HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



or soft SOU]) sliduld tin' week In' |iiutii-iil;uly lad aiiil a slafi ov two 

 on tbe back \\\wn lie liiis iliiiie well. A little along this line does not 

 spod quite as quii-kW as the told Idoodo.l manner. Vou nuist renieni^ 

 ber that a good salesman is usually proud and sensitive and a poor 

 man is devoid of both these feelings. 



To get youi men to learn their customers' business is proliably 

 as hard as any part of the trade. Friendship with his customer is 

 where he is going to make good. You will tind all firms use this, 

 that and the other kind of stock, as the agencies give all this data — 

 it is part of their business. We can buy this information, but you 

 will tind it is another matter to sell these same manufacturers their 

 requiremerits. Usually a buyer is glad to see a good salesman, par- 

 ticularly when lie knows he is interesting and of benefit. He is proud 

 to take his friend through his plant and show him what he has. This 

 is the time or one of the times for the salesman's brain to work. 

 His eyes and ears should be open and a picture of what he sees should 

 be stamped indelibly on his mind as he will find a great many opipor- 

 tunities for its use later. I wish to make one positive statement in 

 this regard which comes home to.^myself. In going back over every 

 day I have traveled, I find I have never failed to sell where I have 

 had the jirivilege of going through my friends' plants, nor failed to 

 offer some suggestions for betterment when I saw opportunity for 

 it — ideas how best to obtain material adapted for special work. You 

 realize a man making what a factory terms "sheet stock'' does not 

 want long, narrow cuts and strips, and a manufacturer making long 

 turnings does not want short panel cuttings. This is the way I have 

 often moved low-grade lumber when my friends could not use any- 

 thing but Xo, ] common and better. The low grade was made to fit 

 the purpose. It is indeed surprising what a saving yon can make- for 

 your buyer friend and yet make more money yourself. You realize 

 no charity is real charity unless you get something in return. 



T am now getting down to oue of the real reasons why men who 

 have ability do not nuike good under certain sales managers and 

 office managers. Unfortunately some sales managers persist in com- 

 petition with their* own salesmen. They are always building up 

 themselves and make their own men root over ground they have 

 already goife over and taken what they could by correspondence. 

 They rarely, if ever, see their salesmen, and never write an encourag- 

 ing letter, I know" of several eases where sealesmen leave their own 

 mail or phone address to be insured that the order will not be sent 

 in direct and ''gobbled up" by the sales manager and credited to 

 office solicitation. How ridiculous! Do you think that a sales man- 

 ager who does this is broad enough to make his firm's business 

 larger? How can he hope to do so when the competition is mostly 

 with his own salesmen, I believe every broad-minded manufacturer 

 is, and always has been, willing to credit his sales manager with all 

 the business, whether sold through traveling salesman, journal adver- 

 tising or direct solicitation by correspondence. Is it not better for 

 the sales manager to give the credit for all that is taken from his 

 salesman's territory to him? I find that this is the greatest producer 

 of hard work on the part of my salesmen and have tried many other 

 ways. Have also had it suggested to me by different ones that I 

 would be making drones of my men, but will take chances as long 

 as I have my hand on the tiller and know where the bark is going. 

 When I find my men slowing up they will soon hear what I have to 

 say, just as quickly as I would compliment them when they are doing 

 good work. One man who had worked for our firm a short time 

 was very much surprised to have me ask him to send in his order 

 for such and such a car or cargo for Messrs, So and So, in order 

 that his order file could be kept properly. He stated he was 

 never used to having a liindness done him in this manner. Has it 

 spoiled him? No, not very much. He is worth triple, if not four 

 times what he was worth to us when he first started. It has given 

 him greater confidence; he is perfectly willing to trust me in any- 

 thing and he can rest assured that I would not injure him in any- 

 way but would be more inclined to help him. Consequently he 

 works harder, and the harder he works the more benefit does the 

 firm derive. 



