle, their w ork i s of such a char acter , theirown natures ar e su ch that it i s advisable not to u se anything but the

r egu lar style of letter for them . Of cou r se, this does not preclude bu llet ins and su ch commun ication s, bu t in ordinary cor respondence the per

sonal tou ch i n message and style of the letter i s essential .3

Another w r iter says,in speaking of the r edemption of sales

men who were near-failur es

3 A . M . CANDEE, “Business Letter Wr iting , p. 236.


I t i s seldom possible to change men from non-producers to profitproducer s by wholesale, but each man must be handled as an individual,and the method employed must fit hi s par t icu lar case.

One function of the personal letter not yet mentioned is to

bring the salesmen to appreciate fully the viewpoin t and pr ob

lems of the management. When the sales man ag er is sympathiz

ing with the salesman and trying to help him,he must als o im

pr ess upon the latter that ther e are problems which must be faced

and solved by the men in the Offi ce as well as the men on the

road.

There is a tendency for the sales manag er to use the telegram

more than i s necessary in his commun ication with salesmen . To

be sure, the telegram is mor e emphatic than the letter, but too

frequent use dulls the edge of emphasis. If the manager has an

accur ate schedule of each man ’s tr ip

,and plans a few days ahead

as far as possible, he can save someth ing in telegraph tolls.

Where possible, the telephone is more efiective than the tele

graph , as the sales manager can inject into the conversation em

phasis and shades of mean ing wh ich cann ot easily be conveyed

except thr ough the medium of the human voice.

B UL L E T I NS

What I s a B ulletin?—The line of demar cation betw een theletter and the bulletin is vague, as the letter may contain form

paragr aphs in sufficien t pr opor tion to make it vir tually a bu lle

tin . However , ther e i s usually a mechanical difference. The

letter is typed while the bulletin is printed or repr oduced on a

duplicating machine.

On the other hand,there is no clear distin ction between the

bulletin and the hou se or g an , except perhaps that the bulletin

may be issued fr equently and at no stated in tervals , while the

house organ appears r egu lar ly but not usually oftener than once

a mon th . I n addition,the house or g an is likely to be a more am

bitions pr oduct , containing much mor e matter and printed far

mor e car efully.

It is eviden t,then , that the bulletin is a kind of connecting

link,a compr omise, between the letter and the house organ . In

it,the sales manager can say more than he can in the usual


Unquestionably, the house organ is an outgrowth of bigbus iness, which has made necessary some medium of closer con

tact between the executive and his far-flung fir ing-line of salesmen . L etters serve to maintain this contact

,but they do not

weld the sales for ce together in a unit, as does the well-edited

house organ .

It is evident that only the concern with a fairly large salesfor ce is justified in maintaining a house or g an ,

as w ith a small

for ce the personal letter and bulletin are sufficien t to keep the

men in contact w ith the house and with each other . But when

the force gr ows large, it tends to disinteg r ate and lose that

coherence,that espr i t de corps, that unity of purpose and meth

ods which is so essen tial if the firm is to be adequately and con

sisten tly represented in all par ts of the country.

Causes of Fai lure—Not all house or gans ar e successful .

The casualty list is extremely long. The causes cont

failure may well be reviewed br iefly.

One importan t cause of failure is the lack

analysis of cost and probable circulation. With

hou se or gan the cir culation is fair ly definitely known,cost Should be car efully estimated in advance. This cost in cludes

the salary of the editor,the cost of pr inting, the cost of cuts for

illustr ations,much addi tional postag e used in cor r espondence,

and occasionally an appr opr iation to pay for a contribution by a

well-known wr iter outside the org an ization .

Another cau se of failure is the lack of an established business

policy which the house or gan is supposed to reflect . Th is policy

should be r edu ced to w r iting and be constan tly befor e the editor

to guide him in his w ork . A ccor ding to M r . Ramsay, it should

cover the following matters

Analysis of policy.

Purpose.

a . T o incr ease sa les by strengthen ing contr ol over salesmen .

The editor .

The name.

The subtitle, which makes clear the purpose and plan of the publ icat ion .

Size.

Frequency of issue.

LE T TE RS, B ULLE T I NS AND HOUSE ORGANS 197

8. Cover design .

a . Permanent .b . Changed each issue, and w hether they ar e to be r elevan t or

ir relevan t.9 . Style Of appea l , as to language, per sonality and atmosphere .

With the hous e policy carefully formulated on these poin ts,the house or gan w ill certainly repr esent the executive and the

firm . When publication is begun , a detailed budget an alysis

should be kept , so that the executive may estimate closely the

probable cost of maintaining the house organ on i ts pr esent basis .

This cost must of course be considered in connection with pr ob

able results.

Choice of an Editor .—S ome of the items mentioned in the

for eg oing outline may be discussed fur ther . The choice of the

editor is of vital impor tance. It has been said that he should

combine in some measure these qualities

AuthorAdver tising man .

Feature w r iter .

I nvestigator .

P lanner .

Pr inter and proof-reader .

Pr eacher—w ithou t seem ing to pr each .

Salesman .

T eacher—w ithou t seem ing to teach .

I t is well if the executive himself can keep hi s hand on the

destinies of the house or gan . The origin al house organs wer e

edited by the heads of the firms . Benjamin Fr anklin per son ally

supervised the publication of“P oor Richar d ’s A lman ac ” and

w rote'

most of the contents . In any event, the executive ough t

to keep an eye on each issue in pr epar ation to be sur e that it

pr oper ly reflects the firm . This does not mean that under mod

ern conditions he ought to do all the editing himself. Indeed,

too often on e of the causes for a thriving house or gan ’s lin g er ing

death has been that the pr opr ietor thought he could save the

salary of the editor by getting out the house organ himself.

The editin g of the salesman ’

s house or gan is usually done by

the sales manager , or his assistan t in charge of personnel or sales

pr omotion . The task is not always a thoroughly pleasant one.


One writer ou the subject, who styles himself a National S alesManager , views the matter humorously

Until I star ted this house organ I had a few fr iends around the

place. B ut now it’s a hor se of an entirely differen t hue. I have trod upon

their feeling s, I have outr aged their ar tistic temperaments . By refusingto publish a poem w r itten by the 12-year -old daughter of the shippingclerk I have insur ed myself Of that gen tleman

’

s ever lasting hatred, and

a con stan t delay of sample shipments .

I ~

never knew so many people hanker ed to see their names in pr int.I never knew that so many people had hobbies . N either did I know thateveryone in our office was a member of some cu lt , “i sm ,

”“ology,” or be

l ieved in free thinking , new thought, or had socialistic tendencies . I

had an idea that they w ere just plain , ordinary people like myself . B ut

I have learned that such i s far from the tru th . And each of them has

picked on our salesman’s hou se organ as a medium for expounding the

mer its of hi s doctr ines .

