Probably owo of my most prized possessions are my
father’s CPC pisn from National Cash Register (NCR). CPC Stands for Century Points Club and was
invented by John H. Patterson, the brains behind National Cash Register, but
not its founder. Patterson bought controlling interest in the National
Manufacturing Company and changed its name.
The CPC organization has been recognized around
the world as the most elite selling organization in the world ever.
It was founded in 1906 and is still going
strong today, according to the last accounts I have been able to locate.
Club members must qualify every year by averaging
100 points per month for all twelve months of the year. In short, to make the CPC, salesmen must be
the best of the best in selling.
I don’t know how many years my father was in the
CPC, but the pins I have
represent three and four years.
As I understand it, my father was one of the top salesmen every year he
was with National Cash Register and, for several years, he was the top
salesman.
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| Suzanne and Papa Bruce |
Papa Bruce was able to win several trips to places
like Hawaii and Mexico. He valued these
prizes, not because he wanted to go to these places so much, but because it
meant he was the best of the best.
I learned a great deal about selling from my
father. I never made it as a
salesman. However, I later realized
exactly why he was able to sell so well.
The big key to all of the sales was rapport.
I had the privilege of seeing three very good
salesmen work their trade. One was my
father, Papa Bruce. One was my manager
at the US Chamber of Commerce, Jim Manley, and one was a snake oil salesman for
a cemetery I worked at.
All three were very good at getting sales. I thought about it over the years and I
realized something. These salesmen
never once talked about the product.
These men always started out asking the
prospective customer about themselves.
Mr. Manley would always ask the prospect about how
they got into the business. He would
tell them about how well they appeared to be doing and asked them more
questions about themselves.
By the time they finished telling about themselves,
they would ask Mr. Manley what it was he needed. He would tell them we were on a membership drive
and almost always we would leave with a sale.
It was that simple.
With my father, he would talk about the person and
ask about their family. They would tell
them what they wanted and he would show it to them. There was no high pressure.
Once our store sponsored a raffle for the local
fire department, or maybe it was the rescue squad. He wanted to make sure that they sold as many
tickets as possible.
Customers would come in the store and he would
say, “Give me a dollar.” By this time he
had such a good rapport with our customers that, without fail, they would reach
in their pocket and hand him a dollar.
He would then give them the ticket book and tell them to fill out the
ticket stub for a raffle ticket.
Papa sold hundreds of tickets this way.
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| Blood Donor Pin 1 Gallon |
Very nice pins, it sounds like your father was a nice man.
ReplyDeleteHe was a very nice man. If there was a contest, he had to win it. It did not matter what the prize was. Come hell or high water, he had to win it. He went on dozens of trips because he won them from our different suppliers. Once Admiral appliances sent him on a trip where he met Admiral Admiral who was played by the same guy who played Sonny Drysdal from Beverly Hillbillies. My parents got to eat with Mr. T once. He handed my father an award at the dinner.
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