Hanky-panky

The fifth part of the series on business lessons is presented. The author had to find a way to recoup their sales lost over the past year. He studied each account's products, personnel and marketing programs before each lunch. He made several marketing and advertising suggestions, and several of those ideas were implemented. By the end of 1964, the company had regained all of the pages they had lost in the previous year. Working on salary and commission, the improvement was so great that the author's income jumped to $27,000 in 1964. But Herb Vance thought the 40 percent jump in his earnings was too big. Vance said that if the author grew revenue by $200,000, he'd stay at the same income he had last year. He accepted and learned a lesson that stayed with him the rest of his career: When a salesperson performs, pay him or her for the effort.