STICK TO THE SALE
Someone has told an exaggerated yarn of a young sales clerk who had been given as a word of advice by a well-meaning salesman of more experience the suggestion that he should show a special interest in each customer, because upon that would depend his success. The first customer to approach the clerk was an old lady heavily weighted with the worries she had accumulated and nursed for almost sixty years. Being comfortably seated in one of the chairs her mind began its usual pastime of freshening up the worries of the past, and the old lady became talkative. Determined that he would be a success as a salesman, according to what little he had been told of it, the clerk showed every indication of interest and sympathy—even grief as the sad story proceeded.
The old lady, encouraged and comforted because she had found such a good listener, continued on and on and on, and as she continued her recital became more expressive and her grief more bitter. At any rate the two of them enjoyed the sorrow together, and after the lady had been partly revived with a glass of water and a large fan she was then able with assistance to reach the door and make her way homeward. She had lost all thought of the sale and had wasted an hour of her own time and the clerk’s.
The trouble here was that in his effort to follow instructions the clerk had allowed himself to lose sight of the fact that he was selling shoes and not sympathy. Certain types of good customers there are who like to talk. The experienced salesman learns the knack of listening without encouraging a long yarn that will take his time and prevent him from serving the next waiting customer.
As with the customer so with the salesman there is sometimes a tendency to drift to things that have no relation to the sale he is trying to make. Remember that the sale is a courteous business transaction and not a social visit. Stick to the sale and make it pleasant business from start to finish.