"The last one I got cost me only a dollar."
"How long did it last?"
"Not long. The blamed head kept coming off."
"Well, I'll sell you one for $1.50, and guarantee the head won't come off, and if it does I'll replace it for you free of charge."
Without further words, he went to the cash register, took out $2.50 and handed it to me, saying with a grin:
"You're right after business, aren't you, Black? Good luck to you."
Well, I found that this method worked well, and I sold five sharpeners during the day—six in fact, for when I got back to the store I found that they had sold two more, and one of them had been to Blakely, the lawyer, on whom I had called earlier in the day, and who had said he might get one later on. Evidently he had changed his mind, and dropped into the store when he was passing by. In addition to the sale of the sharpeners, I had sold $11.00 worth of other things. That was going some, wasn't it?
And to think, if it hadn't been for that little book, I would never have started the plan!
Well, we all seemed to have the pencil sharpener craze, and I was glad of it, and determined to push pencil sharpeners all I could, if only as a kind of thank-you for their putting me onto a new channel of getting business.
I met Barlow as I was coming home. I told him what I had done, and how I had got the order for the ax which Stigler would have had. He laughed heartily at that, and said he was very glad to hear it.