Masonry Magazine April 1967 Page. 10
THE SELLING PARADE
by Charles B. Roth, America's no. 1 salesmanship authority
The Selling Parade by Charles B. Roth is another new feature added by Masonry. Watch for it in all future issues of the magazine for the entire Masonry Industry. Cut out this article and future articles and place them in your business file for further reference.
They Need Gentle Care
Consider the customer, the most important individual in any salesman's life next to himself. He might be as big and strong as fullback Jimmy Brown and have an AAAA-1 D&B rating-but he still needs as gentle care as a baby, lest you lose him for good.
One of the first business greats-during the years when the head of a great railroad made a famous error when he said: "The public? The public bedamned!"-John H. Patterson of cash register fame, phrased his famous declaration to guide his own salesmen. It ran like this: "CARE FOR THE CUSTOMER AND HE WILL CARE FOR YOU."
That is still a guideline for any salesman who wants to get ahead CARE FOR THE CUSTOMER.
Recently one of the graduates of "Patterson's School," a Joseph E. Rogers, now head of the largest organization of its kind in the world, paid tribute to the "old man's" (as they all called Patterson) philosophy.
"I can truthfully say," begins Mr. Rogers, "that all the success I have had traces to that three-word Patterson phrase: 'CARE FOR THEM.'"
At first, Mr. Rogers admits, it was hard to see where paying more attention to those around you than to oneself would help anyone except them.
But Patterson insisted it would. Then one day it suddenly came, he says, to Rogers that: "The customers are running the show, whether they are customers of a store, of a manufacture, patrons of a library, patients of a doctor or dentist, taxpayers of a school district-they are IT. "If a man or woman works for them, everybody is happy. Everybody gains. "If we lose their confidence, we're done for sure."
When he began practicing the doctrine that the "Customer is always right," and thought in terms of pleasing his customers, looking for ways in which he could please them more, planning to do things that would win more confidence, Mr. Rogers really started going ahead in his work.
Because he thought in terms of those persons, they began trying to please him more, support him more, reward him more.
With the result you have already learned: He is head of the largest firm of its kind in the world.
Because he cared for them. So you in your everyday contacts, "Care for them," won't you?
He Sold Gold Front Door Keys
One of the most attractive figures to grace the American buisness scene was also one of its most indomitable salesmen. His boast, made gently for he was gentle, was that he could sell anything to anyone.
He was Saunders Norvell and his big challenge was this: "Business is thoroughly rotten," said the district manager. "There are parts of my territory you can't sell."
The president of the Norvell-Shapleigh Company held up a restraining hand and then, leaning forward, he said: "There isn't any territory that can't be seld," he said. "There isn't anything that can't be sold."
The district manager leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'd just like to see anybody sell some of the pecle I've got," he muttered.
The president of the company was a young man, under forty, and he was guiding a newly organized concern over the dangers of the first years. "Now, see here," he suggested. "Let's have a test case. You and I will agree on some object as the most difficult thing in our line to sell. You will pick out the hardest prospect you can find and I'll sell him."
Roused from his dejection, the district manager looked up with sudden alertness. "All right," he said, "I'll do it."
The Norvell-Shapleigh Company was a hardware concern, and Saunders Norvell was its young president. Finally he and his district manager agreed upon a gold house key as the most difficult object to be sold. The factors that made a gold house key almost impossible to sell were these: It was absolutely new; sales interest must be wholly built up. It cost about four hunderd times as much as an ordinary key and was no more efficient. There was no talking point on value-that is, none was apparent.
For the human subject of the test they picked a banker, a man reputed to be a thorough conservative and a "crab." Norvell had a gold house key made for his own home, and arranged an appointment with the banker. He called at the bank and the two men began talking about real estate. The gold key was on his watch chain, and as he and the banker talked, Norvell played with it, taking it out of the fob pocket and returning it. The conversation veered to homes, and after a time Norvell said: "You know, I have a great deal of sentiment about my home. To me my front door means entrance to a haven of content and rest. I've had a gold key made for that door. I don't suppose there's another gold house key on earth but this one."
He took the key from his pocket and showed it to the banker, who leaned forward to see it. Norvell detached the key from his chain and handed it over. It was a nicely made key and the shining gold gleamed invitingly. The conversation ran on, the (Continued on page 28)