All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Copyright © 2006 Robert Louis Grottke All rights reserved. ISBN:1-4196-3200-0 To order additional copies, please contact us. BookSurge, LLC www.booksurge.com 1-866-308-6235 [email protected]

Robert Louis Grottke

2006

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Copyright © 2006 Robert Louis Grottke All rights reserved. ISBN:1-4196-3200-0 To order additional copies, please contact us. BookSurge, LLC www.booksurge.com 1-866-308-6235 [email protected]

Robert Louis Grottke

2006

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Chapter Index Acknowledgements

xi

Introduction

xiii

Foreword

xvii

Chapter One Background and Setting the Stage • Famous people born in Oak Park, Illinois • My Neighborhood • Previous Job Experience

1

Chapter Two I Sell Vacuum Cleaners • Rexair, the cleaner that uses water • I become a door-to-door salesman • The initial sale is hard to come by • Dad’s encouraging letter • My first sale • I sell one to my Mother’s IGA store • Ultimate success

7

Chapter Three Interlude • I become a year round college student • I agree to become a Real Silk salesman

15

Chapter Four What is Real Silk? • Real Silk hosiery orientation • From silk to nylon, a variety of products • Cold canvassing vs. calling on customers • A good environment for door-to-door selling • Government Intervention

17

Chapter Five Training That Didn’t Take • Field training in Winnetka • We walk right in but don’t make a sale

23

Chapter Six I Learn the Right Way • My friend and teammate Jack teaches me his way • A gift to every customer • The four hundred pound pressure test • We don’t go in unless we get a sale

27

Chapter Twelve A Measure of Success • Selling the customer the right size • Measuring the stocking length • Measuring brassieres, an art form • Selling brassieres to the French

47

Chapter Seven The Real World • All kinds of people behind the door • People have different moods • “Nobody’s home, I hope, I hope, I hope.” • The challenge of door-to-door selling • The importance of being a self starter • Failure was simply the most attractive option • Doors slammed in my face • I become like an evangelist • A fight for a fifteen second audience • The gift helps • I act like the “gas” man

31

Chapter Thirteen Nobody Worked for Money • Bonuses for a set level of sales • It’s easy not to go to work, excuses are plentiful • Mr. Springer, the eternal optimist • Salespersons always like a contest • Motivational speeches • A lesson in asking for the order

51

55

Chapter Eight Earning the Customer’s Trust • The onus of the COD fee • Most customers were willing to pay upfront

37

Chapter Fourteen Contests Galore • The Chicago Handicap, everyone has a quota • Big sales days • They can’t even spell my name • I become a sales manager

59

Chapter Nine Finding the Real “No” • The selling scenario • A desperate customer • The attributes of a good salesperson • Overcoming the initial “no”s • Keep selling until the customer finally says yes

39

Chapter Fifteen My Experience as a Sales Manager • A manager’s commission override • Training Dave and a big sale • Training new people, the key to success • Seabiscuit rides again • Everyone is a winner

63

Chapter Ten Avoiding the “No” You Don’t Want • It’s all in how you ask the question • Would you like the green or the blue?

43

Chapter Sixteen Epilogue: Lessons Learned • My selling career ends • I’m featured in Salesman’s Opportunity • Human nature is the same for everyone • Gaining people’s trust is important • The importance of self-confidence • I learn self-reliance, pride in accomplishment • All I needed to know, etc.

Chapter Eleven Dissatisfied Customers, an Opportunity 45 • Everybody has a few dissatisfied customers • An apology is not enough • Replacing a defective product

Appendix: “Make More Money By Knocking on Doors.” Salesman’s Opportunity, July, 1954

67

Chapter Six I Learn the Right Way • My friend and teammate Jack teaches me his way • A gift to every customer • The four hundred pound pressure test • We don’t go in unless we get a sale

27

Chapter Twelve A Measure of Success • Selling the customer the right size • Measuring the stocking length • Measuring brassieres, an art form • Selling brassieres to the French

47

Chapter Seven The Real World • All kinds of people behind the door • People have different moods • “Nobody’s home, I hope, I hope, I hope.” • The challenge of door-to-door selling • The importance of being a self starter • Failure was simply the most attractive option • Doors slammed in my face • I become like an evangelist • A fight for a fifteen second audience • The gift helps • I act like the “gas” man

31

Chapter Thirteen Nobody Worked for Money • Bonuses for a set level of sales • It’s easy not to go to work, excuses are plentiful • Mr. Springer, the eternal optimist • Salespersons always like a contest • Motivational speeches • A lesson in asking for the order

51

55

Chapter Eight Earning the Customer’s Trust • The onus of the COD fee • Most customers were willing to pay upfront

37

Chapter Fourteen Contests Galore • The Chicago Handicap, everyone has a quota • Big sales days • They can’t even spell my name • I become a sales manager

59

Chapter Nine Finding the Real “No” • The selling scenario • A desperate customer • The attributes of a good salesperson • Overcoming the initial “no”s • Keep selling until the customer finally says yes

39

Chapter Fifteen My Experience as a Sales Manager • A manager’s commission override • Training Dave and a big sale • Training new people, the key to success • Seabiscuit rides again • Everyone is a winner

63

Chapter Ten Avoiding the “No” You Don’t Want • It’s all in how you ask the question • Would you like the green or the blue?

43

Chapter Sixteen Epilogue: Lessons Learned • My selling career ends • I’m featured in Salesman’s Opportunity • Human nature is the same for everyone • Gaining people’s trust is important • The importance of self-confidence • I learn self-reliance, pride in accomplishment • All I needed to know, etc.

Chapter Eleven Dissatisfied Customers, an Opportunity 45 • Everybody has a few dissatisfied customers • An apology is not enough • Replacing a defective product

Appendix: “Make More Money By Knocking on Doors.” Salesman’s Opportunity, July, 1954

67

xi

Acknowledgments This book reflects the contributions and support of many people to whom I owe my gratitude. The various manuscripts were typed initially by my step-daughter, the late Susan Husted, and then revised and completed by my daughter, Gwen Tegart. My faithful editor and friend, Dick Bragaw, with whom I’ve worked for over 20 years, made invaluable suggestions and editorial enhancements. I owe special thanks to Jack Springer, my college classmate and swimming team teammate, who got me involved with the Real Silk Company and offered to preface the book with a foreword in which he adds his own unique perspective on door-to-door selling. The patience and encouragement of my wife, Heather, has been indispensable. She unequivocally supported me in this project and put up with the constant discussion, evaluation and activity necessary to bring this book to fruition. A scrapbook I made soon after I ended my selling career helped me recall many of these experiences. All of the proper names in this book have been changed to fictional names or first names except for myself, my family, celebrities and Jack and John Springer. Lastly, I am indebted to the people at BookSurge Publishing, without whose guidance and counsel this project could not have been completed. Robert Louis Grottke

xiii

Introduction As I reflect on my experiences as a door-to-door salesman while working my way through college, I now appreciate how valuable they were to be to me as I went through life. My chosen profession was accounting, and I spent over 30 years in public accounting with, at that time, one of the Big Eight accounting and auditing firms. Since then, I have worked several more years as chief financial officer of a major international organization. However, as I look back over my career, I realize that my days selling door to door and the things I learned from direct selling provided an excellent foundation for many of the challenges of my career. Occasionally, as I recalled some of these experiences for my friends and business associates, they responded with interest and amusement. They encouraged me to record my experiences, saying that I have a message that needs telling. Hence, this book. A book about the door-to-door approach to selling may not at first seem to be timely, since my experience was so many years ago, but a recent development—namely the Internet and E-commerce—has made what I learned going door to door fresh and relevant in today’s market. As a door-to-door salesman, I was basically running my own business. I was face to face with customers every day. I listened to their needs, heard their demands and their complaints, and I learned the great satisfaction of making sales. While I represented a manufacturer and worked for a large sales organization, there was no middleman between the customer and me. I sold direct, hence the expression “direct selling.” Isn’t that what the Internet does today? It brings thousands of customers all over the world into direct contact with a seller—for example, Amazon.com or eBay. It eliminates the middleman. While computers and the Internet don’t actually bring buyer and seller “face to face” physically, it is essentially equivalent. The dialog or selling interaction is direct between buyer and seller. The seller provides information about a product or service via a Website on the Internet. The buyer surfs the net, finds a site of interest, reads

xiv

and evaluates the information, and decides whether or not to make a purchase. The advantage of the face-to-face meeting with the customers that I had every day while a door-to-door salesman is that I experienced the live interactions and learned to “think on my feet.” There was also an emotional element that becomes very important in face- toface customer meetings. So, I soon learned the importance of coping with emotion, how it could affect attitude, and the importance of attitude in selling. The more I reflected on the experiences, the more I realized that almost everything I needed to know in life, I learned selling door to door. Another trend that makes the learning experiences of direct selling relevant is the advent of the knowledge worker, as described by the late Peter Drucker, the noted author of management practices, in his book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Drucker states: “More and more people in the workforce—and most knowledge workers—will have to manage themselves. They will have to learn to develop themselves.” The unstructured and unsupervised operating environment in which a door-to-door salesperson operates places the responsibility directly on the individual salesperson to develop his or her own method of operations, disciplines to be followed, and level of effort to expend on the job. In effect, the successful door-to-door salesperson has to manage herself or himself. This is similar to working conditions today, in which authoritarian structures really don’t work well anymore. Workers, particularly young people commonly called generation “Xers” and then generation “Yers”, perform most effectively only when properly motivated rather than when ordered or commanded to do something. Supervisors and managers are discovering that they can’t lead unless the workers are willing to follow. They will follow only if they understand the reasons why they are to do something and support the objectives. The same thing is true with a door-to-door salesperson and the sales manager. The door-to-door salesperson needs a high level of motivation to work effectively and on a sustained basis. Properly motivating the salesperson is the responsibility of the sales manager. The door-to-door salesperson has to learn to manage himself or herself, and to develop his or her own work habits and methods to

xv

be successful, just as Drucker says the knowledge worker has to do today. The sales manager’s responsibility is to motivate the sales staff, to keep up their morale, and to continuously provide “ammunition” and support, so that the salesperson doesn’t get down on herself or himself. To give perspective to my door-to-door experience, the book begins with a little bit of background on where I was born, where I grew up and went to school, and some of my work experience before I started selling. However, I was out on the street selling when I was only 18 years old.

xiv

and evaluates the information, and decides whether or not to make a purchase. The advantage of the face-to-face meeting with the customers that I had every day while a door-to-door salesman is that I experienced the live interactions and learned to “think on my feet.” There was also an emotional element that becomes very important in face- toface customer meetings. So, I soon learned the importance of coping with emotion, how it could affect attitude, and the importance of attitude in selling. The more I reflected on the experiences, the more I realized that almost everything I needed to know in life, I learned selling door to door. Another trend that makes the learning experiences of direct selling relevant is the advent of the knowledge worker, as described by the late Peter Drucker, the noted author of management practices, in his book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Drucker states: “More and more people in the workforce—and most knowledge workers—will have to manage themselves. They will have to learn to develop themselves.” The unstructured and unsupervised operating environment in which a door-to-door salesperson operates places the responsibility directly on the individual salesperson to develop his or her own method of operations, disciplines to be followed, and level of effort to expend on the job. In effect, the successful door-to-door salesperson has to manage herself or himself. This is similar to working conditions today, in which authoritarian structures really don’t work well anymore. Workers, particularly young people commonly called generation “Xers” and then generation “Yers”, perform most effectively only when properly motivated rather than when ordered or commanded to do something. Supervisors and managers are discovering that they can’t lead unless the workers are willing to follow. They will follow only if they understand the reasons why they are to do something and support the objectives. The same thing is true with a door-to-door salesperson and the sales manager. The door-to-door salesperson needs a high level of motivation to work effectively and on a sustained basis. Properly motivating the salesperson is the responsibility of the sales manager. The door-to-door salesperson has to learn to manage himself or herself, and to develop his or her own work habits and methods to

xv

be successful, just as Drucker says the knowledge worker has to do today. The sales manager’s responsibility is to motivate the sales staff, to keep up their morale, and to continuously provide “ammunition” and support, so that the salesperson doesn’t get down on herself or himself. To give perspective to my door-to-door experience, the book begins with a little bit of background on where I was born, where I grew up and went to school, and some of my work experience before I started selling. However, I was out on the street selling when I was only 18 years old.

xvii

Foreword When Bob asked me to write a foreword for this book on his experiences and what he had learned selling door to door for the Real Silk Hosiery Company, I was extremely pleased. My father, John Springer, and I accumulated over half a century with the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Bob was one of several Northwestern classmates that I recruited to sell Real Silk. Every one of them, including Bob, of course, became very successful in their various careers after leaving college. After I took my father’s place as the Chicago metropolitan sales manager for Real Silk, I interviewed hundreds of college students for summer employment. I would always emphasize that what they could learn from a summer of selling door to door would probably be more useful to them after they graduated than any course they could take in school, and we’d pay them while they learned. It’s too bad that the opportunity to sell door to door is mainly a thing of the past, because of the change in demographics and the advent of shopping malls everywhere. Young adults who spent their summers ringing door bells— learning how to make a sale to people they had never met—came away with skills they could use anywhere. They learned how to sell themselves, and in business or in life, people who can do that will be successful in whatever career they choose to follow. A case in point came while I was still with Real Silk. I got a chance to audition for a television commercial, which I won. Then, I was asked to audition for another one, competing with professional actors, which I also won. I discovered auditioning for commercials was a lot like making a cold sales call. You had about two minutes to connect with the client, or director, to prove you could be trusted to do what he or she was looking for. For over 10 years, I was a successful commercial actor (The Screen Actors Guild still sends me a check each month). I always felt it was because I knew how to sell myself in those crucial first few minutes, and I learned that by knocking on doors! Jack Springer

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

1

CHAPTER 1 Background and Setting the Stage I had two experiences with direct selling. The first was selling vacuum cleaners when I was 18 years old between graduating from high school and starting college. The second was selling a line of clothing while working my way through college. The timing and location of these jobs were dictated by where I grew up and where and when I went to college. I was born in Oak Park, Illinois at 13 minutes to 3:00 a.m., on the third day of the third month of 1930. I consider three my lucky number. I was the first born, and four years later my sister, Virginia, was born to round out our family at four. Two other famous people, who you might know, were also born in Oak Park. One was Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect. The other one was Ernest Hemingway, Jr., the famous author, who was occasionally referred to as “Papa,” a moniker some of my grandchildren now occasionally use for me. I didn’t reside in Oak Park. I lived in nearby Forest Park until I went away to college. Later, my family moved out further west to Lombard, Illinois. Forest Park is a western suburb of Chicago and it was at the end of the line of the Garfield Park “elevated.” It was called the “L” because when it got to Chicago, it was elevated above the street level. My father took the “L” to work in downtown Chicago every day. I attended St. John’s Lutheran school in Forest Park from kindergarten through eighth grade. My maternal grandfather was the seventh grade teacher, the church organist, and the choir director. St. Johns was a Missouri Synod Lutheran church with over 1,500 communicant members. The school had about 400 to 500 students, and classes averaged 50 to 60 kids. The Missouri Synod was (and still is to some degree) a strict doctrinal church. I went to Proviso High School, now Proviso East, in Maywood, Illinois. I always worked at a job during summer vacation and sometimes after school. These jobs included cutting grass at the

2

Robert Louis Grottke

cemetery, delivering newspapers, working for a road paving company and setting pins at the local bowling alley. This job experience provided me with some appreciation of what it meant to “work at a job.” I was closely supervised in the grass cutting and construction jobs, while working somewhat at my own pace as a newspaper boy and pin setter. I had an interesting character building experience as a “pin boy,” while working at the bowling alley at the corner of Des Plaines and Madison streets in Forest Park. It had 16 lanes, eight on each of the two floors—I believe, the third and fourth floors. On the first floor was the Forest Theater, which showed first-run movies. The pin boy’s job was to pick up the pins after a bowler knocked them down, and slot them in racks which hung over the alley. After the bowler’s second ball, the pin boy pulled the rack down and it re-spotted the pins for the next bowler. The pin boy also returned the balls to the bowlers using a ball return. The pin boy’s job was eliminated years ago with the advent of the automatic pin spotting machines. The bowling pin racks on the lower floor were mechanical racks. They performed the pin spotting functions, as described, but the pin boy had to pull the rack down and pull it back up. The racks on the upper floor were pneumatic racks that were harder to pull down, but once the pins were set, they went back up automatically. The bowling alley had bowling leagues of regular team bowlers and “open bowling.” In league play, four bowlers in each team competed against other teams. League play involved four bowlers on each alley. Open bowling was a term used for non-league play and often involved beginners. Instead of four people to each alley, as in league play, often there would be only two or three bowlers per alley. The first night that I set pins was a nightmare. I started on the third floor with the mechanical racks. My first experience was a father and son—open bowling. I was working only the one alley. I was given minimal instructions on what to do, but initially it was pretty easy. I was told how to pick up the pins and place them in the slots in the rack. The mechanical racks were tricky. If the pins were not slanted properly on their side, they would fall out through the holes in the racks. If the bowler was working on a spare (first ball only knocked down some of the pins), you had to be careful not to

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

3

knock over any pins still left standing, by letting a pin picked up with the first ball fall through a hole. Accomplished pin boys could pick up several pins at a time (by the upper small ends) and “throw” them into the rack, so that they slotted themselves into the appropriate slots. Since all ten pins had to be picked up and slotted if the bowler threw a strike (knocking all ten pins down with one ball), a good pin boy would first pick up the ball and send it back and then pick up the pins and slot them in the rack. Speed was important, particularly in league play. As this was my first night, I was not accomplished, but with only the father and son, who weren’t particularly good bowlers and didn’t knock down many pins, I was having no trouble. Then, it happened. A league was bowling in the upstairs alleys with all eight alleys going full blast. Since it was during the war, pin boys were in short supply. I was younger than the average at 14 years old. Because of the shortage and wartime economics, each pin boy worked two alleys when setting pins for league play. Four pin boys handled the eight lanes. A wooden wall divided each alley, with a cutout slot between each two alleys (lane 1 and 2, lane 3 and 4, etc.), so the pin boy could easily move back and forth between the two alleys to pick up the pins. There was approximately a 5 x 6 foot pit where the pins and ball would end up after a “bowl.” The pin boy would pick up the pins and reset them in one alley, while the bowlers bowled in the other alley. An accomplished pin boy stayed ahead of his bowlers, and actually stood in the alley where the bowlers were bowling. When the ball hit the pins, and they went flying, he would raise his legs so the ball and pins would pass under them. At least, that is the way it was supposed to work, and it did most of the time. But sometimes the pin boy got hit with a pin, or if he was day dreaming and didn’t raise his legs, he might get hit with the ball and some of the pins. After one hit, you tended to stay alert. Pin boys could occasionally become obnoxious. There were usually no replacements. League play was held up at times, waiting for a pin boy. Sometimes pin boys who got hit by a ball or a pin, would blame the bowler. They might curse them. They might even occasionally throw a pin down the alley as protest. They could be very offensive.

