a brand or line of cigars-a special perfumery odor-but be sure that they are suitable to your class of customers. This sole agency scheme on the right kind of articles gives you a big advantage over your competitors. You can advertise these articles extensively with the assurance that you will receive the sole benefit from the advertising. It will bring new customers into your store and with a good sales force you can make these chance customers permanent customers. You will have some object then in pushing the sale of these articles much harder than if they were articles carried by all the other dealers in your town.

Take care not to buy too many perishable goods. Rubber goods spoil in a short time, cracking or rotting, so as to become unsalable. Buy only what you can turn in a few months. Rubber goods are better if bought in small quantities and often. Six two-dozen lots of hot water bottles are better than one gross lot, unless it is for a special sale at a low figure which will then guarantee a quick turn over.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY "No."-If there is any word of more value to you in buying than the short word "No," the writer has yet to discover it. It is a good word to use, and use decisively and often, when asked to buy certain lines of goods. To the lack of the proper use of that little word many pharmacists owe their dead stock and dead capital; and in many cases their failure. If you agree with nearly every salesman that comes along and consent to about everything he tells you, you will never succeed. You must be firm enough to say "No" a good many times. If you say it decisively and with proper determination, the traveling salesman won't push his case, but if you say "No" in such a manner as to indicate yes or with any hesitation or indecision, the "drummer" is usually a good enough salesman to press his advantage and win you over to agree with him and give your consent to have the goods shipped to you.

You don't want to be known as "an easy mark" by all the traveling fraternity; to have your name peddled all along the road as a man that doesn't know enough to say "No." That

is the reputation several pharmacists have and the "drummers' never hesitate to spread it.

Some big financiers and brokers place such value on the word "No" that when they are in search of a manager or partner the only requisite demanded is that the applicant can say "No" at the proper time and place. The experienced applicant is side-tracked in favor of the inexperienced, provided the latter has learned how and when to say "No."

The big "fake" mining schemes are made possible by the large number of people who do not know how or when to say "No." They agree with and consent to everything contained in the mining scheme prospectus.

When a "drummer" puts up a proposition to you, get your think-tank going and reason it out for yourself. When you have reached a decision not to accept it say "No" and stick to it. Don't be afraid of hurting his feelings by turning him down. He will think better of you than if you told him to ship the goods, when he knew you couldn't use them.

BUYING CLUBS.-Competition, which formerly was considered the life of trade, has been supplanted by combination. In all lines of manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing, combinations now exist in the form of syndicates, associations, co-operative societies, and buying clubs. Where formerly men fought each other tooth and nail, they now combine and work together for their mutual protection. The competition of mail order houses, cut-price drug stores, five and ten cent stores, "chain of drug stores," have forced the small and independent pharmacists to seek some protection in order to hold their trade and successfully meet their cut-price competitors.

Buying clubs afford the means to this end. They have sprung up like mushrooms over night. Pharmacists in large and small cities alike have resorted to the buying club as a panacea for their business ills. Pharmacists that would hardly speak to each other a few years ago, now touch shoulders at association and club meetings.

Buying clubs are formed by grouping together as many pharmacists as can be induced to join in a village, town or

city. The larger the membership the greater purchasing power it will possess. Each member is required to subscribe about $100 to provide for a buying capital. The larger buying clubs are stock companies, duly incorporated, and their shares sell for $10 each, limited to ten shares per person. This plan provides for a wide distribution of stock and an extension of the buying privileges to a large number of pharmacists.

One or more members are selected to look after the buying and distributing of the goods. The entire expense of the buying club ranges from three to six per cent. They have no trouble getting all the goods they want and they assure quick and frequent deliveries.

The advantages of the buying club are many. It affords the small pharmacist the opportunity of buying his goods direct from the manufacturers at the same price that the wholesaler pays. He owns his goods at the same figure as the "chain stores." He gets the advantage of the lowest prices in the smallest quantities. He can buy in small quantities and often, thereby securing a good variety with small investment. He buys only what he needs. He gets better acquainted with his fellow pharmacists, which tends to create a better feeling among them and prevents price-cutting.

As buying clubs eliminate the wholesalers, they have incurred their enmity. The wholesalers claim that their retail friends are trying to invade the fields of both the wholesaler and the manufacturer and look upon such a course as inconsistent. As buying clubs and other combinations of retailers make their own preparations or have them made for them, which they push in place of the manufacturers' articles, it is not clear to the wholesalers why the manufacturers should sell these co-operative associations upon jobber's terms. Their claim is that by so doing the manufacturer works against his own interest as well as acts unjustly towards the jobbers, who are the natural distributors of the manufacturer's articles and who help to decrease his distributing expense.

It is but just to the retailer to state that he doesn't join a buying club simply "to get back" at the jobber or to try

to put him out of business, or on account of unfriendliness towards him. He joins it for self-preservation; to prevent his own destruction; to adjust himself to the changed conditions of his environment. He is forced to take this stand. against the jobber whether he cares to or not. He can not stop to think too much about the jobber, even though he may be his best friend. He must look out for himself. Selfpreservation is one of our first natural laws, and a good law to observe in business.

The N. A. R. D. strongly endorsed co-operative buying and manufacturing among retail pharmacists to the greatest possible extent. Co-operative buying is here to stay. The buying clubs of the future will assume big proportions. The writer knows of a buying club in a city of 100,000 people, which does a big business on its own preparations. It markets its own goods under its own trade-mark. Co-operative buying seems to afford the best means of self-preservation to the small independent pharmacist of to-day.

To sum up what has been written in this division on buying, it is plainly evident that buying is one of the great functions you will be called upon to perform. That it has legal aspects connected with it which must be observed to avoid litigation. In all dealings with salesmen you must know your rights and his rights, and observe them. Guard against extraordinary offers, there usually is a string to them somewhere. Have all agreements written on the order before you sign it, then insist on a copy of the order, and keep the copy. Read over again the requisites of the ideal buyer. Try to approach that ideal. Know values-study salesmanship -be familiar with your markets-respect confidences-concentrate your buying to a few concerns-be independent, do not obligate yourself to any one concern.

Quantity discounts and long dating are good things to avoid. Advertising goods over your own name should be approached with care. The sole agency bait has good and bad points. Be sure you can distinguish between them before committing yourself.

Remember the value of knowing when to say "No." In buying, that word should be frequently used. Conditions of your town and location should determine the advisability of your joining a buying club. Buying is one of the best tests of your judgment. The better you understand it the better your judgment will be.

DIVISION VII

SALESMANSHIP

CHAPTER XXVI.

KNOWING YOURSELF.

SALESMANSHIP has now been elevated to the position of an exact science. Mr. Arthur F. Sheldon, of Chicago, has formulated a Course of the Science of Successful Salesmanship. In this course he has classified and correlated the laws of success in salesmanship. Mr. Sheldon's definition of salesmanship is this "Salesmanship is that power which the salesman possesses to persuade others to purchase at a profit that which he has to sell." We see, then, that salesmanship is a power to persuade others to buy at a profit our goods. To be a salesman, then, you must possess that power of persuasion. You must not only sell goods but must sell them at a profit.

The value of salesmanship is recognized by all the big department stores. They have their schools of salesmanship under the supervision of experts. Welfare work is conducted on a large scale which results not only in more profit to them, but also increases the comforts and conveniences of their employees, which is conducive to better work and stronger loyalty.

To be a good salesman you must have a thorough knowledge of yourself, your goods, and your customer.

1 Science of Successful Salesmanship, by Arthur F. Sheldon