Dollars and Sense Part 10

The man who uses horse sense in his transactions gets along further and faster than the man who uses selfishness and smartness.

To be possessed of horse sense is a most valuable a.s.set. It is something you can use every day of your life.

Horse sense is really one of the things that makes up the law of compensation. The law of compensation itself is the quintessence of horse sense.

Luck is the gambling chance, and horse sense is the investment and security chance.

The man with horse sense may not go as far in a day as the man with luck, but he will progress more days and go further eventually than the lucky man.

Horse sense is one of the most valuable things in the business world, and it is one of the rarest things. It is so valuable because it is so rare.

In the business world today the men who are doing great things are the men who have horse sense. We call these men wonderful and look upon their accomplishments as the result of some mysterious, wonder-working power that they possess. Wonder workers are only flashes in the pan.

Do not hire your employes on account of your preference for a certain color hair or certain colored eyes. Do not hire your employes on account of their physical appearance, or on account of their ability to dress in the height of fas.h.i.+on. Get down to their net worth. Find out how much horse sense they have. Hire employes, as far as possible, who are blessed with old fas.h.i.+oned horse sense.

The Manager

The good manager is one who commands respect, not through his authority but because those under him appreciate that he has more ability and experience than they have.

The selection of a good manager is very important, for the success of one's business depends upon its management. The proprietor cannot do all the things himself, and he must rely upon his lieutenants.

Give a certain cla.s.s of work to ten girls. Put them in a room by themselves with no one in authority. Come back next day and you will find that there is one girl who is laying out the work for the others.

There is something in this girl that makes her a natural manager, and there is a certain instinct amongst the rest of the girls that makes them acknowledge this one girl as their superior, and the one to go to for advice. This natural leaders.h.i.+p is the quality the manager should possess.

Above all, the manager, like the boss, must know how to do things he hires others to do, and the things we have said concerning the boss is likewise true of the manager, for the manager is the next step below the boss. The successful boss would not have obtained his present position if he had not been a good manager previously.

Let the manager read thoroughly our chapter on the boss if he has ambition to be boss some day.

The mistake frequently made by the manager is to take credit himself for the work done by those under him, for such a manager may be sure that sooner or later his position in this respect will be found out, and to his surprise he will find that the employe who has been doing the things for which he has taken credit will take the manager's place.

Employes are quick to detect this spirit in the manager. They see that their own efforts are not known to the boss, and it makes them indifferent, because they see no appreciation for what they are doing.

On the other hand, if the manager says a good word to the boss concerning an employe who has shown marked ability, it redounds to the manager's credit that he is liberal enough to give credit where it properly belongs.

Truth will out as sure as the sun will s.h.i.+ne, and the manager cannot conceal his subordinates' abilities and pa.s.s them off as his own for any length of time.

The good manager will say a kind word to the boss about the employe, if he is the right sort. It makes an employe feel confidence in the manager when he knows that the manager is appreciative and ready to tell his superior of good things in the employe's favor. The manager who is bad tempered, suspicious and tries to take credit that does not belong to him is only holding his position temporarily, and some day he will be let out of the inst.i.tution for which he is working, and will find himself forced to the extremity of getting a place somewhere else back in the ranks from which he had temporarily risen.

Selling

Time was when the best salesman was the one who could tell the biggest lies, drink the most whiskey and show his customers the liveliest time.

Today the best salesman is distinguished by the following attributes: Truth, trustworthiness, together with a fine knowledge of the goods he is selling.

The man who sells goods must be prepared to hear from nearly every man that his price is too high. If the buyers would always tell the truth, then the salesman who sold the most goods would simply be the one who actually sold at the lowest price.

Price does not mean anything. Price is high or low only when quality is taken into consideration.

The man who sells merchandise, or advertising, for instance, must be thoroughly acquainted himself with the thing he sells. He must be reliable, he must give good measure, he must keep his word.

We hear a good deal about the live-wire, rapid-fire salesman, who goes out on his initial trip and comes back with a bagful of orders. It must be remembered that ever and always there is the law of compensation to take into consideration. The salesman who bags a lot of orders on the first trip does not get so many the second time. He has colored his picture too highly on the first trip. He has made too many side promises, too many mis-statements, and the customer finds out he cannot be believed, and this smooth article of a salesman is not as welcome in the buyer's office the second trip.

On the other hand and in strict accordance with the law of compensation, the salesman who tells the truth, who moves quickly, who does what he agrees to and knows what he is talking about, who talks convincingly and attends strictly to business will eventually succeed.

The great house of Marshall Field & Co. of Chicago have operated along the line of fairness, good treatment and willingness to right a wrong and correct a mistake quickly. Marshall Field had horse sense when he inaugurated his business.

Wonder workers who start out with a burst of speed and smash records in the matter of selling will still be salesmen at fifty years of age, for you can't go fast far.

Those wonder workers change frequently. They flit from house to house.

They work because they need the money to have a good time with, and as soon as they get the money they proceed to have a good time until their little pile runs out, and then they get another job. Business men know this wonder worker well. Go into any wholesale house and you will find them. They are living in the past and relating their conquests. They never speak of the present but always of the past.

They have done things they can't do again. The good salesman is doing things now better than he has done in the past.

The permanently successful salesman does not cut much of a figure in the matter of dress. He is not as handsome as the wonder worker. In fact, he may be physically uncouth, but he has a heart under his rough exterior. The customers he mingles with have confidence in him. They know he will do what he promises, and finally this man is the one who builds up a good trade and at fifty years of age he has a place of his own, sends salesmen on the road, and his house does a good business because his policy permeates the inst.i.tution, and the customers have confidence in the house because he is at the head of it, and they are familiar with his methods and practice.

Some buyers seem to think that it is necessary for them to give the impression to the seller that they are buying at lower prices than the seller quotes. The wonder worker tries to make each customer believe that he is buying at the lowest price. The common sense salesman does not resort to such tactics.

The average buyer does not concern himself so much about being able to buy cheaper as he does to feel sure that his compet.i.tor does not get better treatment than he does.

In the matter of selling there is no one thing that ultimately proves so successful as the one price plan. By that we mean the same price to all who purchase the same quant.i.ty or the same amount in a given time.

The more elastic and variable your prices, the more ingenuity required to keep these cut prices from getting into the hands of your customers.

This matter of cutting prices causes no end of worry. In proportion as you indulge in cutting prices, so in proportion you will receive an increased number of cut price offers.

Let it be known that your prices are subject to reduction at the hands of a smooth buyer, and the news will travel fast.

Let it be known that you don't cut prices, and that news will gain currency in the trade, and you will not have cut prices offered you.

There is something in the matter of selling beyond dollars and cents, and that is dollars and sense.

Remember this, when you sell goods you are also selling reputation. If your goods are bad your reputation will be bad too. You can't have a good reputation and sell bad goods and make a permanent success.

Remember, every sale you make is an advertis.e.m.e.nt.

Remember, you can take advantage of the buyer once or twice, but if you want to hold his trade you must be fair with him.

Smooth tactics that bring in present money react and lose trade for you later on.

Vacations