THE BEE-KEEPERS" REVIEW 



301 



tidiially good one. It costs niort' tlian 

 a direct sale, hut \ on get many orders 

 that you wtmld otherwise miss. Not 

 all orders will deliver, hut a good per 

 cent will. 



TELEPHOXE ORHEKS. 



The next year this same tield was 

 canvassed by an older gentleman on a 

 commission agreement. This time the 

 orders were direct, hut with the under- 

 standing that the honey was to be ex- 

 amined at time of delivery, and was 

 subject to the buyer's approval. This 

 worked nicely, but you must remember 

 that the introduction had already been 

 made to many of the buyers. A great 

 many follow up orders now came by 

 telephone. People who had bought 

 would often have company, the honey 

 would be on the table, and the com- 

 pany would want to know where they 

 could get some just like it. A refer- 

 ence to the label would show the tele- 

 phone number, and a call would be the 

 result. In these cases the delivery was 

 all there was to the sale. One family 

 has taken from me this year 17 pails, 

 part for themselves and part for their 

 neighbors. Who says a ten-pound pail 

 is too much? 



SELLING TO CLUBS. 



Here is another plan. All over this 

 country of ours are clubs, associations, 

 etc. These clubs, etc., are always on 

 the lookout for some new entertain- 

 ment or dinner. To one of these I 

 once proposed a hot-biscuit and honey 

 supper or dinner. If they would fur- 

 nish the biscuit, I would furnish the 

 honey, providing — and here is the 

 string — that the leader would explain 

 who furnished the honey, that it was 

 furnished free, and that it was done 

 purely for advertising. Those who were 

 in attendance were told how this honey 

 was put up, and that orders were to 

 be left with the one with whom the 

 arrangement was made. 



The first time this plan was tried 

 was with a fraternal order in Illinois. 



It was right among the farmers, and 

 1 sent a ten-pound pail by express pre- 

 paid for the supper. The result was 

 that I received an order for 17 pails if 

 I remember rightly. Remember this 

 was at the $1.50 price, and went direct 

 to the farmer. From this you can see 

 that there is a big field not yet de- 

 veloped in the honey consuming line. 



ADVERTISING. 



Still another plan is the local press. 

 Where you have a phone always use the 

 phone number in your advertisement, 

 for many people will step to the phone 

 and call you up who would not take 

 the trouble to write. It cost me money 

 to learn this. 



THE WORKING M.'\N. 



Still another source of customers is 

 the working men. Call on them where 

 they are working on new houses, at the 

 street-car barns, and any other place 

 where you can reach them. Here is 

 where the lack of a sample again comes 

 in handy. You are simply talking to 

 one man at a time, and no one else 

 knows your business until you get 

 ready to tell him. Curiosity gets the 

 other fellows ready for your story when 

 you get to them. Avoid talking to a 

 crowd, unless you can have that crowd's 

 undivided attention. 



If these suggestions will get the 

 reader thinking along this line of '"di- 

 rect-to-the-consumer," then the article is 

 worthy a space in the Review. Other- 

 wise not. Please remember, however, 

 that you can not prepare your honey 

 too nicely. I now, in addition to the 

 label, wrap each pail in nice clean 

 white wrapping paper. I cut a circle 

 for the top, another piece just right to 

 go around, and strips to go over the 

 top and down the sides to fasten the 

 top piece down. All my honey is first 

 heated to about 150 to 160 degrees, 

 and then strained through two thick- 

 nesses of cheese cloth before putting in 

 pails. 



Detroit, Mich. 



