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Along Life’s Way
Buy the Book
By Lois E. Wilson
I had learned to sell at the outdoor watermelon markets my parents
operated each summer when they weren’t teaching. The markets provided
the income they needed in their off months during the Great Depression.
The markets were open from at least 8 to 8, seven days a week. I bagged
and sold potatoes, other vegetables, and fruits. I even graduated to
selling watermelons. I also sold Girl Scout cookies for our troop. That
was the extent of my sales experience.
Newly married, my husband, after graduating from Ohio State was called
to active duty by the army. At the time, I left my college studies to
go with him. We bought a house trailer and headed off to Fort Knox.
A teacher friend of my parents suggested that I could earn extra money
while in Kentucky or wherever he was stationed by selling encyclopedias
as she did. I could plan my own schedule and territory. The idea of
educating others while adding dollars to our budget appealed to me.
It was during the Korean War, and many military families were living on
base or near it. I would have a pool of prospects for sales of
Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia—or so I thought.
I enrolled in a selling seminar conducted by the company. We were
provided handsome, colorful sales booklets to show and leave with our
“it was hoped” customers. We had scripts to follow and did practice
sales demonstrations to those in the training venue. We had the sales
order sheets on a clipboard.
The one thing I remember most about the sales pitch was to facilitate
the closing, we were to place the pen, which the prospect was to use
for his signature, at the top of the tilted clipboard and let it roll
downward. It was hoped the client would catch it before it fell to the
floor and have it in his hand for an easy signing to purchase.
I had no list of student prospects as the teacher friend who got me
into the venture had. I sold a few sets of encyclopedias to
families—enough to earn a set of our own. I purchased yearbooks to add
to it for many years. At some point I decided the computer age was
making encyclopedias obsolete as most information could be found on the
internet.
However, I still have several poetry books of mine which can be
purchased. All these funds go to the Empowering Darke County Youth
program. Watch! Here is my clipboard and here comes the pen. Did you
catch it?
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