In favor of the premium system may be mentioned the fact that it is an effective means of keeping the shelves clean, at all times, of dead stock. To the house it means a smaller profit on the sale as a result of the extra commission paid the salesman, but this is more than overbalanced by the fact that goods are being steadily kept moving and that there would result an even greater loss if they were allowed to remain in stock indefinitely.
The particular advantage to the salesman is that he is encouraged to sell goods that require on his part a higher degree of salesmanship than that called for in selling the popular lines. Then, of course, there is the evident advantage he has to increase his earnings to the extent of the premium.
DISADVANTAGES
It is not to be expected that the P.M. system has all advantages in its favor, and none of the disadvantages to offset them. Indeed, there are many retailers today who are very strongly opposed to the premium system and who will not introduce it into their own organizations, on the ground that it works against the best interests of the customer. The opposition is based on the claim that the tendency to earn the reward is so great on the part of the salesman that there is the likelihood that the customer will be prevailed upon to buy goods that are not best suited to his needs. In other words, the inexperienced salesman will have foremost in his mind the fact that a certain shoe bears a P.M., and in order to earn this for himself he will adopt the short-sighted policy of selling the shoe to the customer, even though he may know it to be the one not best suited.
If the salesman should allow himself to be influenced in this way in order to earn a small commission, it is certainly true that the premium system would be a failure. It would be a great deal better to have the dead stock on the shelves than to allow the customers to be badly served. The result would be to lose the customer, and this, of course, would be fatal to the business if the system were allowed to continue. It is from “repeat” business that the store makes its soundest profits, and it is also from “repeat” business that the salesman establishes himself as a big sales producer. He cannot afford to allow a small temporary gain in the form of a premium to stand in the way of his future development and success as a salesman.
SALESMAN’S ATTITUDE TOWARD P.M.’S
Mr. Willson of Rice & Hutchins makes the following suggestions concerning the salesman’s proper attitude toward premium goods:
In his service to the customer, the successful salesman will consider first, the customer’s interests; second, the firm’s; and finally, his own. This is the basis of true service.
As we serve, so shall we profit.
Service and not self is the basis on which the success of present-day business is built. The salesman who has set a high standard for himself will use P.M.’s in the proper way—as an incentive to learn the stock and to improve the quality of his own work. The broadest minds in the retail merchandising field will tell you that the most capable salesman will sell, first, the goods that have been in stock the longest, discontinued or broken styles and the higher grades of merchandise—whenever these goods will properly serve to satisfy the purchaser.