2

Robert Louis Grottke

cemetery, delivering newspapers, working for a road paving company and setting pins at the local bowling alley. This job experience provided me with some appreciation of what it meant to “work at a job.” I was closely supervised in the grass cutting and construction jobs, while working somewhat at my own pace as a newspaper boy and pin setter. I had an interesting character building experience as a “pin boy,” while working at the bowling alley at the corner of Des Plaines and Madison streets in Forest Park. It had 16 lanes, eight on each of the two floors—I believe, the third and fourth floors. On the first floor was the Forest Theater, which showed first-run movies. The pin boy’s job was to pick up the pins after a bowler knocked them down, and slot them in racks which hung over the alley. After the bowler’s second ball, the pin boy pulled the rack down and it re-spotted the pins for the next bowler. The pin boy also returned the balls to the bowlers using a ball return. The pin boy’s job was eliminated years ago with the advent of the automatic pin spotting machines. The bowling pin racks on the lower floor were mechanical racks. They performed the pin spotting functions, as described, but the pin boy had to pull the rack down and pull it back up. The racks on the upper floor were pneumatic racks that were harder to pull down, but once the pins were set, they went back up automatically. The bowling alley had bowling leagues of regular team bowlers and “open bowling.” In league play, four bowlers in each team competed against other teams. League play involved four bowlers on each alley. Open bowling was a term used for non-league play and often involved beginners. Instead of four people to each alley, as in league play, often there would be only two or three bowlers per alley. The first night that I set pins was a nightmare. I started on the third floor with the mechanical racks. My first experience was a father and son—open bowling. I was working only the one alley. I was given minimal instructions on what to do, but initially it was pretty easy. I was told how to pick up the pins and place them in the slots in the rack. The mechanical racks were tricky. If the pins were not slanted properly on their side, they would fall out through the holes in the racks. If the bowler was working on a spare (first ball only knocked down some of the pins), you had to be careful not to

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

3

knock over any pins still left standing, by letting a pin picked up with the first ball fall through a hole. Accomplished pin boys could pick up several pins at a time (by the upper small ends) and “throw” them into the rack, so that they slotted themselves into the appropriate slots. Since all ten pins had to be picked up and slotted if the bowler threw a strike (knocking all ten pins down with one ball), a good pin boy would first pick up the ball and send it back and then pick up the pins and slot them in the rack. Speed was important, particularly in league play. As this was my first night, I was not accomplished, but with only the father and son, who weren’t particularly good bowlers and didn’t knock down many pins, I was having no trouble. Then, it happened. A league was bowling in the upstairs alleys with all eight alleys going full blast. Since it was during the war, pin boys were in short supply. I was younger than the average at 14 years old. Because of the shortage and wartime economics, each pin boy worked two alleys when setting pins for league play. Four pin boys handled the eight lanes. A wooden wall divided each alley, with a cutout slot between each two alleys (lane 1 and 2, lane 3 and 4, etc.), so the pin boy could easily move back and forth between the two alleys to pick up the pins. There was approximately a 5 x 6 foot pit where the pins and ball would end up after a “bowl.” The pin boy would pick up the pins and reset them in one alley, while the bowlers bowled in the other alley. An accomplished pin boy stayed ahead of his bowlers, and actually stood in the alley where the bowlers were bowling. When the ball hit the pins, and they went flying, he would raise his legs so the ball and pins would pass under them. At least, that is the way it was supposed to work, and it did most of the time. But sometimes the pin boy got hit with a pin, or if he was day dreaming and didn’t raise his legs, he might get hit with the ball and some of the pins. After one hit, you tended to stay alert. Pin boys could occasionally become obnoxious. There were usually no replacements. League play was held up at times, waiting for a pin boy. Sometimes pin boys who got hit by a ball or a pin, would blame the bowler. They might curse them. They might even occasionally throw a pin down the alley as protest. They could be very offensive.

4

Robert Louis Grottke

On this infamous night, one of the pin boys either quit or was fired on the spot for such behavior. I don’t know why, but the manager came to me and said I had to go upstairs and finish the league for that pin boy. I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. I went from a relatively easy two-person-on-one-lane open bowling to a fast league, with four accomplished bowlers on each of two lanes. I had never set pins on these pneumatic racks before. They were foreboding. While they did not allow pins to fall through the holes, which was an advantage, they were much harder to pull down. Nevertheless, I hopped to it. I picked up the pins and the ball in one alley and waited in the other alley for the ball to come down. I was somewhat in the swing of it, set one alley, then the other, and so forth. My problem was I began to get tired and lost all sense of time. I had no watch in those days, and there was no visible clock. Just the hard work and the monotony of the job. After awhile, I started to panic. I had worked for what seemed to have been hours. I began to moan, and then to wonder when was this going to end. No one could hear you because bowling alleys were noisy, particularly in the back by the pin boys. Balls were crashing into the pins, and the pins bouncing off the alley walls. Balls swishing down the alleys. Bowlers shouting with joy, or moaning with disappointment. I began to be concerned about what my parents might be thinking. In those days, parents kept a very tight rein on their kids. I became more or less entranced with the situation, almost like a man captured by his circumstances. Tears began to stream down my face, fighting for space against the droplets of perspiration. I was exhausted and confused. I thought it must be at least 2:00 in the morning. Why didn’t someone come and save me! Suddenly it ended as quickly as it began. One of the other pin boys finally finished his lanes, and knowing that I was in trouble, took over and relieved me. I found my way downstairs to the lower floor and glanced at the clock. To my chagrin, it read 9:45. Time just doesn’t pass quickly when you’re not having fun.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

5

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning?

From that inauspicious start, I developed into one of the most accomplished pin boys in the alley, and only worked league bowling, thereafter. This was most certainly a character building experience, and I needed a strong character as I started my selling career.

4

Robert Louis Grottke

On this infamous night, one of the pin boys either quit or was fired on the spot for such behavior. I don’t know why, but the manager came to me and said I had to go upstairs and finish the league for that pin boy. I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked. I went from a relatively easy two-person-on-one-lane open bowling to a fast league, with four accomplished bowlers on each of two lanes. I had never set pins on these pneumatic racks before. They were foreboding. While they did not allow pins to fall through the holes, which was an advantage, they were much harder to pull down. Nevertheless, I hopped to it. I picked up the pins and the ball in one alley and waited in the other alley for the ball to come down. I was somewhat in the swing of it, set one alley, then the other, and so forth. My problem was I began to get tired and lost all sense of time. I had no watch in those days, and there was no visible clock. Just the hard work and the monotony of the job. After awhile, I started to panic. I had worked for what seemed to have been hours. I began to moan, and then to wonder when was this going to end. No one could hear you because bowling alleys were noisy, particularly in the back by the pin boys. Balls were crashing into the pins, and the pins bouncing off the alley walls. Balls swishing down the alleys. Bowlers shouting with joy, or moaning with disappointment. I began to be concerned about what my parents might be thinking. In those days, parents kept a very tight rein on their kids. I became more or less entranced with the situation, almost like a man captured by his circumstances. Tears began to stream down my face, fighting for space against the droplets of perspiration. I was exhausted and confused. I thought it must be at least 2:00 in the morning. Why didn’t someone come and save me! Suddenly it ended as quickly as it began. One of the other pin boys finally finished his lanes, and knowing that I was in trouble, took over and relieved me. I found my way downstairs to the lower floor and glanced at the clock. To my chagrin, it read 9:45. Time just doesn’t pass quickly when you’re not having fun.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

5

It’s 2 o’clock in the morning?

From that inauspicious start, I developed into one of the most accomplished pin boys in the alley, and only worked league bowling, thereafter. This was most certainly a character building experience, and I needed a strong character as I started my selling career.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

7

CHAPTER 2 I Sell Vacuum Cleaners During the summer of 1948, between my high school and college days, I got my first job in sales—selling Rexair vacuum cleaners door to door. An interesting set of circumstances led to this selling opportunity. My mother was suffering from a bad case of asthma. She was very allergic to house dust, among other things. The doctor forbade her to use the vacuum cleaner, or even to be in the house when it was being used. My father, through some contacts from the Chicago Portrait Company, where he was employed as controller, heard about a different kind of vacuum cleaner, called Rexair. Instead of using a bag to catch the dirt and dust vacuumed up, this machine used a pan of water, eventually trapping almost 100% of the dust and dirt collected. The unit, similar to tank types rather than uprights, was bell shaped, with the pan of water on the bottom of the bell. Rexair is still in business, and its vacuum cleaner is now called the Rainbow Home Cleaning System. I believe my dad came in contact with this company because they used a direct sales organization to market and sell the Rexair vacuum cleaner, which was similar to the sales organization used by his employer, the Chicago Portrait Company. Anyway, my family purchased a Rexair vacuum cleaner to alleviate my mother’s asthma symptoms. In the course of the purchase, my father got to know the Rexair sales manager. Also, he knew some Chicago Portrait salesmen who had switched over to Rexair. When the summer of 1948 arrived I was offered a job selling Rexair vacuum cleaners door-to-door. I was to use my parents’ 1947 Buick as my transportation. Dad took the train to work, and I dropped my mother off at the Wolfe Bros. furniture store where she worked before I started my canvassing. I was furnished a demonstrator vacuum cleaner, and given one new vacuum cleaner to sell. The demonstrator had a transparent plastic pan where the water was contained. The

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Robert Louis Grottke

machine tools operated like any other tank type vacuum except the air containing the dirt and dust was suctioned through the water and not a porous vacuum cleaner bag. This process allegedly resulted in trapping a much larger percentage of the vacuumed up dirt. I believe we claimed something over 99+%. The plastic pan was clear so that when the machine was demonstrated in a prospective customer’s home, the water would turn black almost instantaneously, as a rug was vacuumed.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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I was taught how to use the machine, how to demonstrate it, and how to write an order and deliver the machine. The sales manager was a husky fellow named Don. He was loud, outspoken, enthusiastic and very aggressive. I went to a sales meeting every week or so. The Rexair machine was expensive. It sold for $99.75 plus $2.00 sales tax for a total of $101.75. The competition was quite a bit less expensive. I would receive a 30% commission on the sale, or about $30.00 for every machine sold. Also, this machine was very different. Nobody else used water. Everybody else used a bag or a bag and a filter. Being different can be somewhat of a disadvantage. People tend to be suspicious of products different from the ones they’re used too. Our pitch was that Rexair was better than all the other machines, because it trapped the dust and dirt in water, which wasn’t porous like a bag. Therefore, it cleaned better. It actually removed the dirt and dust from the home, instead of simply blowing it back into the air through the holes in the conventional type vacuum cleaner bag. Anyway, that was the sales pitch. There I was in the summer of my eighteenth year, “not dry behind the ears yet” but a full-fledged door-to-door salesman, trying to peddle a $100.00 vacuum cleaner in a working class neighborhood— generally, the western suburbs of Chicago. It wasn’t very easy. I tried to sell during the day when the men were away working. A purchase of this magnitude in those days usually was made jointly by the husband and the wife. I should have been working evenings. But to start, I wasn’t. Based on the cost of living in 1948, $100 for a vacuum cleaner was somewhat expensive. To put this in perspective, the average income in 1948 was $2,930 and the average price of a house was $7,700. A gallon of gas was 16¢ and a gallon of milk was 87¢. (This data is per The Pages of Time.) The accompanying excerpt from the Rexair Demonstration Manual, covering the ten rules for successful canvassing, recalls many of the points taught in the weekly sales meetings. While so much of this was true, it didn’t really “sink in” until years of experience demonstrated its wisdom first hand.

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Robert Louis Grottke

machine tools operated like any other tank type vacuum except the air containing the dirt and dust was suctioned through the water and not a porous vacuum cleaner bag. This process allegedly resulted in trapping a much larger percentage of the vacuumed up dirt. I believe we claimed something over 99+%. The plastic pan was clear so that when the machine was demonstrated in a prospective customer’s home, the water would turn black almost instantaneously, as a rug was vacuumed.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

9

I was taught how to use the machine, how to demonstrate it, and how to write an order and deliver the machine. The sales manager was a husky fellow named Don. He was loud, outspoken, enthusiastic and very aggressive. I went to a sales meeting every week or so. The Rexair machine was expensive. It sold for $99.75 plus $2.00 sales tax for a total of $101.75. The competition was quite a bit less expensive. I would receive a 30% commission on the sale, or about $30.00 for every machine sold. Also, this machine was very different. Nobody else used water. Everybody else used a bag or a bag and a filter. Being different can be somewhat of a disadvantage. People tend to be suspicious of products different from the ones they’re used too. Our pitch was that Rexair was better than all the other machines, because it trapped the dust and dirt in water, which wasn’t porous like a bag. Therefore, it cleaned better. It actually removed the dirt and dust from the home, instead of simply blowing it back into the air through the holes in the conventional type vacuum cleaner bag. Anyway, that was the sales pitch. There I was in the summer of my eighteenth year, “not dry behind the ears yet” but a full-fledged door-to-door salesman, trying to peddle a $100.00 vacuum cleaner in a working class neighborhood— generally, the western suburbs of Chicago. It wasn’t very easy. I tried to sell during the day when the men were away working. A purchase of this magnitude in those days usually was made jointly by the husband and the wife. I should have been working evenings. But to start, I wasn’t. Based on the cost of living in 1948, $100 for a vacuum cleaner was somewhat expensive. To put this in perspective, the average income in 1948 was $2,930 and the average price of a house was $7,700. A gallon of gas was 16¢ and a gallon of milk was 87¢. (This data is per The Pages of Time.) The accompanying excerpt from the Rexair Demonstration Manual, covering the ten rules for successful canvassing, recalls many of the points taught in the weekly sales meetings. While so much of this was true, it didn’t really “sink in” until years of experience demonstrated its wisdom first hand.

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Robert Louis Grottke

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

11

What usually happens in a situation like this is that the family gets all excited. “Uncle Harry” and “Aunt Suzie” express an interest, and some friends or relatives give strong signals that they are definitely going to buy. My mother attended church regularly, was active in the Ladies Aid and other church activities, and she made a lot of contacts for me. I made many demonstrations, but, I didn’t close any sales. One hot prospect was the local IGA store in Forest Park, IL where we lived and where my mother was a regular customer. It was my most promising prospect, as the family had allegedly definitely decided to buy a Rexair. I believe someone in the family had asthma or some respiratory ailment. My mother got me an appointment. I made the demonstration, but I couldn’t close the sale. I was beginning to learn about all the excuses people made. The IGA store people said they were definitely going to buy a machine, but not right now. I soon learned the litany of excuses offered by prospects, so as not to buy now: “We don’t have the money now.” “I want to think about it.” “I need to talk it over with my husband.” “I think I’ll wait till next month.” “It’s a little too expensive.” “I want to ask my friend how she likes hers.” “I want to check out the competition.” “It’s a bad time right now,” etc., etc. In short, I just didn’t know how to close the sale. This was a huge problem for me, initially. I worked reasonably hard, simply going door-to-door in various neighborhoods in the western suburbs of Chicago. Most days, I was able to demonstrate the machine. However, I never closed a sale. Promises, promises, excuses, excuses. Weeks passed. After six weeks, I still hadn’t made a sale. My dad finally said to me, “Son, I don’t think you are cut out to be a salesman.” I responded, “Dad, I’m not a quitter.” However, my Dad and Mom did support me. They continued to let me use our brand new car. They also continued to let me try. Dad even wrote me a very supportive letter. Then, it happened. In the middle of the week at 10 o’clock in the morning, on a quiet street in Elmwood Park, Illinois. I wasn’t half way through my demonstration, when the lady said those magic words, “I’ll take it.” I remember she gave me a $10 cash deposit and I had to go back to deliver the machine, finalize the sale and collect the balance of the money. It was a sale. I nearly smashed up the car driving home, I was so excited-I made a sale. I made a sale. I...... made.....a.....sale!! I can do it.

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Robert Louis Grottke

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

11

What usually happens in a situation like this is that the family gets all excited. “Uncle Harry” and “Aunt Suzie” express an interest, and some friends or relatives give strong signals that they are definitely going to buy. My mother attended church regularly, was active in the Ladies Aid and other church activities, and she made a lot of contacts for me. I made many demonstrations, but, I didn’t close any sales. One hot prospect was the local IGA store in Forest Park, IL where we lived and where my mother was a regular customer. It was my most promising prospect, as the family had allegedly definitely decided to buy a Rexair. I believe someone in the family had asthma or some respiratory ailment. My mother got me an appointment. I made the demonstration, but I couldn’t close the sale. I was beginning to learn about all the excuses people made. The IGA store people said they were definitely going to buy a machine, but not right now. I soon learned the litany of excuses offered by prospects, so as not to buy now: “We don’t have the money now.” “I want to think about it.” “I need to talk it over with my husband.” “I think I’ll wait till next month.” “It’s a little too expensive.” “I want to ask my friend how she likes hers.” “I want to check out the competition.” “It’s a bad time right now,” etc., etc. In short, I just didn’t know how to close the sale. This was a huge problem for me, initially. I worked reasonably hard, simply going door-to-door in various neighborhoods in the western suburbs of Chicago. Most days, I was able to demonstrate the machine. However, I never closed a sale. Promises, promises, excuses, excuses. Weeks passed. After six weeks, I still hadn’t made a sale. My dad finally said to me, “Son, I don’t think you are cut out to be a salesman.” I responded, “Dad, I’m not a quitter.” However, my Dad and Mom did support me. They continued to let me use our brand new car. They also continued to let me try. Dad even wrote me a very supportive letter. Then, it happened. In the middle of the week at 10 o’clock in the morning, on a quiet street in Elmwood Park, Illinois. I wasn’t half way through my demonstration, when the lady said those magic words, “I’ll take it.” I remember she gave me a $10 cash deposit and I had to go back to deliver the machine, finalize the sale and collect the balance of the money. It was a sale. I nearly smashed up the car driving home, I was so excited-I made a sale. I made a sale. I...... made.....a.....sale!! I can do it.

