$1,000 from Selling Fire Extinguishers

 $1,000 from Selling Fire Extinguishers 

    IF YOU were to ask Frank DePries how to make a thousand dollars, he would answer without a moment’s hesitation: “Sell fire extinguishers.” That answer would be drawn from his own experience too, for DePries has made that much money in a six-week period. It was about two months after he became connected with the fire extinguisher manufacturer’s organization that he set his record. During his first month he didn’t earn much. He made a number of calls, but his percentage of sales was low. “Here was my trouble,” said DePries. “I was calling upon people who were not good prospects. In addition, I had no selling experience when I started and was lost in a maze of conflicting notions about selling. Soon I discovered I wasn’t getting anywhere. My earnings were sometimes five, sometimes ten dollars a week. There were two weeks when they didn’t total twenty dollars. However, I decided that if someone else could make big money, I could. “I knew I was selling about 50 per cent of the prospects that had a use for the extinguisher, but nine out of every ten people I called upon had no real use for it. Many calls and interviews, therefore, were a waste of time. One night I discussed this situation with my wife, and she said the sensible thing to do would be to call only on prospects that needed an extinguisher. This had not occurred to me, but it sounded good, so I spent the next day studying the classified telephone directory and made up a list of firms which I believed needed extinguishers. I listed twenty-seven firms in one business district. These calls were fairly close together, and I routed them so I wouldn’t waste time going from one to the other. That day’s commissions totaled thirty-six dollars.” DePries sets a quota of twenty-five calls a day. Out of these twenty-five calls he averages sales of twelve fire extinguishers. This does not mean that he sells twelve different concerns, for one small factory may give him an order for ten or twelve extinguishers. There was one week when his commissions amounted to a little over three hundred dollars, and in one ten-week period he earned nearly a thousand dollars in commissions. DePries concentrates his calls on small factories, wholesale houses, warehouses and garages. Fire insurance underwriters have approved the extinguisher he is selling, and, as a consequence, he is able to point out to prospects that possession of his extinguisher will reduce the cost of their fire insurance. The company which manufactures the equipment which DePries sells does not require experienced salesmen, nor does it demand a cash investment from salesmen. Any ambitious man or woman may make a salesman’s connection with the organization. 

A Business Selling Mending Fluid 

    WHILE visiting a friend, Dwight C. Ritchie, of Pablo, Montana, noticed a tube of mending liquid lying on a table. “What’s that for?” asked Ritchie. “Why, it’s for mending small holes in shirts and socks. It’s great stuff. Takes but a minute to mend a tear, or a hole in a silk stocking,” the friend replied. Ritchie made note of it. He wasn’t married and had to mend his own clothes, so he bought a tube. Later he wrote to the manufacturer, and requested a connection as a local representative. Never having sold house-to-house, he found much to learn in the first few weeks of his new job. However, he soon learned the importance of a good demonstration and before long, his earnings from daily sales were averaging around twelve dollars. Ritchie’s sales averaged six dozen daily. There were days when his sales ran between ten and twelve dozen tubes, from which his profit, clear of all expenses, was as much as twenty-two dollars. He didn’t have an easy time, however. He admits being lucky the first few days for, as time went on, problems of many kinds confronted him which made selling difficult. “A product people want, and have a daily need for, is important. More important, however, is the way it’s sold,” Ritchie said frankly. “I knew the product was all right. I experienced difficulty convincing many others, until I began to sell systematically. When I tried to sell one woman, living on a farm just out of town, she told me she had no money but as I was willing to accept farm products in payment I suggested that she trade one of her chickens for two tubes. Another woman lacking money offered to trade eggs. “Many have to be shown what the product will do. So I have a demonstration book which I use when making a brief demonstration. To this demonstration book, I add such items from current magazines and newspapers as will help clinch sales. In this book I also carry pieces of silk stockings, cotton cloth, linen and other fabrics, which I have repaired with this product. Turning to pages of this book, I point to these fabrics and remark: ‘When you get a run in a silk stocking just touch a little mending fluid with a toothpick or a broom straw to the top and bottom of the run, and if you want to patch it, you can do so in one-fourth the time.’ I clinch my points like this: ‘You see you can make repairs much quicker and better than with needle and thread,’ and when the prospect nods agreement, I go on. ‘Now, you’ll want two or three tubes. The price is twenty-five cents.’ I hold out the tubes. Few women turn me down. Many take three, and some buy as many as four tubes. Others just take one. So many women say, ‘No, I don’t want anything,’ when they open the door. At first this remark would stop me. Now I answer. ‘That’s all right. I just want to show you how to stop a run in silk hose.’ My demonstration starts from there.” Ritchie is a hustler. Making an average of sixty-seven calls daily keeps him on the go from early morning until almost dark. But he declares that if you want to make money you have to get out and work for it. To get started with a small specialty, such as Ritchie is selling, requires no capital investment. The product may be sold anywhere. A search for many new uses for the product broadens the possibilities of its sales, and is rewarded by increased profits.