ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



119 



hands with him. If you want to be a 

 good salesman, put up an excellent 

 quality of honey. I show my goods 

 to people and, if they want it, all right; 

 if not, the goods will sell themselves. 

 You gradually work into it and find 

 good talking points; you gradually 

 work up to it. 



Mr. Bruner — I dare say Mr. Bull or 

 some of the other members here, if the 

 bee-keepers were interested in the 

 problem of how to sell to the consum- 

 ers or retailers, I dare say Mr. Bull or 

 some of the other members would give 

 us some valuable pointers. 



I know that it does not require, espe- 

 cially, salesmanship to sell honey. I 

 have order takers selling honey. They 

 happened on to somebody here and 

 there who wanted honey — but that is 

 not salesmanship. There is salesman- 

 ship in connection with selling goods. 



The first thing is to have quality, and 

 J you can sell your goods; you don't have 

 to have salesmanship back of that, but 

 it will help you. You don't want to go 

 in to a party and say. "You don't want 

 honey today, do you?" I have a man 

 selling honey that will 'do that very 

 thing. 



Mr. Bull — They all have one answer, 

 then, "no." 



(Vice-President Miller takes the 

 Chair, Mr. France being engaged.) 



Vice-President Miller — Has any one 

 any pointers on how to sell honey? 

 We will be glad to hear them. 



Mr. Bull — You are looking to me, I 

 think, to give you some pointers: I 

 most always have one question I put 

 to the customer — but in the first place 

 you have to look neat and dress 

 neat; don't wear a dirty collar; or 

 sofnethina: like that: don't forget to 

 shave. The question I most always put, 

 first. 'Good morning, you folks like 

 nice pure honey?" 



I don't care what the answer; they 

 may say yes, or they may say no, or 

 they may stand there two or three sec- 

 onds without saying anything, and I 

 make up my mind I am going to get 

 an order there. The salesman can tell 

 usually before the customer says one 

 word whether or not they are going to 

 get an order. 



I can't tell you how to tell that, nor 

 can any one else; you have to learn 

 for yourself. 



The first question they usually ask 

 is: What is the honey worth? What 



have you? I always carry samples. I 

 open the cover and call for a spoon 

 and give them a sample; if they like 

 the honey and can scare up the price, 

 that is all there is to it. 



Mr. Coppin — I usually make an ex- 

 hibit of honey at the State Fair and 

 whilst there I get a whole lot of visi- 

 tors who admire the honey. I usually 

 tell them there is nothing sweeter they 

 can take home than a cake of honey, 

 and I generally in that way induce 

 them to take some honey home. 



Vice-President Miller — In my experi- 

 ence in selling honey I find it is fre- 

 quently well to give them information 

 in regard to things they don't know. 



They have an erroneous idea about 

 bees and honey. 



In this way you can get the confi- 

 dence of the buyer and it will lead to 

 a sale. 



Mr. Bull — These are not the only ar- 

 guments I use; I have dozens of them. 

 You run across a customer — some one 

 that has been out on a farm and has 

 seen two or three bee hives and oh, yes, 

 they know all about honey. For this 

 person, you carry a few views of your 

 bee yards; pull these out and show 

 them the pictures, and you have them. 



Mr. Ufman — I am not well acquaint- 

 ed with the honey selling end of the 

 game, but in other lines I have done 

 selling. If any of you know what it is 

 to try to sell books, go to the door 

 with a smile, and have some one shut 

 the door in your face: I have had 

 some such experience. If you can only 

 get to the people and get them to talk- 

 ing, that is the first thing. 



A member — I would like to say that 

 most of the honey salesmen, while they 

 may believe the price they ask for 

 honey is worth it, they don't say it in 

 that way. They are asked the price 

 and they hesitate before they say 20c a 

 pound; and I think that anybody who 

 hesitates over telling you the price 

 is sizing you up and is ready to put on 

 an extra 5 cents per pound. 



A little farmer boy came to my place 

 selling apples; I asked him what they 

 were worth; he said: "We are asking 

 25 cents, but we will take 15 cents." 

 ' Some of you fellows selling honey are 

 going at it in that way and you don't 

 realize it. 



I am looking at it 'from the buyer's 

 point of view. 



Believe in what you have to sell; I 



