10. Order five machines. Give full shipping directions. Say that you will pay according to the offer made on page 25, catalogue No. 6; viz., $20 upon receipt of the goods and $5 per month until they are paid for. Give two references.
11. Borroughs & Brown telegraph the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. ordering 100 machines, five of which are to be sent directly to you. Write, confirming the telegram.
12. Two weeks later than letter (10) write again, explaining that you have not received the machines you ordered. Ask the reason for the delay.
13. Two weeks later than (11) write a telegram from Borroughs & Brown to the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co., asking why the machines have not been sent.
14. Send a telegram from the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. to Borroughs & Brown, saying that, owing to a teamsters' and shipping clerks' strike, they have not been able to fill any of their orders for the last two weeks. The machines have been sent. (State how and when.) Write a letter, confirming the telegram.
15. Borroughs & Brown write to inform you that the strike was the cause of the delay in the shipment of the machines you ordered ——. The machines were shipped ——. Add a courteous close.
Exercise 269
Conduct a transaction of your own, using the above as a model, except in the method of payment.
IV.—The Salesman
Salesmanship is a branch of distribution about which many volumes have been written. We cannot consider it minutely from the personal view of the salesman, but can only touch upon it from the point of view of distribution. The salesman is merely a force in distribution like correspondence, circulars, and advertising. But the salesman has the advantage over these in that he is able to bring his personality to bear in the problem of getting business. It is by means of his personality that the salesman gets the attention and confidence of the customer,—a thing which is extremely hard to do in a letter, a circular, or an advertisement. Securing a buyer's confidence is very important, because no suspicious customer has ever yet bought anything.