8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



April 4, 1912. 



expects them to take ,iust as keen an 

 interest in him and his business. 



Is He Kind and Considerate? 



Any man worth his salt appreciates 

 the kindly thought of an employer that 

 leads him to inquire after a sick mother, 

 wife or child. Treat employees as 

 though they were human and had as- 

 pirations and feelings on a plane with 

 your own, if you wish for loyal and 

 ungrudging service. 



An ambitious, aspiring employee may 

 have notions and ideas that to a more 

 seasoned, experien(!ed man may seem 

 impractical. But listen to him and 

 praise whatever good there may be in 

 his suggestions. At least give him the 

 credit of being in earnest and anxious 

 to help you in your business; do not 

 laugh at him and thereby cause other 

 employees, of the brainless type, who 

 never could imagine anything for your 

 good, let alone advancing it, to laugh 

 at him too. If you do this he will 

 probably shut up as tight as an oyster; 

 whatever he thinks, be it valuable or 

 otherwise, he will keep it to himself in 

 future and ho is not to blame. 



longer to select a couple of dollars' 

 worth of flowers than you are accus- 

 tomed to. Have patience and use tact 

 with such customers. The efficient sales- 

 man is always the tactful one and 

 would never let his customer know that 

 he was impatient. It is not given to 

 everyone to be able to read character 

 swiftly or to discern, almost intuitively, 

 the class of customer he is dealing with. 

 The salesman who has this power has 

 a valuable asset in his business, while 

 he who has it not will do well to culti- 

 vate it, and the testy, fussy customer is 

 often a good medium to practice on. 



If suggestions are asked for, make a 

 suggestion, and get into the habit of 

 noting immediately whether your sug- 

 gestion meets with favor or not. As a 

 rule, there is only an instant in which 

 to determine this in one way or an- 

 other, and that is immediately after 

 you have made the suggestion. Drop 

 it at once if your customer's face tells 

 you it is wrong, for with some ])eople 

 this is the only intimation you will get. 



Is He WUling to "Even Up"? 



Another point that makes for effi- 



New Store of H. A. Fisher Co., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



ciency in an employee is interest. A 

 man who has the interest of his em- 

 ployer at heart will never mind work- 

 ing an extra hour or two in the even- 

 ing when necessary. Even in the best 

 managed and busiest retail stores, 

 there are times when no employee, 

 however anxious he may be to do so, 

 can earn the money he is paid. Slack 

 times come in the retail business and, 

 when these are considered', it ought not 

 to be a hardship to wait on a late cus- 

 tomer or help with funeral work after 

 hours, when that is the only way of 

 evening up the slack times and recom- 

 pensing your employer for the money 

 paid you for time unprofitably occu- 

 pied from a financial point of view. A 

 man cannot be eflScient who thinks oth- 

 erwise than this, for good work is never 

 done complainingly. 



Does He Keep Himself "Fit"? 



In the matter of personal habits out- 

 side the store, every man has a duty to 

 his employer. A man who, by wrong 

 methods of living, late hours and ex- 

 cesses, dissipates his health and ren- 

 ders his work irksome, is neglecting his 

 duty just as much as one who "sol- 

 diers" during working hours. No em- 

 ployer has a right to dictate to an em- 

 ployee what he shall do or how he shall 

 spend his time after hours, but, on the 

 other hand, there is no loyal worker, 

 no efficient employee, in short, but will 

 so order his methods of enjoyment or 

 spend his leisure hours in such a way 

 that he is physically and mentally "fit" 

 at all times. To be efficient means far 

 more than to be ready to work at a cer- 

 tain^ hour each day, and there are many 

 more points than can possibly be 

 touched on in the limits of a short note. 



FISHER'S NEW STOBE. 



At Kalamazoo, Mich., the H. A. 

 Fisher Co., retail, has done a steadily 

 increasing business for years, drawing 

 most of its supplies from the Chicago 

 market. Recently increased facilities 

 became necessary and a new store was 

 fitted up. The equipment is shown in 

 the accompanying illustrations. Both 

 the photographs were made looking to- 

 ward the front of the store. One shows 



The Salesman — Is He Courteous? 



And now a word to the employees. 

 In a business like that of the florists, 

 which to a great extent depends upon 

 the patronage of people who are able 

 and wnlling to pay for luxuries, con- 

 siderable deference must be shown to 

 the likes and dislikes of these patrons. 

 A servile, fawning attitude is not neces- 

 sary; it is un-American, unmanly and 

 out of date. Nobody who is worth con- 

 sidering looks for it in these enlight- 

 ened days, but they do look for cour- 

 tesy and prompt attention. The quietly 

 dressed gentleman who enters your eni- 

 ]>loyer's store may be a man whose time 

 is worth far more to him than the $10 

 or $20 he spends upon the flowers he 

 is sending to a friend. No matter, 

 then, how interesting that conversation 

 may be with your fellow clerks, cut it 

 out quickly and attend to your cus- 

 tomer. That is what you are paid to 

 do. 



Is He Tactful? 



Possibly the next customer may be 

 one who has more time than anything 

 else at his or her disposal, and takes 



New Store of H. A. Fisher Co., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



