SELF-EDUCATION FOR SALESMEN
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Sugeestions for Touring Car Salesmen Who Wish to be Successful Sellers of Commercial Vehicles.
By "Vim."
OVER AND OVER agaan itlias been pointed out that the selling talk which used to secure orders for touring ears is of no use when applied to the prospective purchaser of a commercial vehicle. The theme is a very old one, but it has often struck me that they who harp on it most are never ready. to oblige with any practical hints as to how the vendor, whose experience has been gained in the touringcar line, may adapt himself to the conditions of the other trade. Destructive criticism is one of the easiest of professions ; constructive, far less so.
The idea that touring car salesmen alwayg wear pink socks, fancy waistcoats, and butterfly collars was exploded long ago, although some people appear not to have heard the explosion ; but the myth that it is almost impossible to convert these gentlemen into van and lorry sellers still finds considerable credence amongst those who should know better. Salesmanship, being a quality endowed upon, the individual at birth, or nothing at all worth speaking about, I am not going to attempt the task of supplying a deficiency of nature, by filling the whole of this issue, and a few. thousands like it, in order to render a faint impression of the attributes needed by a man in order that he shall be a salesman. But I mean to give, if I can, one or two helpful sugge2tion.s which may assist in no matter how small degree, any salesMAXI who has hitherto dealt only with buyers of touring cars, to turn his attention successfully to the commercial vehicle market..
No reason exists to discount the possibility of converting a car salesman into a first-rate truck salesman—pink socks, etc., being. ruled out as dead and done for. Not one of the bun/ler-A-getters I have ever
met dressed otherwise than as a business man. The fancy variety, or showroom adornments, rarely did any business, and their careers comprised a series o stays o short duration with the younger firms of agents, during which periods of employment they disttriguished themselves mostly by charging up their billiard table fees and drinks in the lounge as expenses, and by the phenomenal number of trial runs they invariably fixed for week-ends. Given the real, heaven-sent salesman, he can adapt himself to selling anything, from chars-à-bancs to fried fish and chips— to which statement I must make the sole reservation, that he must be interested in his article.
The Added Interest of Selling to Business Men.
To my 'way of thinking, trying to bag orders for commercial vehicles is a great deal finer sport than netting customers for private cars. It is keener and more pleasurable. One deals with business men, who grasp points of sound argument as soon as they are uttered. They don't expect the impossible after its impossibility has been i;,: demonstrated to them. They want to make the best bargain they can, but they understand that an. agent-cannot live on love alone. They may have fads, but these they are usually, willing to put on one side when a definite ease has been made out against them. Give me a business man to deal with every time, as 'against a person whose motoring is his, or her, pet hobby. It has been said that what the commercial vehicle buyer demands are figures of running costs. Of course he does, and, of course, any salesman worth his salt realises that. Data of this kind are supplied in profusion by most manufacturers, and may be absorbed .in large quantities from their literature. Stitch facts must be taken in ad lib, for they will eer-
tainly come in handy on every occasion; but to employ theni effectually they must be properly applied. To do this requires the " personal ', touch and, since this extremely important influence has received only scant attention in selling vehicles for industrial purposes, I am going to treat of it, rather than of the elementary featuree of the course of self-education, to which the ex-car salesman must subject himself.
First, then' the " prospect" should. not be treated as one who is totally ignorant of motor transport, even though his chief object in life should happen to be sides of bacon. He may net, as yet, have owned a motor van or lorry, but the chances are that he has studied the whole matter fairly closely, and amassed a not inconsiderable amount of knowledge from the experience,e of his friends in the trade. Few men are offended by an assumption that they know more than they do know ; but many are annoyed when they are presumed to know nothing—whether they do or not. Treat your .prospect as one who is as fully acquainted with the ins and outs of motor transport as you are, and you will not, go far wrong. He will soon say if he isn't, and even then it is advisable to be cautious; for he may be keeping something up his sleeve.
Gain Some Familiarity With the Buyers' Trade.
