SELLING LUMBER 



251 



stance of what he has told customers, every reasonable effort should 

 be put forth to see that this is scrupulously complied with. If 

 your man is possessed of a reasonable degree of intelligence, he 

 will not intentionally promise something out of reason. We all 

 make mistakes, and your salesman is no exception. When that 

 occurs don't write a letter to his customer and say "our Mr. Brown 

 made a mistake of 25c per thousand on the item of 1x4-16 B and 

 Btr E G Fig. etc." If it is of no material consequence, enter the 

 order and write your man and call his attention to the discrepancy 

 and ask him to guard against a repetition. If it is of sufficient mag- 

 nitude that you feel you can't handle the order without a revision, 

 advise your salesman and let him communicate with the customer. 

 They are personally acquainted and your representative knows 

 how to handle the transaction so as to save the order and leave 

 the customer in a pleasant mood. Since I started working on 

 this paragraph an incident ocurred which illustrates the idea. I 

 sold a man a carload of two items from a surplus stock sheet. 

 The office wired me that one item, or over half the car, had been 

 previously disposed of. I called up my man and explained the 

 circumstances and persuaded him to increase the minor item to 

 make a full carload. It is good policy to allow your representa- 

 tive to meet his customers half way on any reasonable proposition. 

 I have heard of instances where a firm would assume an arbitrary 

 attitude, where the amount involved would not equal half a day's 

 expenses of their road man, and offend the customer, and in the 

 long run spend ten or twenty times the total figures which caused 

 the rupture in business relations in an effort to regain the patron- 

 age thus lost. 



When you receive an inquiry for prices, if the quotation can 

 be made by your salesman and not lose more than one day's time, 

 it is a good idea to refer customer's letter to him unless the insist- 

 ency of the occasion suggests quoting directly and sending sales- 

 man a copy. If you take the matter up through your road man 

 he can handle that particular transaction more effectively than you 

 could, and the retailer is once more impressed^ with the fact that 

 you really have a representative in fact as well as in name. It is 

 well for the salesman to have a permanent address and to see to 

 it that his customers are informed of this so they will be writing 

 to him for prices, etc., and to arrange to have these communica- 

 tions forwarded to him out on his territory with all possible dis- 

 patch. 



Backing Up 

 the Promises 

 Salesmen 

 Make 



An Instance 

 in Point 



Letting 

 Salesmen 

 Answer Price 

 Inquiries 



