GETTING BUSINESS FROM OUTSIDE FRIENDS
When a salesman encourages business with outside friends he is justified in his feeling that he is offering a higher quality of personal service than the friend would receive at any other store where he is unknown to the salesman. To begin with, there is a better basis of understanding between the buyer and the seller. The salesman knows quite definitely what his friend desires in style, fit, quality, and he may know his price limitations. Furthermore, there is a natural personal interest in the customer that must surely result in his receiving the maximum of service. These are advantages to be gained by the friend. The salesman has the advantage of an enlarged list of regular customers as a result of a simple announcement that he is in the shoe business and that he would like to have a call from his friends.
Along the same line may be considered the suggestion sometimes made by the salesman to the effect that “I wear this style myself.” A point such as this would carry weight with a close personal acquaintance of the salesman and would be well worth bringing out whenever necessary. However, to customers who are not personally acquainted with the salesman it would probably seem out of place, and would carry no weight in bringing about a decision. Rather than run the risk of being misunderstood it would be better for the salesman to omit, as much as possible, personal reference from his sales talk.