It is unavoidable that the house organ editor be compelled

to refuse con tr ibution s at times , but it is possible to lay down the

policies of the publication so clear ly that the authors of the r e

jected manuscr ipts can per ceive their unavailability.

Choosing a N ame and S ize.—The name of the house or gan

shou ld be or ig inal w ithou t descending to the absurd . Freak

names do not wear well . Many of them play up the name of the

firm or its product , as the A ddr essogr aph-er , Edison D iamond

P oints,P en P oin ter s

,Glove Tips, etc. The name is often chosen

after a contest among the salesmen, for which a pr ize is offered

for the best name submitted .

The size of the publication varies w idely from an eight-page

newspaper of r egulation size to the little magazme which i s

scar cely m ore than a pamphlet and which can be slipped into

the pocket. When the sales for ce i s small , the house organ can

be satisfactor ily pr epar ed on a duplicating machine in the home

Office. The larger concern s like the National Cash Reg ister Com

pany, the Bur r oug hs Adding Machine Company, etc. ,w ith their

many hundr eds of salesmen , find it des ir able to have their house

or g an s pr inted. Whether illustrations can be used depends upon

the kind of paper on which it is pr in ted , and whether it is

pr inted on a r egular pr ess or on a duplicating machine. To be

sure, rude dr aw ings can be duplicated on some Of these machines ,but half-tone work is Obviously impossible. A s a general propo


Don ’t lose your head because the buyer swells up l ike a toad when

he sees you come in , trying to impress you w ith the impor tance of hi sposit ion .

Don ’t be an ordinary caller—be remembered .

Don ’

t leave advertising copy unless you mark the par ticular pointsyou wan t to call to the dealer ’s attention .

Don ’t solicit business in a social w ay.

Don ’t say“Good morn ing , don

’

t want anything , do you ?0 Don ’

t br eak in on a dealer when he i s engag ed w ith a cu stomer .

Don ’t u se the overw orked and hackneyed expr ession“per sonal matter .

Don ’t attempt to expla in ou r proposition to the buyer if the lattermerely comes ou t and talks to you a s you both stand in the receptionr oom . A man standing up feels un comfor table and i s scar cely in a

position to g ive hi s attention .

g Don’t attempt to compel attent ion by loud , fast or fever ish talking .

Don’t set your sample case on the counter or where it w ill be in the

CONVICT ION

Don’t sell w ith a club . T here’s a r eason from the dealer ’s standpoint .Don ’

t w in an argument at the expense of a sale.

Don ’t discu ss discounts—talk profits .

0 Don ’t knock a competitor’s pr oduct—ta lk Goodyear .

Don ’t discu ss Goodyear bu siness or policies on tr a ins or in public

places .

Don ’t over stock a dealer .

Don ’t bor row money from dealer s .

Don ’t say a thing i s“cheaper” when you have two qualities of one

product. S ay i t i s“low er pr iced .

”

Don ’t a sk a dealer wha t success he has been having w ith another

product .

Don ’ t talk your self out Of an order .

Don ’t m isrepresen t.Don ’t m ake prom ises you can

’t fu lfill .

Don ’t let a pr ospect influence you by hi s ta lk on competitor’

s

osi t ions .

Don ’

t bu ild up your business on per sonality—i t ’s an insecure

.Don ’t a llow the dealer to dom inate the conver sation .

' Don ’t make prom ises which you cannot l ive up to in order tothe business .

Don ’t w aste t ime—talk facts and talk to the point . Remembe

not necessary to w in every arg um en t to get the order .

Don ’t let the dealer side-track you or talk you away frl ine—stick to the line.

LE TTERS , B ULLE T I NS AND HOUSE ORGANS 201

Don ’t exaggerate. I t i s not what you say that convinces—it i s what

the dealer under stands and bel ieves of what you say.

.c Don ’t be impractical ; command the mer chant ’s respect and confi

dence by being pract ical .Don ’

t antagon ize him . Remember “honey catches more flies thanvinegar .

”

CLOS ING

c DOI l’t discount the buyer ’s opin ion or methods. I t i s better to keep

him on g ood terms w ith you .

~Don ’t forget that al l men have cer ta in ideas which can be an sweredw ith the same argumen ts .

Don ’t think you a r e up aga inst an impossible proposition .

Don ’t be a qu itter . Never say :

“This i s too tough a proposit ion for

Don ’t say :“I t can ’

t be done.

”The r ight thing to say i s : T his

may be a hard nut to crack but there i s a w ay to do it . I f I don ’t doit, the chances ar e my compet itor w ill .”

Don ’t throw w aste paper or r efuse on the floor .

Don ’t lose you r temper simply becau se your customer show s indi

cation of losing hi s .

Don ’t take an argumentative attitude. M ake him feel that you are

ag reeing w ith him while you ar e making him come you r w ay.

Don ’t know it al l . G ive the other fellow a chance to expr ess hi s

view s and thereby find out perhaps that he has forgotten mor e than you

ever knew .

0 Don ’t beg him to buy. When a salesman beg ins to beg , it i s eviden t

that he has no more arguments .

~Don ’t tru st to per suasion a lone—convince him .

0 Don ’t dodge a question or Objection—an sw er it fa ir ly.

. Don ’t ta lk for the sake of talking . S ay something .

Don’t get sore becau se your prospect g ives your competitor an order

occasionally. Remember this i s a free country and he has a per fect r ightto do as he pleases.

Don ’t try to pu t anyt hing over . Play the game squar ely and you

w ill last longer .

oDon’t leave you r cu stomer until he thoroughly under stands your

proposition . Goods w el l sold are ha lf moved ofi'

the shelf.

What Should Go I nto the House Organ?—S ome of thething s which a salesmen ’s house organ may reasonably be ex

pected to accomplish are

1. D issem inate new s .

2 . I nstil en thu siasm and optim ism .

3 . G ive advice a s to changes in the l ine .


Inform salesmen as to the stand ings in contest.S tir up fr iendly r ivalry between the men .

Bu ild up loyalty to the firm .

G ive education on methods of selling .

8 . Develop a clearer conception of the business as a whole and

salesman’s place in the organ ization .

9 . E ducate the salesman as to the problems Of hi s customer s .

There is a tendency to devote too much time to news ofthe home office. While the home office should have its shar eof publicity, it should not monopolize the space. A big questionis how to g et salesmen themselves to contr ibute to the houseorgan .

Many g ood salesmen have neglected the wr itten for the

spoken word . They ar e not always good grammar ians and fre

quently ar e poor speller s . They may be aware of their short

comin g s and for this r eas on be reluctant to send in contr ibutions.

