Paramount Pep (1923)

4 Paramount Pep TRUTH BEARETH AWAY THE VICTORY” This Publication is Distributed Only to Officials and Employees of the FAMOUS PLAYERS-LASKY CORPORATION Its Contents are Strictly Confidential PAUL L. MORGAN Editor Vol. 7 FEBRUARY 7, 1923 No. 31 “Turning a Salesman’s Idle Hour Into Productive Selling Power” By “Les” Whelan — Washington, D. C., Exploiteer Your own time is your best asset. No whistle blows for you to start nor stop, and you must be master of yourself before you can master the work you have to do. Whenever a salesman begins to harbor excuses that come up in his mind for not getting out on the job until nine or ten o’clock in the morning, he is face to face with a problem that concerns his future success. If he gives way to that tendency, he will next begin to figure out in his own mind why he should ease up on his efforts about 4 :30 in the afternoon — after that he is attacked by the delusion that there is no use to call on exhibitors between the hours of 11 :30 and 2:00 P. M., and the first thing you know, he has cut so much daylight off his calendar that he hasn’t a decent day left in which to accomplish anything. The man who starts out in the morning behind time has buckled a handicap on himself that is hard to overcome. He’s wrong himself — and when a man is wrong and knows it, he is sure to diffuse a feeling of discomfort wherever he goes. He finds that those well-chosen hours are busy ones for the exhibitor he sees — he finds that there are more salesmen on the job at the “preferred time” — he doesn’t seem to connect up right on his calls and then his system is in fine shape to be attacked by that well-known “bacteria” which brings out the belief that conditions are pretty bum anyway and there’s no use to try to do much until things brighten up a bit. After that he is subject to violent chills and agues during which he begins to doubt the strength of his proposition or the methods of his company — and when he reaches that stage he is in line for some isolation hospital for contagious diseases. One of the first lessons in life is to be able to discern a weakness from within and nip it in the bud. The old reliable rule of success is “steady plugging” — the steady worker who is short on personal appearances, pleasing address, college education and scientific, high-brow tactics can sell circles around the man who has all these advantages but who does not put in an honest, full day’s work right along. H. B., from Denver PEP presents H. B. Fox, Accessories Manager at our Denver Exchange. Mr. Fox started work in Denver in November. The first convention he attended was that of the Denver-Salt Lake, where he was imbued with so much pep that he vows 1923 will be a record Accessories Sales year for Denver. We wish H. B. all the luck in the world and by the way he is traveling now we’ll say he is after that record. From Japan E. E. Shauer recently received a letter, an extract of which is : “We are much interested in the pictures of your Corporation, and under understanding with your Tokyo representatives, we are ‘screaming’ Paramount Pictures in our theatres, and getting good receipts.” Mr. Shauer says, incidentally, it would not be a bad idea if exhibitors all over the world got in the habit of “screaming” Paramount Pictures. Honesty’s Reward “Yes, suh, I’s done proved dat honesty is de best policy after all.” “How?” demanded his friend. “You remembers dat dawg dat I took?” “Shore I remembers.” “Well, suh, I tries fo’ two whole days to sell dat dawg and nobody offers more’n a dollah. So, like an honest man, I goes to de lady dat owned him an she gives me $3.50.” Nothing will put a man in tune and keep him in harmony with his work like getting on the job early in the morning and taking advantage of the full day that nature provides out of every twentyfour hours. Work is a habit — the best one any man can have in business — and when a man acquires that habit and makes it part of himself everything else seems to adapt itself to his liking. There may be variations in the net results of the days, but the sum total of the months and years will work out right by any mathematical equation — it is more than an argument — it is even more than a fact — it is a law which will govern you and me in whatever we do. Every man is a “carrier” of the germ lethargy— they are always ready to attack in a weak spot and when they get started they take advantage of it with intense energy. There most common point of contact is at the beginning of our day and if we keep them down and out at this point it is comparatively easy to overcome them all along the “front.”