"All right, then. If I were you, Mr. Black, whenever you plan any advertising, see first of all that it is not going to hurt any one else's business; next, whenever you run a prize contest, run one without any strings attached to it; and, when you give a prize--give something other than what you sell." "Do you believe in prize contests?" I asked Charlie. "As a general rule, no. I think if you have any money to spend for advertising, you had much better spend it in advertising just what you are selling, giving people reasons why they should buy your goods. That sounds humdrum and everyday, I know. There's nothing apparently brilliant about it, but it gets results. Notice the really big advertisers. They advertise the goods they have to sell, and it is very seldom you find them branching off into prize-contest ideas." "What about the 'Globrite' flashlight?" I said. "That prize contest complies with the three rules I mentioned. The prizes were _cash_ prizes and big ones. The public didn't have to buy anything to enter. The prizes were big enough to tempt people to study 'Globrite' goods, and that really advertised the flashlights to every contestant." Somehow, Charlie's quiet confidence made me feel better. But, candidly, I hated to be seen on the street those days, for everybody asked me how the bread-making contest was getting on. At the end of three days, we had not sold a single bread mixer! CHAPTER XL RULES FOR GIVING SERVICE Our next Monday evening meeting had proved quite interesting. We had sold one bread mixer, but, thank heaven, no one had inflicted a loaf of bread upon us! I was hoping that that foolish stunt of mine would die a natural death--and that's a better one than it deserved. The matter for discussion at the meeting was introduced by Jones, who had in his hand a copy of that little "Service" booklet which we had issued. "I was thinking over this little booklet the other day," said he, "but, do you know, Mr. Black, I don't think we are living up to it, somehow." "In what way do you mean?" I asked him. "Well, we talk about service and how we want people to feel they are at home, and all that, and-- Oh, I don't know how to express it," he floundered. I certainly didn't know what he was driving at. I looked at Larsen, and his face was a blank; then I looked at Charlie, and, as I did so, he said: "I'd like to ask Jones a question," and he turned to Jones, saying, "What you mean is that, while we talk of giving service, we have not any definite plan of going about it. Isn't that it?" "Yep," said Jones, "we have no rules or regulations or anything of that kind." "I see what you mean," I said. "You mean we _talk_ about service, but don't _give the atmosphere_ of service." "That's exactly it," went on Jones, "we ought to be able to give people the feeling that they are being treated differently when they come into the store."