I just bought an auction lot consisting of two oddball items related to Babe Ruth and, of all things, milk.

The first item is a rare 1924 milk salesman’s manual featuring Babe Ruth. The manual is loaded with data designed to educate milk salesmen on all they need to know for house-to-house — milk route — selling. Did you know a sheep will return only 2.6 pounds of edible food solids but a dairy cow returns 18.1 pounds?

The 96-page leather-bound 5-inch by 7-inch publication is in excellent condition.

The second item is a 1930s Sunnyhurst Dairy Farms milk bottle with a picture of "The Babe" and his bat on the bottle proclaiming Sunnyhurst is "Babe’s Choice." The bottle is in virtually perfect condition. Given Ruth’s reputation for alcohol consumption, it’s an interesting combination.

Less than one minute after I began reading the sales training manual, I realized it was right on the money, even if it was 84 years old. It literally taught milk salesmen how to milk their customers — but in a quality, value-based, truthful, and expert way.

The foreword begins, "This book contains the latest information on the most successful method of milk salesmanship. Read and study this book carefully and you will be a better salesman as a result. Do not attempt to read it through at one time. Read only a little at a time, think over carefully what you have read, and go out and apply the principles learned.

"This book should be your constant companion, a ready reference book to consult often. Study the principles laid out in this book and you will be preparing yourself rapidly for a bigger job."

Here is some additional content from the manual:

• Salesmanship consists of three things:

1st – Knowing your merchandise.

2nd – Knowing your customer.

3rd – Knowing yourself.

• There are several definitions of salesmanship, any one of which might serve your purpose.

Definition No. 1: Persuading the customer to get your viewpoint.

Definition No. 2: The power to persuade plenty of people to purchase your product at a profit (the seven "P"s).

Definition No. 3: A mental picture — creating power that results in persuasion.

• Salesmanship is rapidly growing in importance because the big problem in industry now is not how to produce merchandise, but how to sell and distribute merchandise.

• Salesmanship is one of the biggest jobs. The doctor has to employ salesmanship methods or he doesn’t do much of a business. The preacher has to employ salesmanship methods or he will soon be talking to empty pews.

• An attractive business-getting salesman is a combination of three factors:

One – neat, clean attractive dress.

Two – A healthy body.

Three – A combination of certain qualities, such as enthusiasm, honesty, tact, self-command, courtesy, cheerfulness, promptness, memory, sympathy and initiative.

• In selling, forget yourself. Self-consciousness spoils a man’s manner. Think not of yourself but of the things you’re trying to impress upon the prospect. Cultivate a pleasing personality and an earnest, confident manner. These qualities combined with the proper degree of enthusiasm and forcefulness command attention, create confidence, and hold interest.

Get it? Other than some gender and syntax, this manual could have been written yesterday. And there is more — 95 pages of ideas and nuances to help the milk salesman of his day sell more milk, and retain customers.

They even used third-party endorsements from Babe Ruth and Johnny Weismuller, Olympic swimmer and Tarzan in the movies, claiming milk helped make them the success they became. They showed examples of why you’ll be healthier and a better achiever with milk, and a scrawny failure without it.

The manual also talks about the importance of service and how it’s tied to success. It gives a formula: Quality (excellence of service) plus quantity (the amount of service rendered) plus mode (manner of conduct in rendering service). Try that today.

Want more? The manual lists 15 reasons salesmen fail. To get the list, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the word "milk" in the GitBit box.

Contact Jeffrey Gitomer at salesman@gitomer.com or (704) 333-1112. Gitomer is president of Buy Gitomer in Charlotte, N.C., and the author of "The Little Red Book of Selling." He gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. Sales Moves appears weekly.