The man sneaking through the window isn’t a burglar. It’s a radio salesman trying to get a radio inside the house, where it can sell itself! The illustration appeared in the April 1938 issue of Radio Retailing in an article explaining how to sell.

The article explained that your canvassers can’t sell radios at the door, and they can’t get inside the door, because the homeowner is well aware that they’re just trying to sell.  And even if they do get inside, they’re not going to sell any radios armed with photos.

So to sell radios, the canvasser needs to stop trying to sell radios.  Instead, they needed to figure out a way to get a radio inside the house, where it could sell itself:  “The answer is to GET THE RADIO IN THE HOUSE.  And when I say get the radio in the house, I mean get the radio in the house by any lawful means at your disposal.  By trickery, by cunning, by anything under the sun but a hint that you want the lady to buy it.  By misrepresentation, if you will, provided you stick to your original story, even when you go back to sell.”

The article even advised having the boss go back to close the sale, rather than having the original salesman.  After all, the original salesman will go to great lengths to stick to his story that he’s not trying to sell anything.  The boss, on the other hand, has a bit greater aura of importance, and can probably close the sale.

The article speculated that if the original salesman handles both ends of the transaction, then he’ll probably place 100 radios and sell 80 of them.  On the other hand, he could place 500, of which 250 are ultimately sold.  The smart dealer figured out which system was better.