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Robert Louis Grottke

Mom’s IGA store

13

Dad’s encouraging letter

That sale started me off. As they say, success breeds success. During the last six weeks of the summer, I sold 20 machines and earned $600 in commissions. In those days, your Dad didn’t want you to earn more than $600 a year, because if you did, he would lose

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Robert Louis Grottke

Mom’s IGA store

13

Dad’s encouraging letter

That sale started me off. As they say, success breeds success. During the last six weeks of the summer, I sold 20 machines and earned $600 in commissions. In those days, your Dad didn’t want you to earn more than $600 a year, because if you did, he would lose

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Robert Louis Grottke

you as an exemption on his income tax return, which would increase his taxes. So in spite of the poor start, I actually made quota. On two days, I closed the sale on two machines—earning $60 in commission for the day. It made me feel like a million bucks. One of my two-sale days was the day the owners of the IGA store kept their promise and bought a machine. They made an evening appointment (they worked the store during the day), so the sale was completed at night. That same day during the day, I also sold a machine. The other “two-sale day” was more dramatic. I had sold one machine and was continuing to canvas door-to-door in the late afternoon. I believe I was in River Forest, a suburb which bordered my hometown of Forest Park. A man came to the door showed some interest and asked for a demonstration. It turned out his daughter, who was with him in the house, had a bad case of asthma. The demonstration revealed his rugs were particularly dusty and dirty. (The transparent water pan turned completely black the instant I vacuumed a few feet of his living room rug.) He tried to put off buying with all the conventional excuses. But I had matured and learned a little bit about closing a sale, and his asthmatic daughter was my leverage. “How can you let your daughter continue to suffer, when buying this machine will give her instant relief?” I asked with sincere incredulity. I was not afraid to speak up. I kept pressing him. I’d learned how to cope with excuses or reasons the prospect offered not to buy now. I knew that with his asthmatic daughter and the condition of his house, I had the upper hand. I simply refused to take “no” for an answer. Ultimately, he bought the machine that night. In direct selling, delivery was instantaneous. His machine was taken from my car and delivered to him. He signed the sales order and paid the money. I had my second two-machine sale day. The Rexair experience taught me a lot. I grew up a bit. I learned that if you keep trying, even in the face of continued failure, you can ultimately succeed. I learned a little about how to convince people to buy something, when a short time before they had no idea they were going to make a purchase. I learned how to overcome objections, to listen to the customer and to respond. I learned to think “on my feet.” I learned to have confidence in the product I was selling. I learned something about how to beat the competition.

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CHAPTER 3 Interlude After selling vacuum cleaners, I started attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with a plan to major in accounting and become a Certified Public Accountant. I made the freshman swimming team. Another freshman on the team, Jack Springer, was eventually to get me back into direct selling, but I didn’t know it at the time. That next summer, at the recommendation of the Northwestern swimming coach, I took a job as a lifeguard at Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Niles, Illinois. This way I could practice swimming all summer. While I felt good about my experience as a salesman after my Rexair experience, I didn’t return to selling for two years. When I reflected on my experiences as a vacuum cleaner salesman, I didn’t miss it much. Being a lifeguard was easy and a good life. The next summer (1950), for some reason, I went back to working construction. Apparently, I felt I didn’t need to swim that summer, and the construction job paid well. Then, the Korean War broke out, and I was subject to the draft. However, I was a junior in college that fall and requested deferment from my draft board to finish college. It was granted so long as I was in school on a continuous basis. This meant going to summer school in 1951 and an accelerated graduation in March 1952. NU operated on a quarter basis, not semesters. This presented a problem for me, as I was working my way through college. I had a “board job” with my fraternity which covered my housing and meals. The money from my summer work went towards my tuition, and my parents paid the balance. Going to summer school presented a financial problem. I needed to work to afford to stay in school, but needed to stay in school to avoid being drafted out of school. A series of events then occurred to solve the problem. I was able to schedule my summer school enrollment for mornings only—

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Robert Louis Grottke

you as an exemption on his income tax return, which would increase his taxes. So in spite of the poor start, I actually made quota. On two days, I closed the sale on two machines—earning $60 in commission for the day. It made me feel like a million bucks. One of my two-sale days was the day the owners of the IGA store kept their promise and bought a machine. They made an evening appointment (they worked the store during the day), so the sale was completed at night. That same day during the day, I also sold a machine. The other “two-sale day” was more dramatic. I had sold one machine and was continuing to canvas door-to-door in the late afternoon. I believe I was in River Forest, a suburb which bordered my hometown of Forest Park. A man came to the door showed some interest and asked for a demonstration. It turned out his daughter, who was with him in the house, had a bad case of asthma. The demonstration revealed his rugs were particularly dusty and dirty. (The transparent water pan turned completely black the instant I vacuumed a few feet of his living room rug.) He tried to put off buying with all the conventional excuses. But I had matured and learned a little bit about closing a sale, and his asthmatic daughter was my leverage. “How can you let your daughter continue to suffer, when buying this machine will give her instant relief?” I asked with sincere incredulity. I was not afraid to speak up. I kept pressing him. I’d learned how to cope with excuses or reasons the prospect offered not to buy now. I knew that with his asthmatic daughter and the condition of his house, I had the upper hand. I simply refused to take “no” for an answer. Ultimately, he bought the machine that night. In direct selling, delivery was instantaneous. His machine was taken from my car and delivered to him. He signed the sales order and paid the money. I had my second two-machine sale day. The Rexair experience taught me a lot. I grew up a bit. I learned that if you keep trying, even in the face of continued failure, you can ultimately succeed. I learned a little about how to convince people to buy something, when a short time before they had no idea they were going to make a purchase. I learned how to overcome objections, to listen to the customer and to respond. I learned to think “on my feet.” I learned to have confidence in the product I was selling. I learned something about how to beat the competition.

15

CHAPTER 3 Interlude After selling vacuum cleaners, I started attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with a plan to major in accounting and become a Certified Public Accountant. I made the freshman swimming team. Another freshman on the team, Jack Springer, was eventually to get me back into direct selling, but I didn’t know it at the time. That next summer, at the recommendation of the Northwestern swimming coach, I took a job as a lifeguard at Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Niles, Illinois. This way I could practice swimming all summer. While I felt good about my experience as a salesman after my Rexair experience, I didn’t return to selling for two years. When I reflected on my experiences as a vacuum cleaner salesman, I didn’t miss it much. Being a lifeguard was easy and a good life. The next summer (1950), for some reason, I went back to working construction. Apparently, I felt I didn’t need to swim that summer, and the construction job paid well. Then, the Korean War broke out, and I was subject to the draft. However, I was a junior in college that fall and requested deferment from my draft board to finish college. It was granted so long as I was in school on a continuous basis. This meant going to summer school in 1951 and an accelerated graduation in March 1952. NU operated on a quarter basis, not semesters. This presented a problem for me, as I was working my way through college. I had a “board job” with my fraternity which covered my housing and meals. The money from my summer work went towards my tuition, and my parents paid the balance. Going to summer school presented a financial problem. I needed to work to afford to stay in school, but needed to stay in school to avoid being drafted out of school. A series of events then occurred to solve the problem. I was able to schedule my summer school enrollment for mornings only—

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Robert Louis Grottke

something like 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Jack Springer, my teammate on the swim team, had been after me to sell Real Silk Company products door to door. His father was the sales manager for the Chicago area, and he knew I had some door-to-door selling experience with Rexair vacuum cleaners. So, I agreed to take a job selling Real Silk, afternoons only during summer school. The other challenge was the need for a car—particularly if I was to return to door-to-door selling. That was solved when my fiancée and I decided to buy a car together. She was studying to be a teacher and would need a car in the fall for “practice teaching,” which required her to visit local schools. I needed a car that summer to sell Real Silk. So when school let out for summer vacation in 1951, I was again on my way back to door-to-door selling, with the Real Silk Hosiery Company, of Indianapolis, Indiana.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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CHAPTER 4 What is Real Silk? I received my orientation to the Real Silk Hosiery Company from Jack’s dad, John Springer. Mr. Springer was the manager of the Chicago branch, which included the City of Chicago and all the suburbs. At that time, the suburbs were just beginning to start a period of accelerated growth. Chicago was one of the largest branches of the Real Silk Hosiery Company—in a class with Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The Chicago office was located at 36 S. State Street, at the corner of State and Monroe. This was in the heart of the “loop” in downtown Chicago. A sales meeting was held every Friday evening, conducted by John Springer. I went downtown early one Friday afternoon to receive my orientation and attend the sales meeting. Real Silk Hosiery Company started in 1922. It manufactured silk hosiery and sold it via salespeople calling on customers door to door. This was generally referred to as direct selling. It had a very good reputation and its products were generally of very good quality. The company was large enough to advertise in national magazines. A sample of a 1940 advertisement appearing in a national magazine, introducing the new spring line, is shown in the accompanying illustration. When DuPont developed nylon, silk hosiery became passé and was replaced by nylon. When I started at Real Silk Hosiery, its main line was nylon hosiery, but they didn’t change the company name because older customers were familiar with the company, and it had created a certain amount of goodwill, which it didn’t want to lose. The company offered a broad line of clothing for women, men and children, including ladies hosiery, lingerie, underwear, shirts, socks, sweaters, dresses, raincoats, sportswear, ties and some selected household items such as metal glasses, some of which I still have. This was before panty hose, when ladies wore garter belts to hold up their stockings. Real Silk didn’t sell garter belts, however.

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Robert Louis Grottke

something like 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Jack Springer, my teammate on the swim team, had been after me to sell Real Silk Company products door to door. His father was the sales manager for the Chicago area, and he knew I had some door-to-door selling experience with Rexair vacuum cleaners. So, I agreed to take a job selling Real Silk, afternoons only during summer school. The other challenge was the need for a car—particularly if I was to return to door-to-door selling. That was solved when my fiancée and I decided to buy a car together. She was studying to be a teacher and would need a car in the fall for “practice teaching,” which required her to visit local schools. I needed a car that summer to sell Real Silk. So when school let out for summer vacation in 1951, I was again on my way back to door-to-door selling, with the Real Silk Hosiery Company, of Indianapolis, Indiana.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

17

CHAPTER 4 What is Real Silk? I received my orientation to the Real Silk Hosiery Company from Jack’s dad, John Springer. Mr. Springer was the manager of the Chicago branch, which included the City of Chicago and all the suburbs. At that time, the suburbs were just beginning to start a period of accelerated growth. Chicago was one of the largest branches of the Real Silk Hosiery Company—in a class with Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The Chicago office was located at 36 S. State Street, at the corner of State and Monroe. This was in the heart of the “loop” in downtown Chicago. A sales meeting was held every Friday evening, conducted by John Springer. I went downtown early one Friday afternoon to receive my orientation and attend the sales meeting. Real Silk Hosiery Company started in 1922. It manufactured silk hosiery and sold it via salespeople calling on customers door to door. This was generally referred to as direct selling. It had a very good reputation and its products were generally of very good quality. The company was large enough to advertise in national magazines. A sample of a 1940 advertisement appearing in a national magazine, introducing the new spring line, is shown in the accompanying illustration. When DuPont developed nylon, silk hosiery became passé and was replaced by nylon. When I started at Real Silk Hosiery, its main line was nylon hosiery, but they didn’t change the company name because older customers were familiar with the company, and it had created a certain amount of goodwill, which it didn’t want to lose. The company offered a broad line of clothing for women, men and children, including ladies hosiery, lingerie, underwear, shirts, socks, sweaters, dresses, raincoats, sportswear, ties and some selected household items such as metal glasses, some of which I still have. This was before panty hose, when ladies wore garter belts to hold up their stockings. Real Silk didn’t sell garter belts, however.

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Robert Louis Grottke

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

19

Sales were made by demonstrating products through catalogs which had pictures of the products, a detailed written description, and swatches of material showing color and the texture and quality of the fabric. Real Silk had a woman’s book or catalog and a men’s catalog. Children’s items were in the back of the woman’s book. The company furnished a sample case, the catalogs, an order book and a few samples. Most salespeople carried samples of some of the items, particularly hosiery, including women’s, men’s and children’s. The best salespeople carried many more samples. The company called them demonstrators. There were two negatives about carrying demonstrators, which was why a lot of salespeople didn’t carry many. The first was you had to pay for them. Even though you were allowed to buy them at cost, it still represented an out-of-pocket cost. You could usually get your money back on a seasonal item by selling it to one of your customers at cost, when the season ended. Items you couldn’t sell represented a sunk cost. The other negative was you had to buy and carry with you a larger sample case. This could be tiring and also could appear somewhat ominous when calling on a prospective customer. Real Silk was known for high quality products—particularly the ladies’ and men’s hosiery and the children’s socks. Several other unique Real Silk items, such as nylon raincoats and men’s shorts, were also very good. The men’s boxer short was made of rayon. It had no buttons, a comfortable elastic waistband but had a slit in the front which was created by an overlap of the material by about an inch, which was heavily stitched on both sides. These undershorts were very comfortable, washed up nicely and again, never wore out. They were a hot seller. Salespeople were assigned a territory and instructed to go door to door and make their sales pitches. This was known as “cold canvassing.” New salespeople really had no other option but to go door to door. However, experienced salespeople who had worked for the company awhile, knew who and where Real Silk’s customers were. They had sold them an order previously. They knew their names and they were also known to the customer. Experienced salespeople

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Robert Louis Grottke

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

19

Sales were made by demonstrating products through catalogs which had pictures of the products, a detailed written description, and swatches of material showing color and the texture and quality of the fabric. Real Silk had a woman’s book or catalog and a men’s catalog. Children’s items were in the back of the woman’s book. The company furnished a sample case, the catalogs, an order book and a few samples. Most salespeople carried samples of some of the items, particularly hosiery, including women’s, men’s and children’s. The best salespeople carried many more samples. The company called them demonstrators. There were two negatives about carrying demonstrators, which was why a lot of salespeople didn’t carry many. The first was you had to pay for them. Even though you were allowed to buy them at cost, it still represented an out-of-pocket cost. You could usually get your money back on a seasonal item by selling it to one of your customers at cost, when the season ended. Items you couldn’t sell represented a sunk cost. The other negative was you had to buy and carry with you a larger sample case. This could be tiring and also could appear somewhat ominous when calling on a prospective customer. Real Silk was known for high quality products—particularly the ladies’ and men’s hosiery and the children’s socks. Several other unique Real Silk items, such as nylon raincoats and men’s shorts, were also very good. The men’s boxer short was made of rayon. It had no buttons, a comfortable elastic waistband but had a slit in the front which was created by an overlap of the material by about an inch, which was heavily stitched on both sides. These undershorts were very comfortable, washed up nicely and again, never wore out. They were a hot seller. Salespeople were assigned a territory and instructed to go door to door and make their sales pitches. This was known as “cold canvassing.” New salespeople really had no other option but to go door to door. However, experienced salespeople who had worked for the company awhile, knew who and where Real Silk’s customers were. They had sold them an order previously. They knew their names and they were also known to the customer. Experienced salespeople

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Robert Louis Grottke

tended not to cold canvass but to “run around” the territory, calling on known customers. If the time interval between calls was appropriate, the sale was a lot easier. The customer knew what she wanted, and the salesperson simply wrote down the order. The customer usually bought items that she bought on a regular basis, such as her nylons, kids’ socks, maybe her husband’s socks, but then she would also look through the catalog and maybe buy some seasonal items or something she hadn’t purchased before. An enterprising salesperson would also be pushing certain selected items, usually supported by demonstrators. In summary, these repeat customer orders were usually larger, on average, than orders received by cold canvassing. Therefore, the salesperson who could get a lot of repeat business did well without a lot of effort. The negative side of only calling on repeat customers was that it never expanded a salesperson’s business by adding new customers. Salespeople were bound to lose some customers, usually because they moved away, died, or simply changed their buying habits. Therefore, if they expected to be successful, they had to do some cold canvassing to develop new customers, or to locate Real Silk customers who may have moved into their territory. The best salespeople spent a lot of the time cold canvassing, but they also kept detailed lists of customers or prospects who had asked them to call back at a certain time. Of course, they always knew who bought Real Silk and was a customer, because they kept a copy of the order in their order book. The bottom line is that good salespeople had to balance their efforts between cold canvassing and calling on existing Real Silk customers. This enhanced his or her revenue and built the business with new customers. New salespeople often got a quick start by selling family and friends. This was usually an easy sell because everybody used the type of items offered by Real Silk—hosiery, underwear, men’s and boy’s socks, etc. However, this source was soon exhausted, and the salesperson had to make it on his or her own in the territory. At that time, four factors provided an environment that made door-to-door selling an attractive opportunity. They were • the growth of the suburbs

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the relative safety of neighborhoods suburban shopping malls hadn’t yet been developed people were attuned to dealing with door-to-door salespeople because many companies were distributing a variety of products that way. After the War, the growth of the suburbs increased dramatically. War veterans with government-backed financing could buy new homes with 10% or less down payment and low interest rates. While Chicago had some older suburbs like Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, and Oak Park, expanding newer suburbs such as Glenview, Northbrook, Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights provided much open land for the new housing. Suburbs were easier territories for door-todoor selling, because single-family homes provided easier access than apartment buildings, which were more prevalent in the city. Suburbs also tended to have more affluent potential buyers. As people moved into the suburbs, they moved away from their downtown or city centers, and had to travel farther to reach shopping destinations. Also significantly, neighborhood shopping centers hadn’t yet been developed, except for some adjacent to Chicago shopping areas such as Evanston and Oak Park. At the corner of Golf Road and Skokie Blvd., in Skokie Illinois, a sign was posted about 1950 that said, “Marshall Field’s will soon build a store here.” This was to become the Old Orchard Shopping Center, one of the first to be built in Chicago’s suburbs, or any U.S. suburb. Suburbanites had to travel to downtown Chicago for choice shopping, or shop in smaller neighborhood stores, unless they happened to live close to Evanston or Oak Park. Suburban neighborhoods were then generally perceived to be safe. While there were always some crimes committed and criminal activity, it wasn’t at the level that caused concern. People simply felt safer. The Great War was recently over, and there was a relative calm around the country. Companies selling their products door to door included Rexair and Electrolux vacuum cleaners, the Fuller Brush company—very popular at that time—Stanley Home Products, Watkins Products (offering a large variety of home products), magazine subscriptions, encyclopedias, and Wearever pots and pans. I am sure there were many others, but these were the main ones that I remember. • • •

