Retail Shoe Salesmanship

by George F. Hamilton; Frank Butterworth; H. T. Conner; A. H. Geuting

One manufacturer warns his customers against substitutes by advertising the fact that “You can teach the parrot to say ‘Just as Good’ but he won’t know what he is talking about.” The buying public has been taught to disrespect the man who preaches “just as good” and to have suspicion of the goods he is selling. Reliable dealers and manufacturers sell goods on their own merits and not by a false standard of comparing them with something else. The fact has already been pointed out that the salesman cannot afford to spend his valuable time boosting the business of his competitor by discussing with his customer the relative advantages and disadvantages of both lines. He sells his own goods on the basis of their merits and allows the man around the corner to do the same.

To mention the matter of “just as good” means that the salesman has invited comparison. Then he has the double task of proving his statement first, and later of selling his own goods. Even then the customer will probably not be quite satisfied until he has tried the other article, just to find out for his own satisfaction how they compare. One far-sighted business man said that “when a competing salesman talks about my line I consider him as valuable as a salesman on my own payroll.”

If a style is out of stock, the wise salesman will plunge right in to sell the goods he has on their own merits. To invite comparison with “just as good” arguments wastes time and stamps the man as an imitator. Be original.

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.

DON’T CONCENTRATE ON ONE VARIETY

Unless the salesman watches himself carefully he may run into the habit of showing and of using his selling effort on those styles only that appeal to his special preference. There is the danger for him to regard as a second choice the styles that do not appeal to him especially. The young man, fresh out of school or college, would like to clothe every customer in sport models, whereas the middle-aged conservative salesman would have the natural tendency to favor the plain conservative styles. However, neither of these two men would have best results if they allowed their personal preferences to have full sway in the selection of styles.

Each customer has his own likes and dislikes on the subject of footwear styles, just as he has his preferences among moving picture stars or candidates for public office. One man is of the opinion that his choice of candidate has all the desirable qualities, whereas the opponent has none of them. But he will sometimes learn after election day that the majority of voters saw things in a different light; that although each voter examined the same two or three candidates he saw qualities in them that the man standing alongside could not see. The salesman will see one shoe that represents to him a perfect style, but the customer may have an entirely different opinion. It is the customer’s preference that must be considered.