amtion to carry on their education in conjunction with their work.

Course No. 1 or its equivalent is a prerequisite for enrollment in any of the other courses.

SUMMARY

The Committee wishes to express its grateful appreciation of assistance when called for from the membership.

As could be expected in a new undertaking of this kind, 4 merences of opinion as to conducting the course were bound to arise, but we are pleased to report that the work is being conacted strictly as outlined for the year.

The Committee is still of the opinion that this method of one

per month should prove practical and satisfactory to the men bership. Because of the large number of activities underten in the member companies besides their regular educational werk, it was decided not to require too much additional outside work, but to give sufficient time for each lesson to be thoroughly 'suused and digested

Respectfully submitted,

FRED R JENKINS, Chairman

CA LITTLEFIELD, Vice Chairman
JF BECKER

JOHN A BRITTON

TP GAYLORD

CAS HOWLETT

GR JONES

HR KING

W M SKIFF

CH STEVENS
LR WALLIS

772890

THE WAY TO MAKE A SALESMAN

BY EARL E WHITEHORNE

When Billy Sunday sets his tent up in a city and prepares to do battle with Beelzebub, he puts a big sign on the wall behind his prancing place-"Get Right With God." It's crude. Some say it's vulgar. But there isn't anybody in the tabernacle that misunderstands. And I believe that every salesman will agree with me that down behind it all, this is the most important message that the wisest man could send to him-"Get Right With Your Own Job." For though this Billy Sunday language may not be good English, it is mighty good United States, the kind that's built close to the ground.

For ten years men have written things about the central station salesman-how to catch him, how to feed him, how to train him, how to make him work. They have talked about the color of his tie, about his hair, about the shining of his shoes, about the way he should address a lady. It is important. I admit it. None can doubt it. Yet it seems to me that these affairs are, after all, but symptoms and that when a man is going wrong in details of this kind the way to kill these hurtful symptoms is to find a cure for the disease. I diagnose it as a hardening of the point o' view, a malady infectious and contageous, and contracted usually both by the salesman and his boss. Let's look it over.

It seems to me that the young man who is hired by a central station as a salesman is to be congratulated. He is lucky at the start. At the outset he has climbed aboard a vehicle that's on the way toward opportunity. Instead of taking root behind the plate glass of an office where he is out of contact with the living public, and to a great extent must wait upon routine promotion for his future, he has set himself conspicuously before the people of his town and what he does will be observed. He isn't like the salesman who goes out to sell paint and to fight at every step the competition of a dozen other brands as good as his. He sells a service that is universal in its wonderful appeal, and every man or woman is his prospect. When he walks out of the office door

(FOR DISCUSSION SEE PAGE 793)

there is the big world waiting. Any one who is not afraid can be a Daniel Boone The man who sells electric service is ever close up to his o; ¡rtunity and it is in his power to create his own ess, his own prosperity in spite of what his boss may be, in e of how his company may stand in the community- if he will y feel that he is in this business for himself. I say to him in ↑ "y Sunday's language-"Get Right With Your Own Self! Sa Right With Your Own Personal Opportunity." That is the

of it all, the spirit that necessarily must dominate the min

I have been asked to make this paper tell, as truly as I can. w... at the central station selling man should be, how he should what he should do I think there are no words that make it er than to say this Let him feel that he is in this business * nomie.j. Let him take the attitude that here in this great ory industry is offortunity enough for him. And let him sae tre maniy bast within himself that he is man enough to * great with this opportunity, to be a big success in this, his And right away what happens? Well, what always when a man of spirit and capacity cuts loose from all ters and begins to find himself? He takes the halter off lence He lines up all those brain cells that have occupied elves with former discontent and sets them all to work aingeht trail of prosperity He has discovered that great

