“’Veil, you know vat I will do. I
don’d care eef he iss a poor boy; dot is all
ride. I haf money and eef I ged the ride boy for
my goil, I vill set him op in peezness. Dot’s
somet’ing for you to vork for— annodder
cost’mer,’ said he—the instinct
would crop out.
“Well, sir, I’ve got to make this story
short,” said Johnny, pulling out his watch.
“I found the boy. He was a good, clean-cut
young fellow, too, and you know the rest.”
“You bet your life I do,” said Sam.
“Two solid customers that buy every dollar from
you.”
“And,” continued Johnny, “Leah and
Abie are as happy as two birds in a nest. I don’t
know but these marriages arranged by the old folks
turn out as well as the others anyhow.”
“It’s not alone by doing a good turn to
your customer that you gain his good will,”
said the hat man. “Not always through some
personal favor, but with all merchants you win by
being straight with them. This is the one thing
that will always get good will. Now, in my line,
for example, new styles are constantly cropping out
and a merchant must depend upon his hat man to start
him right on new blocks. A man in my business
can load a customer with a lot of worthless plunder
so that his stock will not be worth twenty-five cents
on the dollar in a season or two. On the other
hand, he can, if he will, select the new styles and
keep him from buying too many of them, thereby keeping
his stock clean.
“Yes, and this same thing can be done in all
lines,” spoke up two or three of the boys.
“Yes, you bet,” continued the hat man,
“and when you get a man’s good will through
the square deal you have him firmer than if you get
his confidence in any other way.”
“Sure! Sure!” said the boys, as we
dropped our napkins and made for our hats.
SALESMEN’S DON’TS.
Salesmen are told many things they should do; perhaps
they ought to hear a few things they should not do.
If there is one thing above all others that a salesman
should observe, it is this:
Don’t grouch!
The surly salesman who goes around carrying with him
a big chunk of London fog does himself harm.
If the sun does not wish to shine upon him—if
he is having a little run of hard luck—he
should turn on himself, even with the greatest effort,
a little limelight. He should carry a small sunshine
generator in his pocket always. The salesman
who approaches his customer with a frown or a blank
look upon his face, is doomed right at the start to
do no business. His countenance should be as
bright as a new tin pan.
The feeling of good cheer that the salesman has will
make his customer cheerful; and unless a customer
is feeling good, he will do little, if any, business
with you.
