302 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL September 



SCIENTIFIC HONEY MARKETING 



Facts Which Are Important in Evolving a Plan for Practical Honey Selling 



BY NELSON W. PECK 



THE first important problem 

 which looms up before most 

 beekeepers is generally that of 

 production. In the solving of this 

 and in the attendant details, so much 

 time and energy are usually consumed 

 that little if any intelligent effort is 

 ever made, except in exceptional 

 cases, toward scientific selling. 



Taking for granted that the prod- 

 uct in question is of its kind as good 

 as any, whether white clover or 

 buckwheat, raspberry, fireweed, al- 

 falfa, sweet clover, sage, orange or 

 aster, let us turn our attention, while 

 there is yet plenty of time for reflec- 

 tion, to this subject of scientific mar- 

 keting. 



Whenever anyone has any more of 

 anything than he can use himself, 

 whether it is doughnuts or cobble- 

 stones, someone, somewhere, always 

 exists who could use it if it can be 

 delivered to him at the right price. 

 The price depends largely upon the 

 quality of the stuff, how much of it 

 there is, and how greatly the con- 

 sumer needs it, or thinks he needs it. 

 The primary object in scientific mar- 

 keting is to find this necessary some- 

 one, tell him that you have just what 

 he needs and at what price he can 

 obtain it. This process is called ad- 

 vertising. It may be accomplished by 

 flaring notices in conspicuous places, 

 which vex the mind and are read and 

 forgotten and which are expensive 

 and hideous. Or it may be accom- 

 plished by venders or mongers yell- 

 ing at the top of their lungs, "Extra ! 

 Extra!! All about the Blank Mur- 

 der!!! Or by quiet solicitation from 

 shop to shop and house to house. But 

 no matter how we choose to go 

 about it, some form of this advertis- 

 ing is absolutely necessary and must 

 be accomplished as effectively and 

 cheaply and unobjectionably as pos- 

 sible. Most long-lived business firms 

 have found out that a thoroughly 

 satisfied and enthusiastic customer is 

 the cheapest and best advertisement 

 obtainable. So be it, it's very, very 

 necessary to obtain this first cus- 

 tomer and his comrades. 



Let US consider profoundly this 

 subject of advertising, one of the old- 

 est art- oi Mother Nature herself. 

 Have you ever walked beneath an 

 apple tree at blossom time and 

 smelled tin- dewy fragrance of tin- 

 bursting flowers and looked above 

 you into tin- busy market place 

 among the showy pink and white 

 petals? 'Twas Mother Nature's ad- 

 vertising that reached you; but it 



was meant for the bees, and the 

 chances are, unless you got out be- 



them, that they w< 

 numbers long ou. Yes Na- 



ture has something for sale, both 

 pollen and nectar, and she )n 

 in a quiet hut effective manner that 

 the nectar is sweet and plentiful; 

 can't you smell it, and see the great 



mass of bloom? Vis, all this is for 

 sale, there is plenty of it, it's good 

 and the price is but a few grains of 

 pollen, which is generally well paid. 

 We can always look to Nature for 

 guidance. She is always before us 

 and about us and her activities are 

 numerous and complex enough to 

 furnish us an inexhaustible source 

 of examples and ideas. Like Nature, 

 we have something for sale, and we 

 should both show its abundant beau- 

 ty and proclaim its useful attractive- 

 ness. We may show it in shop win- 

 dows and proclaim it by labels and 

 well-worded cards in those windows, 

 or we may show or display it at 

 some house door and proclaim its 

 virtues and usefulness by word of 

 mouth alone. Or, better yet, by both 

 display and word of mouth and sam- 

 ple. The idea of samples is very 

 agreeable and effective and though 

 seemingly expensive often produces 

 results warranting all expense. Is 

 your honey unusually good? What 

 need, then, to blare or bawl it out .' 

 Let the good housewife, or, better, 

 the husband, or better yet the chil- 

 dren, try it. Their tastes will soon 

 tell them if it is to their liking, and 

 they'll want more. Oh, yes ! the 

 label on the bottle tells where they 

 can get it— at So-and-so's grocery. 



And just here is the grain of wheat 

 in all this bushel of chaff. Most pro- 

 ducers of honey begin their selling 

 efforts at the nearest corner grocery. 

