478 



HORTICULTURE 



October 12, 1907 





"THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE 

 MIDDLEMAN AND HIS ASSO- 

 CIATE, THE SALESMEN. 



AV. r,. MiKissick befoio tlii' i'loiists' I'luii 

 of Philadelphia, Oct. 1. I'JOT. 



This paper, gentlempn, is nnt writ- 

 ten with an antagonistic spirit; for we 

 wholesalpi-i are far froin hunting 

 trouhle. A full share is already pur- 

 tioneil out lor us, and we are pretty 

 sure to get it, without looking for ii; 

 but it is written with a hope that it 

 may in a measure bring the middle- 

 man and the storekeeper (or the 

 buyer) into closer touch with eath 

 other, and with the idea that it will 

 helj) each to more fully realize and 

 appreciate what one is doing for the 

 other. 



The Old Way. 



Twelve or fifteen years ago some of 

 you will probably remember how the 

 few wholesale flower houses which 

 were in existence at that lin\e, eni- 

 ployed men and boys at from eight 

 to twelve dollars per week and called 

 them salesmen. Their business was 

 to sign for express packages, check 

 up the contents, wait on a customer, 

 or answer the teleiilione. As a rule 

 their employer was a frank, open- 

 heaited, ho)iest sort of a man him- 

 self, and one who felt that bis em- 

 ployes were equally so, whether he 

 was on deck or not, and he never 

 tho.ight it necessary to see whether 

 these so-called salesmen wore handing 

 cut a dollar's worth for a dollar or 

 ten dollars worth. He simply took 

 their v.'ord for it, and when the end 

 of the week cam°, he possibly sat 

 down and fi.giired for hours anrl hours 

 in his efloits to locate the sale of cer- 

 tain niateiial, which he wai positive 

 he had received from his growers, 

 and for which he found no bill of sale. 

 Finally, after all his efforts had l)een 

 exhausted, be would go down in his 

 pocket, pay for the goods, and take 

 cha.nces of finding the leak later. An- 

 other week would go around with pos- 

 sibly the same experience and the leak 

 still unfound. 



Bribe or Get "Burned." 

 Now, in other markets, 1 am told, 

 it is customary for the buyer tia 

 order to secuie a bargain) to pass (on 

 the quiet) to the so-called salesman, 

 a piece of money, and if he di 1 not 

 resort to this method he would prob- 

 ably have to pay .m exorbitant price, 

 or to use a common phrase, be burned. 

 The word "burned" needs no explana- 

 tion: we all know too well the mean- 

 ing of it Now, while conditions were 

 In days past nearly as bad on this 



' market, it never came down (to my 

 knowledge) to the deliberate handling 



■out of "cold money." To be sure 

 there were times when material dis- 



■ appeared mysteriously from the whole- 

 sale houses, but a cigar, a dinner or 

 something cf that sort by some of the 

 buyers and the so-called salesman did 

 the work, and should these buyers 

 have suddenly gotten religion and en 

 the iminilse of the moment revealeil 

 what tliey knew to the proprietor, be 

 would probably have had a solulion to 

 the leak in his sales. 



Other Antiquated Methods. 

 Another bad feature of the business 

 at that time was the over-generous 

 spirit of the wholesaler, m allowing 

 his employes and others, what was 

 known as a donation. When Saturday 



night came it was not considered out 

 of place by the employer to allow an 

 employe a jjortion of the llowers left 

 over as a donation. But this privilege 

 became sadly abused, so much so, that 

 flowers at times took wings and the 

 privilege had to be stopped. 



Another ancient idea was the sale 

 of flowers from the wholesale houses 

 by wagon; this custom you are all 

 familiar with, and while at one time a 

 success, of late years since we have 

 had the telephone and understand 

 more thoroughly what could be ac- 

 complished by it, the wagon has al- 

 most entirely been abandoned. It it 

 wert not for the fact that one of our 

 wholesalers, whom I have the honor to 

 regaid as a good neighbor and a clcse 

 friend, still persists in using his 

 wagon, I would say about him as our 

 friend Mr. Meehan said abut the 

 grower who still carries his own stocl;, 

 "That he was ten years behind times." 



The New Type of Salesman. 