I t is the task of the house organ editor to edit a manuscr ipt in’

such fashion that it bear s a r ecognizable likeness to the or ig in al

but is at the same time without i ts faults. The editor can tell

the men that he appreciates the fact that they ar e busy selling

goods and have little time to w r ite ar ticles for his publication,but that if they w ill just jot down the main poin ts he w ill tryto r elieve them of the detailed par t of the work in pr eparing the

manuscript for the pr inter .

E very order and r epor t which is sent in by a salesman may

contain the germ of a good story. E very unusual order shou ld

be made the subject of inquiry by the editor,and the salesman

persu aded to tell how he landed it.

The ideal salesmen ’s house or gan is person al in tone and

contents . To the salesman,the biggest thing in life is people.

He is not so interested in machin es or pr ocesses or office sys

tems and records . For this reason the house or g an which w ill

interest him is filled w ith“human interest ” stor ies. These may

be biogr aphical in character or mor e str ictly nar r ative, but they

should concern “folks.

”The idea to be foster ed is that the

sales force con stitutes one big, happy family .

The salesmen ’s house organ cannot be edited w ith shear s and

paste brush . It must not overflow with platitudes which fit the

needs of a boys ’ Sunday S chool class or a gang of machin ists’

CHAPTE R"SAL E SMEN

’

S RE PORTS AND L ETTERS

Recent Emphas is on Reports—Before the introduction ofmodern ideas of sales administr ation the attitude of the aver agesalesman toward the making ou t of repor ts was distin ctly an

tagon istic. If called upon to expr ess his feeling s he w ould voice

them somewhat in this vein :“I ’m paid to sell g oods, not to playbookkeeper . I ’m sending in the orders r ight along and I guess

that’

s about all the repor t the Office needs as to what I am

doing.

”The attitude of the aver age sales manag er coincided

closely w ith that of the salesman . He felt that as long as the

order s wer e for thcoming , he had scant reason to expect the salesman to spend long hours in making out volumin ous repor ts as to

conditions in his ter r itory,his activities

,and the like.

But slow ly ther e developed the feeling that more facts weredesirable, and the salesman , being in the ter r itory, w as n atur ally

called upon to obtain them . There has been a continual strugg le

between manager and men over this point in many concerns,while other s have solved it quite satisfactor ily.

Value of Reports to the Salesman—I n order to secure thecooper ation of the salesmen in making out r eports it i s necessary

to sell them on the idea that it is to their advantage to do so. In

the well organ ized concern this is not difficult, the follow ing

points being made :

1. The making of r epor ts is of incalculable value to the

sal esman himself,even though he never mailed them in to head

quar ters . One sales manag er who has made an unusually suc

cessful record str esses this point very str on g ly. He affi rms that

hi s own exper ience as a salesman and as a manager pr oves con

elusively that the salesman who is compelled to analyze the

work of each day,to check back over each sale or failur e to sell,

is thereby gr eatly strengthen ed. It for ces him to analyze his

failures as well as his su ccesses, and after a few w eeks or mon ths

of this scrutiny he begins to discern the differ ence between204

SAL E SM E N’S RE PORT S AND LE T TE RS 205

methods which lead to sales and those which seem to br ing on ly

turn-downs. The for ced study of his territory,his customer s

,

their stocks,their business methods, all aid wonderfully in

equipping him for scientific selling. I f the r eports did nothing

else bu t this, they w ould be wor th insisting upon , in the opinion

of many shr ewd sales manager s.

2 . T he secon d point , on which the manager bases his argu

ment that the salesman should make out repor ts as r equested,

is founded on the fact that the information thu s secur ed is used

by the sales pr omotion depar tment to help the salesman make

mor e sales . This is accomplished in a var iety of w ays , as the

sending of letters or special sales liter atur e to certain pr ospects

or customers,which w ould make it easier for the salesman to

sell them later . The facts sent in by the salesman ar e also

grouped in a number of w ays, used to construct tables and

char ts,which show conditions to the salesman more clear ly than

he could possibly visualize them hifi'

sg lf. He can be made to

see that it is to his personal in terest to furnish the reports

desir ed .

With these points in mind it can be seen that it would not

be necessary or desirable to compel all salesmen to make ou t

the same reports. A man cover ing a ter r itory for the first time

might pr ofitably make out mor e detailed repor ts than wou ld be

needed after he had tr aveled the route for five years . A lso,

reports on a terr itory just being opened up would be more

voluminous than those on an older ter r itory .

Time of Salesmen Should B e Conserved—As far as is consistent with the fir st pr inciple pr eviously men tioned , the r epor ts

should be as br ief as poss ible. They should be so designed‘

as

to reduce the salesman ’s clerical work to a minimum . T he

aver age salesman is not su ited by temperament or tr aining

to cler ical detail . He dislikes it thor oughly and is likely

to slight it if he can. For this r eason,better resu lts w ill

be obtained by devising a repor t form which can be filled

out in a few minutes mer ely by checking or w r iting a few w or ds .

The facts g iven on this master report can be used in var ious

combinations by the office employees in cons tructing tables , aver

ages, char ts, etc., but the salesman should not be asked to do

this under ordinary conditions. An exception to this rule is


found in those cases wher e it is desired to impress strongly

certain facts on the salesman ’s mind . Then it helps to have

him do the figuring himself. I n general,however

,it is poor

policy to ask a $2-an -hour man to do work which can be done by

a 25 -cent-ah -hour worker .

Repor ts Should Get at Causes—Another po int w hichshould be borne in mind is that the r epor ts of the salesmen are

designed to tell why certain facts and situations exist . That is,they should explain and clarify pr oblems w ith which the sales

manager is struggling. They should tell why sales in a cer tain

town ar e lower this year than last,or why the sales of a par

t icular item ar e running higher in S eptember than ever befor e.

I t is this use of the r epor ts for the purpose of discover ing r ea

sons which makes them of r eal valu e,for they enable the sales

manager also to make calcu lations and plans for the futur e.

A s a bas is for plann ing, these r epor ts should be invaluable.

In a sales manual issued by theWestinghouse L amp Company

for its salesmen appear s this statement

“The sa lesman who makes a successfu l sale loses more than half of

his su ccess if he does not r ecogn ize the r eason s for i ts accomplishmentand u se the same methods in another sale. T oo m any men are so bu sydoing thing s that they cannot g et underneath the su r face' to find out

why they are doing them . The qual ities of a su ccessfu l salesman are

the qualities of the executive.

The salesman who makes prompt reports to headquar ter s is

makin g staunch fr iends there who w ill be g lad to do him a good

tu rn when the oppor tunity offers . A sug gestion fr om the tr eas e

urer or credit man may be wor th hundr eds of dollar s to the

salesman receiving it . This is an other phase of the fundamental

pr inciple of coOperat ion ,without which no business can r each

i ts fu llest success .

