It is often said that “time is money.” To convince yourself of this divide your earnings each week by the number of hours that you work and you will readily understand how much your own time expresses in money on the expense account of the store or department. Remember that this applies also to your customers. You should know your stock so well as to require only the minimum of time to properly transact the sale to the best interest of the customer as well as yourself. A thorough knowledge of the stock helps you to do this. Take care of it and keep it in condition to show and to sell to the best advantage.
It is a recognized business fact that a following of satisfied customers is the best possible advertisement that any business or salesman can have. Satisfied customers return and make other purchases; they influence other customers to come to the store or department. This increases your sales and the profits of your firm. An increased volume of sales increases the value of the salesman. The person who sells the most goods with the greatest satisfaction to all parties concerned receives the greatest reward in compensation and promotion.
KEEPING POSTED ON NEW STOCK
Bearing in mind the important fact that style goods must be sold during the current season, it is clear at once that the salesman must keep himself posted at all times on new goods received. A week lost in getting informed of the fact that there is a new style in stock means more than the loss of six business days. It may mean that a certain number of customers have been required to accept goods less desirable to them, or it may mean that the business has been lost altogether. The customer does not buy shoes every week or every month, and on that account a sale lost this week often results in the loss of a sale for the season. The time to sell seasonal goods is at the opening of the season, and every day past the opening reduces the possibility of a profitable turnover and increases the prospects of “left-overs” and dead stock.
New styles coming in should be carefully studied to determine the type of feet for which they are most suitable. To show a woman a new style of shoe just received, and explain to her that it represents the most advanced model of the season, would be good business provided she could be properly fitted in such a shoe. On the other hand, if her foot is of such a shape that it could not wear the new style, it would be better business for the salesman to say nothing about the new styles and to give his whole attention to the shoes he has to fit the particular foot. To be prepared to meet this situation when it occurs requires that all shoes in the stock be studied with the idea of learning their points of advantage or limitation as applied to different classes of feet.
In line with this same suggestion is that of watching the stock of sizes in new goods received. The particular size may have been out of stock three days or a week ago, but there is always the possibility of a new shipment having been received. If the salesman does not actually know the condition of the stock in a certain size, he should make it a point to find out rather than to accept the fact that it was out of stock when he inquired yesterday or two days ago. Above all he should not advertise the fact that he does not know the stock with any such remarks as “I’m not sure that I have your size,” or “I don’t think we have that style.”
CUSTOMERS’ CRITICISMS
One of the very difficult problems that men in public life have to meet is that of learning the opinions of the people they represent concerning current matters of importance. For instance, the governor of a state or the mayor of a city is seriously interested in the opinions and desires of his constituents on matters that he will be called upon to settle. He is not able to meet personally and learn the views of more than a dozen or a few dozen people, and so he very wisely takes advantage of public opinion—which includes criticism as well as favorable comment. In fact, the experienced man will be more considerate of the criticism than the commendation, because it gives him the advantage of good judgment on the opposite side of the question. He is wise enough to know that his opinion may not be sound, and for that reason he takes advice from his critics.
In retail selling, also, there is the possibility of getting good advice from critics. A customer may not be pleased with the style of a shoe, the quality, color or fit, and will probably express that fact as a criticism. Nobody delights in receiving criticisms, of course, but just the same it is a wise merchant who considers these opinions of outsiders and plans to take advantage of whatever good there may be in them. A word dropped by a customer may contain the answer to the question of why this or that line does not move. A word from the customer concerning the kind of service he has received may contain a suggestion to the salesman to give more attention to a feature of his work he may have been overlooking and which may have been responsible for loss of sales.
A great many stores today take advantage of customers’ criticisms by requiring the salesman to prepare a record of each sale that is lost and the reason why it was lost. Every man, regardless of his position, can afford to consider carefully any comments having to do with the quality of his work. He should, moreover, consider them with an open mind, so that he will be in a position to judge the value of each suggestion, rather than simply to pass it by and try to forget it quickly because it is unfavorable rather than a pat on the shoulder.