Evening Star Newspaper, October 27, 1935, Page 92

~ 10 Magazine Section THIS WEEK HNustration by Corinne Boyd Dillon An overbearing and inconsiderate shopper advertises her own lack of quality Good Taste 'Today One who sells must show tact and good temper and consideration if she is to keep her job. But a customer must be equally courteous if she lays claim to good breeding by EMILY POST Author of ““Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage,” “The Personality of a House,” Eltc. HE techni- much too specialized to be discussed by anyone who has not learned thesubject at first hand and prac- tised it with success, success, moreover, that is measured by the tangible proof of satisfactory sales slips, and best of all, an increasing number of cus- tomers who ask for Mr. Keen or Miss Charm- ing when they come again to buy. But theaspects of salesmanship that depend for their success upon tactful and pleasing manners belong very decidedly in my own particular province. Also very decidedly in my own particular province, belong good man- ners that are to be expected of all customers who make any pretense to being well-bred. In fact, the behavior of the customer is in one sense more important than that of the salesman — or woman. The distress inconsid- erate customers can inflict, or the pleasure considerate ones can give, is plainly of greater concern to one who waits on them than any annoyance or satisfaction that may be felt by the customer. . Tothe customers nothing is at stake further than the satisfaction or irritation — or most often the completely negative impression — that is made upon them by the man or woman who waits on them during a few moments of time — the length of which the customers themselves control. But a saleswoman is, so to speak, at the mercy of any customer whois ill- bred or unreasonable, for so long as that customer chooses to keep her in attendance. Moreover, every displeased customer is a mark against a saleswoman's value, heavy or light according to the evidence of the cus- tomer’s rightness as well as to the importance of the customer’s account. But whether heavy or light, many such marks mean loss of a job. Since I can't write ‘‘salesman or saleswoman,”’ “‘he or she' and ‘*him or her” on almost every line to come, I shall talk of saleswomen only, but the things I want to say are equally appli- cable to men. First, however, let me consider the point of view of a customer, since this is something that we all know from personal experience. Whether ‘we all agree as to the type of sales- woman we like or dislike, I don’t know. A clever saleswoman must, I suppose, have dif- ferent methods with different customers. After all, if customers were identical, perfect sales- manship would not be the difficult accom- plishment it is. It is quite possible that methods, which are unendurable to me, are acceptable to others. For all I know, I may belong in a minority so small as not to be worth counting, but against what is, I believe, called a high- pressure saleswoman, I personally develop a hard shell like the terrapin of my native state. Of course, it may be that I have many times been checked ‘“‘sold” by one who succeeded in making me buy the something she wanted me to. This, I acknowledge, is perfectly pos- sible, but not by any of the obvious methods of telling meabout the bargain values of some- thing that [ am perhaps as competent to appraise as she, nor by telling me what other people think. It is true, I can not speak from the stand- point of a store's manager ; but I do wonder to what degree high-pressure salesmanship pays in the long run. I wonder how many cus- tomers, who have been high-pressured into buying what they did not really want or into spending more than they could afford, have ever afterwards not only avoided getting within range of that particular sales person, but have avoided that particular store. I add this because hundreds of readers have told me of the useless thing they have been made to buy with money that ought to have been spent on something else. And all have added, in the words of the old Bowery song: “I'll never go there any more.”’ Really great saleswomen -- so it seems to me — have not only cultivated an expert knowledge of the commodities they sell, but an equally expert ability to appraise the cus- tomers to whom they sell. It is essential, I should say, to know, there- fore, whether a customer likes to be ‘‘dearied” or “madamed,” chatted to about every topic under the sun to camouflage the sales talk, and whether she is one who likes to have her mind made up for her, or whether she is one who, knowing exactly what she wants, prefers to have her own questions answered intel- ligently but does not want any unasked for advice. But above all saleswomen, the one I like best, the one in fact to whom I always return, is one who listens to what I say and tries to give me what I want —— instead of trying to sell me what the store seems eager to be rid of. | Ocrober 27, 1935 For example, to draw an ideal saleswoma whom you ask for something she can't supply: she would listen attentively to what you say and answer: ‘I am very sorry we have nothing at all like that in the color you want; but [ could give you something in a small pattern of yellow,” and then with a certain eagerness she would ask : “‘Have you time to let me show it to you?” You are pleased, first because the sales- woman showed eagerness to help you find what you want, and you as a customer would be very lacking in courtesy not at least to let her show you what she so much hopes will please you. When she brings it, you are in- clined to be pleased because you know in advance that it is not going to be what you want —-but neither is it going to be thrust upon you. And the chances are —at least within the range of possibility - that you will take it if you can make it do. A bad saleswoman (in my judgment, at all events) is one who simply brushes what you say you want aside and blandly spreads be- fore you something that is exactly what you have explained to her you do NOT want, at the same time trying to force you to like it Ry extolling its beauties or. its bargain values, and capping the climax by telling you that Mrs. Uppity thinks this is exquisite! We can all understand seeking to guide a customer who doesn't know what she wants. But what can result except irritability against a clerk and, because of the clerk, against the store whena customer of intelligence is treated as a moron. A particular illustration would not really be valuable because politeness or rudeness de- pends so much upon the manner in which a thing is said or done. In social life tact is an asset, but in business, almost as much as diplomacy, tact is essential. Why tact and good temper and courteous con- sideration of others is exacted of one who sells is simple enough to understand. But why the one who buys is ever led to imagine that the precepts of courtesy need not apply to her own behavior, is to be explained only as a point of view of an upstart and snob. The test of a lady is nowhere greater than in situations where the advantage is her own. It isn’t possible to advertise lack of quality more blatantly than does the overbearing, in- considerate shopper, who rudely criticizes everything a saleswoman shows her, who treats her as though she were some one of a com- pletely inferior class, who keeps her in the decorating department for an entire morning or afternoon pulling material about, and then announces that she epects wholesale prices. At a guess, I would say that the greatest strain upon a saleswoman's sportsmanship and good temper would be in the dressmaking de- partment, where making a sale is likely to exact a greater amount of time and salesman- ship as well as specialized knowledge than is . necessary in a department, for example, where " merchandise is sold over a counter. And what a careless customer often does to model dresses does not always go on the right side of the ledger. Perhaps she smears the front of the dresses with lipstick as she pulls them on or off. Or, if the day is very hot and she wears scant underclothes, she dampens them with perspiration. Perhaps she tears them in haste or sheer carelessness; perhaps she scorches one with her cigarette —- but rarely does she think she did the damage. And in the end she orders none, or perhaps she buys and then returns everything looking still more shopworn the next day. It is true that almost everyone at some time buys something and, for one reason or another, is obliged to send it back. But this is not the* chronic practise of any well-bred person; and neither is being inconsiderate of sales peopl nor of the merchandise belonging to the stor Another lack of consideration is shown by those who go to a store ten minutes befor closing time. To be well-bred is first of all to be ‘“to the manner born” which means to be courteously considerate. Another fault — but probably only belong- ing to women of leisure who have had no business experience —is to think it fair to expect favors from their friends who are no longer women of leisure and who are unable to make below-cost prices, or to put all other " customers aside and spend their time in gos- siping with a friend. ~ Is the customer always right? I am not at | all sure. Unfailing patience and good temper 3 are qualities exacted of every saleswoman, = whereas there is nothing to restrain the ill humor or unreasonableness of a customer except her own good breeding. Copyright, 1935, by Emily Post