Fate does not fling her great prizes to the idle, the indifferent, but to the determined, the enthusiastic, the man who is bound to win.
How true it is, as some one says, that true salesmanship consists in selling goods that don’t come back to people who do. This is the whole story. Selling goods that give perfect satisfaction in such a pleasing, attractive way that the customer comes back; leaving a pleasant taste in the customer’s mouth, pleasant pictures in his memory of the way you treated him, so that he will put himself out to look you up the next time, this is the salesmanship which every one can cultivate. One doesn’t need to be a born salesman to do this. Every one can treat a customer kindly, pleasantly, with a cheerful, helpful manner, in an accommodating spirit. The best part of salesmanship can be acquired.
Winning back a customer who had quit buying of your house because you have offended him, or because he thinks the house did not treat him right, is a tough proposition. It is not every salesman who can successfully tackle such a job as this. It takes great tact and a lot of diplomacy, and yet a diplomacy that does not show itself. The art of arts is to conceal art. A great diplomat leaves no visible trace of his diplomacy. It will pay to acquire the art of the diplomats. It will pay better to avoid offending customers.
“We broke all output records to-day.” This was the message Andrew Carnegie’s superintendent sent him one day. “Why not do it every day?” wired back the ironmaster. Why not beat your sales record every day? You don’t know what you can do until you try.
“The salesman that tries to sell, without using his upper story, has a lot of good loft space unoccupied.”