Avoid committing yourself when you see a line. Take notes, but withhold comment.
Whether or not you are favorably impressed with a line, tell each vendor that you have other lines to see, and your buying plan to check before you can write up any orders.
If you know a line is wrong for you, there are tactful ways in which to say that. Praise the line if you wish to, but say frankly that it is not for your store or department this season.
If you feel you should explain why, try to give your reasons in terms of the store, rather than as criticisms of the line itself. "We are working toward a softer look this season", for example, or "The prices are just a notch above what our customers can afford this season".
Leave the door open for future seasons; another time, the resource may have a winning line. Suggest that there may be better possibilities next season.
Avoid disparaging the tone; avoid letting the resource feel your lack of interest. What doesn't suit your store's needs this season may fit another store's needs - or may fit yours in another season.
How Not to Say "No"
Many fashion buyers make the mistake of hiding behind their merchandise managers when they have to turn down a line. "My merchandise manager won't give me the money" and "I just don't have the open-to-buy" are two favorite alibis.
Avoid them! They belittle you, and make you seem like a messenger instead of a buyer. And they make your management look as if it is pretty inept, sending its buyers to market without funds or authority. Unsophisticated resources react to such alibis by classifying you as a timid buyer. Sophisticated resources realize that what you are telling them is merely an alibi.
If it does actually happen that you see something you really want, and you do not have the funds, the sensible comment is: "I'm not in a position to commit myself right now. Let me talk this over at the store and get in touch with you again by the end of next week" - or whatever time you require. Then do get in touch, whatever your answer must be.
Avoid Being the "Good Joe"
Some buyers suffer from what could be called the "Good Joe" syndrome. It causes damage in any department, and real havoc in a fashion department.
These are the buyers who simply can't turn anyone down. So, in the interests of keeping on friendly terms with every vendor, they buy a little from almost every line they see.
This is of no benefit to the resource, the store, or its customers.
So far as the resource is concerned, "Good Joe" keeps an account open for an occasional token purchase. His account can actually be a profitless nuisance, instead of the favor he thinks he is conferring on the salesman.
So far as his department is concerned, "Good Joe's" stock becomes a hodge-podge instead of a fashion message. He has bought merchandise he cannot present enthusiastically to his salespeople and customers. He has diluted his assortment with merchandise that he does not really consider first rate.
No matter what your relations with the resource have been or are likely to be in future, if you aren't really enthusiastic about the merchandise, don't be a "Good Joe". Don't buy.
Introduce Your Merchandise Manager
Your merchandise manager can't possibly visit every resource of every buyer, but he usually wants to meet those who are especially important to your department. Among them:
- firms distinguished for fashion alertness
- those whose merchandising and promotion programs are of such scope that it would be stretching your own authority a bit to make a decision for your store
- promising new resources who may need special cooperation from the store to help them produce what you want
- opinion molders and elder statesmen in their industries,
