376 



SELLING LUMBER 



Encourage 

 the Use of 

 Better Grades 



Work for the 



National 



Association 



Salesmanship 

 Becoming 

 An Art 



Such a course is bound to inspire confidence between the 

 retailer, the salesman and the house he represents, which is in 

 itself an asset, but it is of particular value and benefit to the 

 general industry. Salesmen thoroughly equipped with experience, 

 ready information, and capable of intelligently presenting valuable 

 advice to the retailer must necessarily be favorably looked for- 

 ward to, and such advice passed along to the consumer, and be 

 of material help to all concerned. You should seek to encourage 

 all possible the using of better grades than lower grades, for the 

 satisfaction he gives his customer by his having him buy something 

 fully as good as wanted rather than something poorer. The little 

 difference in price is small compared to the appearance, quality, 

 etc. A better quality makes a lasting customer unsatisfied cus- 

 tomer forgets the price but remembers the poor quality. 



I feel that the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association 

 should from time to time have information correcting various mis- 

 understandings of the facts with reference to the lumber industry, 

 and various information of vital importance to the general public 

 with reference to this great industry. They should have this in- 

 formation very definitely and intelligently arranged and trans- 

 mitted to the members of the different associations with request 

 that each manufacturer write their salesmen, calling their atten- 

 tion very fully to the circular, and asking them particularly to 

 explain these things in their daily visits with the retailers. Also 

 wherever they have the opportunity (and they have many of 

 them) explain to the hotel man, railroad agents and the various 

 people they meet in their travels. 



Such a course handled from mouth to mouth, would very 

 quickly disseminate a lot of truthful information about the lumber 

 business and correct a great many errors and misrepresentations 

 that constantly appear in print about it and thus educate the 

 public to view the industry along more favorable and fair lines 

 than has been the case in the past, and creating public sentiment 

 in the right direction. 



Salesmanship is fast becoming an art. It occupies a rela- 

 tively conspicuous place in the domain of commercial enterprise, 

 and promises soon to outrank and outshine all other branches of 

 our great industrial development. Dressed in the garb of scien- 

 tific intensity it is rapidly becoming a man's game a big man's 

 game where there is ample play for the keenest intellects. The 

 traditional inaccuracies of "good-fellowship" in the sporting ac- 



