March 25, 1918 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



25 



How the Salesman Can Use His Time 



Men Who Have Little Stock to Offer Can Study Mill End to Advantage 



0£J 



GOOD MANY MANUFACTURERS of veneers 

 especially the larger concerns, are in the posi- 

 tion at present of having nothing to sell. They 

 have large orders on their books, orders that 

 will take all of their production for some time to come, 

 and hence are not aggressive in seeking new business. 



They have sales and promotion organizations, however, 

 which are usually employed to good advantage in call- 

 ing on customers, working up new accounts and taking 

 care of old ones. These men, as a general rule, are not 

 being sent out into their territories to call on the veneer 

 buyers, for the reason that they are not in a position to 

 solicit business, and about all they would be able to do 

 would be to make excuses regarding possible non-deliv- 

 ery of the material that the buyers had ordered some 

 months ago. 



And of course no salesman wants to spend his time 

 doing that. Making excuses is not a graceful occupa- 

 tion, nor a pleasant one, and in most cases the salesman 

 is not a success at it. He would rather go out and solicit 

 the toughest prospects on his list than call on his regular 

 customers with nothing to hand out but explanations of 

 why the business that they gave him has not been taken 

 care of more rapidly. And even such convincing state- 

 ments as those based on heatless days, embargoes, car 

 shortages, labor shortages and the other troubles that 

 manufacturers have had to contend with are not always 

 effective in smoothing the corrugated brovi^ of the custo- 

 mer who wants what he w^ants when he wants it. 



The veneer manufacturer, on the other hand, knows 

 that good salesmen don't grow on trees. He probably 

 has spent several years in getting together the organiza- 

 tion that he now^ has, which is capable of going out and 

 getting the business in the face of keen competition, and 

 when everybody else has men on the road soliciting the 

 trade of the consumers. Hence, the producer of the 

 raw materials, even though he is not anxious to add any 

 more orders to his present list, does not feel like dispens- 

 ing with the services of his salesmen. 



Of course, there are sentimental considerations in- 

 volved, but looking at it purely from a business stand- 

 point, and on the basis of dollars and cents, the manu- 

 facturer is justified in holding on to the men who have 

 demonstrated in years gone by that they can supply him 

 with the business that is needed to keep his mill going at 

 the proper rate. These salesmen are an investment, just 

 as a plant is an investment, and there is little more ex- 

 cuse for getting rid of a good salesman, simply because 

 business is so good that his services aren't needed, than 

 there would be for junking a machine which was not 

 needed because the volume of business happened to be 

 a little lighter than usual. 



The question, then, is not whether the veneer man is 

 to continue to keep his salesmen on the pay-roll, but 

 how he is to use their services to the best advantage. 

 What can the salesmen do at this time that will react 

 favorably on the business, and will prove to be an ad- 

 vantage later on, when the usual scramble for business 

 is in evidence? How can he spend his time so that when 

 he goes out on the road later, in a search for orders, he 

 will be a better salesman and a better representative of 

 his house than he ever w^as before? 



Letting the salesman have a vacation is hardly the ideal 

 proposition, from the standpoint of the man or the house. 

 Such a course would mean that the employe would lose 

 his pep, and would fail to benefit directly or indirectly, 

 at least after the first few weeks. Missionary work among 

 customers might be undertaken, were it not for the con- 

 ditions referred to above — that most buyers at this time 

 are kicking regarding non-delivery, due to conditions 

 over which the manufacturer has not had complete con- 

 trol; hence the salesman can do little just now in that 

 direction, because he is not in a position to assure the 

 customer that the railroads are going to be able to han- 

 dle to handle traffic any more expeditiously from now 

 on than they have been doing. 



The plan which has been adopted by some of the big 

 veneer concerns, and one that appeals from the stand- 

 point of common sense and ultimate results, is sending 

 the salesmen to the mill. They have come to the con- 

 clusion that the best way the man to whom is put up the 

 sales problems of the concern can spend his time during 

 the present situation is by getting in touch with produc- 

 tion, studying mill operations, and finding out all he can 

 about the actual operation of the plant which he repre- 

 sents in his dealings with the customer. 



Consequently, their salesmen are now at the plants, 

 and are learning a lot of things about veneer manufac- 

 turing. They are becoming more familiar with the log- 

 ging end of the business, and with the selection of tim- 

 ber suitable for veneer production. They are finding out 

 all about the actual cutting of the veneers, whether on 

 a rotary machine, a sheer or a saw. They are study- 

 ing the drying processes, and studying them, too, from 

 the standpoint of the man who has to "sell" a particular 

 drying process to his customers. The more he knows 

 about how this work is handled, the better able he will 

 be to explain its details and its advantages to the man 

 who is buying the veneers. 



He is finding out about the warehousing facilities of 

 the mill, and about the methods used in handling the 

 stock through the plant and into the railroad cars. He 

 is learning all about packing methods, and the care with 

 which the veneers are prepared for shipment, so that they 



