Sam Lambert and the New Way Store | Page 2

store. That is why it is so very
important that there be no talking or laughing among the clerks.
"You may find it hard to realize the effect of a whisper or a titter on the
part of the store's help when a customer is present. In nearly every case
the man becomes sensitive or resentful and thinks he is being ridiculed.
"Try it yourself sometime by going into a strange store in another line
of business in a distant city: when you hear a laugh or a remark passed
among the clerks, see if you don't wonder if there isn't something
wrong with your clothes or feel sure that comment is being made on
your appearance or behavior.
"There is another form of impatience or self-consciousness on the part
of a customer who is more or less acquainted with the store. He hurries
past everyone in front, headed for the part of the store where he thinks
the goods he wants are kept.
"It is bad policy to step in front of him or otherwise impede his
progress. If there is no one to wait on him follow quietly and be on
hand when he lands at his destination.
"A clerk often wonders why customers persist in doing this.
"It is because they have an idea of the location of what they want and

blindly strike out for it with a certain nervous desire to cover the
intermediate ground as quickly as possible.
"Remember that while you feel perfectly at home in the store, few
customers do. It is your business to put them at ease and certainly to do
nothing to make them uncomfortable.
"When a man comes in for a suit of clothes he usually has some sort of
a mental picture of the thing he desires. An idea, clearly defined or
hazy, is in his mind as to the general color and effect of the suit he
wants.
"It is something he has noticed worn by someone else--looked at in a
show window, or seen in an illustration.
"In most cases it will not be the thing he finally buys. It may be a
chalk-line stripe or a Shepherd's Plaid worn by a drummer who boarded
the 6.30 Lightning Express. In the glow of the lamps and the bustle and
excitement of the Station platform the thing looked possible: but
confronted in the store with the very style and pattern he backs away
from it, though 'it looked good on the other man.'
"Find out what he has in mind; meet it as nearly as you can and get it
out of the way. Otherwise he will not concentrate on other goods. He
will hold to this mental picture and measure everything you show him
by it--much to your disadvantage.
"One of the worst possible things is to ask a man about what price suit
he wants.
"Keep price in the background. Time enough to feel him out on that
subject. No man likes to have you take the measure of his pocket-book.
"You must use your judgment in gauging him as to what to show him.
"The important thing is to get at the picture he has in mind, and the
price too, if you can do so without asking him to name the figure.

"Never ask a customer how he liked the last suit you sold him. Let
by-gones be by-gones. This is a new deal. Whether he was entirely
satisfied is not the point now. Don't raise dangerous questions.
"There are a dozen reasons why his last purchase may not be
remembered with pleasure--reasons that have nothing to do with the
value he received or the actual merit of the clothes.
"If he voluntarily mentions the last suit with praise take it as a natural
occurrence and pass it over; you will try to do even better by him this
time.
"If he complains of his last purchase don't argue. Leave the subject as
soon as possible and get down to the question in hand.
"Have confidence in your goods, in your prices and in yourself as a
salesman.
"There are more sales lost for lack of firmness and decision at the right
time than for any other cause.
"Among the clerks in the best and biggest of stores there are ten good
openers of a sale to one good closer.
"Be a closer.
"It requires judgment and decision of character, but you can learn to do
it.
"When a woman goes into a cloak and suit department, she is not
satisfied to buy until she has been made to feel that she has pretty well
canvassed the assortment, seen practically everything in the stock at the
range and along the line she is seeking.
"She has merchandise imagination and thinks of the possible garments