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Wood Screw Basis of Salesmanship "^^ 



Wl.iio r,.,i.l ,i.-, „ .-...1,., ..; ^;railiiij; rules fur harilwoo.l luinl^ir 

 liiive boon interesting, some ot those in the business are inclincil 

 to tho belief that both makers and users of lumber forget that 

 Tlipy ore dealing with a natural product, which cannot bo reduced 

 •.. a basis of absolute, unvarying uniformity; and that each sale 

 - an individual proposition which must bo worked out with refcr- 

 ■ lice to the particular stock which is being moved and tho par- 

 ■i.ular factory where it is to be used. 



•'Selling lumber," said a successful hardwood man, whose ex- 

 perience in tho business covers a period of thirty years, "is a 

 different proposition from disposing of wood screws and machitio 

 bolts, though some of our friends seem to think that it can be 

 handled on the wood screw and machine bolt basis. Lumber 

 varies, and no two cars are exactly alike. The man who is selling 

 wood screws or machine bolts can guarantee to deliver any quaji- 

 tity, and insure its being exactly like the sample in every particu- 

 lar; but this is an obvious impossibility in the case of lumber." 



That there is sound logic in this statement is indicated by tho 

 •"net that those who have succeeded in the hardwood business 

 r.' those who have studied the needs of their customers, and then 

 Tied to apply them. They are not the salesmen who go into a 

 factory and offer No. 1 common plain white oak, depending sim- 

 I>ly on making a lower price in order to get the business. They 

 find out just what particular description of lumber between No. 

 2 common aud firsts and seconds will fill the bill. The stock may 

 not be a strict grade of No. 1; it may be below that grade in some 

 respects and above it in others; but it will be the best lumber 

 for the particular work which the consumer has to do. 



When a salesman can do that, he is out of the class of the wood 

 screw people. The latter are not really salesmen, but order-takers, 

 for they are contributing nothing to the transaction, and are not 

 able to get the business unless they can quote a lower price than 

 somebody else. And they are sure of holding the business only 

 80 long as they can continue to make the lowest price. 



On the other hand, the real salesman, of the type which has 

 been referred to, has the inside track, because he has earned that 

 position. He is probably giving the customer better lumber — 

 meaning lumber better suited to his purposes — for less than he 

 could get it elsewhere. Here, then, is a bond of service which 

 nolds buyer and seller together and creates the mutuality of in- 

 terest which is needed to insure permanent custom; and any other 

 kind is unprofitable. 



Too many lumber salesmen have no more conception of their 

 work than if they were scooping sugar out of a barrel and selling 

 it at so much a pound to the customers of the corner grocery. 

 They have not grasped the essential fact that lumber is a different 

 proposition, and that it cannot be wrapped up and passed over 

 the counter in that kind of unthinking, mechanical way. Yet 

 mechanical salesmanship oontinucs — and along with it goes dis- 

 cussion of rules, with the idea, apparently, of making them more 

 and more technical, dividing and subdividing, in order to eliminate 

 the personal equation entirely and put lumber sales on the old 

 wood screw basis, where anybody who can add up a column of 

 figures can go out and sell the stock. 



In the opinion of the hardwood man quoted above, too much 

 stress is laid upon the matter of rules, inasmuch as they are in- 

 tended to be used as a last resort, and not as an every-day propo- 

 sition. 



"If the lumberman really knows what his customer wants and 

 endeavors to give it to him," he contended, "the matter of rules 

 drops into the background. Where lumber is sold entirely on a 

 grade basis, however, there is a constant chance for argument, 

 and the necessity of dissecting the rules at every step is ap- 

 parent. That is why the cut-and-dried selling system is faulty; 

 and at the same time suggests why the lumberman who knows how 

 to please his customer need not worry about the technical inter- 

 pretation of the grading rules." 

 — 24 — 



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irrr niii^t be Homo 

 baHis from which tu start; but the suggi-.stion which I ho lumber- 

 man quoted [lut forward is that they be relied upon diiclly as a 

 guide or standard, and not as the .sole basis upon which to do busi- 

 ness. The more tho rules are used, he insists, tho less opportu- 

 nity there is for the lumberman to develop tho possibilities of his 

 service to tho consumer. The man who buys No. 1 common oak, 

 and insists that all prices be quoted with reference to that grade, 

 without qualification, is going to consider merely the price end 

 of the proposition; yet in many cases ho is seeing only half of 

 the factors involved. 



And this brings up the question of factory inspection. Many 

 of those who are insisting on a change in the rules, as a means of 

 protecting themselves, as they regard the situation, have incom- 

 petent men han<lling and measuring their lumber. In other words, 

 they want the lumber business to be put on such a basis, through 

 the application of a set of rules to every piece of material 

 handled, that their own work may bo as mechanical as possible, 

 aud the cheapest kind of labor may be used in handling tho stock. 



While the larger factories have good men, many of those of 

 average size use for the important work of receiving and inspect- 

 ing lumber hands who arc not at all qualified for this undertaking. 

 This opens the way for wide deviation from the rules, it is true; 

 but whose fault is it — that of the lumberman or the buyer who 

 places his orders strictly on the basis of price J Is not such a 

 system sure to bring about delivery of lumber worth only as much 

 as is being paid for it, irrespective of the grade which is shown 

 on the invoice? And is it likely that changing the rules will 

 enable the price buyer to get more value in the stock than ho is 

 willing to pay for? 



If the consumer insists on giving the order to the man who 

 makes tlie lowest price — and probably 85 per cent of the hard- 

 wood business is handled that way — he should not complain if 

 he does not receive the liighest quality. And if he forces the 

 price for a given grade below a fair amount, is it not illogical 

 to rely upon the technical enforcement of grading rules to insure 

 getting more than he is paying for? 



The conditions under which the business is done arc in cases 

 of this kind illogical and uncomfortable all around. They 

 show the weakness of the wood screw system of salesmanship. 

 On the one hand the buyer, using a theoretical basis of measure- 

 ment which he believes will develop uniformity as though he 

 were measuring off woolens with a yard-stick, chooses his lum- 

 berman with regard to price only; and the latter, forced to sell 

 on the price basis, or not having suflicient ability to convert the 

 user to a more efficient method of handling the proposition, comes 

 as close to the grade as the price he has quoted will allow him 

 to do. 



Standards are all right, but artificial standards are worthless. 

 The most effective system is that which is based on mutual under- 

 standing; and this is the big factor which is lacking in the lum- 

 ber situation. Perhaps each side is at fault, in trying to get a 

 little more than it is entitled to, the one by means of price and 

 the other by grade. 



If there is a solution of the problem at hand, the chances are 

 that it lies first, in beUer salesmanship, and in getting compe- 

 tition away from the methods which have been referred to, and in 

 putting it on a basis where supplying the right kind of stock for 

 the job is the first consideration. Then having better standards 

 of buying on the part of the factory men is needed, and better 

 men to handle and inspect the lumber when it reaches the factory. 

 Perhaps this combination of improvements may not be brought 

 about for some time to come — but in the meantime blaming the 

 whole situation on the rules is hardly a common sense procedure, 

 although some persons have been inclined to look at it from that 

 somewhat restricted point of view. 



G. D. C, .Tr. 