Next, be familiar with the transport problems that beset your prospect's trade. A wholesale grocer is not a bit interested in figures for operating laundry delivery,. and a laundryeproprietor is politely bored by statistics concerning the running costs of a fleet of chars-a-bancs. Here is where the deepest study is required, for it is necessary that the would-be salesman should have all his facts classified, so as to be able to apply them with the" personal " touch. Too much stress cannot be laid on this; it means worlds in gaining the close attention of the listener.
Information of a valuable character can be obtained by regularly perusing the journals which are published in the. interests of various trades. From these a general notion of the trading methods of the different industries can be acquired, which will stand the commercial vehicle salesman in good stead when he comes to discuss transport difficulties with their representatives. The manner in which goods are commonly packed, their bulk and weight, their liability to damage; these are the items that not only enable a salesman to convince his prospect that. he understands the case under review, but, also enable him to recommend the typeof vehicle that will fulfil
its needs to the best advantage. . • • s AS the circulations of trade journals are generally confined to the members of the industries for which they respectively cater, they cannot be bought through newsagents, as a rule. However, I think that the majority of the proprietors . Of these publications would be prepared to supply copies now and again, on having the eircurnsta,nces explained to them.
If, in addition, to a broad acquaintance with the donditions governing a prospect's trade, the salese man also known‘ something about the eirconistances peculiar to his ,business, the chances of a sale taking place are imMeastirablyeiriereased. . The essential details may be. gleaned durirtg the preliminary conversation by pitting leading questions, and leaving the other party to do most Of -the talking, but the process can be expedited by introducing comments which tend to show that the. salesman. has thought. the doings of his prospect's concern worth following.
Keeping one's eyes open When out-of-doers is the only way to familiarise oneself with the class of business done by local firms that are likely'to buy consmeroial vehicles. A fishmonger may be noticed, for instance, having several hundredweights of fish delivered morning after morning from a hired horsed cart, which collects it from the nearest station ; why should he not fetch it in his own motor vehicle from the junction station, ten miles away, and thus have B26
the goods at his premises well before the shop opens; besides going one better than his rivals in the neigh bourhood ?. Perhaps the same thought has already occurred to him, and he is only waiting to be tackled; in order to respond to the argument of the salesrrian, who, through the exercise of his powers of-observation, will be in a. position to talk to him about his loads, and which type of vehicle would suit him.
Cultivate the personal touch, if you would be a successful commercial vehicle salesman. Have your maintenance and runnig, costs at your finger-tips, but don't. generalize with them—your prospect won't care a hang a-bout the experiences of any other trade but his. Grasp what he wants, and help him to buy it. The true salesman never sells, he help•s to buy. Make him believe that you understand his requirements and can meet them, and the deal is practically completed.
TheAdvantage of the Personal Touch.
I cannot do better than conclude with an anecdote illustrative of the effect of the personal touch. I was once negotiating the sale of a lorry over the telephone with an inquirer who had previously written from a distance; on norepaper which bore his address and, in the left-hand top corner, merely t the name of his firm, without any indication as td the bueinees carried on. At the time of the receipt of his request for particulars, I had no directory of his locality, and so had sent him a catalogue of a chassis we were handling, with an intimation that I would call at an early date. It so happened that he was in a hurry to buy, and therefore rang me up the the• next day.
Fortunately, I had, in the meanwhile, meit a friend who lived in the same district, and who had told me our inquirer was a manufacturer of high-grade soaps. The possession of this information materially helped me to clinch his order, for when he came on the 'phone his first question was, " Look here, 'I like the sound of the specification, but I can't decide.
whether to buy it or a' ' " (mentioning the name
of another Make, for which we wero not agents. " If you can tell me, here and now, why I ought to have your cliaSsis; and it's a good reason, 1 settle the matter at once !'' •
To think of an answer to a poser of that sort, without reflections wa a trifle staggering, but luckily I recollected the reputation of his own productions, so I replied by asking, " ToIl me., why are your soapsrecognised to be the best, that money can purchase?" He turned that poser over in his mind for a Moment, and then said, Because we use only the best material es that we can get hold of. I see the point. Book my order!"