Alibis Are Not Wanted—The salesman should also make

out his r epor ts w ith the viewpoin t of the Office in mind . They ar e

not keenly interested in the common type of so-called weather”

reports . They ar e not able to use flimsy and thr ead-bare alibis

in the planning of future sales. What they w ant i s facts and

reasons on which to base their campai for fu tur e sales.

One sales manager has a form lettdr he uses in replying to


an opportunity to give his selling talk or make his demonstra

tion, whether the call was an initial call or a“

repeat call,the

names of competing goods in stock or in use by prospect .If the salesman w ishes the cofiper ation of the sales pr omotion

depar tment in landing some difficul t prospect,he fills out a

special blank giving the necessary facts, such as the line of bus iness of pr ospect, class of tr ade sold

,kind of help needed from

sales pr omotion depar tment, as letters to the prospect, w indow

trims, booklets for distr ibution , etc. The time that these aidsare to be sent out is also indicated

,for the salesman wishes to

have the way cleared thoroughly for his next call .A few firms

,whose supervis ion over their salesmen is very

close, ask the men to fill out reports which ar e vir tually work

tickets, indicating just what the salesman w as doing at each hour

of the day. The high-g rade commission salesman w ill not do

this, but w ith a certain class of men it seems to w ork successfully .

Getting Cooperat ion of Salesmen—The greatest difficultyencountered in the matter of r epor ts is to per su ade men to send

them in promptly and pr oper ly filled out . A t the close of the

day the salesman is likely to be tired . He seeks r elaxation in a

g ame of pool or cards, and the repor t i s postponed un til the

follow ing mOi 'n ing , by which time he has forgotten some of the

facts or is so hurr ied that he slights the whole thing.

Various devices have been tr ied to accomplish the end men

t ioned,some of which usually pr ove effective. One r ather com

mon plan is to pr int the blank for the r epor ting of the expen se

account on the same sheet as the daily repor t of activities. The

salesman never fails to make out his expense accoun t, and if

the firm r efuses to honor this un less the other report is properly

filled out,str ong pressur e is br ought to bear .

Another method is to make pr ompt and complete r eports a

factor in the awarding of pr izes, bonuses or poin ts . Th is is

per haps better than using the neg ative method of fining a man

for late or inadequate reports, although some firms use this latter

plan .

Checking Up on Reports.—S ome system of checking up on

salesmen’s r eports is necessary. A simple plan is to rule off a

sheet with a line for each salesman and a column for each day

SAL E SM E N’S RE PORTS AND LE T TE RS 209

of the month . When the repor t comes in on time,a check or

cross is placed in the proper square, and when it is late, a post

card r eminder is sent the salesman . If th is does not br ing results,a personal letter fr om the sales manager usually will . The idea

involved here is simply to impr ess on the salesman the fact that

his repor ts ar e being watched car efu lly .

W eekly and Special Reports—I n addition to the daily r e

ports, many salesmen ar e asked to make out weekly summaries .

It is doubtful whether this is alw ays advisable, as the aver age

salesman is tired at the end of the week and desir es r elaxation .

He w ants to forg et repor ts and similar reminder s of his daily

gr ind . Unless it is thought that it w ill be better for the sales

man to make these out than to have them compiled at the office

from his daily reports , the latter plan is pr obably better ; that

is, the effect on the salesman himself might be beneficial if he

were required to recapitulate his week’s work in this fashion .

Special repor ts ar e Often called for r egarding cer tain cus

tomers or pr ospects, in addition to the r egular repor ts. These

may be w anted by the cr edit manag er , the sales pr omotion man

ager , the adver tis ing manager , or other executives, but should be

made as pr omptly and fully as the regular reports .

In case the salesman is covering a regular ter r itory, calling

on the same customer s each trip,his repor t-making may be

s implified by partially filling out the blanks before he leaves

headquar ter s, or by mailing them to him after he has gone out .

For example,the blank might be prepar ed to include in formation

about the previous pur chases of the customer , as w ell as his name

and address. Then when the salesman r eached the town , hew ould merely have to fill in a par t of the form ,

and mail it in .

Besides , the slip serves to r em ind him that he is expected to

call on this customer, for the home office is watching and keeping

tab on him .

L E T TERS FROM SALE SMEN

The report , filled out on a printed form,shoul d be supple

mented by letter s fr om the salesman . One sales manager char

acter i zes the daily letter fr om the salesman as“the most impor

tant single thing that the salesman sends in to the sales man


ager. The salesman should be encouraged to write daily long,intimate, personal letters to his boss . P erhaps there is no better

criter ion of the spirit of a sales organization than the frequency

and fullness with which the men write their manager about

their work on the road .

Contents of L etters—I n these letter s much can be told forwhich no place is regularly provided on the report blank. The

activities of competitor s can be descr ibed in detail,and perhaps

some valuable mer chandising ideas g lean ed therefrom . A ccounts

may be given of successful sales,with a careful description of

methods used,so that the manager can use the informat ion in

helping the other salesmen meet like situations .

S ometimes an aler t salesman will discover a new outlet for

the product or pr oducts . He may discover that it can be sold in

hardware stor es as well as in notion or drug stor es. Or perhaps

he has learned of a new use which some one has found for the

art icle. This can be relayed to the other sal esmen via the sales

manager, thus providing the whole force w ith an addition al talk

ing point . Another matter which should be covered in these let

ters concerns the adver tising which the firm i s doing. The sales

man has a splendid Oppor tunity to observe the attitude of dealer s

on this point , whether they use the adver tising matter sent them ,

whether they ar e sold thor oughly on the value of the adver tising

to them . P ar ticu lar ly valuable ar e the salesman ’s comments on

the various deal er aids put out by the sales pr omotion depar tment, such as window tr ims, transparencies for store windows

and doors,counter cards, signs, etc.

The salesman who is aler t w ill be able to pick up much valus

ble material in the w ay of testimon ials for his pr oduct . I t

should be his aim to gather these kind words and send them in to

the sales manag er , who can use them in bulletins to the sales

for ce or pass them on to theadvertising depar tment .

THE E"P EN SE ACCOUNT

Selling E xpenses B eing Analyzed—The efficient handling

of the salesman ’s expense account is a mark of the g ood sales

manag er . Ther e is perhaps no point at which fr iction more

easily occurs between salesman and manager than this, and


and dictates him a sharp letter calculated to let the fellow know

that the boss is on the j ob and doesn ’t propose to let any such

br azen attempt at theft get past him. The sal esman is genuinely

hur t,his fr iendshi p is lost, his good-will alienated, and an am

bition implanted within him to slip something over on the chief

just to Show him that it can be done. He r easons that if he isconsidered a cr ook anyhow ,

he might as well be one and pr ofit by

it . A clear understanding at the outset w ill prevent such occur

r ences, which ar e all too common .