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Robert Louis Grottke

tended not to cold canvass but to “run around” the territory, calling on known customers. If the time interval between calls was appropriate, the sale was a lot easier. The customer knew what she wanted, and the salesperson simply wrote down the order. The customer usually bought items that she bought on a regular basis, such as her nylons, kids’ socks, maybe her husband’s socks, but then she would also look through the catalog and maybe buy some seasonal items or something she hadn’t purchased before. An enterprising salesperson would also be pushing certain selected items, usually supported by demonstrators. In summary, these repeat customer orders were usually larger, on average, than orders received by cold canvassing. Therefore, the salesperson who could get a lot of repeat business did well without a lot of effort. The negative side of only calling on repeat customers was that it never expanded a salesperson’s business by adding new customers. Salespeople were bound to lose some customers, usually because they moved away, died, or simply changed their buying habits. Therefore, if they expected to be successful, they had to do some cold canvassing to develop new customers, or to locate Real Silk customers who may have moved into their territory. The best salespeople spent a lot of the time cold canvassing, but they also kept detailed lists of customers or prospects who had asked them to call back at a certain time. Of course, they always knew who bought Real Silk and was a customer, because they kept a copy of the order in their order book. The bottom line is that good salespeople had to balance their efforts between cold canvassing and calling on existing Real Silk customers. This enhanced his or her revenue and built the business with new customers. New salespeople often got a quick start by selling family and friends. This was usually an easy sell because everybody used the type of items offered by Real Silk—hosiery, underwear, men’s and boy’s socks, etc. However, this source was soon exhausted, and the salesperson had to make it on his or her own in the territory. At that time, four factors provided an environment that made door-to-door selling an attractive opportunity. They were • the growth of the suburbs

21

the relative safety of neighborhoods suburban shopping malls hadn’t yet been developed people were attuned to dealing with door-to-door salespeople because many companies were distributing a variety of products that way. After the War, the growth of the suburbs increased dramatically. War veterans with government-backed financing could buy new homes with 10% or less down payment and low interest rates. While Chicago had some older suburbs like Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, and Oak Park, expanding newer suburbs such as Glenview, Northbrook, Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights provided much open land for the new housing. Suburbs were easier territories for door-todoor selling, because single-family homes provided easier access than apartment buildings, which were more prevalent in the city. Suburbs also tended to have more affluent potential buyers. As people moved into the suburbs, they moved away from their downtown or city centers, and had to travel farther to reach shopping destinations. Also significantly, neighborhood shopping centers hadn’t yet been developed, except for some adjacent to Chicago shopping areas such as Evanston and Oak Park. At the corner of Golf Road and Skokie Blvd., in Skokie Illinois, a sign was posted about 1950 that said, “Marshall Field’s will soon build a store here.” This was to become the Old Orchard Shopping Center, one of the first to be built in Chicago’s suburbs, or any U.S. suburb. Suburbanites had to travel to downtown Chicago for choice shopping, or shop in smaller neighborhood stores, unless they happened to live close to Evanston or Oak Park. Suburban neighborhoods were then generally perceived to be safe. While there were always some crimes committed and criminal activity, it wasn’t at the level that caused concern. People simply felt safer. The Great War was recently over, and there was a relative calm around the country. Companies selling their products door to door included Rexair and Electrolux vacuum cleaners, the Fuller Brush company—very popular at that time—Stanley Home Products, Watkins Products (offering a large variety of home products), magazine subscriptions, encyclopedias, and Wearever pots and pans. I am sure there were many others, but these were the main ones that I remember. • • •

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While the market was right, it was challenging. People were still somewhat reluctant to buy from a door-to-door salesperson. Some salespeople absconded with deposits or payments, and didn’t deliver as promised. Local municipal governments were urged to pass laws restricting the hours door-to-door salespeople could work, or to make them pay solicitors’ fees and fill out registration forms. Some of these fees could be exorbitant and were meant to be restrictive. The company maintained that we were protected by federal law and that local government had no right to restrict our movement. However, being picked up by the police for soliciting without a license was never any fun, and it was generally bad for business. Arlington Heights, one of the suburbs in which I worked, required door-to-door salespeople to wear a badge. I didn’t wear it, of course, but I did carry it in my pocket. This was the background as I went back to direct selling in the summer of 1951. Door-to-door selling badge

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CHAPTER 5 Training That Didn’t Take I was initially assigned to an older salesman named L.S. Smith. I have forgotten what his initials stood for, but my recollection was he didn’t have a middle name—just the initial “S.” After office training geared to familiarize the recruit with the merchandise, how to write an order and how to make a sales pitch, the final training step was to go into the field with an experienced salesperson and watch that person in action. A territory was also assigned to each new salesperson. My territory was north of Scott St. and west of Green Bay Road in Winnetka, Illinois—an extremely upscale suburban neighborhood, even as it is today. The first street we worked was Scott Street. We called on the first house. Here is how the sales calls worked. We were supposed to hand the prospect (invariably the lady of the house or the maid) a gift after she came to the door, and we exchanged good mornings or good afternoons. The gifts were a hosiery mending kit (some of them looked like a half a pack of matches), a plastic bag (big enough for a pair of nylons), or a small pocket comb. The salesperson purchased these gifts at an average cost of about one-and-a-half cents. The gifts were designed to “break the ice,” or entice the customer to stay at the door a minute, or even feel somewhat obligated. Strangely, Smith didn’t use gifts, but he had a calling card with his name—L.S. Smith—on it. The theory in door-to-door selling was if you could get inside the house and sit down with the prospect and get her to page through the catalog, you would most probably get an order. In 1951, most prospects who were home were women. So we were essentially selling women’s nylons and other clothing items to women prospects. At the first house, a lady came to do the door. L.S. introduced himself, and handed her his card, which identified him with the Real Silk Company. He quickly introduced me as a new trainee, and we simply walked into the house. The next thing I knew, we were sitting

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While the market was right, it was challenging. People were still somewhat reluctant to buy from a door-to-door salesperson. Some salespeople absconded with deposits or payments, and didn’t deliver as promised. Local municipal governments were urged to pass laws restricting the hours door-to-door salespeople could work, or to make them pay solicitors’ fees and fill out registration forms. Some of these fees could be exorbitant and were meant to be restrictive. The company maintained that we were protected by federal law and that local government had no right to restrict our movement. However, being picked up by the police for soliciting without a license was never any fun, and it was generally bad for business. Arlington Heights, one of the suburbs in which I worked, required door-to-door salespeople to wear a badge. I didn’t wear it, of course, but I did carry it in my pocket. This was the background as I went back to direct selling in the summer of 1951. Door-to-door selling badge

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CHAPTER 5 Training That Didn’t Take I was initially assigned to an older salesman named L.S. Smith. I have forgotten what his initials stood for, but my recollection was he didn’t have a middle name—just the initial “S.” After office training geared to familiarize the recruit with the merchandise, how to write an order and how to make a sales pitch, the final training step was to go into the field with an experienced salesperson and watch that person in action. A territory was also assigned to each new salesperson. My territory was north of Scott St. and west of Green Bay Road in Winnetka, Illinois—an extremely upscale suburban neighborhood, even as it is today. The first street we worked was Scott Street. We called on the first house. Here is how the sales calls worked. We were supposed to hand the prospect (invariably the lady of the house or the maid) a gift after she came to the door, and we exchanged good mornings or good afternoons. The gifts were a hosiery mending kit (some of them looked like a half a pack of matches), a plastic bag (big enough for a pair of nylons), or a small pocket comb. The salesperson purchased these gifts at an average cost of about one-and-a-half cents. The gifts were designed to “break the ice,” or entice the customer to stay at the door a minute, or even feel somewhat obligated. Strangely, Smith didn’t use gifts, but he had a calling card with his name—L.S. Smith—on it. The theory in door-to-door selling was if you could get inside the house and sit down with the prospect and get her to page through the catalog, you would most probably get an order. In 1951, most prospects who were home were women. So we were essentially selling women’s nylons and other clothing items to women prospects. At the first house, a lady came to do the door. L.S. introduced himself, and handed her his card, which identified him with the Real Silk Company. He quickly introduced me as a new trainee, and we simply walked into the house. The next thing I knew, we were sitting

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with the lady of the house, and she was paging through the catalog. Although L.S. tried to talk her into buying a number of different items, she protested that she didn’t need anything, or she had just stocked up on that item, etc. We left the house without an order.

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whole experience was kind of a disaster. L.S. kept pushing until she perfunctionly did a quick review of the catalog, protesting the whole time. Again, no order, and we left. “Excuse me, madam, but my card…”

Hosiery mending kits made popular “gifts”

The experience at the next house was truly amazing. The woman who came to the door was half dressed. I believe she had her underwear on, a slip and was wearing a robe. L.S. was going through his routine when his card fell out of his hand, just fluttered through the air and into the house down towards the end of the hallway. He proceeded after his card, ostensibly to retrieve it. The lady of the house retreated and in an uncomfortably embarrassing moment, we were all in the house, and she was being urged to look through the catalog, again, while sitting on her couch. She protested, somewhat perturbed, that she was getting dressed, had to leave soon and didn’t have time for this. L.S. said it wouldn’t take long, and could she just take a minute and look through the catalog, surely there was something she would need. Well, the

The third house was kind of like the first two, albeit somewhat in between. L.S. distributed his card. Somehow, we again just walked into the house and started the same routine. The prospect paged through the catalog, somewhat expressionless as to level of interest, and L.S. just couldn’t talk her into buying anything. Again, we left with no order. Three houses, three walk-ins, and three situations in which we received no order. Eventually L.S. did get some orders. He didn’t get into every house we called on. In about 50% of the calls, nobody was home. We had some doors pretty much shut in our face. But to his credit, he did get some orders. Based on the day’s experience, I didn’t think I could ever do this. I simply couldn’t walk in the house the way L.S. did. He was an older

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with the lady of the house, and she was paging through the catalog. Although L.S. tried to talk her into buying a number of different items, she protested that she didn’t need anything, or she had just stocked up on that item, etc. We left the house without an order.

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whole experience was kind of a disaster. L.S. kept pushing until she perfunctionly did a quick review of the catalog, protesting the whole time. Again, no order, and we left. “Excuse me, madam, but my card…”

Hosiery mending kits made popular “gifts”

The experience at the next house was truly amazing. The woman who came to the door was half dressed. I believe she had her underwear on, a slip and was wearing a robe. L.S. was going through his routine when his card fell out of his hand, just fluttered through the air and into the house down towards the end of the hallway. He proceeded after his card, ostensibly to retrieve it. The lady of the house retreated and in an uncomfortably embarrassing moment, we were all in the house, and she was being urged to look through the catalog, again, while sitting on her couch. She protested, somewhat perturbed, that she was getting dressed, had to leave soon and didn’t have time for this. L.S. said it wouldn’t take long, and could she just take a minute and look through the catalog, surely there was something she would need. Well, the

The third house was kind of like the first two, albeit somewhat in between. L.S. distributed his card. Somehow, we again just walked into the house and started the same routine. The prospect paged through the catalog, somewhat expressionless as to level of interest, and L.S. just couldn’t talk her into buying anything. Again, we left with no order. Three houses, three walk-ins, and three situations in which we received no order. Eventually L.S. did get some orders. He didn’t get into every house we called on. In about 50% of the calls, nobody was home. We had some doors pretty much shut in our face. But to his credit, he did get some orders. Based on the day’s experience, I didn’t think I could ever do this. I simply couldn’t walk in the house the way L.S. did. He was an older

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mature-looking man. Maybe these women had related to him as they would to their father. But that wouldn’t work for me, an immature 21 year old. The L.S. Smith approach was high-pressure selling at its best and not what I had in mind. It was time to call my friend Jack.

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CHAPTER 6 I Learn the Right Way When I called Jack Springer, our conversation went something like this: “Jack, I spent a day with L.S. Smith being trained in the field. No way in hell I could ever do that. This guy just seems to walk into the house. Most times he doesn’t even sell anything. What can you do for me?” Jack was sympathetic, almost as though he knew what had happened and understood my dilemma. He said, encouragingly, “Don’t worry, I’ll take you out and train you my way. You’ll like that a lot better.” We picked a day, and I went out with Jack. The preparation was very important. Jack had his array of gifts ready—mending kits, plastic bags, combs, etc. He also had a sheer nylon in his shirt pocket—60 gauge, 15 denier. In his other pocket, he had a more serviceable nylon—say a 45 gauge, 30 denier. In his back pants pocket, he had our best selling men’s sock—with a nylon reinforced heel. In his other back pocket, he had a boy’s sock. By way of explanation, denier represented the thickness or thinness of the nylon strand and gauge represented the tightness of the weave. The lower the denier, the thinner the nylon strand and the more sheer the stocking. Sheerness provided the bare leg look, which was desired by many young women. Sheer stockings were 60 gauge, 15 denier, while heavier duty hose were 45 gauge, 30 denier. On the other hand, sheer stockings were fragile, and tended to run easier. Maids preferred a more durable 30 denier stocking, as they wore them while performing some of the heavy-duty housework. Higher gauge somewhat compensated for the thinner denier as the tighter weave resulted in more threads per inch. Jack’s whole pitch was different. Rather than try to walk into the house, Jack wanted to “sell” the customer on the doorstep. When a housewife came to the door, Jack would first introduce himself as a representative of the Real Silk Company. He might ask if she’d ever heard of the company. Whether the answer was yes or no, the

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mature-looking man. Maybe these women had related to him as they would to their father. But that wouldn’t work for me, an immature 21 year old. The L.S. Smith approach was high-pressure selling at its best and not what I had in mind. It was time to call my friend Jack.

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CHAPTER 6 I Learn the Right Way When I called Jack Springer, our conversation went something like this: “Jack, I spent a day with L.S. Smith being trained in the field. No way in hell I could ever do that. This guy just seems to walk into the house. Most times he doesn’t even sell anything. What can you do for me?” Jack was sympathetic, almost as though he knew what had happened and understood my dilemma. He said, encouragingly, “Don’t worry, I’ll take you out and train you my way. You’ll like that a lot better.” We picked a day, and I went out with Jack. The preparation was very important. Jack had his array of gifts ready—mending kits, plastic bags, combs, etc. He also had a sheer nylon in his shirt pocket—60 gauge, 15 denier. In his other pocket, he had a more serviceable nylon—say a 45 gauge, 30 denier. In his back pants pocket, he had our best selling men’s sock—with a nylon reinforced heel. In his other back pocket, he had a boy’s sock. By way of explanation, denier represented the thickness or thinness of the nylon strand and gauge represented the tightness of the weave. The lower the denier, the thinner the nylon strand and the more sheer the stocking. Sheerness provided the bare leg look, which was desired by many young women. Sheer stockings were 60 gauge, 15 denier, while heavier duty hose were 45 gauge, 30 denier. On the other hand, sheer stockings were fragile, and tended to run easier. Maids preferred a more durable 30 denier stocking, as they wore them while performing some of the heavy-duty housework. Higher gauge somewhat compensated for the thinner denier as the tighter weave resulted in more threads per inch. Jack’s whole pitch was different. Rather than try to walk into the house, Jack wanted to “sell” the customer on the doorstep. When a housewife came to the door, Jack would first introduce himself as a representative of the Real Silk Company. He might ask if she’d ever heard of the company. Whether the answer was yes or no, the

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approach was essentially the same. Next he would offer the gift. Sometimes the housewife would shy away and try not to accept the gift. But Jack would stretch out his hand and virtually thrust it upon her, generally with the comment, “Please, take it. I get credit for giving it away.” That was actually a bit of a white lie. In fact, the salesperson had to pay for the gift. Next, Jack would ask (while taking the sheer nylon from his pocket) whether the prospective customer had heard of the company’s new “twisted nylon” stocking. Usually, the customer would say no. Jack would then launch into his spiel (while holding out the stocking.) It went something like this: “You know how your nylons snag a lot and then run (the customer was usually nodding by this time). Well, Real Silk has a new manufacturing process, during which all these nylon yarns have been twisted, reducing their potential to snag. Each stocking is then tested with a 400-pound pressure test. “Here,” said Jack, “hold out your hand.” As the customer held out her hand, Jack wrapped the foot end of the stocking around several of the customer’s fingers. He then asked the customer to hold on tight, while he snaked his hand up through the stocking from the opening at the top toward the foot part being held by the customer. He then opened his hand inside the stocking, palm up and fingers extended. Then, again reminding the customer to hold tight, he quickly pulled his outstretched hand through the stocking—causing a ripping noise. The prospective customer thought surely he had ripped the stocking—but, of course, he hadn’t. His hands and fingernails were nicely manicured to remove all hangnails. Jack, again reminded the customer of the 400-pound pressure test, which he had just aptly demonstrated. As Jack sensed that the customer was impressed, he asked, “Would you like to see some colors and styles?” while bending down reaching for his sample case, which was sitting on the doorstep. Grasping his sample case, he leaned forward as if now, finally, to step into the house. Nine out of ten times, the customer let him in and, more importantly, usually bought some stockings and placed an order. The scenario we just recreated was, of course, the perfect outcome. Other things could happen. In many of the North Shore homes, a maid would come to the door, rather than the lady of the house. The drill was the same, except the heavier gauge and denier

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stocking was demonstrated because this was what the maids bought. Many of them were good repeat customers. The author demonstrating 400-pound pressure test

If there was no interest in ladies hosiery, because the lady had just stocked up or for whatever reason, Jack could talk up the men’s socks, explaining their benefits in quality, feel, wear, and so forth. If he found no interest in that item, Jack would ask if the customer had any kids. If the answer was yes, he would begin demonstrating the kids’ socks. If that didn’t work, usually another hot selling seasonal

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approach was essentially the same. Next he would offer the gift. Sometimes the housewife would shy away and try not to accept the gift. But Jack would stretch out his hand and virtually thrust it upon her, generally with the comment, “Please, take it. I get credit for giving it away.” That was actually a bit of a white lie. In fact, the salesperson had to pay for the gift. Next, Jack would ask (while taking the sheer nylon from his pocket) whether the prospective customer had heard of the company’s new “twisted nylon” stocking. Usually, the customer would say no. Jack would then launch into his spiel (while holding out the stocking.) It went something like this: “You know how your nylons snag a lot and then run (the customer was usually nodding by this time). Well, Real Silk has a new manufacturing process, during which all these nylon yarns have been twisted, reducing their potential to snag. Each stocking is then tested with a 400-pound pressure test. “Here,” said Jack, “hold out your hand.” As the customer held out her hand, Jack wrapped the foot end of the stocking around several of the customer’s fingers. He then asked the customer to hold on tight, while he snaked his hand up through the stocking from the opening at the top toward the foot part being held by the customer. He then opened his hand inside the stocking, palm up and fingers extended. Then, again reminding the customer to hold tight, he quickly pulled his outstretched hand through the stocking—causing a ripping noise. The prospective customer thought surely he had ripped the stocking—but, of course, he hadn’t. His hands and fingernails were nicely manicured to remove all hangnails. Jack, again reminded the customer of the 400-pound pressure test, which he had just aptly demonstrated. As Jack sensed that the customer was impressed, he asked, “Would you like to see some colors and styles?” while bending down reaching for his sample case, which was sitting on the doorstep. Grasping his sample case, he leaned forward as if now, finally, to step into the house. Nine out of ten times, the customer let him in and, more importantly, usually bought some stockings and placed an order. The scenario we just recreated was, of course, the perfect outcome. Other things could happen. In many of the North Shore homes, a maid would come to the door, rather than the lady of the house. The drill was the same, except the heavier gauge and denier

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stocking was demonstrated because this was what the maids bought. Many of them were good repeat customers. The author demonstrating 400-pound pressure test

If there was no interest in ladies hosiery, because the lady had just stocked up or for whatever reason, Jack could talk up the men’s socks, explaining their benefits in quality, feel, wear, and so forth. If he found no interest in that item, Jack would ask if the customer had any kids. If the answer was yes, he would begin demonstrating the kids’ socks. If that didn’t work, usually another hot selling seasonal

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item might also be carried in a pocket to gain interest at the door. Jack’s approach was not to attempt to walk in the house until the customer expressed some positive interest at the doorstep, and then Jack, reaching down for his sample case, would try to walk in and have the customer page through the catalog. (While this approach couldn’t be used in the cold winters, we were college kids working during the summers). A sale usually consisted of at least three pair of stockings the same size and color. Large stocking orders, of course, were welcomed. A dozen or half dozen pair was a real prize. Three pairs of sheer nylons sold for $5.25 to $5.85, and three pairs of heavier gauge sold for $4.50. So at 25% commission, you made at least a dollar or more. The trick was to build the order to $20.00 or more. Most customers, after the initial purchase, would look through the catalog—doing additional shopping. A good salesperson had more samples, which he or she could show, inside the house. The order was either paid in full or with 20% down and the balance C.O.D. via the U.S. mail. I adopted Jack’s method and embellished it with my own style. This approach was much more acceptable to me than the walk-in style of L.S. Smith. Not every customer bought, or even let you go through your demonstration at the door. As a matter of fact, I encountered a variety of different responses, including having the door slammed in my face.

