SELLING LUMBER 



161 



The Art of Salesmanship 



By D. M. Barrett 



General Chairman, World's Salesmanship 



Congress 

 Detroit, Mich. 



When business men get together in a group like this they are 

 accustomed, among other things, to being a little bit flattered and 

 congratulated ; and, not to be outdone in courtesy by others who 

 shall occupy this platform, I do most heartily congratulate you 

 upon your splendid gathering; but, at the same time that I do so 

 congratulate you, I hasten to add the respectful reminder that busi- 

 ness gatherings of this kind can be either very valuable or absolutely 

 valueless. 



Thousands of American business men are fanatical about get- 

 ting together, seemingly for the mere sake of getting together, in- 

 stead of for the sake of the results of getting together, with little 

 or no profit to themselves, and usually at very substantial profit 

 to the clubs and hotels which foster their getting together. They O f Getting 

 hold conventions or periodical meetings, make speeches, applaud, Together 

 and then adjourn until the next opportunity of getting together rolls 

 around, when they habitually go through the same performance all 

 over again. 



If blarney were the end of life, and if business were merely 

 a matter of bunk, then with the most of these "getters together" 

 the "bull" would be legal tender. But business, as I find it today, 

 is as much as ever before a matter of net results, and this wonderful 

 meeting of business men must realize from the beginning of its 

 session that we are here bent upon definite net results. 



Success today, in any field, is a matter of ACT, and if success 

 is to be won, deeds, not mere diction, must count highest in the 

 game. This is just as true of the professional field as it is of the 

 commercial field. The doctor, for instance, who ranks highest 

 with the modern patient is no longer the most talkative, the most Success To- 

 complimentary, the most agreeable, the best known man about the day a Matter 



., . , of Action 



town. He talks less he even prescribes less. And one reason 



why it is so difficult to be a successful minister (already we have 

 had to cut them down from two and a half hours to twenty min- 

 utes), is because there is so much more to practice than one can 



