THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



209 



The ability or genius to make a sales- 

 man is a gift with birth. Ability can 

 be greatly improved by study and ex- 

 perience and an earnest endeavor to 

 reach the ideal, but a thoroughly ac- 

 complished salesman is as much a 

 genius as a great painter or sculptor. 



I am by no means one of those who 

 believe that genius is the steady ap- 

 plication and industry devoted to a 

 certain object. Such is the definition 

 by some modern philosopher (Carlyle, 

 I think) of genius. My humble opin- 

 ion is that genius is inherited from an 

 ancestor or ancestors, immediate or re- 

 mote, and improved and glorified by 

 the chance of environment. So if you 

 have not the gifts that make a good 

 salesman seek other departments of 

 the business. If a man has no faculty 

 behind the counter he may be a good 

 decorator, or in the packing and dis- 

 patch of orders he may show great ex- 

 ecutive ability. 



A little book was handed me many 

 years ago by my brother. Its title 

 was, "How to Make Money and How 

 to Keep It." As the book came from 

 a fine public library I devoured it with 

 eagerness, confident I had struck a 

 jewel. The first part of the book was 

 devoted to advice in the various mer- 



Two Views in a Florist's Store. 



cantile walks of life and every chap- 

 ter finished off strongly and impressed 

 on the reader "to be polite." Over 

 and over again was the simple instruc- 

 tion, "Be polite." The latter part of 

 the book could be summed up in a 

 few words, which are simply this: 

 After you have acquired a competence 

 in some pursuit you understand, don't 

 go into a business or enterprise you do 

 not understand. 

 Undoubtedly politeness is a great 



factor to success, and cannot possibly 

 be out of place with every class of your 

 customers. The quantity and quality 

 of the affability shown your customers 

 is pure tact, and too much suavity in- 

 discreetly applied is as bad as none at 

 all. This is the part of the salesman's 

 ability that is a natural gift and so 

 hard to acquire. The hurried man of 

 business, often our most liberal buyers, 

 wants no superfluous chat of any kind. 

 Neither does the aristocratic lady who 



forgets her grandfather carried a hod. 

 The motherly matron may want to 

 tell you about her sick husband or her 

 injured limb caused by the runaway 

 of her team. For her you have an at- 

 tentive ear and sympathy, and so you 

 should for the worthy but poor people 

 who want some flowers for a bereave- 

 ment. To accommodate them with 

 their wants to match their purse is 

 tact. We can no more have all pleas- 

 ant people to purchase our goods than 

 we can expect all church members to 

 be virtuous people. We must adapt 

 ourselves to our customers'- tempera- 

 ment as far as possible without losing 

 self-respect. This is not hypocrisy, 

 it is fitting ourselves to the require- 

 ments of our business. 



All articles should be just what they 

 are represented or promised. A bunch 

 of roses that will fall to pieces when 

 taken from the box, violets that have 

 been twenty-four hours in the ice-box, 

 or carnations about to close their pet- 

 als in slumber, will be very disappoint- 

 ing and leave with your patron an 

 impression that takes a lot of good be- 

 havior to efface. 



There are too many retailers that 

 have only one price, and supposedly 

 only one quality of flowers. If you are 

 only going to keep one quality then it 

 should be the best, and some very high 

 class stores may find it unprofitable 

 to do otherwise, but the great major- 

 ity of florists have, and want to have, 

 several grades of flowers in the lead- 

 ing articles. Take carnations, for in- 

 stance, we have been too much on the 

 one price system. "What do you charge 

 for your carnations?" "Fifty cents a 

 dozen," or some price, according to 

 season, is the same old answer. It 

 should be more in this style: "These 

 are $1.50 per dozen, these $1.00, these 

 75 cents, and we have some not so fine 