But, today, gentlemen, things are 

 different. The wholesaler profiting by 

 his past experience, and those of 

 others, and awakening to the call 

 which conipetitcn has made, is running 

 his business direct from the sbouldei', 

 and on the most up-to-date principles 

 and methods. The day of the dona- 

 tion is past; be has discovered that 

 the flowers in his possession are not 

 his own, but the property of some 

 grower; if his employes want them 

 they are welcome to them at the lowest 

 market price; but they must be paid 

 for. The day of the would-be sales- 

 man is done, and in bis place we have 

 those who have stood the test and have 

 proven themselves to be capabl-j sales- 

 men without a iiuestion of doubt. The 

 wholsalers of today employs the best 

 experienced men he can get, systema- 

 tizes his business, puts them in their 

 respective places, according to their 

 knowledge and ability, as salesmen, 

 packers, traders and delivery clerks; 

 pays them their price and demands 

 results. He has an eagle eye on the 

 goods coming in : who they come from, 

 how they are handled and graded; 

 how sold and at what price, and how 

 packed and delivered; thus k;-'eping in 

 touoh with the stock he is handling 

 fi'oni the time it reaches Lis place of 

 business until it is handed over to the 

 storekeeper and the bill O. K'ed, or 

 delivered to the express company for 

 shipment. 



The salesmen in our wholesale 

 houses today are a class of experienced 

 and enei'gelic youn.g men, of whom 

 cur storekepers should well feel proud. 

 As compai'ert with salesmen of fifteen 

 years ago, these are real salesmen and 

 real inen. who are fully capable of sell- 

 ing mateiial at its market value, and 

 who do not have to stoop to the low 

 standard of giving the buyer more 

 I ban a dollar's worth for a dollar, with 

 the idea of securing his business and 

 making a lai .ge book, or appea'in.g to 

 be more than he is to his employer as 

 a salesnmii. 



The Secret of Success. 

 Philadelphia middlemen, I am glad 

 to say. are all piogi-essive, and have 

 made wonderful strides along the line 

 of advancement; credit for which has 

 been banded out to them in, various 

 forms. One will say, "He's a wise, 

 shvewd. business fellfrtv": another will 

 say, "Mr. Blank (bis I'tn-Mor employe;) 



taught him all he ever Knew," and 

 still another will say, "His financial 

 backing is his whole success, and with- 

 out which he would be lost." But, 

 gentlemen, let me put ycu right, all 

 of these things are in a measure re- 

 sponsible. A man must have a good, 

 level head to manage his business suc- 

 cessfully, but a gr.eat percentage of his 

 success is due to the aliility and untir- 

 ing eJforts the man who plugs away 

 from morning till night to sell the 

 stock, and who alter hours will give 

 him valuable suggestions to aid him 

 ;d the daily routine of business; this 

 man is the salesman. Now where do 

 we get these good salesmen of whom 

 we are boasting? Were they born 

 salesmen or made salesmen? Allow 

 me to answer this by saying that in 

 my judgment it is a question of ability 

 and experience on their part, combined 

 with keeping in close touch with their 

 employer, which has made many of 

 these men what they are; but I hope 

 they will not take my remarks as flat- 

 tery; they are simply intended to give 

 them the encouragement which they 

 deserve, and which has long been com- 

 ing to them. 



We have few "college-bred" men iii 

 our profession, but we have men of 

 character and ability who are slowly 

 but surely pushing to the front. Why 

 not a course in scientific salesman- 

 ship for some of these young men. that 

 it may develop and fit them for the 

 positions which will surely be to offer 

 if the wholesale Porist business con- 

 tinues to advance with the same speed 

 it has done. 



Hovi/ the Telephone Helps. 



Possibly two-thirds of our local busi- 

 ness is at the present time done over 

 the telephone. Each wholesaler has 

 his trade divided, and a careful man 

 appointed to look after the require- 

 ments of every customer. The stores 

 are only beginning to appreciate what 

 these men do for them in the way of 

 keeping them in touch with the mar- 

 ket conditions and especially in the 

 way of process and new material, which 

 some of the out-of-the-way stores 

 would not know about for possibly a 

 week if it were not for the 'phone. \s 

 it is they can now find the exact con- 

 ditions in a few minutes. But does 

 our friend the store-keeper realize the 

 great expense item that the telephone 

 is to us? The total cost to the Phila- 

 delphia wholesalers combined for tele- 

 phone service is probably from five 

 thousand to eight thousand dollars an- 

 nually, and while we cannot do with- 

 out them, I assure you the cost is a 

 problem which gives the middleman 

 some occasion at times to put on his 

 thinking cap. With the amount of 

 money expended we expect results, 

 and in most instances we get them, 

 as I am glad to say that the majority 

 of our stores appreciate the telephone 

 service, and the information which it 

 brings; but there are still a few stores 

 where the management is so poor that 

 they allow their employes to treat a 

 call from a wholesale house as a joke, 

 and believe the salesmen have nothing 

 else to do but to make 'phone calls to 

 pass away the time. Again they in 

 reply to a 'phone call will not extend 

 him the courtesy to inquire his busi- 

 ness; but as soon as they learn that 

 a call is from a wholesale house. 



