Masonry Magazine May 1965 Page. 23
THE SELLING PARADE
CHARLES B. ROTH, America's no. 1 salesmanship authority
The Selling Parade by Charles B. Roth is another new feature added. Watch for it in all future issues of the magazine for the entire Masonry Industry. Cut out this article and future articles and place them in your business file for further reference.
"We Must Begin At Once"
That fortune of yours, you know, one you are going to make as a result of your ability as a salesman, do you know exactly how much more time you have left in which to make it? Would you like to know? I have a way for you to find out. A friend, a sales executive given to statistical study and disclosures, was telling me. He said this: "From the best information I have been able to find, the average salesman is able to spend no more than 1,380 hours a year where he will do any good in the presence of a prospect.
Suppose a salesman starts to work at 25, the usual age of a man before he starts his selling career. Suppose he wants to retire at 65. That gives him a total of forty years, a good long interesting career for any man. But limited in time!
"If a man-say, you decides he wants to make half a million, he had better begin just as soon as he can earning his $10 an hour, because it will take almost all his time at that rate to give him what he wants."
Those are pretty brutal and convincing facts, and they put the matter up to you pretty straight in this way: You are how much older than 25? How many 1,380-hour years have you left before you touch 65? What will you do to make the most of your time left in selling?
One story I like is told by Andre Maurois, French author. With a provincial governor Maurois is inspecting damage done by a hurricane to a breakwater, formerly lined with palms now all flattened. The governor is giving orders to replant new trees. His guide tells him, "But, sir, it takes a hundred years for one to grow."
"Then we must begin at once," the governor declares.
In selling, too we must begin at once.
Not Your Problem, But The Prospect's
From Joe Bowlin, the most charming, talented salesman I ever knew, this story:
"Some weeks ago a salesman came to see me, selling a certain machine I use in my business. He was a young fellow, full of pep, and a nice personality, and I liked him, and would have liked to do business with him.
"He told me about a new model his company had just put on the market. I looked at his prospectus, and told him I didn't like it.
"Now get this he did not know my problems and he didn't try to find out about them. Instead, he just said he was sure the machine would fit into my picture. Did he try to pin me down and find out why I didn't agree with him? He did not. Did he try to dig in and find out exactly what my problem was? He did not. He merely said it was a swell machine, and he was sure it would fit my problems (which he didn't know and didn't try to find out).
"He didn't make a sale. But he came back two or three times and because he was a likeable chap, 1 always took time to chat with him. But I didn't buy.
"The last time he came to see me he was sitting alongside my desk, and he said. "I sure would like to have your order for that machine."
"I didn't tell him why he never would get one. What's the use? It wouldn't do him a bit of good or me either."
Don't Hear Them When They Say It
The prospect says no to you, without ever thinking what he is saying. And you believe he means no when he says no. Chances are he does not. Albert Jay Nock, the writer and psychologist, has some good ideas for salesmen on this point.
"No," he begins, "is a door-closing word. It is a word that says 'Stop'! Some people use it constantly through sheer perversity; others say it in obedience to an instinct about commiting oneself without reflection.
"The 'No' is merely a time-saving device. Salesmen who hear no should remember that."
Have You A Crooked Finger?
The late A. Claud Tindle, one of the best-informed men in the world on the subject of sales training, believed that a sure test of whether a salesman should be hired or not is the shape of his index finger. If it is crooked, hire the man without any more questions, facetiously, yet not too facetiously, said Claud; if he has a straight finger he is not for you.
"I am proud of my crooked finger," admitted Claud, exhibiting it and it was crooked. "I bent it learning hov to become a salesman." he explained, and if there are looks of preplexity in the hearers' faces, Claud explained further:
Like many other great salesman and business leader, Tindle started life as a direct salesman, pushing doorbells hence the crooked finger. He pushed them before he knew what selling was all about; he learned on the doorstep what it is all about. He pushed them when he was a successful, accomplished salesman-and he pushed so many of them that his index finger showed permanently the mark of his profession. There is more here to think about than you know-take a good look at your finger first, won't you?
Cut out this article and future articles and place them in your business file for further reference.
MAY 1965 © CHARLES ROTH, All rights reserved.
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