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Show I ROADS 1 1)K MARKETING Hy T. J. D. loh. ry SALESMANSHIP SALESMANSHIP Is as Important In operating a hiloeesslul road.side market as It Is In any other hm.ine-s. '1 he old Idea that consume! s will buy frosti, qualil.v farm products beeaui-e of tin products alone Is a fallacy. And the II Vol! iloli'l L 1 1 II s e one-else one-else will" attitude has ruined many an otherwise ood opportunity to hell direct. A Michigan fruit grower learned this to his sorrow. In three years of hard work he built up his roadside market business to where It averaged aver-aged Slmi ii month lor the '.m day season. sea-son. Illness compelled him to hire a salesman ami when the Income was totaled, ho found his business had fallen to S.'i'.'il. lie learned the reason the following year from old customers who stopped at the market when they saw him behind be-hind the counter, poor salesmanship. Ills representative never attempted to explain li ii v thing to customers If they qllest!olus- values; never a tit lei pa t ed their wauls nor made suggest inns, all of which have a tendency to sell both the "house" and Its products. Competition Is so keen nowadays that the roadside salesman must do more than "wait on pie." Hit must know the varieties of fruits, vegetables vegeta-bles and other products, quality, and to -what uses they are best suited. This Is especially true of apples and other fruits. Kres Kandati, apple grower of Ames, Iowa, took over an old fruit nursrry that had a large variety of apples, but until his wife cooked an apple of each variety to find which was be-t for cooking and eating. Randall, Ran-dall, w ho majored In live sto. k at col lege, made all sorts of mistakes and had quite a time w ith Ii n ew Ives w ho purchased cooking for eating apples on his ri-eomniendal Ion. Service at a roadside or farm market mar-ket dlu"ers considerably from that rendered In city shops, where deliveries deliv-eries are made and orders can be given by .hone. About 4' per cent of the wayside customers so a survey sur-vey Indicates, make purchases without with-out getting out of their. cars. This practice might be taken as an Indication Indica-tion of lar.iness, but even-so, the smart roadside and farm market owner will cater to the whims of the prospective buyer. It likewise has been found that courtesy mis at all times. The lOeent purchaser of today may buy a dollar's worth tomorrow. Moreover, It Is the steady customer that makes direct marketing profitable, transient trade being tourists or shoppers looking look-ing for low prices. A line of customers custom-ers coming to the market daily or sev. eral times a week, will buy a lot of produce over the season. Several years ago I witnessed what I thought was a very good example ex-ample of salesmanship. And. to make It more interesting, the farmer was a redhead. A costly antoniohile screeched to a stop in a cloud of dust and dying gravel before the market. The door of the car (lipped open and a bushel of ripe tomatoes spilled over the ground, most of them mashing and squirting Juice over the white road way. Plainly the tomatoes were dumped, but the farmer, apparently unmindful of the Impending "fight." hastily assured the woman that "accidents "ac-cidents will happen" and that he would replace the tomatoes without cost. Caught "off balance," the woman subsided. The fire left her eyes; In fact, she muttered an apology after admitting it was her fault. She was returning the tomatoes because they were not the right kind for making chill sauce. "Perhaps," she added, "1 should have told you what I wanted them for." The offer of a new basket was refused. re-fused. Instead, the woman bought two bushels and several other vegetables. Here, by quick thinking, a scene was avoided, and a customer made instead of lost The farmer, a good salesman, really made a friend and a profit. An Important part of salesmanship Is winning the confidence of the customer. cus-tomer. Very often suggestions will mean additional sales. I've seen It happen many times during the years I have been Investigating and studying study-ing farm markets; In fact, the same thing has happened to you and me when we are shopping. Large department stores have a ruling that the customer Is always right. I doubt the truth of this policy, but it pays to let the customer believe It. The tomato Incident referred to above Is a good example of how this policy can be twisted to the advantage advan-tage of the seller. Similar opportunities opportu-nities will arise out of making good on guarantees, and everything sold should be guaranteed. It Is a good selling point and when a refund or replacement Is necessary even though the fault may lie with the customer, it makes for confidence and future business. It Is not a sin to admit the quality of the current supply of any kind of produce Is not as good as a previous offering. Probably the last picking. Perhaps a different variety. Maybe weather conditions. The explanation should be logical and honest. When something special is asked for and not in stock a good salesman will make every effort to accommodate accommo-date his customer, even without profit. . 1933. Western Newspaper L'nlon. |