“Taking a Chance” on Soap Wins for Fitze

“Taking a Chance” on Soap Wins for Fitze 

   CARL FITZE , a house-to-house soap salesman calling on housewives in Dayton, Ohio, uses what he calls a “gambling system” for getting business which has enabled him to earn handsome profits. The effectiveness of his selling method may be appreciated when it is considered that he started out with practically no capital, investing only one dollar and fifty cents for a supply of soap to start his business. When this was sold, Fitze took the entire proceeds and reinvested them in more soap, and pyramided his purchases until he had built up a large soap inventory. His first week was a disappointment. Most women, he knew, had enough money in the house to pay for a box of soap. The price he asked—thirty-nine cents a box—was reasonable for a box of soap, generally priced much higher. Nevertheless, it took him two days to sell his first ten boxes, although he worked hard at the job. “Wherever I called I was usually given the same story,” he explained. “‘I won’t have any money until Saturday when my husband gets paid,’ is what I heard many times each day, and I’d turn away from the door, to be greeted at the next door with the same ‘reason.’ On my third day as a soap salesman I told one woman who gave me that excuse, ‘All right. I’ll leave the soap now, and come back, say Monday. If you wish, you can pay me a small deposit now, or you can pay the entire amount Monday. Just as you prefer.’ She thanked me, and said that would be all right, so I handed her a box of soap, wrote her name and address in a book, and went on to my next call. Here again, I met the same objection in the same way by leaving another box of soap. At the next three calls, however, my readiness to trust the housewife brought out the cash, and by early afternoon I had sold fifteen boxes of soap for which I was to collect later, and collected the full amount for ten more. I was then all out of soap so I took all the money I had collected to the company that supplies me with soap and reinvested it in a fresh supply. The next morning I used the same argument I had used the previous afternoon when women told me they had no money. Within two hours I left twenty-five boxes, fifteen of which were cash sales. Again I returned to the company and this time secured thirty boxes, which I disposed of before dark. “When I called back to make collections for the soap on the following Monday, only one woman refused to pay me. My profit on the sales up to that time was forty-six dollars, so I could stand the few cents loss nicely.” Fitze continues to use his “system” with remarkable results. Each morning he starts out with a sack containing twenty-five boxes of soap, and along about noon returns to get another twenty-five. Sometimes he sells as high as seventy-five boxes a day. In one four-month period, he averaged a daily sale of sixty-two boxes and made over a thousand dollars. By making about ninety-five calls daily, Fitze averages around fifty sales. As his profit is twenty cents a box, he makes an average income of about ten dollars a day. The beauty about a business such as Fitze has built up is that he is dealing with necessities. Everybody uses soap. Everybody buys soap. They buy it in hard times, and they buy it in good times. It repeats, too, which makes it possible for a man to build up an established business quickly. If you find in selling house to house that you are constantly running into the objection, “I have no money today,” try Fitze’s plan. Leave your product on the payment of a small deposit or, if it is an inexpensive item, without any deposit. About 99 per cent of the human race is honest and you probably will never have any difficulty collecting your money when you call back. And remember—it is one way to get past the door and to put your product into the customer’s hands! 

Every Man Wears Shirts 

    CLARENCE B. TRAVIS wondered how he could make $1,000. He found a good line of shirts which he sold direct to the wearer, and soon had the money he needed. Last month he put another $1,000 in the bank. Travis, who lives in Port Arthur, Texas, was disappointed at the beginning but once he developed the plan he now uses he began making money hand over fist. “I won’t say this plan differs materially from the plan of other fellows,” said Travis. “I believe a good many men are using similar plans. In brief, it is to forget about the call, and think about a connection. Not long ago I called upon a prospect occupying an executive position in a cheese factory. He told me he had given an order to a direct salesman a year or so before, and was ‘swindled’ so badly he was determined never to buy from a house-to-house salesman again. All the other salesman had thought about was an order. The prospect said that he had to wait an unreasonable time before his order came and when it did arrive, his shirts were not as he had ordered. I admitted the justice of his complaint, but pointed out that because this one man had broken faith all others would not also. I didn’t get his order then, but after many calls I succeeded in convincing him he would get his money’s worth from me. That was sometime ago. Today he is a satisfied customer and has recommended me to many of his friends. “Shortly after I started selling, I entered a local garage to see if I could interest some of the men in a medium-priced shirt. I was confronted by a hard-boiled, grim visaged superintendent who informed me I was wasting the men’s time. Hurriedly I explained it wasn’t my intention to interfere with his men, and that the error was undoubtedly due to my lack of experience. I then urged him to tell me when it would be convenient to return and interview them. I made a point of being very courteous to this fellow, and as I agreed that he was right, he calmed down a great deal, his gruff manner softened, and he asked me what I was selling. I showed the samples, explained and demonstrated them, and he gave me his order. Then he said that if I talked to only one man at a time, it would be all right. His men who had witnessed this scene were impressed by his purchase, and I left with orders for fifteen shirts. I tried this same idea half an hour later in the office of an express company with good results. That started me calling on industrial plants and offices, and led to many sales. While a majority of such calls resulted in firm turndowns, there are enough offices and factories where the foreman or superintendent will let me talk to the men to make this system profitable.” Travis makes most of his sales in units of three shirts. He carries shirts of various prices, however, and his commission varies between sixty-five cents and a dollar on each. Specializing on factories, offices, and stores, he maintains an average sale of fifteen shirts daily, although he only makes seven interviews a day. Some shirt salesmen concentrate calling on business and professional men, and carry socks, ties, and underwear as additional lines. The shirts, such as Travis sells, are made to measure from material selected by the prospect, and shipped C.O.D. The deposit, required when the order is placed, is retained by the salesman as his commission