How the Waffles Sell Moth Tabs

 How the Waffles Sell Moth Tabs 

   JAY WAFFLES and his wife together earned twelve hundred and seven dollars in six months selling deodorants in and around Rockford, Illinois, and near-by small towns. Waffles, forced to quit his job in a Rockford factory because of his health, was sent to Mayo Brothers Hospital in Minnesota, where, after several weeks’ treatment, he was discharged. At home he didn’t improve as well as was expected, and was told that a trip to California would hasten his recovery. Waffles hadn’t enough money to make the trip. “We must get some money quickly,” declared his wife. One day the following week they made a sales connection with a manufacturer of moth tabs. “We sold a few moth tabs to our neighbors during the first week,” said Mr. Waffles, “but not enough to increase our bank account. The usual excuse offered by most housewives was ‘I have no money.’ Every woman in town seemed to be just out of ready cash when we called. It stumped us. Mrs. Waffles would go down one side of the street and I down the other. We’d meet at the end of the block, and compare notes. ‘There’s nothing in it,’ I said disconsolately one day. She didn’t agree with me, and reminded me that the company had mentioned one man who had made a success. I said frankly that I doubted it. That night we were feeling pretty blue when we got home. We were eating supper when the doorbell rang, and Mrs. Waffles answered the bell. I heard her say to the man at the door, ‘Not today, I have no money.’ The salesman didn’t seem to hear her at all. He went right on with his sales talk. She kept repeating over and over that she had no money, and finally he went away. When she rejoined me, she said: ‘I think if he had remained another moment I would have bought from him. He certainly had a goodlooking can opener.’ ‘Maybe people would buy from us, too, if we stood at the door a little longer,’ I remarked absently, and she stared at me. ‘That’s just it. It must be!’ she exclaimed. ‘Do you know what? We don’t make half as effective a sales talk as that man did. We must improve it.’” The Waffles went into a huddle and came out with a brand new canvass. They tried it out on each other that night. Long after midnight, they retired and awakened the next morning enthusiastic over their new plan. “We’ll check it as we go along,” they decided. That morning’s sales were better. Their combined profits amounted to six dollars and ninety cents. But better than that, they began to discover the weakness in their sales presentation. It was then that they started the habit of writing out what the prospect said, and what the Waffles answered after each interview. This took a little time and reduced the number of calls, but within a week it increased the percentage of sales to interviews from 10 per cent to 60 per cent. They saw another weakness in their method. They were carrying five items, the leaders of which were the moth tab, bowlitizer, and refrigerator deodorant. The three items together paid them a seventy-five cent profit. They had been talking up only one item. Now they found the way of selling the other two after getting the order for the one. The result was more income from every sale. In two weeks, they had increased their profit from six dollars a day to twelve dollars daily. “If every woman who raised an objection were counted, I guess the total would include every woman in the country,” declared Waffles. “Certainly they object. But a skillful turning of the objection and a little selling pressure will make them buy. I was told fourteen times by one woman that she didn’t have any money in the house, but each time I smiled, agreed with her, and then pointed out how much money could be saved by using the moth tab. After ten minutes, she invited me inside to let me show her how easy it was to hang the tab in the clothespress. I told her, meanwhile, I did not expect her to buy a thing, but if she knew about the products, and wanted them later, she could phone me. I told her about a special preparation for keeping moths out of her overstuffed furniture and she led me to the living room to demonstrate. Here we sat down while she examined and bought every item I was selling.” Waffles makes the delivery of the products when he makes the sale, and collects the total selling price. He buys the deodorants from the manufacturer at a low rate and resells to his prospects at a good profit.

 Possibilities of Industrial Uniforms 

    WHEN Chester Burton walked from the office of the White Front Service Stations, Inc., he had an order in his pocket on which his commissions totaled $69. That order, the result of an hour and a half interview with the purchasing agent and the general manager of a chain of 17 gasoline filling stations, was for 107 work uniforms, on the front and back of which the name “White Service Stations” was to be embroidered. It wasn’t the first order Burton had taken. It was the second he had that day, the first being for a smaller number of garments from a local garage. It was typical, however, of the kind of money he was able to make selling industrial uniforms to gas stations, hotels, auto agencies, moving companies, dairies, factories, restaurants, druggists, laundries, bakeries, and offices where industrial uniforms have come to be considered a necessary thing. It took Burton, who didn’t have a moment’s selling experience before he became connected with the manufacturer of these uniforms, exactly five months to earn his first $1,000. “Don’t think it was easy for me to get my first real week’s salary out of this line. I puttered around with it for several days before I got the right idea. I called on prospective users of industrial uniforms, of course. I showed them the samples of materials and explained the methods used in making up the garments. I talked wear, strength and durability, and I didn’t get to first base. Something, I thought, was wrong with me, with the line, or with the method I was using. Determined to find out what was wrong, I devoted my next three days to an exhaustive quizzing of buyers. And I found out why I wasn’t getting business. In my desire to impress durability and wearing qualities, I had been making a comparison of my garments to overalls. I had completely overlooked one of the strongest selling points in connection with the uniform. “These concerns do not want overalls. They want a uniform which looks neat, is properly styled, and in some cases, tailored, and which lends dignity to the appearance of the workman. Gasoline stations were particular on this point. ‘Our men come in constant contact with the public,’ I was told by a big chain buyer, ‘and we must insist that they have an alert, snappy appearance in dress. An appearance that may be kept uniform in all stations is necessary to identify attendants of this company.’ Here then, was the new idea I was seeking. I took the answers to my questions and made up a sales talk, using the buyer’s own arguments and showing where my uniforms served every requirement. I photographed some gasoline service station attendants who were wearing the uniforms. I showed these photographs, together with drawings in my portfolio, to the buyers for other companies. I added photographs of doctors, druggists, and others to make the collection complete. I didn’t pay a lot of money for these pictures, but took a small kodak with me everywhere I went. When I recognized one of our uniforms on an employee, I stepped up and got a snapshot. “All this proved to be valuable when closing a sale. Some big companies want to see what a uniform looks like when a man is wearing it. I can quickly show a photograph, which is just as good as showing a uniform. They get the idea.” It might be pointed out that Burton finds little competition in his sales work, and has systematized his calls to make the most of his time every day. His average daily earnings are close to $17, and he calls on about twelve companies each day. There appears to be no real reason why any aggressive and ambitious person should fail to make money with this line.