PLAN No. 459. SELLING WATCHES ON INSTALLMENTS
An experienced salesman in an eastern city, having an idea that if other kinds of goods could be sold on the installment plan watches could also be sold that way, decided to try it out and see.
Beginning with a capital of less than $100, he first arranged with a watch factory that turns out a fairly good timekeeper at a low price, to supply him with a certain number of watches at from $3 to $12 each, to be delivered to him in small lots at first, as he could pay for them; and having expended the greater part of his $100 for these, he worked it at first simply as a local proposition, doing the canvassing himself. As the watches all contained an American movement, the cheapest of them having a five-year guaranteed case, they gave good satisfaction, and the monthly payments were promptly made, almost without exception.
It was not long until the business was paying him from $250 to $300 a month, and at that time he began to make it a mail-order business, advertising in a list of papers recommended by a reliable agency.
He aimed to sell every watch for at least three times what it cost him, and as he required from 25 to 33 per cent as a cash payment, this usually paid the wholesale cost of the watch, while subsequent payments were practically clear profit.
To those replying to his ads. he sent a neat circular, with illustrations of the various watches he had for sale, with prices, terms, etc., and these brought a very large percentage of sales. He is now averaging $500 a month net profit.