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CHAPTER 7 The Real World Much of the discussion of selling techniques in the previous two chapters presents a theoretical or planned approach to interaction with customers. The real world is, different, of course. Not all prospects react the same way. Cold canvassing—calling on people door to door—is an unscheduled approach, or visit, usually to a housewife to sell her something. She may be busy, in a hurry, or preoccupied with some other activity. She may have just stocked up on what you are selling, she may be a dissatisfied customer, and she may never buy from door-todoor salespeople. She may never have heard of the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Each prospect is a different personality. Some people are naturally gruff or rude, others basically friendly, and some are happy-go-lucky, etc. People’s moods also change. Sometimes they are sad; sometimes they are happy. They may be in a good or a bad mood. Something may have just made them angry. The bottom line is, when you ring that doorbell you don’t know what you are in for or what’s going to happen. Many people just slam the door in your face—for whatever reason. In other words, the last thing they want to do is buy something from, or even talk to, a door-to-door salesperson. This has a tendency to discourage a salesperson. Human nature is such that no one really likes to have a door slammed in his or her face. Particularly, since you really haven’t done anything wrong. You are only doing your job. If this happens more than once—or several times in a row—one tends to become discouraged. You can actually become somewhat fearful of walking up the next sidewalk and ringing the doorbell. You even begin to hope nobody is home. Then, at least you won’t get the door slammed in your face. About the time I became involved in direct selling, there was a comedian on the radio, who used to say “Knock, knock—Nobody’s home—I hope, I hope, I hope.” That said it all.

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item might also be carried in a pocket to gain interest at the door. Jack’s approach was not to attempt to walk in the house until the customer expressed some positive interest at the doorstep, and then Jack, reaching down for his sample case, would try to walk in and have the customer page through the catalog. (While this approach couldn’t be used in the cold winters, we were college kids working during the summers). A sale usually consisted of at least three pair of stockings the same size and color. Large stocking orders, of course, were welcomed. A dozen or half dozen pair was a real prize. Three pairs of sheer nylons sold for $5.25 to $5.85, and three pairs of heavier gauge sold for $4.50. So at 25% commission, you made at least a dollar or more. The trick was to build the order to $20.00 or more. Most customers, after the initial purchase, would look through the catalog—doing additional shopping. A good salesperson had more samples, which he or she could show, inside the house. The order was either paid in full or with 20% down and the balance C.O.D. via the U.S. mail. I adopted Jack’s method and embellished it with my own style. This approach was much more acceptable to me than the walk-in style of L.S. Smith. Not every customer bought, or even let you go through your demonstration at the door. As a matter of fact, I encountered a variety of different responses, including having the door slammed in my face.

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CHAPTER 7 The Real World Much of the discussion of selling techniques in the previous two chapters presents a theoretical or planned approach to interaction with customers. The real world is, different, of course. Not all prospects react the same way. Cold canvassing—calling on people door to door—is an unscheduled approach, or visit, usually to a housewife to sell her something. She may be busy, in a hurry, or preoccupied with some other activity. She may have just stocked up on what you are selling, she may be a dissatisfied customer, and she may never buy from door-todoor salespeople. She may never have heard of the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Each prospect is a different personality. Some people are naturally gruff or rude, others basically friendly, and some are happy-go-lucky, etc. People’s moods also change. Sometimes they are sad; sometimes they are happy. They may be in a good or a bad mood. Something may have just made them angry. The bottom line is, when you ring that doorbell you don’t know what you are in for or what’s going to happen. Many people just slam the door in your face—for whatever reason. In other words, the last thing they want to do is buy something from, or even talk to, a door-to-door salesperson. This has a tendency to discourage a salesperson. Human nature is such that no one really likes to have a door slammed in his or her face. Particularly, since you really haven’t done anything wrong. You are only doing your job. If this happens more than once—or several times in a row—one tends to become discouraged. You can actually become somewhat fearful of walking up the next sidewalk and ringing the doorbell. You even begin to hope nobody is home. Then, at least you won’t get the door slammed in your face. About the time I became involved in direct selling, there was a comedian on the radio, who used to say “Knock, knock—Nobody’s home—I hope, I hope, I hope.” That said it all.

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This set of circumstances made door-to-door selling a real challenge. Many people who tried it ultimately quit because they couldn’t sell anything. They became so beat down with disappointment, it adversely affected their attitude. Being a self starter was also important. No one really told you when to go to work. You didn’t have to punch a time clock. The aversions developed by an unfriendly confrontation with a potential customer served as an additional disincentive even to start work. You tended to think of excuses. It’s going to rain today…nobody is going to let me in, if I’m all wet. I may catch a cold or get sick. Or maybe you didn’t want to start too early. After all, people may not be up yet, or they may be busy getting the kids off to school. So I’ll just sleep in and get a little later start this morning. Failure was easy and could seem to be the most attractive option. I didn’t really want this job anyway. I never was cut out to be a salesperson. This company or its products really aren’t that good— that’s why they are so hard to sell. Excuses, excuses. Failure was simply the most attractive option. Somehow, I was able to see through this and avoid this potential pitfall early on. It really had to do with attitude. If you let it, the job could easily cause you to develop a bad attitude, almost in spite of yourself and your best intentions. Therefore, you had to take command of the situation from the get go. You had to maintain a positive attitude throughout the workday. But how? The secret for me was to become like an evangelist. I had to believe so strongly in what I was doing that nothing could shake my faith in my company, Real Silk, or in the products I was selling, or in myself—my own ability. As I walked up to that door—I exuded confidence. I couldn’t wait until I got there. I had the message. My products were superior to anything on the market, and the customers needed them. My job simply was to give them the opportunity to buy. If they didn’t, I wasn’t the loser, they were the losers. They wouldn’t get to enjoy my products. Oh sure, I failed to convince them to buy, but that was my failure, not theirs. In my mind, it had nothing to do with them or their actions. I would simply have to do better at the next opportunity right next door. I got so that if someone slammed the door in my face, I just felt sorry for them, because they had lost out.

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Do you see what this did for me? It changed my whole approach— my whole attitude. I was always enthusiastic, never was I discouraged. Whatever happened I was always in control. Not making the sale was the result of my actions, not anything the customer did. I simply didn’t do my job. I failed. With this attitude, the customer could basically do me no harm. Every possible customer action was studied, ultimately learned and anticipated. I learned to think on my feet. I became fearless, essentially unafraid of anything. It became like a game, except it was serious. I was trying to work my way through college. I desperately needed to succeed, but I wasn’t desperate. Doors were still slammed in my face, but the more I worked, the more I learned how to cope and actually reduce the incidences of that happening. The trick when calling on the customer was to get enough of an audience at the door to be able to make a strong sales pitch for the product. I don’t refer to them as “prospects,” because with my positive mental attitude, they were all customers. To make a strong sales pitch, I had to avoid a brief encounter where the customer simply shut the door in my face or even refused to come to the door. I quickly learned what I had to do to get the opportunity to talk to the customer. Remember, the first thing we were to do was to offer the customer a gift—a stocking mending kit, a pocket comb or a small plastic stocking bag, etc. This usually served to break the ice. The customer may have felt a slight obligation and would begin to listen to the sales pitch. I would start every sales call the same way. After ringing the doorbell or knocking, when the customer came to the door, I would say, “Hello, I am with the Real Silk Company and I would like to give you this gift.” If the customer willingly took the gift, while opening the door wider, I would immediately launch into my sales pitch. If the customer was hesitant about accepting the gift, or even tried to refuse it, I would say, “Please take it, I get credit for giving it to you”—a bit of a white lie, but it usually worked. I remember one day, while cold canvassing in Arlington Heights, I rang the doorbell, the lady opened the door, and as I introduced myself as a representative of Real Silk, she began to shut the door. As it closed, I frantically offered the gift and pleaded with her to accept it. The outside storm

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This set of circumstances made door-to-door selling a real challenge. Many people who tried it ultimately quit because they couldn’t sell anything. They became so beat down with disappointment, it adversely affected their attitude. Being a self starter was also important. No one really told you when to go to work. You didn’t have to punch a time clock. The aversions developed by an unfriendly confrontation with a potential customer served as an additional disincentive even to start work. You tended to think of excuses. It’s going to rain today…nobody is going to let me in, if I’m all wet. I may catch a cold or get sick. Or maybe you didn’t want to start too early. After all, people may not be up yet, or they may be busy getting the kids off to school. So I’ll just sleep in and get a little later start this morning. Failure was easy and could seem to be the most attractive option. I didn’t really want this job anyway. I never was cut out to be a salesperson. This company or its products really aren’t that good— that’s why they are so hard to sell. Excuses, excuses. Failure was simply the most attractive option. Somehow, I was able to see through this and avoid this potential pitfall early on. It really had to do with attitude. If you let it, the job could easily cause you to develop a bad attitude, almost in spite of yourself and your best intentions. Therefore, you had to take command of the situation from the get go. You had to maintain a positive attitude throughout the workday. But how? The secret for me was to become like an evangelist. I had to believe so strongly in what I was doing that nothing could shake my faith in my company, Real Silk, or in the products I was selling, or in myself—my own ability. As I walked up to that door—I exuded confidence. I couldn’t wait until I got there. I had the message. My products were superior to anything on the market, and the customers needed them. My job simply was to give them the opportunity to buy. If they didn’t, I wasn’t the loser, they were the losers. They wouldn’t get to enjoy my products. Oh sure, I failed to convince them to buy, but that was my failure, not theirs. In my mind, it had nothing to do with them or their actions. I would simply have to do better at the next opportunity right next door. I got so that if someone slammed the door in my face, I just felt sorry for them, because they had lost out.

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33

Do you see what this did for me? It changed my whole approach— my whole attitude. I was always enthusiastic, never was I discouraged. Whatever happened I was always in control. Not making the sale was the result of my actions, not anything the customer did. I simply didn’t do my job. I failed. With this attitude, the customer could basically do me no harm. Every possible customer action was studied, ultimately learned and anticipated. I learned to think on my feet. I became fearless, essentially unafraid of anything. It became like a game, except it was serious. I was trying to work my way through college. I desperately needed to succeed, but I wasn’t desperate. Doors were still slammed in my face, but the more I worked, the more I learned how to cope and actually reduce the incidences of that happening. The trick when calling on the customer was to get enough of an audience at the door to be able to make a strong sales pitch for the product. I don’t refer to them as “prospects,” because with my positive mental attitude, they were all customers. To make a strong sales pitch, I had to avoid a brief encounter where the customer simply shut the door in my face or even refused to come to the door. I quickly learned what I had to do to get the opportunity to talk to the customer. Remember, the first thing we were to do was to offer the customer a gift—a stocking mending kit, a pocket comb or a small plastic stocking bag, etc. This usually served to break the ice. The customer may have felt a slight obligation and would begin to listen to the sales pitch. I would start every sales call the same way. After ringing the doorbell or knocking, when the customer came to the door, I would say, “Hello, I am with the Real Silk Company and I would like to give you this gift.” If the customer willingly took the gift, while opening the door wider, I would immediately launch into my sales pitch. If the customer was hesitant about accepting the gift, or even tried to refuse it, I would say, “Please take it, I get credit for giving it to you”—a bit of a white lie, but it usually worked. I remember one day, while cold canvassing in Arlington Heights, I rang the doorbell, the lady opened the door, and as I introduced myself as a representative of Real Silk, she began to shut the door. As it closed, I frantically offered the gift and pleaded with her to accept it. The outside storm

34

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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door was within four inches of being shut, when she pushed it back open. She accepted the gift, and I went into my sales pitch. To make a long story short, I sold her $45.00 worth of argyle men’s socks for her husband and son, an order I would never have obtained without the “gift” and my persistence. “Please take the gift”

Another interesting experience I had was selling an order to a blind lady. When she came to the door, I didn’t immediately perceive that she was blind. I started with my regular routine of offering the gift which she somehow managed to grasp without my noticing that she couldn’t see. However, as I was getting into my ladies hosiery routine, she interrupted me to tell me she was blind. This initially threw me off guard. However, she had purchased hosiery from Real Silk before, and she asked me to come in. With

35

some dialogue, I ascertained what kind of hosiery she liked and had previously purchased. By verbally describing colors, sheerness and sizes, we were able to produce an order for some hosiery. I told her what she owed, and she paid me in cash. I made change and left her the customer copy of the order. As I was leaving the house, I considered it an accomplishment that I had sold to a blind person. In retrospect, it really had nothing to do with me, but all to do with her ability to overcome her handicap and complete the purchase of products she wanted. Another thing I learned was what to do when the customer didn’t come to the door, but yelled from somewhere in the house, “Who is it?” If I would have used my regular introduction—saying, “I’m your representative from the Real Silk Company,”—nine out of ten times, the customer response would have come back, “I’m not interested.” I know, because that is what I started doing. Then, I learned. I gave it a little twist. In those days, representatives of the electric company or the gas company were also calling on customers to read the meters, and since meters were usually in the backyard, which was often gated or private, they would stop at the front door, and announce themselves as “the gas man” or “the electric man.” So I started announcing myself when the customer wasn’t near the door, in a fashion similar to the gas or electric man. I would say in a somewhat muffled or inaudible voice, “the Real Silk man,” kind of garbling Real Silk, so it could be reasonably mistaken for the gas or the electric man. It worked. Most of the time, the customer did come to the door and I started my pitch with a gift. The initial encounter was critical. I had to get at least 10 to 15 seconds with the customer face to face, to establish some level of interest. Sometimes, if I determined that the customer was really busy—in the bath or on the telephone, etc. I simply said, “I’ll come again,” and I treated it the same as if no one was home. I kept very careful records of my “not homes”, and always went back to pick them up, because you never knew who was going to be a customer. In summary, this approach was the secret of my success. The positive mental attitude gave rise to a certain required level of self-confidence, which is absolutely essential for a salesperson, particularly a door-to-door salesperson. I enjoyed my work, and

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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door was within four inches of being shut, when she pushed it back open. She accepted the gift, and I went into my sales pitch. To make a long story short, I sold her $45.00 worth of argyle men’s socks for her husband and son, an order I would never have obtained without the “gift” and my persistence. “Please take the gift”

Another interesting experience I had was selling an order to a blind lady. When she came to the door, I didn’t immediately perceive that she was blind. I started with my regular routine of offering the gift which she somehow managed to grasp without my noticing that she couldn’t see. However, as I was getting into my ladies hosiery routine, she interrupted me to tell me she was blind. This initially threw me off guard. However, she had purchased hosiery from Real Silk before, and she asked me to come in. With

35

some dialogue, I ascertained what kind of hosiery she liked and had previously purchased. By verbally describing colors, sheerness and sizes, we were able to produce an order for some hosiery. I told her what she owed, and she paid me in cash. I made change and left her the customer copy of the order. As I was leaving the house, I considered it an accomplishment that I had sold to a blind person. In retrospect, it really had nothing to do with me, but all to do with her ability to overcome her handicap and complete the purchase of products she wanted. Another thing I learned was what to do when the customer didn’t come to the door, but yelled from somewhere in the house, “Who is it?” If I would have used my regular introduction—saying, “I’m your representative from the Real Silk Company,”—nine out of ten times, the customer response would have come back, “I’m not interested.” I know, because that is what I started doing. Then, I learned. I gave it a little twist. In those days, representatives of the electric company or the gas company were also calling on customers to read the meters, and since meters were usually in the backyard, which was often gated or private, they would stop at the front door, and announce themselves as “the gas man” or “the electric man.” So I started announcing myself when the customer wasn’t near the door, in a fashion similar to the gas or electric man. I would say in a somewhat muffled or inaudible voice, “the Real Silk man,” kind of garbling Real Silk, so it could be reasonably mistaken for the gas or the electric man. It worked. Most of the time, the customer did come to the door and I started my pitch with a gift. The initial encounter was critical. I had to get at least 10 to 15 seconds with the customer face to face, to establish some level of interest. Sometimes, if I determined that the customer was really busy—in the bath or on the telephone, etc. I simply said, “I’ll come again,” and I treated it the same as if no one was home. I kept very careful records of my “not homes”, and always went back to pick them up, because you never knew who was going to be a customer. In summary, this approach was the secret of my success. The positive mental attitude gave rise to a certain required level of self-confidence, which is absolutely essential for a salesperson, particularly a door-to-door salesperson. I enjoyed my work, and

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Robert Louis Grottke

learned the art of selling as I went along. While challenges were always there, I learned to cope with and ultimately overcome them.

