Nature Abhors a Vacuum

Adhering to our instructions never to pass up a house, I knocked at the door of the first home on the block. It was a modest place with what the experienced men called “sucker siding.” That was imitation brick siding made of asphalt. The old hands said, “Anyone who bought that would buy anything.” That supposedly made it a good place to stop.

I figured the chance of making a sale was nil but it would be a good chance to develop my “pitch.” A lady who must have been in her seventies met me at the door and invited me in without even asking what I wanted.

There was not a cloth rug in the house so I concentrated on using the attachments for cleaning upholstered furniture. Along into the demonstration, the husband said, “Do you think you could use this Ma?”

“Well, yes.” She replied.

He reached into his bib overalls and pulled out two twenties. “I guess that leaves the rest to me,” the woman said and went into another room. This was in Colorado and the sales tax brought the total price to something like $102.24. The wife came up with all but four cents of the exact amount so I did the natural thing and told her to forget the small change. (After all, I had just made a $35 commission). I almost lost the sale! The couple said when they agreed to a price, they paid in full and hunted around the house until they found the other four cents.

I learned several things on this first sale. One, don’t judge a house by its location or appearance and therefore follow the advice never to pass up an opportunity. The second, and one of the most important, find out the problems and the resulting needs of the customer. A third point, selling to a couple is much better than one or the other alone. The husband wants to please his wife and she is willing to take advantage of it. Alone, neither wants to take the responsibility of spending the money.

The second point noted above came to bear when it was obvious the cleaner was not essential in this household with no rugs but the couple continued to be interested. The crux of the interest came out when the husband began questioning me about the spray painting capabilities of the cleaner. It seemed he owned farms and couldn’t find anyone to paint the barns on his places. This piece of equipment was just what he was looking for. To spray paint, all one had to do was take the hose off the suction outlet and put it on the blower. Using the attachment provided, the paint could then be sprayed through the hose that normally sucked up dirt in the regular process. So knowing the customer’s problem and finding a solution sold the product.

It might be well to note here the vacuum cleaner we were selling was one of the first bell types on the market. We were told to say it was made in Newton, Iowa, implying it was a Maytag product (also manufactured in that city) and therefore a respected company. Whether our machine, called McAllister Ross, had anything to do with Maytag I don’t really know.

On to Wyoming and my first look at a “company town.” I was appalled at the squalor and the lack of hope that emanated from those unpainted homes lining both sides of the railroad tracks that hauled the coal out of the mines.

Rock Springs was a raucous town and my tender years prevented me from taking advantage of some of the entertainment. One story is told, and I swear I was not a part of it, about two of our older salesman stopping at a home only to find it was a “house of ill repute.”

Following the credo of the salesman to never pass up a house, they went in and demonstrated the cleaner. It was an instant hit but the girls claimed they didn’t have any money so the guys took the down payment out in trade. By the time summer was over, the road crew boss had been notified of the house in Rock Springs that had not made one payment on their installment contract. He sent two men to repossess the vacuum as we went by on the way back to Omaha.