Part 36 (2/2)

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr., wished to stop newspaper photographers from snapping pictures of his children, he too appealed to the n.o.bler motives. He didn't, say: ”I don't want their pictures published.” No, he appealed to the desire, deep in all of us, to refrain from harming children. He said: ”You know how it is, boys.

You've got children yourselves, some of you. And you know it's not good for youngsters to get too much publicity.”

When Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the poor boy from Maine, was starting on his meteoric career, which was destined to make him millions as owner of The Sat.u.r.day Evening The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post and the and the Ladies' Home Journal Ladies' Home Journal, he couldn't afford to pay his contributors the prices that other magazines paid. He couldn't afford to hire first-cla.s.s authors to write for money alone. So he appealed to their n.o.bler motives. For example, he persuaded even Louisa May Alcott, the immortal author of Little Women Little Women, to write for him when she was at the flood tide of her fame; and he did it by offering to send a check for a hundred dollars, not to her, but to her favorite charity.

Right here the skeptic may say: ”Oh, that stuff is all right for Northcliffe and Rockefeller or a sentimental novelist. But, I'd like to see you make it work with the tough babies I have to collect bills from!”

You may be right. Nothing will work in all cases - and nothing will work with all people. If you are satisfied with the results you are now getting, why change? If you are not satisfied, why not experiment?

At any rate, I think you will enjoy reading this true story told by James L. Thomas, a former student of mine:

Six customers of a certain automobile company refused to pay their bills for servicing. None of the customers protested the entire bill, but each claimed that some one charge was wrong. In each case, the customer had signed for the work done, so the company knew it was right - and said so. That was the first mistake.

Here are the steps the men in the credit department took to collect these overdue bills. Do you suppose they succeeded?

1. They called on each customer and told him bluntly that they had come to collect a bill that was long past due.

2. They made it very plain that the company was absolutely and unconditionally right; therefore he, the customer, was absolutely and unconditionally wrong.

3. They intimated that they, the company, knew more about automobiles than he could ever hope to know. So what was the argument about?

4. Result: They argued.

Did any of these methods reconcile the customer and settle the account? You can answer that one yourself. can answer that one yourself.

At this stage of affairs, the credit manager was about to open fire with a battery of legal talent, when fortunately the matter came to the attention of the general manager.

The manager investigated these defaulting clients and discovered that they all had the reputation of paying their bills promptly, Something was wrong here - something was drastically wrong about the method of collection.

So he called in James L. Thomas and told him to collect these ”uncollectible” accounts.

Here, in his words, are the steps Mr. Thrrmas took:

1. My visit to each customer was likewise to collect a bill long past due - a bill that we knew was absolutely right.

But I didn't say a word about that. I explained I had called to find out what it was the company had done, or failed to do.

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