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CHAPTER 8 Earning the Customer’s Trust One of the very first lessons I learned was the importance of earning the customer’s trust. The situation that brought this to an early focus was how an order was paid for and shipped. Orders could be paid in full or shipped COD. A paid in full order meant just that: the customer paid me, the salesman, in full at the time the order was placed, and it was then shipped to the customer postpaid. I would then turn in the order to the company along with the payment less the 20% commission I received at the time of the order. At the end of the month, the company paid an additional monthly bonus commission of 3, 4 or 5%, depending on the total amount of sales for the month. In the COD order, the customer paid a minimum deposit of 20% of the total amount of the order and the balance was shipped COD. However, there was an added COD fee of a minimum of 35 cents up to several dollars, depending on the size of the order. In summary, the salesperson always had to collect an amount sufficient to cover the 20% commission. For a new salesperson, the temptation was to collect only enough for the deposit and to ship the order COD with the balance due. This was attractive because the customer didn’t have to trust the salesperson with the full amount of the order. Also, if the salesperson asked for the order to be paid in full, there was some risk that this might scare the customer off, and the sale could be lost. When the customer paid only a deposit with the order, it was deducted from the total, and the balance was listed on the order. The COD fee was then listed on the next line and added to arrive at the total due when the order was received. While customers had to sign the order, many times they didn’t look at it carefully. The problem came when they paid the COD amount at the time of delivery. They then realized they were paying an additional COD fee ranging from 35 cents on a $4.00 balance to $2.00 on a $50.00 or larger balance. This upset many customers.

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learned the art of selling as I went along. While challenges were always there, I learned to cope with and ultimately overcome them.

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CHAPTER 8 Earning the Customer’s Trust One of the very first lessons I learned was the importance of earning the customer’s trust. The situation that brought this to an early focus was how an order was paid for and shipped. Orders could be paid in full or shipped COD. A paid in full order meant just that: the customer paid me, the salesman, in full at the time the order was placed, and it was then shipped to the customer postpaid. I would then turn in the order to the company along with the payment less the 20% commission I received at the time of the order. At the end of the month, the company paid an additional monthly bonus commission of 3, 4 or 5%, depending on the total amount of sales for the month. In the COD order, the customer paid a minimum deposit of 20% of the total amount of the order and the balance was shipped COD. However, there was an added COD fee of a minimum of 35 cents up to several dollars, depending on the size of the order. In summary, the salesperson always had to collect an amount sufficient to cover the 20% commission. For a new salesperson, the temptation was to collect only enough for the deposit and to ship the order COD with the balance due. This was attractive because the customer didn’t have to trust the salesperson with the full amount of the order. Also, if the salesperson asked for the order to be paid in full, there was some risk that this might scare the customer off, and the sale could be lost. When the customer paid only a deposit with the order, it was deducted from the total, and the balance was listed on the order. The COD fee was then listed on the next line and added to arrive at the total due when the order was received. While customers had to sign the order, many times they didn’t look at it carefully. The problem came when they paid the COD amount at the time of delivery. They then realized they were paying an additional COD fee ranging from 35 cents on a $4.00 balance to $2.00 on a $50.00 or larger balance. This upset many customers.

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While a small amount in today’s dollars, it was relatively significant then. Also, many customers felt that if they had known there was a COD fee, they would have gladly paid the order in full up front. Anyway, after several bad experiences with COD orders (such as refused shipments or irate customers on a callback), I made it my standard operating practice always to ask for payment in full at the time of the order. I also specifically informed the customer that if she or he didn’t pay in full, there would be a COD fee of “x” amount added to the total balance of the order. I told customers they could write a check payable to the Real Silk company. While some paid by check, many of them paid me in cash. Third party credit cards were not prevalent then, and we didn’t accept them. When I adopted this practice, over 90% of my orders were paid in full up front. Being forthright and honest with the customer about something that could be viewed as a negative paid off for me. I had earned my customers’ trust, and it helped me develop strong relationships with my good customers.

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CHAPTER 9 Finding the Real “No” One of the most important, if not the most important, part of the selling process is finding the real “no,” or reason the customer is not buying. Learning this aspect of selling only comes from experience. A rookie salesman usually won’t recognize it until after some time has passed. Let’s set the scene. In the scenario where a salesperson calls on a potential customer, there is an assumed or implied knowledge or awareness that the salesperson is there to sell, and the buyer is there to buy, or if not to buy at least to be sold. On rare occasions, a buyer is in desperate need of something, and will actually take charge of the situation and buy. The salesperson in that situation is simply an order taker. I experienced a desperate buyer occasionally. I remember one day in Winnetka. I was on Hubbard Street cold canvassing when, after I announced that I was a Real Silk representative, the lady of the house, Mrs. Jones, flung open the door wide and said, “Where have you been? My husband and my boys wear your argyle socks. Come on in here.” She gave me a large order for socks, underwear and what have you. I had a hard time keeping up with her—writing up the order, as she rummaged through my catalogs. I simply was in the right place at the right time. This was always fun and exciting when it happened. But it occurred infrequently. On most occasions, however, the potential customer does not jump in and buy, but may well be a prospect waiting to be sold. A good salesperson actually does “sell” something to the customer; a bad salesperson most probably goes away empty handed. The attributes of a good salesperson include the following: 1. A positive mental attitude (remember the evangelist theory). 2. A comprehensive knowledge of the product or service being sold.

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While a small amount in today’s dollars, it was relatively significant then. Also, many customers felt that if they had known there was a COD fee, they would have gladly paid the order in full up front. Anyway, after several bad experiences with COD orders (such as refused shipments or irate customers on a callback), I made it my standard operating practice always to ask for payment in full at the time of the order. I also specifically informed the customer that if she or he didn’t pay in full, there would be a COD fee of “x” amount added to the total balance of the order. I told customers they could write a check payable to the Real Silk company. While some paid by check, many of them paid me in cash. Third party credit cards were not prevalent then, and we didn’t accept them. When I adopted this practice, over 90% of my orders were paid in full up front. Being forthright and honest with the customer about something that could be viewed as a negative paid off for me. I had earned my customers’ trust, and it helped me develop strong relationships with my good customers.

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CHAPTER 9 Finding the Real “No” One of the most important, if not the most important, part of the selling process is finding the real “no,” or reason the customer is not buying. Learning this aspect of selling only comes from experience. A rookie salesman usually won’t recognize it until after some time has passed. Let’s set the scene. In the scenario where a salesperson calls on a potential customer, there is an assumed or implied knowledge or awareness that the salesperson is there to sell, and the buyer is there to buy, or if not to buy at least to be sold. On rare occasions, a buyer is in desperate need of something, and will actually take charge of the situation and buy. The salesperson in that situation is simply an order taker. I experienced a desperate buyer occasionally. I remember one day in Winnetka. I was on Hubbard Street cold canvassing when, after I announced that I was a Real Silk representative, the lady of the house, Mrs. Jones, flung open the door wide and said, “Where have you been? My husband and my boys wear your argyle socks. Come on in here.” She gave me a large order for socks, underwear and what have you. I had a hard time keeping up with her—writing up the order, as she rummaged through my catalogs. I simply was in the right place at the right time. This was always fun and exciting when it happened. But it occurred infrequently. On most occasions, however, the potential customer does not jump in and buy, but may well be a prospect waiting to be sold. A good salesperson actually does “sell” something to the customer; a bad salesperson most probably goes away empty handed. The attributes of a good salesperson include the following: 1. A positive mental attitude (remember the evangelist theory). 2. A comprehensive knowledge of the product or service being sold.

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3.

An ability to carefully observe the customer’s actions and reactions during the selling interview. 4. The ability to find the real “no,” the reason the customer isn’t buying, and ultimately to overcome it. The selling process may be viewed as a kind of game. The customer is going to put off the salesperson with some kind of an initial excuse. Old standards are, “I’m too busy,” “I’m not interested,” or “I don’t have any money.” In most cases, these comments should not be taken seriously. After all, most people have bought something in their life they really didn’t want or need. So their guard is up. Almost everyone says no to almost anything, initially. These are not the real “no’s.” The last thing you want to do at this point is to stop and agree to come back at a later date. The future is always unpredictable. You need a sale now. These comments should be viewed as a mild attempt at a “brush off ”—to make you go away. I usually ignored these brush offs, or simply said, “I won’t take up much of your time.” Then I kept right on going with the demonstration, always watching the prospective customer carefully, to ascertain some indication of interest. Some of the real reasons a customer may not initially agree to buy are: • She’s not sold on the quality or value of the item, • She doesn’t trust you or the company because she’s not familiar with you or the company, • The item you’re demonstrating is one she doesn’t need or she’s satisfied with her current source of supply, • She may truly be all stocked up on the item you are demonstrating. When demonstrating ladies hosiery to a lady customer, the next objection I might hear could be, “I just bought some hosiery or I am all stocked up,” or “I don’t need them now.” However, if the customer was willing to continue listening, I would continue my demonstration at the door until I found out why the customer wasn’t interested and kept saying no, until I finally got to the real reason. Since she said she was all stocked up on her ladies hosiery, I would then switch to another product. It could be ladies lingerie, or maybe a special seasonal item that I knew was a good seller—like a skirt or a sweater. If she kept dismissing items for herself, I would ask about

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men’s items, such as socks, underwear, or ties, attempting to find some item that I could sell. All the while I was demonstrating an item, I would try to convince the customer that I was an honest, reliable salesman and that Real Silk was a good company that produced quality products. I might suggest a neighbor who was a customer. I might interject that I was in this neighborhood several times a month. All these comments made while demonstrating an item were designed to put the customer at ease and gain her confidence. The customer might say, “You’re too expensive.” If this was the real no, I might show some item that was on sale at this time, so the customer could buy at a reduced price. Periodically, most staple items in the line went on sale, so I would try and find something on sale for the customer. Sometimes, after some initial comments, as I was beginning the demonstration, the customer might complain that she had bought something previously that had disappointed her. That was the real “no,” and I would immediately go into my dissatisfied customer routine. (See Chapter Eleven) As you can see, the best approach in selling is to keep on working with the customer until you finally get to an item that she or he will buy. In other words, to keep getting past the no’s until you finally get a yes. This involves being flexible, always thinking ahead of the customer, being resourceful, and knowing your products or services so well that you can finally find a match with what the customer needs or will buy.

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3.

An ability to carefully observe the customer’s actions and reactions during the selling interview. 4. The ability to find the real “no,” the reason the customer isn’t buying, and ultimately to overcome it. The selling process may be viewed as a kind of game. The customer is going to put off the salesperson with some kind of an initial excuse. Old standards are, “I’m too busy,” “I’m not interested,” or “I don’t have any money.” In most cases, these comments should not be taken seriously. After all, most people have bought something in their life they really didn’t want or need. So their guard is up. Almost everyone says no to almost anything, initially. These are not the real “no’s.” The last thing you want to do at this point is to stop and agree to come back at a later date. The future is always unpredictable. You need a sale now. These comments should be viewed as a mild attempt at a “brush off ”—to make you go away. I usually ignored these brush offs, or simply said, “I won’t take up much of your time.” Then I kept right on going with the demonstration, always watching the prospective customer carefully, to ascertain some indication of interest. Some of the real reasons a customer may not initially agree to buy are: • She’s not sold on the quality or value of the item, • She doesn’t trust you or the company because she’s not familiar with you or the company, • The item you’re demonstrating is one she doesn’t need or she’s satisfied with her current source of supply, • She may truly be all stocked up on the item you are demonstrating. When demonstrating ladies hosiery to a lady customer, the next objection I might hear could be, “I just bought some hosiery or I am all stocked up,” or “I don’t need them now.” However, if the customer was willing to continue listening, I would continue my demonstration at the door until I found out why the customer wasn’t interested and kept saying no, until I finally got to the real reason. Since she said she was all stocked up on her ladies hosiery, I would then switch to another product. It could be ladies lingerie, or maybe a special seasonal item that I knew was a good seller—like a skirt or a sweater. If she kept dismissing items for herself, I would ask about

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men’s items, such as socks, underwear, or ties, attempting to find some item that I could sell. All the while I was demonstrating an item, I would try to convince the customer that I was an honest, reliable salesman and that Real Silk was a good company that produced quality products. I might suggest a neighbor who was a customer. I might interject that I was in this neighborhood several times a month. All these comments made while demonstrating an item were designed to put the customer at ease and gain her confidence. The customer might say, “You’re too expensive.” If this was the real no, I might show some item that was on sale at this time, so the customer could buy at a reduced price. Periodically, most staple items in the line went on sale, so I would try and find something on sale for the customer. Sometimes, after some initial comments, as I was beginning the demonstration, the customer might complain that she had bought something previously that had disappointed her. That was the real “no,” and I would immediately go into my dissatisfied customer routine. (See Chapter Eleven) As you can see, the best approach in selling is to keep on working with the customer until you finally get to an item that she or he will buy. In other words, to keep getting past the no’s until you finally get a yes. This involves being flexible, always thinking ahead of the customer, being resourceful, and knowing your products or services so well that you can finally find a match with what the customer needs or will buy.

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CHAPTER 10 Avoiding the “No” You Don’t Want As a salesperson, the one word you don’t want to hear is “no.” No is bad. Yes is good. While almost all selling situations start out with the potential customer saying “no,” in one way or another, the salesperson must find the real “no,” in order to respond appropriately and overcome the customer’s objections, as we noted in the previous chapter. However, once the salesperson gets to the real “no,” pitfalls still exist where the customer, perhaps still reluctant to buy, can suddenly say no, and throw the whole sales process off track. A good salesperson recognizes this and doesn’t give the customer the opportunity to say the “no” he or she doesn’t want to hear. When finally getting close to obtaining the order, or closing the sale, never ask a question of the customer that requires a yes or no answer. For example, don’t say, “Would you like to order some of our hosiery?” The customer can simply say no and then where are you as the salesperson? In trouble. You have to start all over again or worse yet, argue or plead with the customer to change that awful “no” to a yes. You dug yourself into a hole, now how are you going to get out of it? The proper way to ask the question is, “Would you like to order a dozen pair or a half dozen?” “Would you like the taupe shade or the brown?” “Do you wear the 60 gauge, 15 denier, or the 51 gauge, 15 denier?” “Does your husband wear ankle length or knee length stockings?” Would you like to look at the men’s catalog or the children’s things?” When you phrase the questions this way, you offer the customer a choice of buying or buying. For example, do you want to buy six or twelve? While the customer could still say no, they usually don’t. They will often say “Oh, I don’t want to buy a whole dozen,” or “Do I have to buy a dozen?” You can then say, “You can buy less, would you like a half dozen or just three pair?” Or maybe the customer will say, “Oh, I only want to buy three pair” (at that time, the most frequently purchased quantity). Bingo, you just got an order. Immediately write it up—get the size, shade, etc.

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CHAPTER 10 Avoiding the “No” You Don’t Want As a salesperson, the one word you don’t want to hear is “no.” No is bad. Yes is good. While almost all selling situations start out with the potential customer saying “no,” in one way or another, the salesperson must find the real “no,” in order to respond appropriately and overcome the customer’s objections, as we noted in the previous chapter. However, once the salesperson gets to the real “no,” pitfalls still exist where the customer, perhaps still reluctant to buy, can suddenly say no, and throw the whole sales process off track. A good salesperson recognizes this and doesn’t give the customer the opportunity to say the “no” he or she doesn’t want to hear. When finally getting close to obtaining the order, or closing the sale, never ask a question of the customer that requires a yes or no answer. For example, don’t say, “Would you like to order some of our hosiery?” The customer can simply say no and then where are you as the salesperson? In trouble. You have to start all over again or worse yet, argue or plead with the customer to change that awful “no” to a yes. You dug yourself into a hole, now how are you going to get out of it? The proper way to ask the question is, “Would you like to order a dozen pair or a half dozen?” “Would you like the taupe shade or the brown?” “Do you wear the 60 gauge, 15 denier, or the 51 gauge, 15 denier?” “Does your husband wear ankle length or knee length stockings?” Would you like to look at the men’s catalog or the children’s things?” When you phrase the questions this way, you offer the customer a choice of buying or buying. For example, do you want to buy six or twelve? While the customer could still say no, they usually don’t. They will often say “Oh, I don’t want to buy a whole dozen,” or “Do I have to buy a dozen?” You can then say, “You can buy less, would you like a half dozen or just three pair?” Or maybe the customer will say, “Oh, I only want to buy three pair” (at that time, the most frequently purchased quantity). Bingo, you just got an order. Immediately write it up—get the size, shade, etc.

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Once the customer commits, never argue to get a larger quantity. You can always build the order, once the customer has committed to buy something. You need to “close the sale,” by getting agreement from the customer to buy something, and get that item written down in your order book. You then build the sale, if possible, by offering additional products to the customer and by simply being helpful. Call attention to your best selling items, offer items for other members of the family. Try to ask questions to which the customer will give a positive response to keep the auction open. This practice is what a good salesperson learns from experience. To some degree, this applies to many other situations in life.

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CHAPTER 11 Dissatisfied Customers, an Opportunity Since Real Silk was a popular company in the late 1940s and early 1950s, each neighborhood usually had a certain number of people who had previously purchased products from the company (i.e. its customers). While my experience ultimately showed me that most of these customers were very satisfied, liked the company and its products, and would generally be willing to buy again, some customers had bad experiences with the products. Usually, the stockings had “run,” with the first or second wearing. Or the men’s or boys socks didn’t wear as well as others the customer had previously purchased, or some garment didn’t fit or in some way didn’t meet the customer’s expectations. Most times when canvassing a home with a dissatisfied customer, that customer would interrupt the sales pitch and usually launch into a tirade or at least an emphatic complaint about the bad experience he or she had with the product previously purchased. There were various levels of dissatisfaction, ranging from being mildly upset to very irate and refusing to buy the product or any Real Silk product ever again. When I first began to experience these customers—and they were infrequent—I didn’t know what to do or how to handle the situation. I usually apologized on behalf of the company, as my enthusiasm was being dampened. I then closed the interview with the customer, rather quickly. The customer appreciated the apology, usually didn’t blame me personally. But nothing very positive happened. After a while, I mustered enough courage to start a dialogue with the customer, asking for specifics about what had happened. Always sympathetic, I tried to find out exactly what went wrong. Why did the stocking run? How many times was it worn? What did the customer think happened? Did she buy this item before with good results? After an initial discussion of the problem, I offered to make the customer whole by replacing the “defective” product, free of charge

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Once the customer commits, never argue to get a larger quantity. You can always build the order, once the customer has committed to buy something. You need to “close the sale,” by getting agreement from the customer to buy something, and get that item written down in your order book. You then build the sale, if possible, by offering additional products to the customer and by simply being helpful. Call attention to your best selling items, offer items for other members of the family. Try to ask questions to which the customer will give a positive response to keep the auction open. This practice is what a good salesperson learns from experience. To some degree, this applies to many other situations in life.

