Sales Compendium

The death of the salesman has been something of a recurring theme for at least one hundred years. The following article is from The New York Times. It was published on Sunday 18th June 1916.

“The elimination of the salesman by the use of printed matter in the form of circulars or of advertising in periodicals, which is now being tried out in some lines, has its advocates as well as opponents. One of the former, Arthur J Steinfeld of Steinfeld & Co., who is testing out his theory by actual experience, gives his views in the subjoined communication, which is in response to an article that recently appeared in the paper.

You show that, while casual opinion consigns to the wastebasket much of the advertising matter sent to buyers, there are, nevertheless, many instances where proper advertising is producing better results than the old method of personal solicitation – larger volume at lesser cost. You tell only of the advertising matter that goes to waste, but you make no mention of the tremendous and wasteful time and money extravagance of the traveling-salesman system.

The traveling man adds considerable to the cost of goods without adding to its value or selling qualities. His range of territory is relatively small, and therefore relatively costly. While he visits one, advertising reaches thousands. True, it is, that he often puts over sales through samples, plus personality, persuasion, and perseverance, that alone his merchandise could not. He talks the buyer into the purchase, and the passing of the order copy marks the finality of the sale.

Merchandise sells through advertising strictly because of its own intrinsic worth, ungarnished by the spoken word. The goods must talk for themselves and the sale is not concluded until the buyer is satisfied, not just with the samples, but with the actual merchandise delivered.

The economy and the efficiency of the printed word need no eulogy from me. Retailers recognize their need for the daily newspapers by their increasing use of them.

Things were different once upon a time before the railroads turned farms into cities. Then the original retailers were traders and carried their wares cross-country seeking out buyers one at a time. Now the retailer draws the customers to his store in crowds, and advertising is the magnet. Representative retailers are very particular about the goods they advertise; very careful as to the exactness of their printed word. So are representative wholesalers. Buyers know this. That is why they are paying careful attention to advertising matter they receive.

The travelling salesman’s mission is to sell goods. To accomplish this he often employs methods that would not look well in print. On the other hand, an advertising statement must carry the unqualified backing of the concern behind it, and is therefore virtually a guarantee in bold unchanging type.

The travelling man is a middleman, and the evolution of business is gradually eliminating the middleman.

Even now, travelling men’s organizations are endeavoring to discourage the retailer from buying direct. The buyer who must meet the competition of the store across the street that buys direct will himself be compelled to buy direct. The personality of the traveling salesman is rapidly losing its effectiveness. Formerly, the buyer would say, “I buy from So-and-So”. Now the buyer says, “I buy to the best advantage of my concern regardless of from whom”. Economic efficiency is bringing the retailer to the store of the wholesaler just as it brought the consumer to the store of the retailer.”