TOPICS OF THE TIMES.

Southland Times, Issue 22448, 11 October 1934, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE TIMES.

Links of Empire. All the King’s sons are following the example set by their father in seeking by personal contact to extend their knowledge of the countries and the peoples which make up the British Commonwealth, says The Times in an editorial article upon the tour of the Duke of Gloucester. His Majesty is King not only of Great Britain and Ireland, but also of the British Dominions beyond the seas. The Royal Family by right of birth belong as much to Australia and New Zealand as to Great Britain. As other formal bonds have dissolved with the growth of the dominions to independent nationhood, the link of the common allegiance to the Crown has become of ever more vital importance. It is far more than a symbol of the underlying unity which binds together what foreign observers are often tempted to regard as a mere haphazard congeries of independent and semi-independent units differing in their origins and their constitutional development. The deep feeling of loyalty to the Crown and to the King’s person is a potent force binding together all British subjects, no matter in what part of the Empire they may live or under what form of government they may administer their affairs. Visits such as the Duke of Gloucester has now set out to make do lasting good in strengthening this feeling by personal contact, .to say nothing of the pleasure. which they give in the countries visited.

Art of Selling. A paper on the art of selling was read by Mr C. R. B. Chiesman, of London, at the summer school of the Drapers’ Chamber of Trade of the United Kingdom, held at Balliol College, Oxford. It was necessary, he said, to make the staff part of the completed machinery of the store and not merely a piece of a cogwheel. The first qualification of the salesman was the study of human nature—to be able to know

either by a glance or from conversation the type of customer that had to be dealt with. The aim should be not to foist goods on a customer or necessarily to endeavour that the highest priced range should be bought, but rather to supply a customer’s wants with the utmost expedition, courtesy and satisfaction. It might bo advisable to emphasize the mistake of endeavouring to create additional sales by importuning the customer to buy more than was actually required, or for which there was no immediate use, which resulted in indignation and a resolve not to return. A satisfied customer was the best adjunct a store could possess, and the initial reception of a customer was of paramount importance. Service included a desire to offer that little something which, in all probability, was neither expected nor paid for. General lay-out and display were of great importance. The public would much prefer to buy fish from a cool, white slab than from a wooden plank of dubious colour. When a salesman wrote, it was perhaps considered clever to continue the old-time business letter, containing stereotyped phrases, giving an impression of efficiency. But that created a cool and distant atmosphere with the customer. Such phrases as “re yours of the 25th ultimo,” “adverting to your letter,” and “yours to hand,” should be relegated to the past, and replaced by language nearer the real intention of the letterwriter.