SELLING LUMBER 



133 



for a can of beans. If she had known what we know when we 

 study type, she would have handed him out the highest and best 

 brand she had. But she pulled out a 10-cent can of beans. He 

 said: "Is that the best you* have?" She said: "No, we have a 

 can for 15 cents." He asked: "Is that the best you have?" And 

 she said: "No, we have a y can for 20 cents." He said: "They 

 are the same size, made by the same firm. What is the differ- 

 ence in these three cans ?" She said : "I really don't know. We 

 haven't used the 15 and 20-cent cans, but only the 10-cent." And 

 of course he bought the 10-cent variety 1 and left. And the man- 

 ager overheard it, and came over to Nellie and said: "If you don't A Lesson 



... . m Beans 



know the difference, I will show you now. And they opened 



the three cans and found that the 10-cent can was full of beans, 

 but they were small and hard; the 15-cent can was full of beans, 

 and they were larger and better looking; and the 20-cent can was 

 full of fat, tender beans. She made a board covered with blue 

 plush, and she made little pockets in there and put these fat beans 

 in there ; and she would talk about how fat and buttery they were ; 

 how you could feel them sliding down your throat, and you could 

 see her sales mount up. Why? Because she got to the center 

 of things. 



But, my friends, I want to take up the customer. Adver- 

 tising is practically on the level today. One man advertises pretty 

 nearly as good as another; there is very little difference about 

 it. But I want to tell you now where the difference is. It is in 

 the customer. In your experience you have found that you can't 

 sell Jones the way you sell Smith. You are the same, the goods 

 are the same, the system is the same; what is the difference? 

 The customer. The customer is this variable element that makes 

 one sale differ from another sale in glory. What makes the dif- The p ro blem 



ference? Why, the difference in the customer and his environ- of the 



J .11 i Customer 



ment. Now, you and I are dealing with one human being say 



three in the party. If we can get a line on this man, the line of 

 least resistance to his mind and heart, we will get in there quicker 

 than the fellow that goes along any old road to get into those cita- 

 dels and capture them. This thing of reading human nature is 

 an old aft, but it has been a false art up to today. It seemed 

 to be so easy to get a line on the other fellow that the ancients 

 resorted to many ingenious methods to read human nature, but 

 of all things it is the hardest to read. Men talked of phrenology 

 the contour of the bumps of the brain that they could by 



