• Short Summary

    How to succeed as a sales representative by using common sense and dressing well!

  • Description

    M/Ss of an instructor pointing at a board as three future sales representatives look on; the board says 'Plan your work - work your plan'; another board in the background lists the dress code.

    A larger group of trainees are seen in a session, sitting before another instructor who writes 'Smile' on a blackboard; a weasely-looking trainee doesn't look convinced. The trainer then takes a mirror around the class which they smile into, presumably to get used to the idea of how charming they look when they smile.

    We are shown two examples of how not to get past the director's secretary; the first man (who wears a bright red waistcoat and badges on his lapels) drops all his business cards on the floor. The next man puts his head round the door with a caddish smile, and tries to bribe the secretary with a bunch of flowers, putting his arm around her shoulder - she's not having any of it! The salesman pouts.

    The card-dropping man has now made it into the director's office, shakes the director's hand clumsily, puts his hat and umbrella on the man's desk, spreads his brochures out, and leans on the desk in an oafish way. The boss doesn't look impressed and picks up the phone, while our salesman helps himself to a cigarette from the box on the desk, starts to smoke. He is also breaking dress rules; wearing a flower, badges, bright waistcoats and brown shoes with a formal suit and having pockets cluttered with pens are all wrong!

    Now the right way to behave in the director's office; another salesman comes in and puts his hat and umbrella on the floor; this one is much more professional! M/S back at the training centre as men seem to be examining different types of machinery; perhaps this is product knowledge training. C/U of a sign with key points for Professional Salesmanship.

    Note: notes on file on the scenes shown in this story; no mention of the name of the training school, although it was apparently in Hounslow, Middlesex.

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    139.09
    Media URN:
    1751
    Group:
    Colour pictorials
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    17/04/1961
    Sound:
    Sound
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Colour
    Duration:
    00:02:43:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:25:31:00 / 01:28:14:00
    Canister:
    CP 329

Comments (2)

  1. Unknown user says

    Why do all the videos seem to be cut off? Are there any full videos on the site?

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  2. Unknown user says

    The company shown was called 'Commercial Selection' I was the salesman with hat and
    cigarette, and was one of the lecturers there.

    Regards,

    Dennis Hemmings

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