The other day a young dynamo from New York dropped
in to see me at Sizzle Ranch, Texas.
His name is Bill Ziegler and he is one of the top sales
promotion men in the grocery field. In addition to having
about the reddest hair I have ever seen. Bill has one of the
finest selling ideas to come my way in recent years.
The tool he uses is an old-fashioned milking stool, with
three legs.
He has fixed the stool so that all three legs can be screwed
out of or into place. And here is the story he tells as he
assembles his device.
The flat surface of the stool where the milker sits is like
any sales program. Without its legs it just won't stand up.
That's like the plan you make for your own store or busi-
ness or your own life, for that matter. A plan isn't enough!
The first thing you need is a man or woman to execute
your plan. That's your sales force or yourself. And> just as it's
possible to lift one side of the milk stool with a single leg,
you'll sell some merchandise with only a sales force.
But usually you need more than salesmen alone!
The secotfft leg Bill fits under his stool he calls sales train-
ing. It makes two sides of the stool stand up just as training
helps your own salesmen do a better job.
The third leg makes the stool stand up straight and permits
even the chubbiest milker to get about his work in comfort
and to do a really good job.
The third leg in sales, Bill says, is advertising. Support
your salesmen who have been trained with advertising
and you'll make the cash register ring.
Next time you've got a problem, then, remember the story
of the three-legged milk stool.
