ion the name of the
books. He went through the whole of his canvass and then thrust a paper
under the lawyer's face with "Sign here" above the dotted line.

"I thought you were going to give them to me," the lawyer said.

The salesman began to explain that of course he could not give him the
books outright and so on and on and on--everybody has heard this part of
his speech. The lawyer laughed and the salesman lost his temper. Very
angry, he started out of the room. Near the door which opened into the
hall was another door which opened into a closet that contained a shelf
which was a little more than five feet high. The salesman opened this
door by mistake and struck his head smartly against the shelf. This made
him angrier than ever. He jerked the other door open and slammed it
behind him with a crash that nearly broke the glass out. This was more
than the lawyer could stand. He sprang up and started in pursuit of the
salesman, who by this time was on his way into another office in the
same building. The lawyer asked him where he was going. The salesman
told him.

"Not in my building," the lawyer said. "I can't have the men who have
offices here disturbed by people who act like this. Now go on," he added
kindly but firmly, "and let's forget that you ever came here."

And the salesman went.

Salesmanship is service, and the man who persuades another to buy
something he knows he does not want, does not need, and cannot use, is a
scoundrel. "Good salesmanship," and this is the only sort that any
self-respecting man will engage in, "is selling goods that won't come
back to customers that will." It is cumulative in its effect, and the
man who sells another something that really fills a want wins his
eternal gratitude and friendship. He tells his friends about it, they
come to the same salesman and the product begins almost to sell itself.
But it takes patience and courtesy to bring it up to this point.

Some salesmen kill a territory on their first trip. Bad manners can do
it very easily. Sometimes they make themselves so objectionable that the
customer will buy to get rid of them, especially if the purchase does
not involve more than a dollar or two. Sometimes they carry the customer
along so smoothly with plausible arguments that they persuade him to buy
something that he knows he does not want. It is all right so long as the
salesman is present, but discontent follows in his trail.
Sometimes--stocks and bonds sales