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HARDWOOD RECORD 



A reference was made to the fact that advertising expenses are 

 charged to the selling department. This is of course proper, as 

 advertising is strictly sales work. However, it must be confessed that 

 much of the advertising done by lumber concerns hardly deserves the 

 name, and it is burdening the head of the sales end unjustly to compel 

 his department to undertake that load. The main reason is that 

 lumber advertising has not been taught to work as it can and should 

 do. The lumber trade papers ought to Be the direct medium of many 

 more sales than are accomplished at present, and they would un- 

 doubtedly be if copy were changed frequently and interesting and 

 convincing arguments presented. Part of the movement for the 

 greater efficiency of selling efforts in the lumber business is having 

 to do with improving the character of lumber advertising, and espe- 

 cially advertising in the lumber trade journals. 



This kind of exploitation should be followed up with more careful 

 attention to the mailing-list. In every line which must rely upon 

 aggressive selling effort to get business, and this is true of practically 

 all industries, the mailing-lists are among the most important aids 

 to the sales departments. In the lumber business few concerns use 

 this system as freely as they should. There should be a consistent and 

 permanent effort made to develop a list which will be not only com- 

 plete but thoroughly organized. There should be divisions made 

 according to woods, so that it will not be found that the concern is 

 offering oak to a consumer who uses nothing but poplar, or that ash 

 is being advertised to a consumer of oak alone. 



Sales letters should be written regularly to the concerns on these 

 lists, and each letter should contain a definite proposition such as the 

 salesman of the concern would make were he to meet the buyer face 

 to face. Merely announcing that you have certain items of lumber in 

 stock is not presenting a sales argument. There should be some 

 distinctive point brought out, such as will give the purchaser a reason 

 why he should buy it rather than any other lot which happens to be 

 offered him. If selling points can be made for everything from alarm 

 clocks to socks, it certainly looks as if lumber, which has a wide 

 \.ariety of qualities, and which, in the same grade, can vary all the 

 way from very good to very bad or indifferent, has a few desirable 

 points which are worth developing in a sales letter. 



While individually typewritten letters are usually much more 

 effective in selling goods than circulars, letters of this kind can be 

 prepared in such a way as to be almost as good. Letters properly 

 multigraphed. with the address filled in carefully and the signature 

 written with ink, and mailed, of course, under first-class postage, can 

 go to one tliousand prospective purchasers and have little lost 

 efiSciency because an individual letter was not written to each one. 

 The danger of this kind of letter, however, is that the personal note 

 will be lost sight of. The writer will think of a thousand people 

 instead of one, whereas, in order to make the argument effective, the 

 letter should be written just as though one person only were to 

 receive it. This gives it simplicity, naturalness and effectiveness 

 which is entirely absent from the conscious circular style. 



Careful records are kept by many lumber concerns which discovered 

 that their weak point lay in their sales department, as to the work 

 being done by each salesman. These have had definitely assigned 

 territory, and their own sales, together with business which could be 

 ascribed to their calls, are figured frequently. This gave the house 

 information as to which men are delivering the goods, and who are 

 falling down. The various salesmen are also kept informed as to 

 whether their cost of selling lumber is increasing or not. 



The analysis of sales by individual solicitors goes a step further, 

 also. The kind of business put on the books by each man is closely 

 watched, and the value of the particular trade secured is considered. 

 In other words, the firm realizes that mere volume of sales is no just 

 criterion of the ability of the salesman. At on§ time the desire of the 

 concern may be to sell low grades, so as to reduce a surplus in that 

 direction ; at another first and seconds may be the items which are to 

 be pushed, so that it is the general efficiency of the salesman in 

 adapting his efforts to the special needs of the house at any par- 

 ticular time which makes him valuable to his employers. 



Tn this connection, too, it may be worth while to point out that 



the work of the salesman can be greatly increased by keeping him 

 informed as closely as possible of market conditions and of the ' ' slow 

 sellers." The salesman who is provided with only a stock-list and 

 price quotations is very illy equipped, and the plan referred to some 

 time ago in Hardwood Eecoed, of sending out a weekly letter to the 

 men on the road, giving them information of the trend of values 

 during the preceding week, and the items on which the firm is long 

 and desires rapid sale of, is undoubtedly in line with proper conduct 

 of the selling department. — G. D. C, Jr. 



Handling Veneer Logs 



Modern methods are finding their way into the logging woods 

 as well as the sawmill and veneer plant, but it takes some modi- 

 fications to apply the modern methods of mill logging to veneer 

 logs. As veneer logs are the select few in many woods operations, 

 it is not generally practical to handle them in the same manner 

 as mill logs where the stumpage is taken clean. Especially is this 

 true of fine oak logs, which are only to be had in small numbers. 

 Some millman may get them out with saw timber, and thus justify 

 tram roads and power loaders. On the other hand, many of the 

 finest oak veneer logs are gathered one or two at a time, and must 

 be handled in the primary stages by main strength. 



In handling the veneer logs on the yard and in the factory, 

 every veneer manufacturer should make it his business to study 

 modern methods. Many a veneer manufacturer is diligent in his 

 efforts at mechanical manipulation from the time he begins cut- 

 ting his veneer blocks until the finished product is bundled for 

 shipment, and also to minimize his waste, but at the same time 

 neglects bigger items of the same nature in the log yard. 



The trade is gradually getting away from this and learning that 

 there is room for effective saving of both time and timber by 

 giving more attention to the careful handling of logs on the yard. 

 In rambling about the country one comes across evidence of this, 

 and often instances of men grasping one point and missing an- 

 other. There is a case on record where one concern for years had 

 been dumping logs from barges into the river by hand, then pulling 

 them out up the slip a ways and rolling and banking them on the 

 yard by hand, to be afterward rolled on again by hand to be 

 brought into the factory. A big power derrick, with a long 

 boom, was put in that would swing logs from the barge and pile 

 them on the bank, and pick them from either the barge or the 

 bank and swing them onto the truck for the factory. The original 

 installation cost quite a sum of money, but it has paid for itself 

 and materially reduced the cost of handling. 



On another yard was found something else that this one had 

 neglected, and something neglected that this one had. The other 

 yard had no derrick, not even a truck for running the logs in to 

 the mill. They were handled by main strength, and cut into 

 block lengths with a cross-cut saw, instead of being run on a 

 truck under the regulation drag saw. But here due thought was 

 exercised for the care of the logs to prevent damage and waste. 

 The ends were carefully painted, and the logs as a rule were of 

 high quality, so that there was but little waste as compared to 

 that of some other plants. 



The instance given might be termed two cases of hobby riding. 

 In one instance the hobby was power log handling appliances; in 

 the other it was the care of logs, and that it paid in each case, 

 there is not much room for doubt. Each concern is successful, 

 and is making a fair share of money. Looking at the two, how- 

 ever, one can not help but speculate on what the advantages 

 might be if each would ride both hobbies instead of only one. 



Cost of handling and timber saving are just as important on the 

 log yard as inside the factory. There has been enough develop- 

 ment in log handling appliances to enable one to get something 

 practical to fit any yard needs or conditions. It is a subject 

 worth taking up, for it is on the log yard that a great deal of 

 the veneer factory cost is piled up, and it is here, too, where much 

 of the waste starts. 



