"Well, instead of going to him, you looked at him and waited for him to come over to you. Now, never do that again, for it is bad salesmanship. We want to express to our customers by our words and actions that we are glad to have them visit our store, and that we approach them more than half way. Now, for us to stand still and make a customer walk right up to us at the end of the counter is not expressing that attitude, is it?" Jim was silent. "Whenever a customer comes into the store, always go to him. The very act of walking toward the customer makes him feel more at ease; and incidentally, when you get a customer like the one you had, don't ask him to come to the rear of the store as you did, for he was nervous about his car. Instead, you should bring the article to him--that is, if it is some small article that can be easily brought. "Now, this is apparently only a little matter, but you know most big things are made up of a bunch of little ones, aren't they? If you'll just remember that, Jim, I'll be much obliged to you." And with this kindly admonition he dismissed Jim. I wished I had the ability to give helpful suggestions like that. I made some remark to Mr. Barker about that, and he said: "If my salespeople are not successful, I am to blame, not they. I am in my position because I have, or am supposed to have, more knowledge of business and selling than they, and it is up to me to pass my knowledge out to them, and to help them to become better salesmen. I believe that, if ever a man wants to find out who is responsible for his failure, he should look at the fellow he shaves in the morning." "But come," he said, putting on his hat, "won't you come and have lunch with me?" And this big, busy retail merchant, who was not too big or too busy to take me, a little dealer in a small town to lunch, took me over to the Exeter House, where we had an excellent dinner, and a most enjoyable chat; after which he took me over to the association rooms, which I had for some time wanted to visit, where I met some other likeable fellows in the hardware business who happened to be in town. I wished I could have stayed longer to talk with some of the interesting men there, but I felt we ought to get back to Farmdale; so I tore myself away, feeling, however, that our joy ride had proved to be of practical dollars-and-cents value to me. CHAPTER XX A SUCCESSFUL MONDAY MEETING My Monday night meetings were proving very beneficial, and one, in particular, had been very interesting. It had been something of an innovation. The secretary of the hardware association had been in town, and I had asked him around to the house for lunch; and while there, I had told him about our weekly meetings. He thought it was an excellent idea. "You are doing a good thing," he said, "and you'll get a lot closer to your boys. They work better for you, don't you know."