d. He puts the cigar
aside. The salesman concludes.

"I'm sorry," he says, "but my five minutes are up. Will you let me come
back some day when you are not so busy and tell you more about it?"

"Sit where you are," the other says, and begins firing questions.

Half an hour later the salesman pockets the order he wanted and makes
ready to depart, feeling that he has found another friend. The "hard
customer" is ashamed of his gruff reception and apologizes for it. "I've
been so bothered with agents and drummers and traveling men that I've
promised myself never to see another one as long as I live," he says.

"I can well understand that," the salesman answers. "It is one of the
hardest things we are up against, the fact that there are so many
four-flushers out trying to sell things."

He goes next to see the man with whom he has made an appointment by mail
and finds that he has been called out of town on business. He talks with
his secretary, who expresses a polite regret that they were unable to
locate him in time to tell him that his visit would be of no use. He
asks if there is some one else who can take charge of the matter, but
the girl replies that all such things have to come before Mr. Thompson.
He will not be back until next week, and by that time the salesman will
be out on the road.

"I'll have another representative of our house, Mr. Hamilton, call," he
says. "He will write to find out when it will be convenient for him to
come."

The third man on his list is the one to whom he has the letter of
introduction. This is one of his best prospects. That is why he took
such pains to arm himself with the letter. He has no trouble getting
inside. The man is very busy but he thrusts it completely aside for the
moment. He does not have to say "Be brief." Our salesman has been in the
game long enough to know that he must not be anything else.

"Frankly," he says at the end of the talk, "I am not interested. I have
no doubt that what you say is true. In fact, I have heard of your firm
before and know that its reputation is good. But I buy my material, and
have for years, from Hicks and Hicks."

"It is a good reliable concern," the salesman responds, "and there is no
reason why you should desert them. They depend upon you as much as you
do upon them. But if they happen to be short of something you want in a
hurry, please remember that our product is as good as theirs. You can
depend upon it with as much certainty.