STUDY OF THE STOCK
An investigation has recently been made among retail stores to determine the causes accountable for the loss of customers. As a result of this the fact has been brought out that among the chief reasons for the customer’s dissatisfaction, and as a result of which he transfers his business to some other store, is the salesman’s ignorance of the goods being sold. Business to the extent of millions of dollars is lost every year among retail shoe stores, due to this one cause. Satisfaction in the way a customer is served depends upon his confidence in the salesman who serves him. This cannot result unless the salesman shows an understanding of his goods.
To know the stock does not mean simply to know the prices. It means among other things that the salesman must know what he has in stock to sell and where to lay his hands on the goods when he needs them. The man who is a success at selling realizes that the better knowledge he has of his stock, the greater will be the satisfaction of his trade. He knows every line in the house thoroughly—even the odd pairs he knows by size and width so that when he gets the foot that may be fitted with one of these he can convert the dead or odd pair into cash.
To study the stock means actually to take the time to examine the different qualities and styles, to know the materials of which they are made and to understand why the one shoe sells for twelve dollars as compared with the other at ten. In most stores there are times in the morning while business is quiet when the salesman has the opportunity to get into the stock, to examine it carefully and to learn the “feel” of the goods. This is something that will come to him only by getting the goods in his hands. A few minutes each day spent in a close study of the stock will pay dividends in the way of increased business and satisfied customers.
Later in the Course will be taken up the comparative importance of different kinds of leather, the advantages of one over the other, a study of cloth fabrics that go into shoes and the “why and wherefore” of each of them, a discussion of rubber, fibre and a dozen other materials that have important parts to play in their own special ways. To have a knowledge of the goods means to have an understanding of how shoes should be fitted, of how they are made, an understanding of styles and how they are originated and introduced. The shoe salesman who is in business for a future must know these things and he will get results in proportion as he learns these facts. They will all be fully treated in following sections of the Course but are mentioned here to show how closely they tie-up to the salesman’s everyday work in serving his customers.
The best salesmen are those who know most about their product and their business and no one can be permanently successful without such a knowledge.