No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 413 



for it. If you wanted to buy that machine and it had an old case on 

 it you would think it was an old machine. They use a nice, new, 

 bright case. It pays them to do it. 



I do not know how you people here market your fruit alto- 

 gether, but in our county 1 have seen apples as good as the average 

 of these exhibited going to market in boxes that hens had roosted in, 

 in old weather-beaten boxes, and I have seen them in a dog-coop. I 

 do not believe you do any of these things or I would not dare say 

 so much. But to get back to the marketing end of it, we must put 

 up our fruit in a package that is going to add to, rather than detract 

 from its appearance. 



Another thing that they do, they rake this country over with a 

 fine-tooth comb, as it were, to get the very best man they can for 

 a salesman. What constitutes a good salesman? In the first place, 

 he should be good-looking; any of us can fill that. He ought to 

 be reasonablv well dressed ; anv of us can fill that. He must be 

 a man of fairly even temperament. It does not make any difference 

 what appears, he must not get angry. In other words, he must 

 always be able to turn the bright side of the deal out for the in- 

 spection of the public. 



For illustration I want to tell you of an incident. A farmer 

 went into a grocery store to sell potatoes. He wanted 80 cents a 

 bushel for them. The groceryman came out and shook hands with 

 him and asked him how things were going out on the farm, and 

 whether he had pretty good crops, and by that time they had reached 

 the office. 



The farmer sat down and poured a tale of woe into that man's 

 ear that would have made even Job turn green with envy. The 

 groceryman had troubles enough of his own. The groceryman des- 

 pised him because he saw that that man despised his business. He 

 did not care to do business with him. He said "I will give you 70 

 cents for your potatoes." The man would not take it. 



The next day another man came in and shook hands with the 

 groceryman, and by that time the groceryman had somewhat re- 

 covered from the host of the day before, and he asked him the same 

 questions and treated him the same way. They had not been in the 

 office fifteen minutes before the groceryman Avas ready to turn his 

 business over to that farmer. This farmer had been prosperous the 

 whole year. The fact was that the first man had been the most 

 prosperous of the two but he did not know how to advertise. He 

 sold all the potatoes for 85 cents. Never let the other fellow see 

 how dark your side is ; keep good natured and you can sell. 



A salesman must have confidence in himself and faith in his 

 product. That implies a whole lot. In the first place, to have con- 

 fidence in himself he can make his way anywhere and go anywhere. 

 If he thinks he is going to make a sale and get a good price, he is 

 going to do it. 



Now in conclusion, there are quite a good many little tricks in 

 marketing that I might call youi- attention to. I mean there are 

 little ways of keeping your customers good natured. I do not mean 

 dishonestly. To sum up what I have said, we ought to get more 

 actual business into our marketing. We have got the best business 

 on earth. It is worth a good deal more consideration and atten- 

 tion than we give it. In proof of the fact hat we have the best 



