Sherman Nursery Company, Charles City, Iowa 
5 
Attention is only the first step—the opening 
of the door; interest must be immediately 
aroused—for without interest attention is of no 
value so far as making a sale is concerned. 
Remember, the prospect’s interest is in him¬ 
self, his family, his home, his business—not 
in you or your efforts. Be sure your first state¬ 
ments are concerning something - in which he 
is interested, and be sure they are such as will 
result in his agreeing with you—don’t give 
him a chance to say “No” or assume a nega¬ 
tive attitude at the beginning of the interview. 
Make the opening of your canvass simple— 
something that is self-evident or generally ad¬ 
mitted—something on which he does not re¬ 
quire convincing. He will start to build up a 
defense as soon as he realizes you are trying 
to sell him something. Weaken his resistance 
by getting him to agree with or endorse your 
statements. He cannot but agree that the 
flowers as shown by your Plate Book are beau¬ 
tiful—that well landscaped lawns improve the 
appearance of the home—of the value and 
advantages of fruit trees—the protection 
afforded by a windbreak, etc. The admission 
of these facts does not assure a sale; but you 
have a favorable start. 
Desire is the next step—the creation of a 
feeling of a strong want for what you are 
offering him—a desire for your planting 
stronger than his desire for other things he 
would like to have—strong enough that he is 
willing to exchange his reward for hard work 
(money) for what you are offering. This is 
accomplished in nursery stock sales by appeal¬ 
ing - to one or more of the motives mentioned 
below. 
Money—This is probably the motive that in¬ 
fluences our actions in life more than anything 
else—through our purchase we hope to gain 
money. In the sales of nursery stock this is 
the motive that prompts the commercial plant¬ 
ings of orchards and small fruits—the land¬ 
scaping or planting of grounds by contractors 
or home owners who plan on selling their 
properties at a profit—the purchase of berries 
and fruit trees for the back yard to save or g - ain 
the profits made by other growers or stores 
who offer these fruits and berries for sale—the 
purchase of bulbs or plants for propagating 
purposes with the thought of selling the in¬ 
creased or multiplied stock at a profit—the 
growing - of flowers for inside the home to save 
the cost of buying cut flowers—the purchase 
of windbreaks to protect live stock and main¬ 
tain their gain of weight and continued pro¬ 
duction during the winter weather and to save 
fuel bills in the home. 
Beauty—The motivating desire of the buyer 
who loves flowers, trees, blooming shrubs, 
beautiful landscaped lawns. Your Plate Book 
will have an extraordinary appeal to this 
motive. 
Pride—The satisfaction derived from that 
feeling that what we have, where we live, what 
we grow, what we do, is superior to others. 
The pride in appearance of our home and 
grounds; the pride in producing a greater 
yield, a larger specimen, of more attractive 
arrangement, of a rare variety, of a superior 
quality of stock; pride in our town, our com¬ 
munity, our neighborhood. 
Caution—The desire to protect against error, 
inconvenience, embarrassment, criticism, loss, 
etc. The purchase of fruit trees and berries of 
different varieties to guard against the possible 
failure of other crops or certain varieties. The 
planting of hedges to protect lawns, gardens 
and buildings; the screens to insure privacy, 
windbreaks to protect crops. The desire to buy 
hardy stock—to deal with a reliable company 
—to have a guarantee against loss. The last 
are very favorable factors for you. 
Pleasure—Our desires for diversion, amuse¬ 
ment, a gratification of certain senses. The 
pleasure of seeing things grow, of working with 
flowers, the satisfaction of having grown them 
yourself, the pleasure of a shady nook in the 
yard. 
We are influenced by other motives than 
these, such as Utility, Patriotism, etc., but the 
foregoing are the most important in sales of 
nursery stock. 
The strength of these motives vary in differ¬ 
ent people. You must determine in the prog¬ 
ress of your interview which is strongest in your 
prospect and devote your appeal largely to 
that one. 
Though jmdu have succeeded in gaining Atten¬ 
tion, arousing Interest, and creating Desire— 
your sale is not yet assured—you must force 
Decision to buy and impel the Action of sign¬ 
ing your order blank. 
You are at a very critical point of your can¬ 
vass and NOW is the time for you to convince 
the prospect that NOW is the time for him to 
buy. Present the logical reasons why it is of 
advantage for him to decide now—remember¬ 
ing of course that he does not have to pay for 
the stock until delivery time. Many orders are 
lost by salesmen failing to realize that the pros¬ 
pect has made his decision—in his own mind— 
and it is time to present the order blank for 
Action—they continue talking—and talk them¬ 
selves out of a sale. Only you, in the presence 
of the prospect, can determine when that point 
is reached. When he has signed the order, 
compliment on his purchase, assure him that 
his act was one of good judgment, leave him 
highly satified with the transaction. 
One of the foregoing paragraphs stressed the 
necessity of Knowledge of Goods. In this 
Salesman’s Manual and Guide, which has been 
prepared especially for your use, we have incor¬ 
porated such information that if studied, will 
enable you to accumulate all the knowledge 
essential to the intelligent selling of nursery 
stock. It has been prepared at considerable 
expense and effort, but its value to you is 
dependent entirely upon your study and use 
of it. 
As our representative, your customers are 
going to look to you for expert advice on such 
matters as follows: 
—How to plan landscaping for homes or 
public buildings. 
—How to locate, plant and care for shel- 
terbelts. 
-—What fruits are suited to their locality 
and how to raise them. 
