Business Marketing Advertising

There is in Chicago a certain company that uses a great many locks. It is rated “AAA.” Yet, strange as it may seem, it is very seldom that a lock salesman ever calls upon this company.

The salesmen for the different lock manufacturers had decided among themselves that it was a waste of time to call on this company because for the past fifteen years it had given all its lock business to an Eastern manufacturer.

There was one salesman, however, who had vision. He represented a Rockford lock company. He knew there was no such thing as having an account “sewed up”; that sooner or later something would happen to jar the account loose, and the very fact that the Eastern manufacturer thought he had the account cinched would in itself eventually lead to his losing it.

So he kept on calling. For six long years he called, receiving no encouragement whatever from the prospect and making himself a butt for the wits at The Hardware Club. But the joke was on them last week when he landed the account, to their chagrin and envy, simply because he had held to his course.

Selling has much in common with sailing. To arrive you must first know where you want to go, and then you must have the tenacity and courage to hold to your course in spite of storms and discouragements. If you will just stay on the course long enough you are sure to arrive.