DON’T ARGUE
Following the thought of suggesting only positive ideas is the important point to avoid argument with the customer. Argument is negative, and does not serve to get the customer in a buying frame of mind. He may make some statement that is absolutely without foundation concerning quality, make or price. Whatever it may be the salesman can do nothing better to strengthen himself and the reputation of his goods than to give the customer the true facts in the form of confident suggestions rather than sledge-hammer blows of argument. For example:
“There is no occasion for these present high prices of shoes. The manufacturers and the dealers are simply taking advantage of conditions to make big profits,” says the customer.
“Yes, the prices certainly are higher than those we have been accustomed to lately,” says the salesman, agreeing but preparing the customer to accept the facts, “but when we consider that the price of hides and skins has advanced anywhere from two hundred to five hundred per cent, due to scarcity, and that labor costs are close on to seventy-five per cent higher than they were a short time ago”—and the salesman need not go further in most cases. He has “let the customer down easy” and at the same time given him the facts. The result is a better understanding of the true conditions and a higher regard for the salesman’s ability. It distresses any man to have himself brought face to face with the fact that his statement is without foundation. The salesman should plan, as in this instance, to offer his facts so skillfully that the customer will not recognize that he is being convinced of his error.
Concerning the goods of competitors, the salesman in most instances will find it best, by all means, to make no effort to go into the relative merits of quality, style, fit, business policy or any other such questions. He is not in business to advertise his competitors, and therefore the more he leaves them in the background of the picture the greater will be his success in selling his own line. This point is treated more fully in the chapter on “Showing the Goods.”