December 10, 1916 



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The Lumberman s Round Table 



The Value of a Title 



A certain well-known hardwood concern lias several vice-presi- 

 dents. All of the vice-presidents, it happens, are salesmen. This 

 is not to suggest that the company rewards its good men with titles 

 instead of kale, but indicates a belief in the efficacy of the handles 

 in securing an introduction for the boys on the road. 



When the buyer reads the card handed in to him by the office 

 boy and notes that instead of plain John Jones, representing the 

 Smith Lumber Company, he is dealing with John Jones, vice-presi- 

 dent of the Smith Lumber Compan}-, he thinks more of Mr. Jones 

 and more of the compan3^ Likewise, he is flattered in a subtle kind 

 of way at having a responsible executive of a more or less promi- 

 nent corporation call on him instead of an ordinary scrub salesman. 

 So he invites Mr. Jones in, asks him when he thinks the war in 

 Europe will end, what his opinion of the present administration 

 at Washington is, and so on. All of this helps some, as far as 

 landing the little old order is concerned. 



Incidentally, while they maj' not admit it, the salesmen who are 

 dubbed vice-presidents don't mind the sensation a bit. It raises 

 them somewhat in their own estimation, gives them a little more 

 confidence, and makes them feel that the buyer has nothing on 

 them, no matter what his position. And when a salesman has a 

 feeling like that, whether he gets it by being given a title or by 

 wearing $10 shoes and made-to-order shirts, he is hard to stop. As 

 they say on the gridiron, lie doesn't know when he is down. 



Lumbermen as Lumber Buyers 



Some of the big corporations whicli uso a lot of lumber have 

 real, sure-enough lumbermen to liandle the buying end, instead of 

 purchasing agents of the old-fashioned type, who buy purch- me- 

 chanically and leave it to their inspectors to catch the shipper if 

 he doesn't deliver material that is up to grade. 



This is not a case of "setting a thief to catch a thief," or any 

 thing of that sort. On the other hand, it is simply evidence that 

 tlie wise business men who are piloting these corporations know 

 their business, and realize that when there is a job that requires 

 expert knowledge, it is time to call in an expert. 



In one case that is known of, the lumber buyer doesn't wait for 

 salesmen to come to him, but lie goes to the mills and looks over 

 tlic stock and picks out what he wants, in view of the special re- 

 <iuirements of his factory. This is a good thing for the lumber- 

 man and a good thing for the consumer, because it means that 

 freight isn't going to be paid on a lot of stock that is to be thrown 

 out at the other end of the line. 



Lumbermen like to deal with those who are informed, and who 

 imdorstand what they arc about. They are not "easy marks," 

 but they expect to pay 100 cents for every dollar's worth of value 

 — and no hardwood shipper wants anything better than that. 



The sooner the big corporations learn that buying lumber de- 

 mands a little more technical knowledge than ability to compare 

 fiuotations, the better it will be for thom. 



The Manual Training Schools 



Hardwood Record has commented more than once on the im- 

 portance of the manual training schools as a field for the consump- 

 tion of lumber. The average hardwood man, it is true, is apt to 

 regard this as a market too infinitesimal to be worth bothering 

 about, but in the aggregate it is easily comparable with some 

 industries to wliich a lot of attention is paid. 



The sccretarv of one of the lumber associations, which has been 

 boosting a certain wood to good effect in the past few years, said 

 the other day that he had been greatly surprised at the extent of 

 the manual training field, as indicated by demands for a booklet 

 dealing with the uses of the wood his association is promcrting. 

 One of the papers covering the manual training schools used a 

 small item saying that such a booklet was available; and since 

 then the requests for it have come in literally by the hundreds. 



Some of the instructors who have asked for the booklet have 



—18— 



stated that they use definite amounts of this wood, the average 

 being about 1,000 feet a year. This is not much lumber, it is true; 

 but when the amount is multiplied by a thousand — and there are 

 probably that many institutions cutting up lumber for the pur- 

 pose of instructing manual training students in-cabinet-making and 

 kindred arts — there is seen the respectable total of a million feet 

 of material. And this is but one wood. Practically all the com- 

 mercial woods are used in the manual training field, and the total 

 consumption probably is between 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 feet 

 a year. This is not much more than a guess, being based on 

 isolated instances which have developed recently, but the figures 

 are near enough to the truth to suggest to the lumberman that he 

 ought to know something about the manual training market. 



The business must be handled in most cases in a retail way, but 

 since somebody is getting the trade, directly or indirectly, it might 

 be worth looking into in your own community. 

 How Much Time? 



How much time does the average lumber salesman actually put 

 in every day! 



That is, what part of his waking hours does he use in making 

 calls and presenting the proposition of his concern to buyers — 

 and how much in thinking about it and getting ready to do it and 

 dodging the necessity of starting out? 



In a lot of cases he can think up a whole pile of excuses in 

 favor of delaying just a little while longer: and most of them, 

 strange to say, are legitimate, to all appearances, at least. 



For example, the salesman can assure you that his customers 

 need until 10 o 'clock, at least, to open their mail and get started 

 on the day's work. Then, of course, most buyers, it is figured by 

 the conservative solicitor, go to lunch promptly at noon, and don't 

 get back until 2:30 o'clock. And they begin to sign their mail 

 and wind up the day's business at 4:30, so that there are only 

 about four hours during which the salesman can use his time to 

 good advantage. 



Then by the time you figure the loss involved in going from 

 line office to another, waiting for a favorable opportunity to see 

 the buyer, and time wasted owing to the prospect being out, it is 

 no wonder that the salesman figures he has done a good daj^'s 

 work if he has seen four or five buyers. 



It is refreshing, however, to turn to another type of salesman 

 and learn that there are men who actually start in at 8:30 o'clock 

 and work through until 5:30, with the usual allowance for lunch. 



These chaps know that some of the buyers will keep them wait- 

 ing; they know that some go to lunch early and return late; but 

 they also know that a goodly percentage may be found in their 

 offices at any time between the hours stated, and that it is a good 

 policy just to keep going. 



A salesman of that description said recently that he averages 

 ten calls a day, and often sees as many as twelve. He is not a 

 brilliant man, but his volume of business is considerably greater 

 than tliat of the salesman who is so choosy about the hours he 

 will call that he reduces the number of chances to sell to a minimum. 

 Dry-Kiln Capacity Growing 



Manufacturers are rapidly learning that it is not the stock of 

 lumber on hand that counts, but the capacity of their dry-kilns. 

 Their ability to turn out finished goods is limited definitely by the 

 amount of dry lumber they have available for their machines, and 

 this in turn is fixed by the capacity of the kilns. They know that 

 the latter cannot be crowded and the period required for drying 

 shortened without danger, and hence they are seeing the advis- 

 ability of adding enough kilns to give them ample capacity in 

 the plant. The dry kiln, in other words, instead of being con- 

 sidered merely an accessory, is now seen to be an integral part of 

 the plant, having a definite relationship to all of its operations. 

 That is why one sees much more space given over to kilns in wood- 

 working plants of every description than would have been con- 

 sidered a reasonable provision as recently as five years ago. 



