Elements of Retail Salesmanship

de by the manufacturer the salesperson should have knowledge of them. A case illustrating what is meant by manufacturers' technical tests is that of a prominent brand of men's socks. This brand of socks together with five other brands were tested for tensile strength by a board of impartial judges representing an educational institution. The machine used for this purpose stretched the socks to the breaking point and a delicately sensitive needle registered on a dial the resisting power or tensile strength of each fabric. On the basis of this and other tests this nationally advertised sock was given a gold medal at an exposition. In the literature sent out by this company to dealers much is made of this important technical test, but the writer, although he has inquired for this brand of socks for two years over a wide territory, has found only one salesperson who has referred to it. The mail order houses do not overlook such an opportunity of augmenting the value of their goods in the customer's estimation. In a recent edition of a mail ordercatalogue on ready-to-wear clothes,1 the selling talk says that the manufacturer "makes many tests ? more tests than the average maker of men's clothing ? to be sure the color is absolutely fast, that the fabric possesses the necessary strength to insure long service and that there are no imperfections in the weave." In another catalogue this same company describes their tester sitting beneath a slowly moving roll of their ...