Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

HOW TO SELL BY TELEPHONE

Without leaving his shop, a retailer with a
telephone is in touch with tens of thousands of
people all over England. Even in his own dis-
trict there are hundreds of potential customers
he has never spoken to. And a phone call,
unlike a circular or an advertisement, is almost
certain of an answer.

Some retailers are nervous about phoning
customers. They are afraid the customers will
regard them as a nuisance.

The truth is that the average telephone in a
home rings only once or twice a day. A tele-
phone call—just like a circular to people who
receive few letters—is rather an adventure to
most housewives. And when a tradesman takes
the trouble to phone them up, it gives them a
sense of importance.

A telephone is not expensive. It costs about
half a crown a week. And for this sum, plus
the cost of calls, the smallest retailer can ex-
tend his area at least a mile in every direction.

    WHAT PHONING CAN DO

There are many good reasons why a shop
should have a phone. Probably you can think
of more, but here are sixteen for a start:

(I) INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS.
—If a retailer rings up three new people a day,
he will have spoken to over a thousand in a
year.

Even if he sells something to only one in

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