r of personal power a working purpose for his lite What kind of a chap," they say, 'should be selected for a station selling man?" I know no more spec he way to sate the bree·1 It makes no difference if las head is red as save, or if he lacks three fi gers on his right hand or the art of an edu ation; if he has the spirit that will nake him 25sess as has own, he can succeed Men who have never me! to talk grammatically have id you things Men wło Yen contre monsly me in plete in other ways have sold yu They male the sale in spite of drawba ks mit became the spirit and the purje se of a salesman ms.le and they want the thing they wanted you to want And there The salesman who is live en eigh an ! big enough to fee! see lus on part **

f in business for him self

ahead can qualify and nike a salese in the „h de vart

in the line, because he has the port o' view that makes t

possible for him to learn and grow. The man who only holds a job and works to keep his contact with the payroll cannot qualify as long as he shall feel this way, because his point o' view has hardened and lost all its flexibility. There is no way to make a salesman out of him. But let's just take the other man who has the makings in him and consider how his purpose will develope him, what he will come to be, what he will do, how he will act. In other words, let's ask-what is a central station selling man and why is he?

The function of a salesman in this industry-the man who finds the market for electric service—is quite easy to define. His job is just to get contracts from people who should use electric current in its many ways. His work is simple to describe-he must just keep on making people want to use more light, more power, more home comforts and to do it all electrically. Yet when you ask-How shall he make them want it all?—you put your finger on the heart of it and there you have the problem boiled down to a single thought. He cannot sell service unless people actively desire it. He cannot make them want it until they appreciate the benefits it offers. He cannot hope to build up this appreciation and awaken this desire unless he actually inspires them with confidence in his own knowledge of the subject, his own personal enthusiasm for this thing he advocates, and his own honesty of purpose. It is a trick then, first of knowing how to lay his proposition properly before the prospect, and then a test of personal influence. And a man who must depend in any part on personal influence with the public needs above all else good friends, as many friends as possible, and many more acquaintances who like him, and behind all that a general reputation in the city that will gradually establish and indentify him in the popular regard.

I know one man for instance, in an eastern city who is known all over town as "Bob." The people like him. Everybody knows him, just because he is a hustler and a man who knows his job. He is fair and friendly to both the customer and company. He is in the business for himself. In other words, the man who sells the service for a central station cannot be a messenger or just a mouth-piece. He cannot build up any personal prosperity through actual achievement if he is content to merely represent somebody else his boss-in all this work he does. He must be a loyal member of the organization. He must truly represent "the spirit

of the house”. And yet, the man he calls on doesn't know his bas The woman whom he talks to never saw the other members bis organization He is their only point of contact with the company. He represents electric service when he talks to them. The judge the central station by the salesman whom they do their buisiness with And so by the nature of his work this man sa trails compelled to be in business for himself.

I have in mind another salesman in a middle western city. He is a live one, in an unprogressive company and that man stands reit am ing the rest like a red steer in a bunch of sheep. For a g- man can't be permanently held back-even by a poor emThe industry is watching for the men who have the spirit te in this selling business as a business of their own, and op jey will call them elsewhere if it is not to be found at home. Teeman can be aided by the manager and by his fellow kesman, but beyond that it is up to him. His success, his future

ver must depend on his own personal production and he must *re e it If he has that point of view and that strong purjase and that spirit, he will make good if he has prepared himself been prepared to take advantage of his power and his

tunity, and if he but applies this practical preparedness certly

Perhaps all this is obvious. It ought to be. And yet, it is there hasic principles, these very background factors that subssly maintain our attitude, and unless the salesman has conwere! and adopted them as laws, he cannot expect to "get right F ́s job”. Unless the manager can inculcate these fundametal truths and see the salesman voluntarily adopt this proper, anal attitude, unless he sees that this man is both mentally

ned and competent to go into the business for himself and de a personal success of selling electric service, then my advice ast ts Fire him and try again You can educate an eager You can afford to arm a man who sees the issue in the But you can't expect to plant a new heart and a new

m a grown-up body that lacks vigor

Therefore, the first thing for the manager to do is to pi k for a material the man of spirit and potential And when these principles and policies have taken root in him what then? 1 **ust be educated He must be prepared And any salesman tintos type, who sees this opportunity for him to go in business