In the first place, an important part of the Pre-Approach is a correct and complete knowledge of your goods. Too many men rush to the Approach without knowing what they have to sell. It is not enough to know brands and prices--one should _know_ his goods from top to bottom, inside and outside, from the raw material to the finished article. He should feel perfectly at home with his goods, so that he may have full information regarding them on tap, and thus have his mind free for the strategy of the sale. A little close, earnest intelligent study of one's line of goods will not only supply one with an efficient weapon, but will also impart to him a sense of certainty and confidence that he cannot have otherwise. What would be thought of a teacher of natural history who did not understand animals? And yet many salesmen are equally as ignorant about their subject. The salesman should understand his goods so thoroughly that he could write a treatise on them, or demonstrate them before an audience of experts or of persons entirely in ignorance of them--the latter being probably the hardest task. He should be able to explain their particular virtues and characteristics to a man old in the same line, or to explain them simply and plainly to one who had never seen them or who was ignorant of their uses. We know of one salesman who was asked by his little boy to explain a cash register to him, and who complied with the request. He told us that he learned more about his cash register in the process of that explanation than he had acquired in even the process of the technical demonstration in the "salesman's school" at the factory. It is not always policy for the salesman to air his knowledge of his goods to his customer--such a course would generally bore the latter--but he should know all about his goods, nevertheless. The man who knows his goods in this way plants his feet on the solid rock and cannot be swept away, while the man who builds on the shifting sand of "half-knowledge" is always in danger. But the more popular branch of the Pre-Approach is the knowledge of the customer. Get as many points regarding the characteristics, habits, likes and dislikes of the customer as possible. Find out as much as you can about his trade, and manner of conducting his business, as well as his business history. Macbain says: "There is really no information about a prospective customer that can be said to be valueless. On the other hand, a knowledge of one or two of the characteristics of the man to be approached may be considered sufficient, the ready intuition of the salesman being relied upon for the rest. It is assumed, of course, that a salesman will be able to call his man by name, pronouncing the name correctly upon the very first interview. This is the prime requisite, and the remaining knowledge should be grouped about this in the order of its importance."