The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1913)

58 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. WINNING SUCCESS IN TALKING MACHINE SELLING. W. W. Parsons, Head of Dictaphone Department of Columbia Graphophone Co., Chicago, Says Confidence in the Goods and the Ability to Convince the Customer Are the Prime Essentials — Some Interesting Selling Eperiences in the Talking Machine Trade. The following interesting and instructive article on salesmanship, by VV. W. Parsons, district 'manager for the dictophone department of the Columbia Graphophone Co., recently appeared in the Workers' Magazine of the Chicago Sunday Tribune: The rudiments of successful salesmanship have often been discussed. The subject has been treated at extreme length, but the true statement of fact is a rarity. The man who becomes a successful salesman, if he follows the dictates of his conscience, will frankly admit that much of his success is due largely to luck. For my part, I always have gone on the assumption that the man who is on the job at the psychological moment is the salesman who closes the sale. I have had the utmost confidence in the product I represented. If I were selling shingle nails, for instance, I'd know that my shingle nail was the best that money could produce. Confidence in your goods, the ability to convince your purchaser, and the knack of succinctly driving home the clinching argument are elements of success which every salesman should acquire before he takes to the road in an effort to earn a good living for himself and commensurate profits for his employer. Without these qualifications, a man should not follow the calling of traveling salesman. 'Way back in 1893 I started selling talking machines. I enthused over the prospect of an early sale. Never did I permit my enthusiasm to wane, and when a deal on which I had worked hard fell through I tackled the next prospect more vigorously and with greater enthusiasm. There is a broad distinction between losing a sale and losing confidence. I lost several of the former, but confidence always was my mainstay. Landed First Order on Nerver Twenty years ago it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to walk into a man's office and tell him you had a talking machine into which he could talk and his line of talk would be perfectly reproduced. The commercial value of the talking machine at that time was not seriously considered. Stenographers, especially those in the feminine ranks, did not look upon the innovation favorably. The machine, too, then was in its experimental stages. To-day I believe the dictaphone to be as indispensable as the typewriter, the adding machine, or any other modern office appliance. I landed by first big order purely on nerve. One of the biggest railroad corporations in the United States became interested, through my persistent efforts to install the dictaphone in its offices. I felt that the installation of the talking machine in its many offices meant the saving of considerable money to the railroad. I represented to the heads of the various departments that my machine would cut down the time and operating expenses for the stenographers at least 40 per cent. Forty per cent, is a big figure in any business. The argument appealed to the railroad officials, and, half-convinced, they finally granted me permission to install 10 or 15 machines in their offices. The machine never had failed me; I long before had determined that I would not fail the machine. I smiled at the idea of placing such a limited number of machines in their offices. "Gentlemen," I said, "15 machines will prove no more to you than will one machine. To demonstrate properly the value of this appliance as a labor and money saver I want to place in your various departments 150 dictaphones !" Big Proposition Made Impression. The proposition astonished some of them. I was proposing doing business on a scale of unusual magnitude. That little speech, I felt intuitively, had left its impression. "How long will you leave the machines here?" asked one department head. "We wish, of course, to ascertain thoroughly the merits or demerits of the instrument." "I shall leave them here," I responded, "until you shall have determined to your entire satisfaction whether or not the device will deliver the goods. You appreciate my position, I feel sure, and if I didn't know I have one of the greatest economizers and short cutters ever invented, I wouldn't waste the time of either of us." "I'll leave 150 machines here until you make up your minds definitely as to their worth. That means I'm investing something like $13,000 of my company's money on the outcome of your trial of its product. That's the confidence we have in it. We've everything to lose, but if the machines make good, we'll find the transaction profitable and you'll find they will pay for themselves in a few months. We're taking all the risk." They consented to the installation of 150 machines. I went back to the office well pleased with myself. If I had consented to the placing, in this particular instance, of, say 10 machines in their 1^. W. W. Parsons. office, the result would have been disastrous for me, for the machines would have been treated more as toys than anything else, would have been dragged from one department to another, and the result would have been a prolonged and desultory testing of the appliance and a lack of concentration on the part of the operators. Even Added to the Dividends. In holding out for the installation of 150 machines as I did I was thus enabled to show them an actual saving on their payrolls amounting to thousands of dollars. For instance, in one department there were 33 young women operating typewriters. The dictaphone in two months cut down this force to 20 operators. Thirteen operators at $65 a month meant a saving to the railroad company of $845 a month, or $10,140 a year ! In the offices of this railroad company, scattered between Chicago and Topeka, 325 dictaphones have been in operation for years. They paid for themselves within a* short time and added an interesting figure to the annual dividends. A successful salesman not only knows how to present his proposition verbally, but he is able to write such correspondence as will bring business to his office. An old time customer of mine once sent to the office five of our machines which he wished repaired. We put them in the best pos Talking Machines, Typewriters, Phono graphs, Adding Machines, Cash Registers, Guns and Tools and all Polished Instruments. THE FINEST OIL MADE. It absolutely prevents rust. NYOIL now cold everywhere by all hardware and sporting goods men. Large bottle (cheaper to buy) 25c; trial size, 10c. WM. F. NYE, New Bedford, Mass. For polishing varnished woodwork it is extremely satisfactory. No oil is so clean. Jlsk your watch repairer whose oil he uses on your watch. sible shape, and then returned them to his firm. He had bought these machines probably a dozen years before, but when they were sent back to him they did not perform as good work as would our more recent models. I thought, however, it might be a good idea to write to this customer and suggest to him the superiority of our new product over the old. Accordingly, I dictated a letter to him in which I set out the additional appliances to be found on our new model, indicating certain points in the new machine that were not embodied in the old. I wrote him a most friendly letter, one which I felt convinced would please him and let him know I had his interest at heart. Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath. Well, imagine my great surprise when a day or so later I got a letter from this customer roundly condemning me for the tactics I had pursued. I had my nerve, he said, in talking new machines with him when the old ones should have proved servicable for some years to come. It was a nasty letter, in many respects, and one which stung me. Had I acted on impulse, I might have sent back to him a communication which would have ended our business relations for all time to come. Instead, however, I slept over the matter. The following morning I sent him a brief note explaining that I felt his grievance to be unfounded, that I felt keenly his attack upon my business methods, and that in writing to him as I did I was actuated only by a desire to equip his office with the most modern product. I believed, I told him, that on second perusal of my communication he would see things in their proper light. With the mailing of this letter I dismissed the incident from my mind. To my great astonishment, a few days ' later I received from him a letter in which he inclosed a check covering the purchase price of 25 new machines. In his letter there was not a single word pertaining to our recent correspondence. Quickest Sale He Ever Made. The quickest sale I ever made was when a couple of years ago a down-State merchant came to me and said he understood the dictaphone would save him time and money. He had, he said, 20 minutes to "talk turkey." I sat before a machine and told him to talk into it. This he did. He had a remarkably clear voice and his record was perfect. It impressed him. Then I began to talk. Pie wanted, he told me, a machine sent to his office in Springfield on trial. I pointed out to him that a year's trial would not prove more conclusively the value of the machine than the little talk he just had made into it. "We've manufactured dictaphones for 27 years," I told him. "Years ago they were not the effective machines they are to-day. They now have passed the experimental stage. It is a talking machine in all the word implies. It will talk as fast