December 10, 191G 



Unique Salesmanship Conference 



Oue huniJred men left Merrill, Wis., Sunday night inoculated with 

 that anti freeze-mixture, enthusiasm. 



Never in the palmiest days of lumbermen was there so enthusiastic 

 a meeting as that at the Badger hotel, Merrill, Wis., Friday, Saturday 

 and Sunday, December 8, 9 and 10, held by the Northern Lximber- 

 men's Salesmanship Conference under the auspices of the sales 

 managers committee of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers ' Association. 



As a little yeast will leaven the whole mass, and as ' ' pep " ' breeds 

 ' ' pep, ' ' so the success of the meeting was largely due to the sales 

 managers ' committee — George C. Robson, Kinzel Lumber Company, 

 Merrill, J. F. Halpin, C. H. Worcester Lumber Company, Chicago, 

 H. H. Butts,, Park Falls Lumber Company, Park Falls, Alfred Klass, 

 Holt Lumber Company, Oconto, and W. E. Vogelsang, Trutle Lake 

 Lumber Company, Grand Eapids, Mich., and to the Merrill hosts — 

 the Heineman Lumber Company, the A. H. Stange Company, Kinzel 

 Lumber Company and the Union Land Company, and particularly 

 to Mr. Robson, chairman of the committee, and O. T. Swan, secretary 

 of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manufacturers' Association. 

 No work and no expense were spared to make the meeting a success 

 and in this respect it exceeded the most sanguine hopes. 



The attendance was comprised not only of sales managers, salesmen 

 and manufacturers, but of a nimiber of visiting retailers from Wis- 

 consin, and also a number of visiting sales managers and manufac- 

 turers from the lower peninsula of Michigan. Over a hundred were 

 in attendance, almost double the niunber hoped for, and 150 sat down 

 to the banquet tendered by the Merrill hosts at the Badger hotel, 

 Friday evening. 



FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 



The initial session was held Friday afternoon and was probably 

 one of the best ' ' get-together ' ' meetings ever held among lumbermen. 

 It was opened at the Badger Opera House by J. T. Phillips, president 

 of the Northern Hemlock and Hardwood Manufacturers' Association, 

 who was honorary chairman. He placed the proceedings in the per- 

 manent charge of G. C. Robson, who in brief, well defined words 

 outlined the purpose of the conference, which was more efficient 

 salesmanship for northern woods. 



The first speaker was M. J. Fox of the Von Platen Limiber Com- 

 pany, Iron Mountain, Mich., who made an extremely interesting 

 talk on ' ' What I think about it. ' ' 



Systematic Salesmanship 



H. H. Butts, Parks Falls Lumber Company, then spoke on ' ' Sys- 

 tematic Salesmanship — Its Possibilities and Limitations," his paper 

 being a splendid treatise on the subject of preparing and building 

 sales. He said in part : 



I think one of the most concrete evidences of what system will ac- 

 complish has been obvious right In our association work. Take your 

 present hemlock promotion bureau, your campaign on birch, your bureau 

 of grades and its subsidiary, the sales managers' committee, and others, 

 all attaining definite results from working with some system ; whereas 

 several years ago practicall.v all of this work was left to George. Is 

 there any comparison with what was accomplished then and now? 



And so I say, in salesmanship in any line, yon sliould outline some 

 definite plan of action ; work along those lines, always tr.ving to im- 

 prove and making changes as conditions may warrant, never forgetting 

 the fact, however, that the object of your systematizing is to sell more 

 and to better advantage, otherwise you will soon have possibly only an 

 elaborate system and a large surplus of unsold stocks. 



Salesmanship, the brand that is worthy the name of true salesman- 

 ship, has come, not as a result of sporadic effort, but by propagation 

 and a gradual diffusion of ideas. Its growth and its development has 

 been due largely to an inner consciousness of the growing need for the 

 training of the faculties, with a view to making it a practical depart- 

 ment of business, rather than a pastime, and to effectually combine 

 knowledge with industry, inculcating the finer traits of loyalty, courtesy, 

 integrity, patience and perseverance. 



To my mind there is no pursuit in life that offers greater opportunities 

 for intelligent and scientific management. Knowledge of the products 

 we are selling is a primary requisite and it must be a sound and prac- 

 tical knowledge of every phase of the undertaking. The time has passed 

 when a glil) tongue and a doubtful personality can secure the confidence 



of the buyer. The older methods that were once deemed to be success- 

 ful have given way to a newer and better system of merchandising and the 

 old regime has passed. 



