Spirella Manual (1913)/Section 11
SECTION 11.[edit]
- Territory—and How to Work It.
108. THE TERRITORY WE ASSIGN YOU is valuable to you and to us. The profits that you get from it must depend upon your preparation for the work and how thoroughly you work. In an average territory there are forty corset wearers to every hundred of population, and your purpose is to secure the largest possible number of corset wearers. To do this, your territory must be worked thoroughly.
The first step, as previously stated, is to secure a few influential names as customers and then work systematically, carefully, thoroughly. If working country territory, work every highway, every house upon it. If in towns, work street by street or block by block. Do not skip around, working here one day and there another. By so doing, you lose the influence of orders already secured, and you also make extra work in delivery. Do not overlook the value of a good list of names, a good list of orders in this work. People are influenced by what others do, and if your order book shows that you have a goodly number of customers the list will help in securing others.
Always carry a note book with you, making note of prospective customers who are absent, and call again. If a customer cannot order to-day, make a future appointment and after having interviewed the lady do not hesitate to ask her to refer you to friends of hers. All of these points help materially in future work.
WORK STEADILY EVERY DAY. DO NOT LET ANYTHING INTERFERE. WORK AS YOU WOULD HAVE TO WERE YOU WORKING FOR SOME ONE ELSE. Some work too rapidly; others perhaps not rapidly enough. But the tendency is, especially with beginners, to run over too much territory. GIVE EVERYBODY AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE.
109. You are in the corset business and not a politician or reformer. You will meet many people who will want to talk with you and detain you. Do not let them do so, and keep the discussion of politics and religion separate from your work.
You will find that a great many people will tell you that they would like to help you out. Always thank them very kindly for their interest, but gently give them to understand that you are not in need of charity. In doing this you will put them in a position where you can deal with them and get their orders much more readily than you could were you to appeal to their sympathies.