Salesmanship (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 Excerpt: ...qualities. Most salesmen can tell a looker at a glance, and he probably knew that I was one as soon as he gave me the "once over." He knew the dice were loaded, but he was willing to play. He knew I was merely a looker, but he was willing to pull out as many overcoats from his stock as I would try on. He had no complaint to make against the loaded dice until after the last throw. Then, to use the language of the gambling fraternity, he "squealed" or "made a holler." He was a man who believed in his ability as a salesman and he was willing to bet his time and labor that his selling skill could convert me from a looker into a buyer, but when he lost his bet he "squealed." Now his skill was not as great as he imagined and he was not in proper synchronism with the advertising department of his store. To him these London overcoats were just overcoats--nothing else. To the advertising man and to those who had been influenced by his advertisement they were something more than that. The advertising man in an eighth of a page of newspaper space had enveloped them with an alluring British atmosphere, but the salesman was too thoroughly patriotic to say anything about an English-made coat that he would n't say about a Rochester-made garment. When I called attention to a gaping shoulder seam, he remarked, "I can't understand it," in a tone which faintly implied the suspicion that I had possibly ripped the seam open with a knife when he was n't looking. He threw the ripped coat on a chair and said, "Try this one." When his attention was called to the eccentric needlework in the lining and buttonholes of the next garment, "It's an elegant coat, though," was his only response. What might he have said? S...