SELECTING THE STOCK
It is now getting to be understood more generally among dealers and salesmen that it is unnecessary that the customer be shown a half dozen pairs of shoes in order that he may be able to make a selection. The whole point of importance is to spend enough time at the beginning of the sale to find out exactly what shoe the customer should have and then to go after that particular shoe. If a physician were to make a hasty examination of a patient’s throat and then dash off hurriedly, only to return a moment later for another inspection and to change his original decision, the patient would at once lose confidence. Or if the dentist were to commence extracting a tooth and later change his mind and decide it should be filled, he would probably be invited to give up his diploma and to accept a plumber’s license. He is expected to know what his patient needs before he starts treating him.
The shoe salesman is expected to be a specialist, an expert, in his line. He is expected to spend enough time with the customer to find out what shoe he should have. It is for the customer to give an indication of the style wanted. With these in mind the salesman is prepared to make his selection of the stock. Generally the customer is interested in not more than one pair of shoes out of the whole stock—and that is the pair he is to buy and wear. If the salesman, by the manner in which he conducts himself and his actual knowledge of his job, wins the customer’s confidence, if he conducts himself as an expert, the customer will accept him as such and be glad to take advantage of his advice. The first or second shoe selected for the customer can be made more satisfying to him than one that he himself may have been required to select out of a dozen offered to him. The whole matter narrows down to one of whether the salesman is simply to hand out shoes at the direction of the customer or whether he is to be a helpful adviser. One means wasted time and small results; the other results in prompt, satisfactory business and a following of customers who are “boosting” for the salesman and the store.
Groping around in the stock to find a size or style must give the customer the impression that the salesman does not have the size in the particular shoe he first intended to show, or else that he is trying to find something else that may not be as desirable. It makes the customer feel uneasy when there is no occasion for it. The man in touch with the stock day after day is expected to know where to lay his hands on the goods he needs. The salesman cannot afford to give his customer an opening for suspicion or doubt as to his ability.