Читать книгу Selling Home Furnishings: A Training Program - Walter F. Shaw - Страница 20

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Elementary fundamentals should be brought up time and again. You may know you are beyond the stage where you need to be told to keep the ears clean, the hair combed, the shoes polished, and suits pressed, but there are some angles on this matter of keeping a perpetual personal inventory which may be reviewed profitably many times. Consider the advantages of a daily check-up.

Some women are inclined to trust to first impressions of appearance and manner. A salesman may find it difficult and sometimes impossible to win their confidence if there is anything in his appearance, manner, language, or actions to detract attention or arouse prejudice. If these important personal matters are neglected, it means reduced income through the loss of some sales and an unnecessary loss of time in many others.

One of the best ways to guard against these losses is to work out a sort of perpetual inventory of your own good and bad points, and to keep this inventory up to date, making a systematic check-up.

Certain principles as to proper dress for men in home-furnishing stores of dignity have been established. One metropolitan store insists that salesmen wear dark suits; black shoes always; white collars either attached or detached, not necessarily starched; neckties, dark preferably, and in harmony with the suit. This store never permits removal of coat or vest even in summer. Many stores, however, permit vests off in summer and supply uniform coats to all salesmen—dark palm beach or similar material. Arbitrary rules without reason are worse than none. The store mentioned above feels that the factors listed as important simply conform to the laws of good taste in reflecting the store to its clientele. No store can afford to tolerate slovenly attire, shoddy language, or indifferent effort.

If, in good faith, interested salesmen will run through the following list of questions before they go to work each morning for 2 or 3 months, they will find the results in increased sales unexpectedly profitable.