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The Square Deal Wins
by
In a little while I brought Dave to meet the banker. The banker immediately, upon my recommendation, told him that he could have all the money he needed-$16,000. The banker also wired to the people who owned the stock–he was well acquainted with them–and told them he would vouch for Dave.
The deal went through all right and Dave now buys every cent’s worth, that he uses in my line, from me. He is the best customer I have; I got him by being square.
A great mistake which some salesmen make when they first start on the road is to “load” their customers. The experienced man will not do this, for he soon learns that he will “lose out” by it. A merchant will not long continue to buy from a traveling man in whom he has no confidence. He, in great measure, depends on the judgment of the traveling man as to the styles and quantities he should buy. If the salesman sells him too much of anything it is only a matter of time when the merchant will buy from some other man. When a storekeeper buys goods he invests money; and his heart is not very far from his bank-book.
The time when the traveling man will ram all he can into an order is when the merchant splits his business in the salesman’s line, buying the same kind of goods from two or more houses. Then the salesman sells as much as he can, that he may crowd the other man out. But even this is poor policy.
I once took on a new town. My predecessor had been getting only a share of his customer’s trade; two others had divided the account with him. I made up my mind to have all of the account or none. The merchant went to my sample room and gave me an order for a bill of hats. He bought at random. When I asked him what sizes he wanted, he said: “Oh, run ’em regular.” “Very well,” said I, “but will it not be well to look through your stock and see just what sizes you need? Maybe you have quite a number of certain sizes on hand and it will be needless for you to get more of them. Let’s go down to the store and look through your stock.”
We went to his store. The first item on the order he had given me was one dozen black “Columbias.” I found that he had five dozen already on hand. “Look here,” said I, “don’t you think I would better scratch that item off of the bill?” I drew my pencil through the “one dozen Columbias.”
“Now let us go through your whole stock and see if there are not other items you have duplicated,” I suggested. We worked together for four hours–until after midnight. It was the biggest mess of a stock I ever saw. When we got through I had cut down my order three-fourths.
“See,” said I, showing the merchant my order-book and his stock list– which every merchant should have when he goes to buy goods–“you have enough of some kinds to last you three years. Others, because they have gone out of style, are worth nothing. All you can get out of them will be clear profit; throw them out and sell them for any price.
“Do you know what has been happening to you right along? Three men– and the one from my firm is just as guilty as the rest–have been loading you. Why, if I were a judge and they were brought before me, I’d sentence them to jail.”
“And I guess I ought to be made to go along with them,” broke in my friend, “for participating in the crime.”
“That I will leave you to judge,” said I, “but there is one thing for sure: You will not see me back here again for a year; it would be a crime for anyone to take an order from you during that time. And when I do come I want all of your business, or none; you haven’t enough for three, or even for two. You can buy no more than you can sell to your customers, unless you go broke some day. Your interest and my interest are the same. In truth, I stand on the same side of the counter as you do. It is to my interest to treat you right. My firm is merely the one from which you and I together select your goods. Ought I not to see that they give you the right things at the right prices? If I treat you right, and my firm does not, you will follow me to another; if I treat you wrong I’ll lose both your confidence and my job.”