S electing the Headquar ters City.—The usual pr actice in

handling expense accounts is to fix first upon a city or town

which the salesman is to consider as his headquar ter s . While

he is in this city he is expected to board and house himself,whether or not he may be mar r ied . This city may or may not

be the city in which is located the office to which he reports .

Much opportunity exists for the exercise of judgment in the

selection of the salesman ’s headquar ters city , the choice being

governed partly by geog raphical reasons and par tly by the de

sire to permit the salesman to live where he will be contented.

The more nights out of the w eek he can spend at home, other

things being equal, the lower w ill his expense account be.

Whenever a salesman ’s cost-to-sell is too high, it may be well to

investigate this matter of headquarters. On e sales manager says

he has often paid for the moving of a salesman ’s family and

saved the amount in a few m onths .

When the salesman is aw ay from his headquarters, the firm

pays his meals, and for his lodging if he is aw ay over night .

Usually, also , it pays his railr oad far e. A t this point practice

begins to vary w idely,some firms paying for par lor or chair car

seats,laundry

,taxi far e

,excess bagg ag e, tips , cost of tr aveling

bag s, entertainment, etc. Other firms limit the number of items

allowed . Then there is the flat expense account . These points

mer it fur ther discussion .

The extent to which a firm is willing to pay for luxuries

in the expense account depends largely upon the class of tr ade

to which their salesmen are selling. S ome firms, selling a h igh

pri ced product to an exclusive trade, feel that they would suffer

a loss in prestige and actual decrease in business by allow ing

their sal esmen to stop at cheap hotels or travel in day coaches.

SAL E SMEN ’S RE PORT S AND LE TTE RS 213

For this same reason they ar e w illing to pay laundry bills,to

be sure that their representatives alw ays appear in clean linen .

Padding the E xpense Account—One point of policy in this

connection deserves discussion . S ome salesmen feel that if their

house is w illing to pay for a chair car, that it is'

per fectly per

missible to take a day coach and include the extr a amount for

the chair car in the expense account . The same pr inciple applies

all the way thr ough . I f the salesman sits up in a day coach

instead of going to bed in the P ullman, he r easons that he is

entitled to the saving he made. I f he eats at a dairy lun ch and

then en ter s the amount usually char ged by a fir st-class hotel in

his expen se account,what business is it of the firm ’

s i He made

the saving himself ; he deprived himself of the luxur ies, should

he not pocket the gain?

A t first this sounds reasonable, but closer analysis reveals

the under lying fallacy. The house w as willing to pay for a ber th

in a P u llman,a seat in the chair car

,a meal at the good hotel

,

because the management felt that these wou ld mak e for gr eater

efficiency on the part of the salesman . A good night’

s rest w ould

put him in tr im for the next day ’s work ; a seat in the chair

car and a meal at the good hotel w ould establish w ith his'

fellow

tr avelers his standing as the representative of a first-class firm ,

and w ould give him the confidence needed to make sales. It is

undeniable that much of a salesman ’

s success depends upon his

men tal attitude. If he can dress well, and otherw ise live as

on e who has achieved success,he is able to hold his head up

and meet any pr ospect w ith confidence. If it wer e not for this

fact,more firms would permit their men to pay all their own

expenses. But too many men w ould try to save on their ex

penses , ther eby w eakening their confidence in themselves and

cutting down their sales .

W e may then conclude that, aside from the purely ethical

aspect of the question , it is poor business to attempt to pad theexpense account on these items .

The whole pr oblem of padded expense accounts is one which

gives the average sales manager grave concern . In gener al,it

may be said that it is w ise to adopt one of two widely differing

policies reg arding the supervision which is exercised over thesalesmen in this particular. The sales manager should either


place the salesman absolutely on his honor and accept the ex

pense accounts w ithout question or quibble,or he should exer cise

the very closest scrutiny, checking up at every point as far as

possible. S ome managers even go so far as to make all hotel arr angements fr om headquar ter s for their men . A half-way policyw ill not w ork. The efior ts to check up occasionally result in

ar ousing the antagonism of the salesman,who feels that his word

is being doubted ; while at the same time the supervision is laxenough to allow many ir regularities.

E xcess bagg age char ges pr ovide a subject of frequent misunderstanding. A cigar passed out to the baggage man has pre

vented him fr om weighing up a big trunk many a time. The

salesman may pr evail upon his fr iend, who car r ies only a por t

folio, to check an extra tru nk on his ticket, but in both cases theitem“excess baggage” finds i ts way in to the expen se account

all too often . It should be poin ted ou t to salesmen that it pays to

maintain fr iendly relations w ith the railr oad employees , espe

cially conductors . The conductor i s absolute master of his tr ain ,

and if he order s the salesman to check his bulky sample case

instead of trying to g et it by as hand lug g ag e, ther e is nothing

for it but to check it,thereby perhaps in cur r ing another bill for

excess bagg age. Many a“young trunk ” has been permitted bya fr iendly conductor to ride in a passenger coach when it should

have been in the baggage coach ahead .

L ocal transpor tation, as taxi

,str eet car

,bus to hotel , etc.

,

may make tr ouble. The free bus to the hotel may tempt the

salesman to slip in a small item for taxi or str eet car fare. This

is often dangerous, as sal es manager s can too easily check up on

this point.

Tips to waiters , checkr oom attendants, por ters, bellhops and

other servitor s are now disallow ed by many firms,as they tend

to g r oss extravagance and tempt the salesman to pad his ac

count .

A t the time this is being wr itten (April 1922 ) sales manag ers

are scrutinizing expen se accounts mor e carefully than for many

years, and salesmen ar e actually fear ful in many in stances to

include the price of a real meal at a first-class hostelry. They

prefer to absorb a par t of the expense themselves many times

for fear of arousing the wrath of their manag er.


it,but the weakness is merely this : if the proper amount can be

definitely es timated, why call it an expense account at all ? Why

not pay the salesman that much and let him pay his own ex

penses? Th is latter method is employed by many firms.