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CHAPTER 11 Dissatisfied Customers, an Opportunity Since Real Silk was a popular company in the late 1940s and early 1950s, each neighborhood usually had a certain number of people who had previously purchased products from the company (i.e. its customers). While my experience ultimately showed me that most of these customers were very satisfied, liked the company and its products, and would generally be willing to buy again, some customers had bad experiences with the products. Usually, the stockings had “run,” with the first or second wearing. Or the men’s or boys socks didn’t wear as well as others the customer had previously purchased, or some garment didn’t fit or in some way didn’t meet the customer’s expectations. Most times when canvassing a home with a dissatisfied customer, that customer would interrupt the sales pitch and usually launch into a tirade or at least an emphatic complaint about the bad experience he or she had with the product previously purchased. There were various levels of dissatisfaction, ranging from being mildly upset to very irate and refusing to buy the product or any Real Silk product ever again. When I first began to experience these customers—and they were infrequent—I didn’t know what to do or how to handle the situation. I usually apologized on behalf of the company, as my enthusiasm was being dampened. I then closed the interview with the customer, rather quickly. The customer appreciated the apology, usually didn’t blame me personally. But nothing very positive happened. After a while, I mustered enough courage to start a dialogue with the customer, asking for specifics about what had happened. Always sympathetic, I tried to find out exactly what went wrong. Why did the stocking run? How many times was it worn? What did the customer think happened? Did she buy this item before with good results? After an initial discussion of the problem, I offered to make the customer whole by replacing the “defective” product, free of charge

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to the customer. I simply stated that our products were “guaranteed,” and it was my job to make sure the customer was pleased. Once this offer was made, the customer almost always asked me to come in. I would then write a “no charge” order for the merchandise to be replaced, getting the style, size, color, etc., from the customer. Very often, the customer would then buy some additional items. Since I was already in the house writing the order, the customer would begin to page through my sample books. Perhaps many customers felt some obligation to buy, because I had treated them so nicely. This approach soon became a routine with me. Instead of being afraid to confront a dissatisfied customer, I looked forward to it. I would usually ask for the “defective” merchandise to be returned, but if the customer couldn’t find it or had discarded it, I trusted her or him. The company usually backed me up and rarely made me pay for any replacement merchandise. As a big producer for the company, replacement merchandise was only a small fraction of my total business, and the company gladly shipped it to the customer free of charge.

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CHAPTER 12 A Measure of Success One of the things that was very important in selling Real Silk was to make sure you sold the customer the right size. If you didn’t, you had at a minimum an unhappy customer. Worst case, the merchandise would be returned, and you would lose your commission. Sometimes, the customer would call and ask to exchange the merchandise. This was also time consuming and something to be avoided. Our ladies hosiery came in foot sizes and lengths. The foot size was the same as any sock size 7, 7-1/2, 8, 8-1/2, etc. However, our lengths were in whole inches (i.e. 28 inches, 29, 30, 31, etc.). The customer almost always knew her foot size, but the length was another matter. We were furnished with a tape measure and expected to measure the length the customer required. The tape had a loop at the bottom end, which was to be looped about the customer’s foot. The tape was then pulled up along her thigh. She would indicate where she attached her garter belt, and that would show the exact length the stocking should be. This was way before pantyhose. This worked pretty well but sometimes, gave me some embarrassing moments. Back in 1950, life was still a bit more staid and conservative than it is today. When some of my customers started pulling up their dresses to measure their naked thighs, I would usually sputter out, “We can measure it over your dress. You don’t have to lift it up.” My worst experience was with a lady in Kenilworth, Illinois, who was actually having me write an order outside on her front stoop. When she pulled her dress up, all the people in the neighborhood wondered what in the heck we were doing. I was so embarrassed. During those years, I got to measure a lot of lady’s legs on Chicago’s North Shore. While it was sometimes embarrassing for me, the result was a satisfied customer whose hosiery fit perfectly. Another item I sold that had to be measured carefully was a brassiere. Brassieres came in chest sizes and cup sizes, like 34A or 38B etc. The way to determine the proper size was to measure the customer right below the bust line. This was the proper chest size,

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to the customer. I simply stated that our products were “guaranteed,” and it was my job to make sure the customer was pleased. Once this offer was made, the customer almost always asked me to come in. I would then write a “no charge” order for the merchandise to be replaced, getting the style, size, color, etc., from the customer. Very often, the customer would then buy some additional items. Since I was already in the house writing the order, the customer would begin to page through my sample books. Perhaps many customers felt some obligation to buy, because I had treated them so nicely. This approach soon became a routine with me. Instead of being afraid to confront a dissatisfied customer, I looked forward to it. I would usually ask for the “defective” merchandise to be returned, but if the customer couldn’t find it or had discarded it, I trusted her or him. The company usually backed me up and rarely made me pay for any replacement merchandise. As a big producer for the company, replacement merchandise was only a small fraction of my total business, and the company gladly shipped it to the customer free of charge.

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CHAPTER 12 A Measure of Success One of the things that was very important in selling Real Silk was to make sure you sold the customer the right size. If you didn’t, you had at a minimum an unhappy customer. Worst case, the merchandise would be returned, and you would lose your commission. Sometimes, the customer would call and ask to exchange the merchandise. This was also time consuming and something to be avoided. Our ladies hosiery came in foot sizes and lengths. The foot size was the same as any sock size 7, 7-1/2, 8, 8-1/2, etc. However, our lengths were in whole inches (i.e. 28 inches, 29, 30, 31, etc.). The customer almost always knew her foot size, but the length was another matter. We were furnished with a tape measure and expected to measure the length the customer required. The tape had a loop at the bottom end, which was to be looped about the customer’s foot. The tape was then pulled up along her thigh. She would indicate where she attached her garter belt, and that would show the exact length the stocking should be. This was way before pantyhose. This worked pretty well but sometimes, gave me some embarrassing moments. Back in 1950, life was still a bit more staid and conservative than it is today. When some of my customers started pulling up their dresses to measure their naked thighs, I would usually sputter out, “We can measure it over your dress. You don’t have to lift it up.” My worst experience was with a lady in Kenilworth, Illinois, who was actually having me write an order outside on her front stoop. When she pulled her dress up, all the people in the neighborhood wondered what in the heck we were doing. I was so embarrassed. During those years, I got to measure a lot of lady’s legs on Chicago’s North Shore. While it was sometimes embarrassing for me, the result was a satisfied customer whose hosiery fit perfectly. Another item I sold that had to be measured carefully was a brassiere. Brassieres came in chest sizes and cup sizes, like 34A or 38B etc. The way to determine the proper size was to measure the customer right below the bust line. This was the proper chest size,

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34, 36, 38, etc. Next the customer was measured on the bust line. If the bust line measurement was one inch larger than the chest measurement the cup size was A. If the bust line was two inches larger than the chest size the proper cup size was B. Three inches larger was a C, four inches a D and anything larger than that was an “Oh, my God!!” I sold brassieres to a lot of maids in the exclusive homes of the North Shore. Most of the time the cup size was a double E (ten inches). However, the most unusual brassiere sale I made was to a French lady, who didn’t speak much English. I was struggling with the size. For some reason, I knew I had the chest size right, but I wasn’t sure about the cup size. I was hemming and hawing around until the French lady finally figured out the problem. While vigorously stroking her breasts in a downward motion with both her hands she blurted out “A cup, A cup, fried eggs, fried eggs,” then a big smile came across her face. I had made the sale and had properly sized the brassiere.

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34, 36, 38, etc. Next the customer was measured on the bust line. If the bust line measurement was one inch larger than the chest measurement the cup size was A. If the bust line was two inches larger than the chest size the proper cup size was B. Three inches larger was a C, four inches a D and anything larger than that was an “Oh, my God!!” I sold brassieres to a lot of maids in the exclusive homes of the North Shore. Most of the time the cup size was a double E (ten inches). However, the most unusual brassiere sale I made was to a French lady, who didn’t speak much English. I was struggling with the size. For some reason, I knew I had the chest size right, but I wasn’t sure about the cup size. I was hemming and hawing around until the French lady finally figured out the problem. While vigorously stroking her breasts in a downward motion with both her hands she blurted out “A cup, A cup, fried eggs, fried eggs,” then a big smile came across her face. I had made the sale and had properly sized the brassiere.

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“A-cup, A-cup, fried eggs, fried eggs”

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CHAPTER 13 Nobody Worked for Money One of the challenges of being a door-to-door salesperson is the amount of self-discipline required. Most of the time, you are on your own. You don’t have a specific time to report to work in the morning. You can sleep late if you want. You don’t have to call in sick. You don’t have to work any day that you don’t want to. You can take off as much as you please. No one will notice. Eventually, your unit manager expects you to turn in some orders. Only if you don’t will he or she know you weren’t working, and then what could anyone really do about it? Not much. You are not really ever going to get fired. Ultimately, if you stop writing orders, they ask you to turn in your sample case and order book. But it usually takes months before that would happen. So it’s pretty easy to fail. It’s pretty much all up to you. If you get out and work the hours as though you had a regular job, you should do fairly well. I usually set a goal of $100 a day in sales. This would result in $2,000 a month, so I would earn an extra 5% commission, or 25% commission in total. The commission rate was set at 20% for monthly sales up to $599. Between $600 and $800, an extra 3% commission was earned; between $800 and $1,000 per month an extra 4% was earned and over $1000, an extra 5% was earned. The bonus commission was paid on the total sales for the month, not just the incremental amount. This should have been incentive enough to get salespeople to go to work. However, in many cases, it wasn’t. A lot of salespeople didn’t earn their monthly bonus. The sales manager for Chicago, Jack’s father, John Springer, was well aware of that. He knew that human nature was such that people, including his salespeople, would always think of excuses why not to go to work. Excuses were plentiful. It’s raining today. It’s the day before a holiday. Everybody is busy getting ready for the holiday. It’s the day after a holiday. Everyone’s tired. I don’t feel so good today. My car broke down. People are all stocked up and nobody wants to buy. People are waiting for the season to change. It’s too hot. It’s too

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CHAPTER 13 Nobody Worked for Money One of the challenges of being a door-to-door salesperson is the amount of self-discipline required. Most of the time, you are on your own. You don’t have a specific time to report to work in the morning. You can sleep late if you want. You don’t have to call in sick. You don’t have to work any day that you don’t want to. You can take off as much as you please. No one will notice. Eventually, your unit manager expects you to turn in some orders. Only if you don’t will he or she know you weren’t working, and then what could anyone really do about it? Not much. You are not really ever going to get fired. Ultimately, if you stop writing orders, they ask you to turn in your sample case and order book. But it usually takes months before that would happen. So it’s pretty easy to fail. It’s pretty much all up to you. If you get out and work the hours as though you had a regular job, you should do fairly well. I usually set a goal of $100 a day in sales. This would result in $2,000 a month, so I would earn an extra 5% commission, or 25% commission in total. The commission rate was set at 20% for monthly sales up to $599. Between $600 and $800, an extra 3% commission was earned; between $800 and $1,000 per month an extra 4% was earned and over $1000, an extra 5% was earned. The bonus commission was paid on the total sales for the month, not just the incremental amount. This should have been incentive enough to get salespeople to go to work. However, in many cases, it wasn’t. A lot of salespeople didn’t earn their monthly bonus. The sales manager for Chicago, Jack’s father, John Springer, was well aware of that. He knew that human nature was such that people, including his salespeople, would always think of excuses why not to go to work. Excuses were plentiful. It’s raining today. It’s the day before a holiday. Everybody is busy getting ready for the holiday. It’s the day after a holiday. Everyone’s tired. I don’t feel so good today. My car broke down. People are all stocked up and nobody wants to buy. People are waiting for the season to change. It’s too hot. It’s too

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cold. Everybody’s on vacation. Nobody’s home. We need some new items to freshen up the line. I’m getting ready for company. I have company. I need a vacation. I’m getting ready to go on vacation. I think you get the idea. It’s real easy to talk oneself out of going to work. Particularly if work is getting out in the territory and cold canvassing door-to-door. It can be terrifying, unless you maintain the evangelical positive mental attitude. So what did Mr. Springer do to combat this? Several things. Every Friday evening, we had a sales meeting in downtown Chicago on the 10th floor at 36 S. State St. We would turn in all the week’s orders and then have the meeting. Mr. Springer would talk about the business. He was always enthusiastic and an eternal optimist. Things were always good. He would tell us success stories about our fellow salespeople. He would say how much they sold in a week, or tell about a big sale they made. He would announce new items coming into the line. Some new items were seasonal, others permanent. But most important, with the support of the home office, he always had a contest going. The winners of the contest would receive extra money and sometimes a free trip to some attraction. This added incentive got the most results from the most salespeople. People who wouldn’t work for money from their normal earned commissions would work to “win the contest.” Mr. Springer prepared weekly sales bulletins, which were sent to all salespersons. Contests and prizes were announced in these bulletins. Interim results were reported, so each person knew where he or she stood in the contests. I remember one of the first contests I won. I don’t remember much about the details except that my prize was to put my hand into a large bag full of nickels and take out as many as I could get in a handful. I have very large hands. I was thrilled. All for about $6.00 or $8.00. As I said, people won’t work for “money,” but they will generally turn it on to win a contest. I was no exception. Mr. Springer would also give motivational talks during the weekly Friday night sales meetings. He had a way about him that was endearing. He usually had a twinkle in his eye. He loved the business and knew it and human nature well. He would definitely hold everyone’s attention. One night, in about the middle of his presentation, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a five-dollar bill, held it up and asked, “Who wants it?”

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For the next few seconds, there was a dead silence. Nobody knew what to think. Was it a trick? What was the catch? Of course I want it, but what’s going on here? I bet he’s going to embarrass someone. What does he want us to do? Has he gone nuts? Is he really going to give away $5—five whole dollars? I don’t believe it. Too late. Suddenly, everybody’s hand went up, and they were all yelling, “I want it!” Mr. Springer picked out the person he perceived to be the first to ask for it, and gave him or her the five-dollar bill. Then he announced, “You don’t get anything in life unless you ask for it. You all wanted the five dollars, yet you hesitated. You were afraid to ask for it. In life, the one who asks for it usually gets it.” “Who wants it?”

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cold. Everybody’s on vacation. Nobody’s home. We need some new items to freshen up the line. I’m getting ready for company. I have company. I need a vacation. I’m getting ready to go on vacation. I think you get the idea. It’s real easy to talk oneself out of going to work. Particularly if work is getting out in the territory and cold canvassing door-to-door. It can be terrifying, unless you maintain the evangelical positive mental attitude. So what did Mr. Springer do to combat this? Several things. Every Friday evening, we had a sales meeting in downtown Chicago on the 10th floor at 36 S. State St. We would turn in all the week’s orders and then have the meeting. Mr. Springer would talk about the business. He was always enthusiastic and an eternal optimist. Things were always good. He would tell us success stories about our fellow salespeople. He would say how much they sold in a week, or tell about a big sale they made. He would announce new items coming into the line. Some new items were seasonal, others permanent. But most important, with the support of the home office, he always had a contest going. The winners of the contest would receive extra money and sometimes a free trip to some attraction. This added incentive got the most results from the most salespeople. People who wouldn’t work for money from their normal earned commissions would work to “win the contest.” Mr. Springer prepared weekly sales bulletins, which were sent to all salespersons. Contests and prizes were announced in these bulletins. Interim results were reported, so each person knew where he or she stood in the contests. I remember one of the first contests I won. I don’t remember much about the details except that my prize was to put my hand into a large bag full of nickels and take out as many as I could get in a handful. I have very large hands. I was thrilled. All for about $6.00 or $8.00. As I said, people won’t work for “money,” but they will generally turn it on to win a contest. I was no exception. Mr. Springer would also give motivational talks during the weekly Friday night sales meetings. He had a way about him that was endearing. He usually had a twinkle in his eye. He loved the business and knew it and human nature well. He would definitely hold everyone’s attention. One night, in about the middle of his presentation, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a five-dollar bill, held it up and asked, “Who wants it?”

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For the next few seconds, there was a dead silence. Nobody knew what to think. Was it a trick? What was the catch? Of course I want it, but what’s going on here? I bet he’s going to embarrass someone. What does he want us to do? Has he gone nuts? Is he really going to give away $5—five whole dollars? I don’t believe it. Too late. Suddenly, everybody’s hand went up, and they were all yelling, “I want it!” Mr. Springer picked out the person he perceived to be the first to ask for it, and gave him or her the five-dollar bill. Then he announced, “You don’t get anything in life unless you ask for it. You all wanted the five dollars, yet you hesitated. You were afraid to ask for it. In life, the one who asks for it usually gets it.” “Who wants it?”

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Of course, the lesson was you must ask the customer for the order. You must ask her to buy, or you will never get the order. A good lesson, well learned. I never did forget that lesson. I used the same example in a group session I was conducting a few years ago. Except because of inflation, I used a one hundred-dollar bill. It worked exactly the same way, though.

