270 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



QUALITIES NECESSARY IN A 

 SALESMAN. 



You ask me what I say to a pros- 

 pective customer? The salesman who 

 who has a set speech to fire at every 

 one alike, regardless of circumstances, 

 is a parrot, and of no earthly good. 

 Excuse a story that illustrates this 

 idea, and another which hinges on 

 that same adventure. 



"When I arrived in Hazelton, Pa., it 

 was the third year of my work as 

 salesman for the honey company, but 

 my first visit to that particular city. 

 While waiting for dinner I pumped the 

 landlord as to the lay of the land, get- 

 ting pointers as to the best merchants to 

 tackle, etc. He told me to be very 

 careful how I approached Mr. Blank, 

 for he had a disagreeable habit of 

 throwing drummers into the street, on 

 the slightest provocation. He was 

 wealthy, did an enormous business, 

 and, if I could only capture him once, 

 and the goods were up to sample, I 

 would have just the best kind of a cus- 

 tomer so long as I treated him well. 



After dinner I made a bee line for 

 that store, sample case in hand. It 

 was a large general store, full of goods, 

 full of customers, and full of clerks, 

 bvit the first peculiarity I noticed was 

 the very leisurely way in which most 

 of the clerks were taking life, and the 

 extraordinary activity of an old chap 

 who was jumping here and there, 

 talking half a dozen different languages 

 and tj'ing up bundles as if his life de- 

 pended on it. "That's him," I says 

 to myself. Putting my samples on a 

 barrel, back by his office, I waited for 

 him to get through with those custom- 

 ers. But it was like waiting until the 

 crowd goes by down on State street, 

 in Chicago. As fast as one lot went 

 out another came in. I had learned 

 the one great lesson of a drummer's 

 life, patience, and kept still until he 

 was at liberty. After a long wait my 

 chance came, and he was ready for 

 me. I had scented all along that he 



knew a drummer was after him. 

 "Well sir, what is it," he snapped 

 out, and I looked him squarely in the 

 eye, and came back at him with "Well 

 sir, it is my candid opinion that you 



are a d d fool. For a man of 



your experience, ability, standing and 

 age to work yourself to death, and let 

 a lot of clerks hold down cracker bar- 

 rels, is, in the language of the late 

 Artemus Ward, "An egregus ass." 

 He glanced around the store, took in 

 the point, smiled in a kind of amused 

 way, and said, as he walked back to 

 his office with me, "Young feller, I 

 guess you are about right," and I sold 

 him the largest bill of honey I ever 

 sold to any one party at one time. 

 But I am not done. This shipment was 

 smashed as badly in transit as any 

 shipment the honey company ever 

 made. On my return trip to collect 

 the bill, I walked into his store, ex- 

 pecting compliments, bouquets, etc., 

 but was shown a broken up, smeared 

 lot. Some cases were upside down, 

 and the broken honey had leaked out, 

 run down over the other cases, and 

 formed puddles on the floor. My 

 friend, the grocer, waited for me to 

 open the conversation, which I did by 

 abruptly asking "Why did j'^ou receive 

 honey from therailroad in this shape?" 

 He said he was busy when it came in 

 and one of the clerks receipted for it. 

 I said "humph" with as much expres- 

 sion as I could command, then pulled 

 off my coat, took off my cuffs, rolled 

 up my sleeves, and told him to get a 

 pail of warm water, a good sponge, a 

 hatchet and a big dishpan. I did not 

 say "please" do this, nor if you will 

 get these, I will clean up a little. 

 That man cared more for action than 

 for soft ways. He did the acting, too, 

 and in a jiffy we were cleaning and 

 repacking. As I expected, it looked 

 worse than it really was. The broken 

 combs were cut from the sections, and 

 put into the big dishpan to be sold as 

 chunk honey, cases washed, (any bee- 



