History of American Sales Culture - Part Two

If ever there should be room to sellers of Fame, one of the pedestals must first be reserved for Jay Cooke. There is no doubt that some of the abundant glory that went to Grant and Lincoln would have gone to Philadelphia this banker-seller. As an editor, very conveniently, said: "The nation owes a debt of gratitude to Jay Cooke must remember." Without his valuable help to the wheels of government could be seriously entangled. "

A state park of rolling hills, flowing waters, pine and birch has been named in his honor to the south of Duluth, Minnesota. A more pleasant stopover on your way north into Canada.

The truth is that the sellers have done more for progress and civilization that everyone imagines. They did more than all the colleges to develop the peasants of Europe enterprising Americans. They have transformed the '"Man with the Hoe" in the person with the computer. They gave us the radiator to the fireplace, the piano for the dulcimer, the car for the push-cart, the computer and voice recognition for the quill. They put more comfort in our homes that used to have the king in his palace.

How quickly we forget the great battles of our day sales! Every time a new item appears, it's ridiculous, and oppose and refuse to buy at any price. Salesman then trains his energies on us. We struggle for a while ', and finally give up. But do not give credit, or glory, to the seller. We go up to the counter and buy the goods, emphasizing the Registrar that is exactly what we needed for the last twenty years. "

It is true that the goods meet the demand for new products. There is no request. Both the question and the goods must be produced. The public has always held firm to his old uneasiness, until the seller is convinced to let go.

There was no demand for the Railroad, and for years many people believed that about thirty miles an hour could stop the blood circulation. There was no request for Steamboat, and when Brunei drove the first steam boat on the Thames, has become so unpopular that the hotel in London has refused to give him a room. There was no request for a sewing machine, and the first machine that Howe put on display was torn to pieces by a mob in Boston. There was no demand for the Telegraph and Morse had to plead and ask Ten Conference first before receiving any attention. There was no request for Air-brake, and Westinghouse has been called a fool from any railroad expert, because he said he could stop a train with the wind. There was no demand for gas-light, and all the candles-burners mocked Murdoch to try to have a lamp without a wick. There was no demand for the Reaper, McCormick, and preached his gospel of efficient collection for fourteen years before he sold his first hundred machines. Today there's another Murdoch and his media empire, built almost entirely on salesmanship with the help of technology. A few thought possible.

No, not true, as theorists have learned that every great invention springs into life, because it is required by the nation. It rises in life and nobody wants it. And 'the ugly duckling. Everyone prefers a dime for it, until a few short sellers take in hand and explain.

When Frederick E. Sickles first exhibited his steam steering, now used on all the seas of the world, all the sailors regarded with contempt. "Nobody seemed to take the slightest interest in it," wrote Sickles. When Charles T. Porter showed his first engine at high speed in England, was not taken seriously by anyone. "My engine", says
Porter "has been visited by every engineer in England and a multitude of users of the engine, and yet in all the six months that a manufacturer has never said a word either to build or even a user says a word about its use I amazed. with amazement and distress. "

When Bell first demonstrated his telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial, was approved by the greatest scientists of America and England. It 's been tested and proven. But the average man he called a "scientific toy" and refused to use either or financing. Bell telephone preached for years before the public has bought. (Last sentence struck me as old-fashioned).

There are men now living can remember how their mother sat and wept when the first cook-stove came into the house, moving the fireplace clumsy and wasteful. You may remember their first store boots and clothing store. They can remember the battles fought in the past between labor and management and the men who built the pipeline for oil, between the rowers and the experts who developed the Bessemer process, and between agents and news of the pioneers who founded the first ten-cent magazines and the internet.

End of Part II ......