Masonry Magazine September 1965 Page. 16
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.
Why Not Use Charm As Well?
George Ade the playwright once declared that charm in a man is an emetic, and that might have started the feeling it is all right for a woman to have charm but never a man. I do not agree with this. I believe that to the degree a salesman adds charm to his selling equipment does he thrive.
Maybe the trouble started with the meaning of the word charm. My Thorndike-Barnhart Dictionary, one of the latest and best of the lexicons, defines charm as the power of pleasing others.
What else do we salesmen do day after day but try to please others? One sales manager I know has coined a world for this kind of selling. He calls it attractive salesmanship.
"I want my salesmen to be attractive to their customers," he told me, "so I urge them to practice attractive salesmanship.
"I tell them that a pleasant smile, a thoughtful word, and a genial nature go to make up attractive salesmanship.
"It has other ingredients, too. For instance, an optimist is attractive, a pessimist is not. Therefore to attract, be optimistic.
"Intelligent optimism will make you an enthusiast and enthusiasm is the driving force behind every great salesman."
But, I wonder, how does a salesman go about developing the kind of attractiveness that we call attractive salesmanship or, if you aren't afraid of the word, charm?
He said it wasn't hard. It takes self-analysis is all.
"I urge my salesmen to make a written list of their various abilities and qualities," said he, "and then carefully consider how they can use them to increased advantage.
"We all need occasional self-appraisement or mental stock-taking. Admit your faults and strive to overcome them."
He Pushed The "Hot Button"
That hot button of Jack Lacy's you know, it is important in salesmanship. Push the hot buttom, Lacy admonished you. What he meant was find the one appeal that above all other appeals will cause the prospect to act.
One salesman's favorite hot button story concerns a young man who wanted to marry the daughter of the Scotchman Sandy McPherson. McPherson had little time for the young man, whom he treated contempuously.
But the young man was a salesman. He went to the girls' father and said, "Sir, I should like to show you how I can save you some money." He got the girl.
When You're Up Against Friendship Competition
Most salesmen will agree that one of the tough nuts to crack is called friendship competition. There seems to be so little you can do about it. You call. You give your talk. You get agreement from your prospect that your goods are right, your price is right, everything is right. But he doesn't buy. Why doesn't he buy?
He tells you. "I buy from my friend Harry Barnstorm, a good guy I've known for years and years," says he. "I buy all my mailing equipment and supplies from good old Harry. What would he think if he knew I was buying from someone else?"
You talk. You argue. You get nowhere. Reason: you are opposing emotions with facts, and it is an uneven battle with emotions winning every time.
While there is absolutely no sure-fire way of overcoming this situation, suggestions from some salesmen about how they handle the situation may help. So-
"I always agree with my man that he ought to do business with his friends," says one salesman from Arkansas. "I even quote Stevenson, Of what can a man be proud if not of his friends. Then I start casting doubts. How does he know the friend can always give him the best deals No one has a strict monopoly on prices and qualities; and may he is shutting the door on some good profits by buying exclusively from his friend.
"I drop that suggestion. I don' argue it. I don't belabor it. I drop in casually, as if I didn't expect it to be believed. But, ah, it is. It goes to work. I drop the same suggestion next time I call. And the next time. And so on
"Eventually I know I can expect a call asking me to come on over-tha is my method," he concluded. Another salesman believes attrition is the answer wear your man out with constant calling. Be pleasant when you call, but never leave without asking for an order.
Be A Shredder
The salesman told me he didn't fear competition because he meets it by shredding it. "I am a shredder," is the way he puts it. And what is a shredder I asked him.
I was told he is one who shreds which I suspected, but I understood better when he explained his method There is, let us say, a $5 difference between his price and a competitors That $5 seems like a lot until it is shredded. The salesman shows that the $5 buys in his business it means 5/100 of a cent for treating each post His treatment guarantees three to five times longer life for 5/100 of a cent Ridiculous to think about, isn't it, only 5/100 of a cent for so much. Thus shredded, the $5 difference does. disappearing act.
Cut out this article and future articles and place them in your business file for further reference.
SEPTEMBER 1965 CHARLES ROTH. All rights reserved
MASONRY.
September, 1965