Another plan I have found good is an occasional trip to call on the 

 trade in company with the salesman, giving the customer a little 



lurllicr acquaintance with those with whom he corresponds, and a 

 good word or two from you to the salesman in the customer's pres- 

 ence. You would be surprised to find how it helps to inspire confi- 

 dence all round. 



I could go on possibly indefinitely with ideas such as I have al- 

 ready set forth, but my time was first limited to ten mintes and then 

 extended to twelve so it is now time to quit. Before doing so, let me 

 caution you, all our members, that the sales manager must be the 

 teacher to some e.xtent, and let him be very careful that he co-operates 

 and treats his .selesmeu as he would like to be treated. In building 

 up his men, he will find he will also build up himself and his firm. 

 I thank vou. 



A Hotel Man of Size 



Froil. K. liiilnock of Pittsburgh, president of the National 

 Wholesale Lumber Dealers' .Association, is, obviously, a big man. 

 His position with Babcock lumber interests, not to mention the 

 jiresidency of the big lumber association and the Pittsburgh 

 (.'hamber of Commerce, would indicate even to the most casual 

 of casual observers that Mr. Babcock is a person of importance, 

 while his size and general athletic appearance suggest to the 

 sporti\-ely inclined that witli a few years off, he could easily enter 

 the list of ' ' w-hite hopes.'' 



-Vot many weeks ago the president of the National association 

 was in Louisville, He was attending a meeting of officers of 

 that body and members of the Louisville Hardwood Club for the 

 purpose of discussing jjlans for the annual convention to be held 

 in the Kentucky metropolis, March 6 aid 7, Incidentally they 

 decided to call in the head of the hotel where the meeting is tp 

 take place, the Seelbaeh, and interview him as to the available 

 quantity of liixtra Dry and other essentials for the banquet sched- 

 uled for March 6, 



Louis Seelbaeh of Seelbaeh Freres (or shall we say Seelbaeh 

 Briider?) consequently appeared for the consultation. The gentle- 

 men in the room rose to be introduced to the genial bonifaee, and 

 Mr. Babcock stepped forward to shake hands. The big Pitts- 

 burgher was somewhat taken aback when he was forced to look 

 up into space in order to see the features of the hotel man, whose 

 head, while it did not touch the ceiling, was certainly up among 

 the chandeliers somewhere. 



"("■lad to know you, Mr. Seelbaeh,'' said the lumberman, as 

 he regained his chair. During the rest of the meeting he gave 

 more than ordinary attention to the hotel proprietor, whose out- 

 line, to strangers, is nothing short of awful, taking that word in 

 its purest dictionary meaning. 



It is hardly to be expected that a man of the physical propor- 

 tions of Mr. Babcock would not be surprised at being put tete 

 a tete with the eldest of the Seelbaeh brothers. The latter is a 

 giant, without straining the word. Eoughly, he is seven feet 

 tall, approximately four feet wide, and in the neighborhood of 

 two feet thick, and has an avoirdupois, according to one of the 

 latest models of the Fairbanks scales, of something like 400 

 pounds. His hand is large enough to enclose the flipper of the 

 average lumberman in such a complete manner as to make the 

 hardwood exponent wonder whether he would ever be able to re- 

 cover the member, while his expansive and genial features are 

 usually shaped into a smile which speaks of sincere good-nature. 



Mr. Seelbaeh, as suggested, is a big man, and while his big- 

 ness, other than that of body, has expressed itself in terms of 

 hotels instead of lumber, those in the trade recognize his ability. 

 Lumbermen who attend the convention in March will have an 

 opportunity of seeing Mr. Seelbaeh, and are invited to get actual 

 measurements and compare them with those just quoted. 



When the satellites of the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' 

 Association get down to Louisville for their big convention on March 

 G and 7, they will have the opportunity of seeing not only the biggest, 

 but one of the best hotel men in the world. He is the bonifaee of the 

 Seelbaeh, where the association will make its headquarters during 

 the convention. 