 This is an absurd blunder, which 

 works injustice to the poor grocer, 

 injury to the apiculturist and unfair- 

 ness to the prospective consumer. 

 Scientific marketing directs its first 

 efforts at the consumer. Find those 

 someones who are looking for just 

 what you have for sale, and don't 

 know it. They will find the grocer 

 all right, don't worry about that, and 

 he will find you. But cultivate the 

 love and kindly respect of the con- 

 sumer first of all. Then will the 

 grocers, and finally our ever neces- 

 sary and useful friend, the middle- 

 man hunt us up and do our bidding, 

 and that u nil right good w ill Bi at 

 this in mind, you do not merely sell 

 honey to the grocer in pint jars or 

 jelly glasses or five or ten-pound 

 pails; you sell this honey to the great 

 mass of someones scattered among 

 the people, I hi this reason always 

 nil j i iur name on the label and tin n, 



though 1 1 iui custi imers all mi '\ e to 



the North Pole, some grocer will beg 

 the privilege oi selling to them foi 

 you the honey which you will pro- 

 duce. 



Among the best methods of obtain- 

 ing customers are the following: 



1st. For the rural distrii t s and 

 small villages. Start out sunn aft I 



li.nii ,i o'clock with a few- 

 dozen ten-pound pails tilled as lull 

 as you can gel them, so there will he 

 a few "tastes" in each pail more than 



the net weight, lie sure not to take 

 along anything smaller than five- 

 pound pails, and preferably only the 

 larger size. Now, the matter of 

 price must be settled in your mind 

 before you approach your first cus- 

 tomer. This is affected somewhat 

 by the competition you have, the de- 

 mand for the honey and the amount 

 available. We shall suppose that at 

 this time when you are starting out 

 to sell your honey that you could get 

 IS cents per pound for it in 60-pound 

 cans is about 14 cents per p nind, 

 road station. Then let us figure. 

 Fifteen cents per pound in 60-pound 

 cans, cased, at the present price of 

 cans is about 14 cents per pound, 

 net. So the ten pounds of honey 

 without the pail is worth $1.40, and 

 the pail is worth at present 15 cents, 

 which makes the cost to us of the 

 pail and honey $1.55, and to this we 

 must add 10 per cent for ourselves, 

 15 per cent for the jobber and 20 per 

 cent for the grocer, which brings the 

 price of the honey, freight included, 

 up to around $2.40 to the consumer. 

 But, you say, "why charge the gro- 

 cer's and jobber's profit when grocer 

 and jobber never handled the 

 honey?" Yes, but my dear friend. 

 you can never eliminate the jobber 

 and grocer, for if you do sell direct 

 to the consumer, which you cannot 

 do if you are in any way a large pro- 

 ducer, you are then both jobber and 

 grocer yourself, anil will in time find 

 that you cannot do their work with- 

 out their pay. So, for pity's sake, 

 right at the start, don't riddle your 

 crop away and fool yourself, but sell 

 at a scientific price; and, if you can't 

 do that, either buy up your unscien- 

 tific competitors or get into some 

 better territory, or else some busi- 

 ness where there are more scientific 

 people. So. my advice to yovj is, "sell 

 your honey in the scientific way at 

 the scientific price." You'll he 

 thought more of in tin- end, and 

 you'll get to Heaven just as quickly 

 "as though you half way give your 

 stuff away Better go give it away 



SCOtt tree with no strings to it, if 

 you feel inclined, but don't half way 

 give it away. Don't half way do any- 

 thing. 



So U-t's go up to the first house we 

 come to i don't skip anj I with a smil- 

 ing, good-natured, patient face, a 10- 

 pound pail of honey neatly labeled 

 and a price scientifically premeditat- 

 ed. We'll shut the gate behind us, 

 step up to th.- door, knock gently but 

 briskly and saj to the one who 

 comes, "1 )oes anyone here . at 

 honey?" at the same time holding up 

 the pail. 



"No, we don't care for any. 



"All right, thank you; sorry to 

 | l;lV e bothered." Don't argue; it 

 doesn't make Fi iends and it doesn t 



But if he is interested at all and 



