Publisher's Synopsis
. 1903 edition.: ...has gone far enough, when points have been pressed hard enough, and even when enough goods have been sold. No salesman of tact will force sales that he knows the customer will regret, or, in the case of wholesaling, that will overstock and hamper the business of the retailer. A tactful intercourse with your fellow employes is also most desirable. It helps to oil the machinery of the business all around. If you are a proprietor or one in authority, tact in dealing with those under you is of much importance. Persons in the service of others are apt to be sensitive and often imagine themselves to be victims of injustice when there is no cause for it. The result of such a feeling is apt to be discontent or even disloyalty. A tactful way of gaining orders or even of reproving the negligence or mistakes of your people will often do more to insure good service than if you spoke like an autocrat. Never forget, also, to give praise or encouragement where they are rightly due. Don't natter, but praise justly. There is a wide difference between flattery and just praise. Flattery is repugnant to sensible people. Just praise is welcome to all, no matter how much they claim to dislike it. Tact pays all around in a business establishment. How are you to cultivate tact? As you have seen, from the analysis I give, it is not so much a quality of character as a method of using its various powers. 22 All your forces of intelligence, judgment and persuasion are called into service at the bidding of tact. It is the knack of bringing them up at the right time and in the happiest manner that forms the essence of this precious quality. Timeliness of speech and action is therefore a habit you must cultivate with care. How often do people say to themselves, after a matter is disposed of, or when they recall an important interview, "O, I wish I had spoken thus and so; I wish I had used this or the other idea!" Of course it is then too late. The thing is said or done...
