SELLING LUMBER 



291 



These changes necessitated the most rigid analysis of the 

 lumber industry which brought out the fact that yellow pine lum- 

 bermen were confronted with the heretofore almost unbelievable 

 fact that competitive lines of building materials were making large 

 inroads into the domain of yellow pine which threatened the very 

 life of our business. These facts thoroughly impregnated the 

 minds of the lumbermen of the country, and then it was that effi- 

 ciency was born into the lumber industry. 



I am sure that you have heard of efficiency, that giant child, 

 that prodigy of the modern business world. Some of you, no 

 doubt, have seen it ; others among you have perhaps played with 

 it ; some of you, I expect, have even nursed it, and some few of 

 you, no doubt, claim it as your own. 



Efficiency in the lumber business is still in its infancy, but 

 it is growing stronger day by day, and henceforth, to all progres- 

 sive lumbermen, efficiency be the mascot of success. 



With the advent of efficiency "the old order changeth" with 

 both methods and men. Old ideas have given place to new, and 

 business is conducted on a higher plane of intelligence than ever 

 before. This fact has created a demand for "brains and ideas" 

 which m the lumber business was considered almost unnecessary 

 until recent years. The market price of intelligence has thus 

 been increasing steadily. There is an ever increasing demand 

 for "specialized knowledge," and specialized knowledge or intelli- 

 gence is nothing more or less than an element of efficiency. This 

 is not only true with every line of industry, but it is especially true 

 with the lumber business, and realizing the fact, we have assem- 

 bled here on the occasion to determine the best methods of meet- 

 ing these changed conditions and to measure the amount and qual- 

 ity of our efficiency as lumber salesmen. This brings us to the 

 point. 



WHAT PER CENT ARE YOU EFFICIENT AS LUMBER 

 SALESMEN? 



Right here let me say that perfect efficiency does not require 

 you to possess all the knowledge of the world, but to be 100 per 

 cent efficient as a lumber salesman does require you to know every- 

 thing there is to be known pertaining to the lumber industry, and 

 to also possess a number of personal qualifications which are es- 

 sential to enable you to obtain the best result from the use of 

 your fund of knowledge. Efficiency, therefore, is a complex qual- 

 ity of mind. It is a blending of knowledge of some specific voca- 



Competition 

 of Substitutes 

 Forced a 

 Change. 



The Infant 

 "Efficiency" 



Appears. 



The Meaning 

 of Perfect 

 Efficiency. 