Ag itation Against High Hotel Rates—There has been agitation by sales executives regarding hotel expenses, which bulk

large in expense accounts . It was estimated that in 1920 the

tr aveling salesmen of this country spen t a little over

half a billion dollar s in hotel bills . The rates charged by many

hotels did not seem to decline as r apidly as the g eneral cost of

living , so sales manager s, stimulated by small order s and an

alarmingly incr eased cost-to-sell,directed their ener gies toward

per suading the hotels to lower their rates. The Hotel Committeeof the I nternational Feder ation of Commer cial Tr avelers Organizations sent out a cir cular in 1921 to its member s, fr om whichthe follow ing paragr aph is quoted

T ravel ing men a l l over the coun try have reached the conclusion , and

r ightly so, that the pr ices charged by hotels for r oom s and m eals have

r eached the peak and it is time to call a str ike. The tr aveling fratern ityhas the same w eapon w ith which to wage war fare upon the hotel propr ietor s and hotel corporation s that the g ener a l public u sed in r efu sing to

pur chase w ear ing apparel and shoes at pr ices which they thought u n reasonable and out of propor tion . Ther efor e, in order to help you and you rfellow traveler s, the Hotel Comm ittee of the I nternational Federation ofCommercial T raveler s ’ Organ izations u rges the recipien t of this letter tor efuse to patron ize such hotels as ar e charg ing or asking exorbitan t pr icesfor rooms and food . This letter i s being sen t to s ix hundred thou sandtraveling men and each and every man mu st do hi s par t, for on ly in

un ison i s there strength .

The men were urged to send in menus and rate cards so that

the committee could have definite data on which to w ork. A sort

of a str ike was carr ied out and some results obtained . The

American S ociety of Sales E xecutives, a gr oup of the sales

director s of large manufactur ing concerns employing about ten

thousand men all told , asked their salesmen to call the atten tion

of hotel clerks and proprietor s day by day to the fact that r ates

were too high . I t was believed that this constant r epetition

w ou ld eventually wear through the toug hes t skin . They aimed

at a r eduction of fifty cents a day , which would be an appre

ciable saving when multiplied by

SAL E SMEN ’S RE PORTS AND LE TTE RS 217

Other organizations joined the movement , and many sales

managers who were not members of any or ganizations br ought

pressure to bear on their men and thr ough them on the hotels

and restaur ants. This agitation bore fruit and doubtless secur ed

reductions in rates long before they would have come w ithout it.

Concentration of Authority over E xpense Accounts—I t is

wise to place the admin istr ation of the expense account in the

han ds of one per son , making him responsible for all rulings on

questioned items . He may con su lt his ch ief about certain pr ob

lems,bu t the salesmen should think of h im as the fin al author ity

on expense accounts. He issues all funds for expenses, no matter

who is doing the tr aveling. If it is the sales man ager himself

or the president of the concern , he must call on this man for thenecessary funds and must account to him for his expenses .

The methods of getting the money to the salesmen vary.

S ome well known firms can use letter s of cr edit,other s u se tr av

eler s ’ checks. The use of the firm ’s personal check is discour

aged by hotels,as they have been victimized frequently in this

way.

The men should be provided with pocket expense account

books in which to keep a record Of their expenditures . By hav

ing these uniform and conveniently ruled the men can keep them

more easily and accurately. Fr om these the amounts ar e copied

on to the blank forms pr ovided .

The follow ing instruction s to salesmen were issued by the

Addressog r aph Company and indi cate both the impor tance at

tached by that su ccessful concern to salesmen ’s r epor ts, and the

detailed nature of the in stru ctions to in sure accuracy

DAI LY RE P ORT S

( 28 Paragr aphs )

l—ALL MUST MAKE REPORTSE very salesman , every manag er who sells , every salesman doing

repa ir w ork , must not consider himself in any w ay excu sed fromma iling to the Home Office E ACH day complete r epor ts on ALL ofhis calls for that day. T his w ill be ea sy and automatic if r epor tsar e made out in pen cil at close of each interview .

Z—WHE N REPORT S MUST B E MADEI nvestigation show s that near ly every salesman , if left to hi s own

devices, has some“pet

”method of making out reports . B ut for the

2 18 SALE S MANAGEM EN T

good of the ent ipre Org an iza tion , the Home Office requ ires every sales

man to adhere to ju st ONE UN I VE RSAL way of making r epor tsM ake your r epor t I MM EDI AT E LY AT CLOSE OF EACH interview , telephone conver sat ion , or letter dictation . T hen when day i s

fin i shed—r epor ts are fin i shed—NO working after hour s, S undays or

holidays . M ail repor ts EVE RY n ight.I t i s a proven fact that Addressog raph manager s and representa

t ives who are making the most money are those who systematicallyadher e to a car efu lly planned schedu le for each day, which enablesthem to make the gr eatest possible number of bu siness ca lls DURI NGCALLING HOURS. I t i s sign ifican t that these par ticu lar r epresentatiyes do not con s ider it a hardship—ju st the opposite, a big factor intheir success—TO PROMPTLY MAKE RE PORT S on al l their ca lls.

3-h-AT LE AST FIVE RE PORT S DAI LYE very salesman

,every manager who sells, and every salesman

who also makes some repa ir ca lls, i s expected to mail to the Home

Office at least five complete repor ts on prospects or cu stomer s eachw orking day—NOT LE SS than 125 r epor ts each and every month ofthe year"N o exception s to this r u le. (Dealer s who handle Addressogr aph sa les as a sideline ar e a lso r equ ired to mail complete r epor tsto the Addr essog raph Co . on a ll calls—no matter how few—s ame daycalls ar e made. )

4—ALWAYS U SE REPORT FORMA r epor t by letter w ill not be accepted un less a comp letely fil led

ou t repor t form (AS2 17 ) i s P INN ED ther eto . I n a few Special casesi t may be necessary to amplify in formation w r itten on Regular r epor tform w ith a letter . B ut in su ch cases customer

’

s or prospect’s name

and addr ess must appear at top of letter—also specify on repor t“S ee Letter 7-1-19 attached .

”

5—ONLY PENC IL-PRI NT ED REPORT S ACCE PTEDBy making ou t pencil r epor ts immediately a fter each call your

r epor ts a r e mor e accurate and valuable to Home Office—and lesswork for you than typewr iting inaccurate, incomplete repor ts afterday

’s w ork i s over .

U se pencil on ly. PRI NT NAM E S and ADDRE SSE S . DON ’T

WRI T E"(“Remarks may be w r itten ) . A lways S ign your name

and g ive date. NUM B ER your r eports consecu t ively, beg inn ing w ithNo. 1 at fir st of year .

6—INACCURAT E . REPORT S WASTE ADVE RT I SIN G—DI SGUSTPROSPE CT S

Our prospect l ists are embossed from you r r epor ts . So be accurate. Remember you are preaching ACCURAT E M a iling Lists to

prospects . Therefore Show cor r ect in itials and title. G ive r ight spelling of names . Show whether S t ., Ave., Boul .—B e sure town and state

220 SALE S MANAGEMENT“Wr ote 7-1-19 -see attached carbon . B e sure to P I N carbon ofletter s to repor t and mail both to Home Office same day letter i s

w r itten .

