I

HAVE often heard advertising men say that there must be a close similarity between the work of the retail clerk and that of the copy-writer. Well, to a certain extent there is. Both are trying to influence people to buy merchandise, although they use different methods, and one addresses a vastly greater audience than the other.

In a way, many of the basic principles of all forms of selling are pretty much the same. Certain it is that the clerk can learn much from the methods of the traveling salesman. On the other hand, the salesman, can improve his work by studying the way goods are sold in retail stores. Especially should the manufacturer who seeks the co-operation of clerks know something of their working methods. The advertising man, also, will have a better grasp on his job if he is able to step into the shoes of either the clerk or the salesman and successfully discharge their duties.

The essential task of all those engaged in distribution, from the manufacturer down to the retail clerk, is to attain the good will of the consumer. That is the absolute net of what they are trying to do. Therefore, they all should have some first-hand information as to how the consumer buys. They should know something of the actual "business," to use a stage expression, that is gone through in making a sale. All the factors that influence the sale should be carefully studied.

About the first fact that impresses itself on the observant clerk is the kaleidoscopic quality of human nature. There is almost no end to its variableness. I always had the idea that after the outer veneer was penetrated people are very much alike, but

after I had been selling goods across the counter for a few weeks I discovered that this impression had strayed far from the truth. Folks may be alike in many ways, but when they come to buy goods they certainly are not. That is the one time they feel privileged to indulge all the peculiarities of their nature.

This much is true, however: most persons can be classified according to type. But there are any number of these types, and the average clerk is not able to classify properly his prospects as they approach him. This is one of the causes of so much mediocrity in retail salesmanship.

ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF
WOMEN

For instance, there is the sensitive buyer, who is diffident in stating her requirements. She is easy to sell, so much so, in fact, that she is likely to go away with merchandise with which she is not fully satisfied. There is the careless, slipshod buyer that will take almost anything. Then after she gets home she will find fault with her hasty selection and bring it back for exchange. Some buyers that come into a store are extremely friendly to the clerks, while others are austere, and have to be handled with the greatest tact. Sometimes the affable shopper is very critical of the merchandise, and, on the other hand, the haughty, stern buyer is easy to please. In the course of the day's work the clerk will have to wait on talkative customers and taciturn customers; those who are nervous and flighty and those who are well poised. The stingy buyer will try the patience of the saleslady and the extravagant buyer will make her envious. Practically all the verbs and adjectives of