The Vital Importance of Selling

By Jach Dionne

I'll have to plead guilty that I don't know the idcntity of the man who made the r+ marks that I am about to quote, but whoever he was, I'm for him, for he compressed into a few terse lines manyl things that experience has proven beyond a doubt to be true, and he states them in a very interesting way.

I grabbed it out of an editorial in Forbes Magazine (and I rise to remark that that is a business magazine that frequently prints business editorials that hit the spots and hit them hard) and the author is Mr. St. Elmo Lewis. flere's what he said:

"The selling process is the ULTIMATE PURPOSE of an organization, and if IT fails, the COMPANY fails. Its vital importance is obviouq. IT IS THE ONLY REASON \vHY A BUSINESS EXISTS.

"Vl/e sell to a public. That public is a peculiar thing. It is busy, indifferent, exacting. We know less about it than we should, but we do know, however, that:

"1. It is a fallacy that the public will automatically seek the BEST. It has to be EDUCATED and DIRECTED.

"2. It is a fallacy that the public knows the difrerence between PRICE and VALUE.

"3. It is a fallacy that the public knows what it wants.

"4. It is a fallacy that the public will automatically reward enterprise and service.

"5. It is a fallacy that the public will demand over any great length of time \VHAT IT IS NOT REMINDED OF."

That is one of the most profound-talks on selling that I ever encountered. It is a sermon that should be read by every business man several times every day.

The truths expressed are exactly opposite the instinctive beliefs of many business men who are sound on all other subjects.

QUALITY will NOT create business of itself.

The world will NOT mahe a beaten path to your door just because you have a better product than the other fellow.

LOW quality things ar€ successfully sold in direct competition with higher quality things, every day, every where, in all lines of business.

The all important end of every business is the selling end.