A great deal of thought and discussion has been given lately to the 

 matter of branding lumber for the purpose of combating dishonest prac- 

 tices in the way of mixing grades, giving short measure, and misrepre- 

 senting the quality. I have often wondered if we might not go a little 

 farther with this thought and apply it to the Individual marketing of it. 



The foundation of all sustained action is largely dependent, upon 

 knowledge. The one who s'ucceeds in the sales-management of the lumber 

 business must, first of all, know his products, how they are made, what 

 are the costs of production, not only as to operation, etc, but to know 

 what is involved in getting each and every item of manufactured lumber 

 from a saw log, and how best to produce it. Needless to say, he must 

 possess himself of every morsel of information pertaining to the kinds 

 of lumber he is endeavoring to sell, and he must be able to impart that 

 information to the traveling salesman in such a manner as to carry con- 

 viction and establish within reason the validity of every contention he 

 makes. 



The sales manager of today must be one who regards every situation 

 fairly and without prejudice. His duties are, indeed, manifold and 

 varied. Selfishness must give way to a broader and more liberal view 

 of things and the stimulating influences of personality, the dynamic 

 forces of real character and the powerful example of industry were 

 never so much needed as now. 



In the management of correspondence, the art of selling manifests it- 

 self in a degree not surpassed in any other branch of this most useful 

 department of business. It is in this branch of the department, I fear, 

 that most of us are deficient. Every inquiry leads to possibilities of some 

 kind or other, the extent of which depends largely upon our own initia- 

 tive and industry. If a buyer has inquiries, for instance, (or 4/4 No. 1 

 common birch, and you do not have the stock to offer, do you simply state 

 "unable to quote," and open a possibility for some foreign substitute, or 

 do you offer a substitute yourself? After covering the inquiry in your 

 reply and expressing the usual regret that you have been unable to sub- 

 mit prices on his requirements, select a few items of stock you do have 

 and in a clear and lucid enunciation of the excellent qualities of the 

 stock for certain purposes with which you have already familiarized your- 

 •self, drive home the argument that for these particular purposes no other 

 wood possesses so many uniformly good qualifications, always giving a 

 reason why. 



The reason why should never be omitted from a letter offering your 

 products. The pulling powers of the written plea for orders loses its 

 sting when the logic of reason Is colorless and indefinite. You cannot 

 hope to bring a response with a purring request ; your slothful appeal 

 seldom gets a hearing and more often is consigned to the waste basket. 



A scarcely less forceful argument for the consideration of your prod- 

 ucts is in the carefully written follow-up letter. Every answer to an 

 inquiry should be followed with a second letter giving added reasons 

 why the particular stock you have offered should receive careful con- 

 sideration. In this follow-up letter extreme caution should be observed 

 that there is no repetition of previous arguments, except that some one 

 or two very important features may be emphasized and additional edu- 

 cational matter submitted. In every instance the traveling salesman 

 should receive copies of all letters written to prospects or customers 

 in his territory and the personal call should be timed to meet the 

 exigencies of each situation. 



As a concrete example of how this combination works out, I recall a 

 contract just taken recently for a large amount of crating material in 

 hemlock and tamarack that the consumer (or years had insisted could 

 not be supplied in anything but yellow pine. It was not a case of pro- 

 tecting deliveries necessarily, but the result of continuous and scientific 

 team work between the sales manager and representative in that terri- 

 tory. A sample car preceded the closing of the contract and the con- 

 sumer was more than pleased with the results obtained in trying the 

 material out, and his future requirements are not only unquestionably 

 and permanently secured, but an additional outlet for northern stocks 

 as well. How materially v.-ould the work of our Promotion Bureau be 

 lessened if each of our members co-operated in a like manner. 



Salesmanship knows no hours of limitation, except that they be for 

 needed rest and relaxation and such diversion as is required to keep the 

 individual from growing stale. There are times when a wholesome 

 indulgence in play acts as a tonic, and a good mental bath occasion- 

 ally in an atmosphere of cheerful amusement stimulates and strengthens 

 the mind that is keyed up to twelve cylinder, one-hundred horsepower 

 activity. An ebbing vitality is not destined to meet the rigorous demands 

 of present day selling needs. Needed rest and enjoyment contribute in no 

 small degree to keeping the fires of interest and enthusiasm at white 

 heat and the mind well poised to meet the demands of every situation. 



The sales manager should have suitable card indexes, easily accessible 

 and so compiled and arranged that every user of lumber in the territor.v 

 you are endeavoring to cover will be definitely known, for the kinds of 

 lumber he consumes, and when he will be in the market (or his require- 

 ments. 



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