14—RE PORT OFFI CE CALLS AND DEMONSTRAT I ONSRepor ts are r equ ired on al l prospects or cu stomer s who call at

your office for a demonstration, for service or information

, etc.

15—“NOT I N” CALLS MUST B E REPORT E D

I n case prospect or customer i s“not in when you call—make a

complete repor t, stating why you called .

16—REPORT COPY FOLLOW-UP CALLSOrder s for which no copy i s r eceived w ithin 3 months ar e can

celled by Home Office. E very salesman expected to follow up hi s

NEW customer s to see that copy i s sen t in . Reports on such followups ar e ju st as impor tan t as other repor ts .

17—RE PORT ALL REPAI R CALLSSalesmen who make r epa ir calls in addition to their selling

work ar e expected to make a separate complete repor t (Form AS2 17 ) on EVE RY repair call , show ing time requ ired—r epair s per

formed, etc.

18—“NO REPORT S—NO COMM I SSI ONT his r u le w ill not be appreciated un less it i s under stood thor

oughly. So cons ider the follow ing—I n the fir st place, the Home

Office vig ilan tly pr otects each and every manag er who sells, and

every salesman w ith the ter r itory for which he i s r esponsible.

l 9—DE FI N I T E T E RRI T ORY FOR EVERY SALE SMANFur thermor e, the Home Offi ce expects each and every salesman

whether w orking direct under the Hom e Office or under a branchmanag er , to have a defin ite, individua l ter r itory in stead of w orkingco-jointly w ith the manager in the whole Branch Office ter r itory.

20—ALL SALE SM EN E NT I TLED TO I NQU I RI E S, T I PS, E TC.

E very inqu iry, t ip or telephone cal l mu st be tu rned over directlyto the salesman cover ing the ter r itory from which the inqu iry, t ip or

telephone call emanates . No manager can r ightfu lly w ithhold an

inqu iry of any kind from the r espective salesman, except an inqu iry

from a cu stomer or r eserved pr ospect—o r som e unu sual inqu iryr equ ir ing mor e exper ience to handle than may be possessed by a new

salesman .

B UT ALL I NQU I RI E S ARE TO B E WI THHELD B Y THE

HOM E OFFI CE I F RE SPE CT IVE SALE SMAN HA S NE G

L E CT E D I NQU I RI E S PREVI OUSLY G IVEN HI M TO FOLLOWUP AND PROMPTLY RE PORT ON"

2 1'—B UT DON ’

T WAI T FOR I NQU I RI E S

All inqu ir ies and t ips must be attended to prompt ly—reported on

SAL E SMEN’S RE PORTS AND LE TTE RS 221

pr ompt ly—and per sever ing ly followed up un til sold . And this br ingsu s to the point that none of u s, however , can afl’ord to w a it for inqu ir ies . W e must constantly and consistently look for NEW prospectsand these a lso, mu st be followed up.

22—M OST CARE FUL PLANN ING RE QUIREDNatu rally every manager and every sa lesman must con scientiously

and systematically plan each day’s w ork so that the maximum num

ber of prospects can be follow ed up and sold w ith least loss of time

and effor t. E ven then the best la id plan s w ill not make it possibleto follow up a l l prospects frequently enough and also locate al l Of

the NEW prospects who can u se Addr essograph to advan tage.

23—SALE SM EN PAI D FOR WORK THEY ACTUALLY DOI t mu st be under stood then , that the company

’

s policy i s to paycomm ission to every sa lesman on every order he closes, and on everydeal which he worked on and proper ly repor ted w ithin 90 days pr iorto receipt of order .

24—NO COMM I SSI ON ON NE GLECTE D DEALSOn the other hand, the company does not reward any manag er or

any salesman w ith E"TRA compen sation on order s the company re

ceives and which a manager or a salesman HAS NOT HAD ANY

THING TO DO WI TH—or on deals closed , which a manager or

sa lesman HA S NEGLECTE D TO RE PORT FOR M ORE THAN90 days"

2 5—RULE PROTE CT S EVE RY MANT his ru le protects EVE RY MAN on EVERY deal he ACTUALLY

WORKS ON—and proper ly follow s up, and i t N EVER TAKE S ONESINGLE CENT of E ARNED comm ission from any one.

26—I NCRE ASE S COMM I SSI ON SThe most va luable feature i s that EVERY salesman makes M ORE

money for HI M SE LF becau se of this stimulating ru le,

“NO RE

PORTS—NO COMM I SSI ON .

” And the most sign ifican t par t of therule i s , that it i s a gentle r em inder that EVE RY ter r itory i s TOO

LARGE for any salesman to cover even 5 0 per cen t effectively.

27—MORE REPORT S,M ORE COMM I SS I ON S

T his impor tan t stimu lus keeps every manager and every sa lesman

ACT IVE , which dir ectly r esu lts in more calls, more r epor ts, moreorder s and more comm issions .

28—TRE AT ALL U SERS COURTE OU SLYCour teous service to ALL CU STOMERS i s a condit ion that ALL

Addr essogr aph salesmen mu st assume in EVERY ter r itory whethercustomer s place their order s through them or direct w ith the companyor other repr esen tatives in other terr itor ies .

224

Con tests Con t . )pr izes , 147selling the idea befor ehand, 145specia lty salesmen , 140

staple salesmen ,140

types of, 15 4when to hold, 143Conventions and Con ferences,

184

advan tages of, 161a im s of, 165a r rangem ents for , physica l , 182cha irman for , selection and coaching of , 180cost of holding , 163developmen t of, 15 7en ter ta inmen t featur es of, 176follow ing up, 183

gr oup meeting s at , 179

length of, 167Objection s to, 15 8pr epar ations for , 172prog r am , 174

traveling , 171

when to hold , 166where to hold, 168w ives of salesm en at , 179

CoOper at ion

adver tising , 17credit depar tm en t , 20inter -depar tmenta l , 20repor ts , 208Cor r esponden ce tra in ing of sales

men , 73

Cost of holding sa les convention s,163

Credit depar tmen t, 20-22

Dead samples , disposa l of , 9 1Draw ing account and comm ission ,

127

E ditor of Hou se Organ ,197

E n ter tainment,featu r es at conven tion s , 176of buyer s , 2 15

E qu ipmen t for salesmen’s train ing ,

68

E qu ipmen t, salesman’

s, 77-9 5

advan ce card , 77bu s iness ca r d , 80kit

, plann ing of, 82manual , 92models , 82

15 7

I NDE"

Factory tra in ing of salesmen , 61

Field tra in ing of salesmen , 69

Form letter s to salesmen ,191

G

Ginger” letter s to salesmen , 188

G reen salesman or old hand?, 33G roup comm ission plan , 132

G roup meeting s at conventions, 179

K

Kit, sa lesman’s, 82

E qu ipment ( Con t . )pictures , 89por tfolio , 90sales manual , 92sample kits, 87sample r oom

