18 THE CUBA REVIEW 



The much larger number of American concerns have their merchandise in the 

 hands of sales agents — sometimes American and sometimes of Cuban or other foreign 

 nationality. In some instances these sales agents carry a single line and in other 

 cases several lines, usually related, as in the case of office supplies, electrical goods 

 of various kinds, sanitary plumbing, musical instruments, etc. In the case of such 

 agents and of importing houses the tendency has sometimes been to take on too 

 many lines and to push only those lines that sell most easily. The man who has 

 studied a single line of merchandise and devotes his time and energy to that line 

 may develop a market that would not be discovered by the agent carrying several 

 lines, perhaps unrelated. Much care is called for in the selection of selling agents 

 and in seeing to it that the line in question is to be pushed. 



The experience of a great American agricultural concern in foreign trade is 

 understood to have shown that the best agents to sell its implements in the many 

 countries into which these implements have gone have been young men reared on 

 farms, educated in the country schools, without special polish or knowledge of foreign 

 ways, but quick to master every detail as to the machine or tool itself, as well as 

 the related questions of soil, crops, teams, farm labor, etc., sure to arise. An alien 

 in charge of a well-known line of American manufacturers in a foreign market places 

 much stress upon three months in the factory where these products are made. The 

 Cuban representative of the same line, also an alien, is soon to spend a few weeks in 

 the factory. This practice followed in many cases has been of value. A thorough 

 understanding of the thing sold is all but indispensable on the part of the salesman, 

 and especially so in a foreign field. Many lines of merchandise quite familiar even 

 to American school children through magazine and other advertising go abroad as 

 entire strangers. Thus the average boy or girl of 10 years in the United States is 

 likely to have a considerable knowledge as to the special features and prices of a 

 dozen or more different makes of automobiles in the nighborhood while the same 

 machines in a foreign field may be known to but few people or to none. So of new 

 office appliances, cream separators, vacuum cleaners, electric laundry and cooking 

 appliances, as well as various breakfast foods, lard substitutes, and many other 

 products. 



Much American and other imported merchandise is sold at Habana through 

 traveling salesmen who come to the city as they come to a corresponding city of the 

 Mississippi Valley. Cuban buyers go to New York and other markets as do those 

 of Cincinnati or St. Louis. In many cases orders are placed through the mails. 



Language — Advertising Methods. 



The language of Cuba is Spanish, and salesmen who canvass this market will 

 need the language or a good interpreter. Measures are in part metric and part 

 Anglo-Saxon. The money system of the island is the same as that of the United 

 States. 



Advertising is carried on in Cuba much as in the United States. Habana has 

 two daily newspapers printed in English and several other papers printed in Spanish. 

 Billboard, street-car, and other miscellaneous advertising is widely used. 



The selling methods to be adopted in a given case will depend chiefly upon the 

 thing to be sold and the probable market for it. There are many products that do 

 not warrant the establishing of a branch house nor a sales agent devoting his entire 

 attention to a single product. There are doubtless some American articles now in 

 the hands of ordinary dealers which would warrant being placed in the hands of an 

 agent along with a few related lines and thus be pushed more vigorously. In the 

 Cuban market, as well as in other foreign markets, a careful study of actual condi- 

 tions is desirable before a plan is decided upon. The probable demand for the thing 

 sold, the competition to be met, and other considerations enter into the question. 