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CHAPTER 14 Contests Galore As we have seen, motivating each salesperson to work at a consistently high level was the one responsibility of Real Silk’s sales manager. This was done with weekly motivational sales meetings, the bonus commission structure and contests galore. It seemed we were always involved in some kind of a contest. We competed against each other in the Chicago Branch. For some of the major contests, we also competed against our counterparts across the nation in other sales branches. The first major contest I remember participating in was called the Chicago Handicap. It ran during the summer of 1951, when I first started with the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Each sales representative was assigned a quota or handicap, based on several variables: These included how long he or she had worked for the company, experience level, ability or proven track record, and whether working full time or part time. My assigned quota was $35 a day, based on what I was expected to sell every day that I worked. Since I attended Northwestern University summer school every morning from 8 a.m. to noon, my workday usually started at 1 p.m. and ended between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the evening. Most full timers had quotas of $50 to $60 a day. The contest started July 16th and ended on August 14th. The winners would receive cash prizes and would be the guests of Mr. Springer at Arlington Park racetrack, during the running of the Arlington Handicap in August—hence the name of the contest. Many of the full timers were women. I remember Cora, Mrs. Swanson, and Lily. They were all excellent saleswomen, and they had higher daily quotas—over $50 a day—because they worked full time. I can’t deny that the contest excited me. I worked a little extra hard—maybe an additional half-an-hour to an hour more a day. One of the things that the contest did was to get me thinking about big selling days—i.e., $200 or more for one day. The normal goal for a day would be $100 in sales. If you sold that much on average each

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Of course, the lesson was you must ask the customer for the order. You must ask her to buy, or you will never get the order. A good lesson, well learned. I never did forget that lesson. I used the same example in a group session I was conducting a few years ago. Except because of inflation, I used a one hundred-dollar bill. It worked exactly the same way, though.

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CHAPTER 14 Contests Galore As we have seen, motivating each salesperson to work at a consistently high level was the one responsibility of Real Silk’s sales manager. This was done with weekly motivational sales meetings, the bonus commission structure and contests galore. It seemed we were always involved in some kind of a contest. We competed against each other in the Chicago Branch. For some of the major contests, we also competed against our counterparts across the nation in other sales branches. The first major contest I remember participating in was called the Chicago Handicap. It ran during the summer of 1951, when I first started with the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Each sales representative was assigned a quota or handicap, based on several variables: These included how long he or she had worked for the company, experience level, ability or proven track record, and whether working full time or part time. My assigned quota was $35 a day, based on what I was expected to sell every day that I worked. Since I attended Northwestern University summer school every morning from 8 a.m. to noon, my workday usually started at 1 p.m. and ended between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the evening. Most full timers had quotas of $50 to $60 a day. The contest started July 16th and ended on August 14th. The winners would receive cash prizes and would be the guests of Mr. Springer at Arlington Park racetrack, during the running of the Arlington Handicap in August—hence the name of the contest. Many of the full timers were women. I remember Cora, Mrs. Swanson, and Lily. They were all excellent saleswomen, and they had higher daily quotas—over $50 a day—because they worked full time. I can’t deny that the contest excited me. I worked a little extra hard—maybe an additional half-an-hour to an hour more a day. One of the things that the contest did was to get me thinking about big selling days—i.e., $200 or more for one day. The normal goal for a day would be $100 in sales. If you sold that much on average each

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day, you would earn your bonus of 5%, or 25% in total commissions or $25 for each $100 day. A $200 day was a monster day, because you would earn $50 for the day. The only way you could hit $200 was by selling some large orders—say, $50 to $75 or even a $100. Even then you generally had to work longer hours. I had a couple of customers I could call on in the evening, because they worked during the day. When I had over $100 to $150 in sales during the day, I would start thinking about maybe calling on one of these customers, so I could hit a $200+ day. When I did hit sales of $200 or more in one day, it was an exhilarating experience. I can still remember the excitement I felt counting up the money in preparation of turning in the orders, after one of those days. I had earned over $50 in commissions and made a giant stride toward winning the contest. I always managed one or two $200+ days during a contest, when the pressure was on. Mr. Springer encouraged me along the way by the notices I received that said I was in second place. Note the racetrack handicap theme. I finished the race as the quota leader, writing my quota 52.4 times, based on $1,836.61 in volume over the four weeks. This was really an achievement, as I was a new salesman and relatively unknown. They didn’t even spell my name right in the weekly bulletin where they announced that I was the winner. Mr. Springer had an interesting saying about luck. Some salespeople felt that contest winners or big producers were just lucky—Mr. Springer used to say, “Luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity.” I took that to heart and tried always to make sure I was prepared by carrying extensive demonstrator samples and maintaining my knowledge of our products, particularly good sellers. Also, I always knocked on enough doors to create opportunity. After summer school, I returned to Northwestern University for the fall quarter as a full-time student. I didn’t do much selling until the spring of 1952, when I graduated at the end of the winter quarter in March. After I finished college, I returned to work for Real Silk full time for about a year. There was another contest in the spring of 1952, which I won with 302% of quota. Based on this result, I was promoted to unit manager of unit “E”.

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day, you would earn your bonus of 5%, or 25% in total commissions or $25 for each $100 day. A $200 day was a monster day, because you would earn $50 for the day. The only way you could hit $200 was by selling some large orders—say, $50 to $75 or even a $100. Even then you generally had to work longer hours. I had a couple of customers I could call on in the evening, because they worked during the day. When I had over $100 to $150 in sales during the day, I would start thinking about maybe calling on one of these customers, so I could hit a $200+ day. When I did hit sales of $200 or more in one day, it was an exhilarating experience. I can still remember the excitement I felt counting up the money in preparation of turning in the orders, after one of those days. I had earned over $50 in commissions and made a giant stride toward winning the contest. I always managed one or two $200+ days during a contest, when the pressure was on. Mr. Springer encouraged me along the way by the notices I received that said I was in second place. Note the racetrack handicap theme. I finished the race as the quota leader, writing my quota 52.4 times, based on $1,836.61 in volume over the four weeks. This was really an achievement, as I was a new salesman and relatively unknown. They didn’t even spell my name right in the weekly bulletin where they announced that I was the winner. Mr. Springer had an interesting saying about luck. Some salespeople felt that contest winners or big producers were just lucky—Mr. Springer used to say, “Luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity.” I took that to heart and tried always to make sure I was prepared by carrying extensive demonstrator samples and maintaining my knowledge of our products, particularly good sellers. Also, I always knocked on enough doors to create opportunity. After summer school, I returned to Northwestern University for the fall quarter as a full-time student. I didn’t do much selling until the spring of 1952, when I graduated at the end of the winter quarter in March. After I finished college, I returned to work for Real Silk full time for about a year. There was another contest in the spring of 1952, which I won with 302% of quota. Based on this result, I was promoted to unit manager of unit “E”.

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They can’t even spell my name

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CHAPTER 15 My Experience as a Sales Manager

(Photo shows the author and another student salesman with John Springer at Arlington Park racetrack)

As a sales manager, a group of salespeople worked for me. I was to keep in touch with them, and they would turn their orders and money into me periodically. I received an override of 5% of their sales. If I hired a new salesperson, I was responsible for training that person. For the first four weeks a new person worked and was in training, I received a 10% commission on that person’s sales. This was to compensate me for time and effort during a training period. Of course, I would continue my own personal sales, though they might be reduced somewhat because of my added management responsibilities. One unique experience that I distinctly remember occurred while I was training Dave, a fellow student at Northwestern University. We were cold canvassing on a Saturday morning in Morton Grove, Dave’s assigned territory. The neighborhood where we were working had long driveways running from the street, as the houses were set way back. As we came up to one house, on a rather warm day, a man was standing in the driveway naked to the waist. He was smoking a cigar and had a large “pot belly.” He looked somewhat ominous as we approached him. It was the type of situation that could intimidate a shy, relatively new salesperson. As we approached the man with the cigar, I decided to dispense with the gift and use a direct approach. I introduced myself as a representative of Real Silk and acknowledged that I was training Dave. After some brief comments, he agreed to review the men’s socks. He immediately began ordering socks, underwear, some sport shirts and some other items. All in all, the order came to above $150.00. He agreed to pay it all up front. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four or five $100 bills—not even in a wad or roll—just loose in his pocket. One fluttered to the ground and I had to stoop down and pick it up for him. He gave me two of them and I gave him back his change and a receipt.

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They can’t even spell my name

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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CHAPTER 15 My Experience as a Sales Manager

(Photo shows the author and another student salesman with John Springer at Arlington Park racetrack)

As a sales manager, a group of salespeople worked for me. I was to keep in touch with them, and they would turn their orders and money into me periodically. I received an override of 5% of their sales. If I hired a new salesperson, I was responsible for training that person. For the first four weeks a new person worked and was in training, I received a 10% commission on that person’s sales. This was to compensate me for time and effort during a training period. Of course, I would continue my own personal sales, though they might be reduced somewhat because of my added management responsibilities. One unique experience that I distinctly remember occurred while I was training Dave, a fellow student at Northwestern University. We were cold canvassing on a Saturday morning in Morton Grove, Dave’s assigned territory. The neighborhood where we were working had long driveways running from the street, as the houses were set way back. As we came up to one house, on a rather warm day, a man was standing in the driveway naked to the waist. He was smoking a cigar and had a large “pot belly.” He looked somewhat ominous as we approached him. It was the type of situation that could intimidate a shy, relatively new salesperson. As we approached the man with the cigar, I decided to dispense with the gift and use a direct approach. I introduced myself as a representative of Real Silk and acknowledged that I was training Dave. After some brief comments, he agreed to review the men’s socks. He immediately began ordering socks, underwear, some sport shirts and some other items. All in all, the order came to above $150.00. He agreed to pay it all up front. He reached into his pocket and pulled out four or five $100 bills—not even in a wad or roll—just loose in his pocket. One fluttered to the ground and I had to stoop down and pick it up for him. He gave me two of them and I gave him back his change and a receipt.

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A loose $100 bill fluttered to the ground

Dave and I almost walked on air as we left the house and walked away down the driveway. For some reason, Dave assumed that I would keep the order and the commission. However, I gave it to him, and he was overjoyed. The commission was worth over $30.00—a lot for a college kid in those days. We sold close to $200.00 that Saturday. I gave all the orders to Dave, so he made almost $40.00 I still made almost $20.00 with my 10% override commission. Dave went on to become one of my best salesmen, and I don’t think he ever forgot his training day in the field with me.

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I trained a lot of young men in those days, and they helped my income. More importantly, they helped me win races the Chicago branch was conducting. Only this time I led a team of people to win instead of winning as an individual. Unbelievably, there were three different, but significant, “races” or contests in 1952. The first was an individual race to win a spot on the Real Silk National Advisory Council. This contest was in the Spring of 1952, soon after I completed my college courses in March 1952. I finished with the most points, based on a combination of personal sales and sales from new hires whom I had trained. I was “elected” as a member of the 1952 National Advisory Council and invited to attend a conference at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. The second major contest was the “Sweepstakes.” I was the sales manager of unit “E” and we were assigned the nickname of “Seabiscuit” for the race. (I didn’t even know the story of the race horse Seabiscuit at the time, but since then I’ve seen the movie and read the book.) I continued to recruit and train my fellow classmates at Northwestern. Mr. Springer continued his practice of preparing weekly bulletins highlighting progress in the contests. Although behind throughout the race, our “Seabiscuit” team came back to finish first by the smallest of possible margins—10 points. Ralph Wilson, one of my new salesmen, led all college students in the contests. The last contest of 1952 was President’s month. While I didn’t win the individual race or the unit race, I finished third in the individual race, and fifth in the unit races. I sold $2,650 during President’s month and earned a lot of money during the contest, with commissions of over $600 in four weeks. In summary, contests were an important part of door-to-door selling. They were very motivational. Individuals as well as teams were motivated to work a little harder to “win.” While someone had to win, everyone really was a “winner,” because they all sold more than they would have without the contest and this increased the amount of commissions they earned. Some salespeople, probably those who worked the hardest, received “bonuses” in the form of the prize money they won.

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A loose $100 bill fluttered to the ground

Dave and I almost walked on air as we left the house and walked away down the driveway. For some reason, Dave assumed that I would keep the order and the commission. However, I gave it to him, and he was overjoyed. The commission was worth over $30.00—a lot for a college kid in those days. We sold close to $200.00 that Saturday. I gave all the orders to Dave, so he made almost $40.00 I still made almost $20.00 with my 10% override commission. Dave went on to become one of my best salesmen, and I don’t think he ever forgot his training day in the field with me.

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I trained a lot of young men in those days, and they helped my income. More importantly, they helped me win races the Chicago branch was conducting. Only this time I led a team of people to win instead of winning as an individual. Unbelievably, there were three different, but significant, “races” or contests in 1952. The first was an individual race to win a spot on the Real Silk National Advisory Council. This contest was in the Spring of 1952, soon after I completed my college courses in March 1952. I finished with the most points, based on a combination of personal sales and sales from new hires whom I had trained. I was “elected” as a member of the 1952 National Advisory Council and invited to attend a conference at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. The second major contest was the “Sweepstakes.” I was the sales manager of unit “E” and we were assigned the nickname of “Seabiscuit” for the race. (I didn’t even know the story of the race horse Seabiscuit at the time, but since then I’ve seen the movie and read the book.) I continued to recruit and train my fellow classmates at Northwestern. Mr. Springer continued his practice of preparing weekly bulletins highlighting progress in the contests. Although behind throughout the race, our “Seabiscuit” team came back to finish first by the smallest of possible margins—10 points. Ralph Wilson, one of my new salesmen, led all college students in the contests. The last contest of 1952 was President’s month. While I didn’t win the individual race or the unit race, I finished third in the individual race, and fifth in the unit races. I sold $2,650 during President’s month and earned a lot of money during the contest, with commissions of over $600 in four weeks. In summary, contests were an important part of door-to-door selling. They were very motivational. Individuals as well as teams were motivated to work a little harder to “win.” While someone had to win, everyone really was a “winner,” because they all sold more than they would have without the contest and this increased the amount of commissions they earned. Some salespeople, probably those who worked the hardest, received “bonuses” in the form of the prize money they won.

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Recognition as a sales manager

CHAPTER 16 Epilogue: Lessons Learned In September 1953, I resigned from Real Silk as a unit manager and accepted a job with one of the Big Eight accounting firms as a junior accountant and auditor. I had studied accounting at Northwestern University and I felt I owed it to myself to at least give my chosen profession a try. (Fifty years later, I am still giving it a try.) During the first few years in public accounting, I sold Real Silk on Saturdays, kind of a gradual phase out of my selling career. A trade magazine at that time, Salesman’s Opportunity, had interviewed me for a story. The story was published in July 1954, with my picture on the cover of the magazine. We have reprinted the whole story in an appendix in this book. As I looked back on my selling career, I realized the value of my experiences: • I learned how important a good positive mental attitude is in almost anything one does. • I’d learned the importance of being a self-starter. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what to do or how much effort to put forth. • I learned not to be afraid of meeting people, talking to people or actually trying to convince them to buy something from me. • I learned that human nature is the same for everybody— the lady of the house, her maid, the man of the house, the blind lady, and even the French lady with the “fried eggs.” • I learned how important it was to gain people’s trust—what it means to be trustworthy. I learned to be “upfront” with people and to give them my unbiased opinion—whether or not it cost me the sale. This is real integrity—the most important characteristic I developed—and one which today remains a significant aspect of my reputation. • I learned how to sell things to people—first myself and then my products. I learned the importance of confidence,

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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Recognition as a sales manager

CHAPTER 16 Epilogue: Lessons Learned In September 1953, I resigned from Real Silk as a unit manager and accepted a job with one of the Big Eight accounting firms as a junior accountant and auditor. I had studied accounting at Northwestern University and I felt I owed it to myself to at least give my chosen profession a try. (Fifty years later, I am still giving it a try.) During the first few years in public accounting, I sold Real Silk on Saturdays, kind of a gradual phase out of my selling career. A trade magazine at that time, Salesman’s Opportunity, had interviewed me for a story. The story was published in July 1954, with my picture on the cover of the magazine. We have reprinted the whole story in an appendix in this book. As I looked back on my selling career, I realized the value of my experiences: • I learned how important a good positive mental attitude is in almost anything one does. • I’d learned the importance of being a self-starter. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what to do or how much effort to put forth. • I learned not to be afraid of meeting people, talking to people or actually trying to convince them to buy something from me. • I learned that human nature is the same for everybody— the lady of the house, her maid, the man of the house, the blind lady, and even the French lady with the “fried eggs.” • I learned how important it was to gain people’s trust—what it means to be trustworthy. I learned to be “upfront” with people and to give them my unbiased opinion—whether or not it cost me the sale. This is real integrity—the most important characteristic I developed—and one which today remains a significant aspect of my reputation. • I learned how to sell things to people—first myself and then my products. I learned the importance of confidence,

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self-assuredness. I learned how to listen to the customers and think on my feet. Later, I once made a sales call while in public accounting to a food products company in southern Illinois. They had called and said they might be interested in our services. A sign in the lobby read, “It’s not what you know, but what you can think of at the time.” That said it all. • I learned I could make a living, as long as I had my sample case and a territory. I basically learned self-reliance. It was a good feeling. Rewards were instant as a door-to-door salesman. As a salesman, success is not dependent upon the opinion or evaluation of one’s supervisor, but measured by the amount of sales made. A salesperson determines his or her own success based on their efforts and record. This is really unique to this field, when you think about it. • I learned what motivated me and people. People don’t just work for money. Pride in accomplishment has a lot to do with it. People want to be winners. They want to be admired for winning or being successful. I learned that work could be fun. I enjoyed what I was doing. I enjoyed the variety and challenge of the job, never knowing what was going to happen next. • I learned not to be afraid to ask for the order. This applies to almost anything in life. If you don’t ask you won’t receive. On the other hand, the challenge is you must earn the right to ask. That’s part of the sales function. Convince the customer of the need, assume that the product or service is right, and ask for the order. As I grew up and raised my family, I had it in my mind that my children should have some door-to-door selling experience, just as I did. However, it never worked out. Times change in a generation, including the environment for door-to-door selling. I spent over 30 years in public accounting. People unfamiliar with that field might not think much selling would be involved in such a career. But, of course, I found that we were selling every day, and door-to-door selling had provided good training for the experience. It is no exaggeration to say, all I needed to know in life, I learned selling door to door.

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About the Author A native of Illinois, Robert L. Grottke began working his way through college selling Rexair vacuum cleaners, door to door. While earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University, Grottke worked as a salesman for the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Salesman’s Opportunity magazine recognized his success, featuring him in a cover story. Grottke later became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for one of the Big Eight accounting and auditing firms at the time. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of an international food distribution group, which licenses food stores in over 30 countries around the world.

All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

Appendix: Salesman’s Opportunity article

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Appendix: Salesman’s Opportunity article

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All I Needed to Know in Life I Learned Selling Door to Door

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About the Author A native of Illinois, Robert L. Grottke began working his way through college selling Rexair vacuum cleaners, door to door. While earning a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University, Grottke worked as a salesman for the Real Silk Hosiery Company. Salesman’s Opportunity magazine recognized his success, featuring him in a cover story. Grottke later became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for one of the Big Eight accounting and auditing firms at the time. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of an international food distribution group, which licenses food stores in over 30 countries around the world.