, 85

samples , 84s ize, l im iting , 89

Expen se accounts, 2 10-217author ity over , 2 17clear under standing of ,enter ta inment on , 2 15

headquar ter s city, 2 12hotel r ates , 2 16padding , 2 13

House Organs , 195 -203con ten ts , 201defin ition ,

195

editor , 197failu re, cau se of, 196“G inger ,

”199

helps , 199name, 198

purpose, 195“Sermonette of Don ’ts for Salesmen ,

”199

s ize, 198

Impar ting sales viewpoint to w orker s , 16

I nqu ir ies , follow ing up, 18

I n stru ctor s in sa lesmen’s tra in ing ,

66

I nter-depar tmen ta l coOperat ion ,12

I nterview ing prospective salesmen ,

48

I NDE"

Laying ou t salesman’s ter r itory, 98

Letter s , B u lletins and House Organs,185 -203

JLetter s from salesmen , 210

Letter s to salesm en ,

contents of , 189form ,

19 1“G inger ,

”188

overpr a ise, 19 1per sonal , 187, 193Presiden t shou ld w r ite, 192pu rpose, 190Long -distance train ing of salesmen ,

73

M anual, salesman’s ,

as equ ipmen t,92

selling to sa lesmen , 93

size, 92tra in ing , 68typica l ou tline, 94

M arketing campa ign , place of salesmen in , 3

M arketing policies , influen ce on

selection of salesmen ,25

M odels , u se of, 82

N ame for Hou se Organ ,198

Office M anager , r elat ion to sales or

g an izat ion , 2

Old hand or g r een salesman 33

Org an ization of typica l sa les depar tm en t, 1

Outpu t and sales, synchr on izing , 14

Padding the expense accoun t , 2 13Paying salesmen , problem s in , 118

Pen sion ing retired salesmen ,136

Per sonnel division in sa les org an ization

,3

Phys ical tests in selecting salesmen ,

Plugger or S tar” salesman ‘

2, 35

Poin t system ,

in contests, 15 2of compen sation , 134

Por tfolio, salesm an

’s , 90

Pr izes in contests , 147

225

roduct ion depar tmen t, relation tosa les depar tmen t, 13

Profit shar ing w ith sa lesmen,131

Prog ram for sales conven tion, 174

Psycholog ical tests in selecting salesmen

, 5 4

Readjustment of ter r itory, 109

Record keeping in sales organ ization , 1

References of prospective salesmen ,

46

Regu lar commun ication w ith salesm en , 186

Repor ts , salesmen’s ,

Addressog raph Company instruc

tions on , 2 17-221

a libis , 206checking , 208coiiperat ion , 208

daily, 207

emphasis on , 204

getting at cau ses , 206specia l , 209time con serving on , 205

value of, 204w eekly

,209

Requ irements for adm ission to salesmen

’s tr a in ing cour se, 60

Reta i l clerks as a sou r ce for Obta ining sa lesmen ,

3 1

Rou tes,seasonal , 108set schedu le

, 110

sw ing , 106

Salary,comm ission and

, 128

comm iss ion , expen se and, 133st ra ight, 120Sales and Outpu t, syn chron izing , 14Sa les Conventions , 15 7-184advantages of, 161aim s of, 165ar r ang ements for , physical , 182cha irman of, selection and coaching of, 180

cost of holding , 163developmen t of, 15 7en tertainmen t featu res of, 176follow ing up, 183

g roup meetings at , 179

leng th of, 167Objections to, 15 8preparations for , 172

226 I NDE"Sales Conventions ( Con t . )

progr am ,174

traveling , 171when to hold , 166where to hold, 168w ives of salesmen at , 179

Sales Depar tment, pr ecedence overother s , 12

Sales M anager , the,character istics , 7exper ience, 7fairness , 10know ledge of bu siness , 10loyalty to his men , 9

Jorgan izing ability, 9sympathy w ith men ,

8

Sales manual ,as equ ipm en t, 92typical ou tline, 94Sales organ izations , types of,Sales promotion in sales organ iza

tion , 2

Salesmen ,

born or made, 5 6calls of, frequen cy, 100compen sation of, 117-138contests for , 140equ ipmen t of, 77place in marketing campaign , 3

r epor ts and letter s , 204-22 1scien tific m anagemen t of , 11r ou ting , on set schedu le, 110selection of, 24-5 5sou r ces for obta in ing , 26specia l tr ip, 108ter r itory of , 96-106train ing , 5 6-76Salesw om en , 36

Sample r oom ,use of, 85

Samples,disposal of

“Dead,” 9 1how to show ,

84

S ci en tific management and salesmen , 11

Schools ,as sou r ce for obta in ing salesmen ,

for train ing salesmen , 61

Seasonal r ou te, 108Selection of salesmen , 24-5 5

appear ance of applicant , 5 1application blanks , 39g r ading by in ter view ,

5 1

g reen salesmen ,33

habits of applicant , 41manner of applican t, 5 1marketing policies, influence of,

on , 25

methods in use, 38

Selection of salesmen ( Con t . )Old hands , 33per sona l interview , 48“Plugger ,” 35

r eason for application , 40r eferences , 46saleswomen

,36

self g r ading by appl ican ts , 41sou r ces for obtain ing , 26-32“Star ,” 35tests, 5 4thr ift Of applicant, 40Selling expen ses analyzed, 2 10Service depar tm en t in sales organ

i zat ion, 2

Show ing Samples , 84Sliding comm iss ion ,

132

Smal l town business, 102Sour ces for obtain ing salesmen , 26

32

adver tising ( cla ssified ) , 26competing organ izations, 27m iscel laneous, 33non -competing organ ization s, 29own organ ization ,

30

r ecommendations of sa les force,29

r eta il clerks,31

schools , 32un iver sities

,32

Special tr ips, 108Specialty salesmen

’

s contests , 140Staples salesmen

’s con tests , 140

Star” salesman or“Plugger , 35

Stimu lating salesmen , r eason s whyr equ ir ed, 139

Straight comm ission , 125

Str a ight salary, 120Subjects covered in sa lesmen

’s tra in

ing , 66

Successfu l cou r se of salesmen’s

tra in ing , 74Sw ing route

,106

Syn chron izing ou tpu t and sales, 14System in compensation , 117

T ask and bonu s system of compen

sation , 133

T er r itory, sa lesman’s, 96

-116

analysis, 99au tomobile transpor tation ,

111

average too large , 101T er r itory, salesman

’s ,

chief factor s in a llotting , 99city, 103defin ite assignmen t, 96

The-Management of the Sales Organization - Forgotten Books

Documents

Transcript of The-Management of the Sales Organization - Forgotten Books