Febuuahy 9, 1922 



The Rorists' Review 



23 



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GETTING PAY FOR PLANTS 



IMPROVING GROWERS' CREDITS. 



How to Get Payment Promptly. 



Tho extension of credit is entirely a 

 personal matter of the seller and always 

 will be governed by the application of 

 common sense. We must help with a 

 longer extension those who need it, or 

 rather deserve it, be strict in collecting 

 promptly from those who we think can 

 pay, but are careless in paying up, and 

 we must be able to refuse credit to those 

 who we know are not worth it. 



Now, it may appear to you that all we 

 have to do is to say, "Pay up in thirty 

 days," and Mr. Purchaser will be so 

 scared that he actually will. The fault 

 is, in my judgment, entirely with the 

 seller and not with the buyer at all, and 

 we can do much, perhaps everything, by 

 simply remedying those faults which 

 lead to the extension of credit, and tho 

 terms will to a certain extent adjust 

 themselves so unconsciously and imper- 

 ceptibly that they cannot cause any bad 

 feeling at all. 



During the existence of my business, 

 extending now over fifteen years, a busi- 

 ness where practically everything is 

 shipped out of town, my losses have not 

 been over $300, except, of course, the 

 amount paid to collectors. This is a 

 showing much better than that of most, 

 from all I can learn. 



Make Your Stock Wanted. 



To eliminate the needless extension of 

 credit, I would first of all advocate grow- 

 ing good stock, extra good if you can. 

 If you grow good, healthy stock of the 

 best strains you can get and true to 

 name; in short, plants that will go ahead 

 with the florist who buys them for grow- 

 ing on, your customer must like your 

 stock, he must be satisfied, he must want 

 it again and again, and you will be sur- 

 prised how eager many will be to get 

 your stock in future. Thoy will offer to, 

 and do, pay long before they get it; they 

 will only be too anxious to keep their 

 credit up with you. And if you ship, 

 pack well, as well as you can, so that 

 stock will arrive to please. Do not ex- 

 pect prompt payment if your stock is 

 poor and your packing faulty; no one 

 likes to pay for poor stock even at bar- 

 gain prices. Good stock never goes beg- 

 ging and the poor payer will eliminate 

 himself, because your good payer will 

 get the preference. 



Avoid Surpluses. 



Secondly, I would advocate growing 

 the proper amount. Do not bo carried 

 away with the idea of a big volume of 

 business that you have to force. What 

 counts in Vjusinoss is what is left clear 

 at the end of the year. Do not grow 

 largely increased quantities each year. 

 Tlie sale of extra large surpluses may 

 lead you into unnecessary credit risks. 

 In our business wo know eacli year, and 

 as a matter of fact every day in the year, 

 exactly how many plants we have sold 

 of each kind, and we grow each year 

 only as many more as we consider a 

 healthy increase. With your steady cus- 

 tomers taking tho last year's amount, 

 there is always a certain nuiubcr of new 



ones taking the increase and only rarely 

 is it necessary to force sales. The con- 

 sequence is that we have usually sold 

 out, and where we actually did have a 

 surplus, it was so small that dumping 

 it was of no consequence. Plants you 

 dump cost as much money as plants you 

 sell. 



On the other hand, if you have a big 

 siir])lus on your benches, you just hate 

 to tlirow it away. You will naturally 

 try to force sales some way, which costs 

 money and will make this particular 

 surplus cost you more than the regular 

 stock. You will be inclined to ship care- 

 lessly to anybody, and perhaps at re- 

 duced prices, and trust your lucky stars 

 in collecting for it. It might have been 

 cheaj)er to take your loss right in tho 



Here is the first extensive 

 treatment of a highly impor- 

 tant subject, how growers can 

 avoid undue losses in extend- 

 ing credit and obtain payment 

 more promptly. Presented by 

 J. L. Schiller, of Toledo, at the 

 meeting of Ohio growers at 

 Columbus, its valuable sug- 

 gestions warrant its study by 

 every grower. Mr. Schiller 

 points out the shortcomings of 

 unbusinesslike florists in defi- 

 nite fashion and indicates, by 

 references to his own example, 

 how the greenhouse man can 

 conduct his financial affairs 

 with thorough system. 



beginning and to dump tlio whole sur- 

 plus. 



If you keep a record of your sales, you 

 can greatly avoid new credit risks by 

 growing the proper quantity and it will 

 not be necessary to open new and doubt- 

 ful accounts. You know your old cus- 

 tomers and it is easy to write back to 

 those who did not pay i>romptlv, "Sold 

 out." 



I would recommend these two sugges- 

 tions as almost fundamental to avoid 

 bad accounts. 



Separating Credit Risks. 



Most of our orders come by mail from 

 unknown persons, except as wi; know 

 them from seeing their naujos printed 

 in the trade papers, and every customer 

 was once unknown to us. Not every 

 order is accompanied by payment and 

 it has been often hard to decide to give 

 or not to give credit. Every order with 

 ]);iyment by check is filled without waiN^, 

 iug for report, and the checks returned 

 marked, "Not suflicient funds," have 



heen few (I do not think there were six 

 in the whole fifteen years) and tho 

 amounts were so small that they are not 

 worth mentioning. We keep in our 

 records tho name of the bank on which 

 each check is drawn; should a check- 

 withorder customer ask for credit and 

 not pay promptly, we can draw through 

 iiis own bank, and one is always more 

 attentive to a notice from his own bank 

 than from any other. A customer will 

 sometimes change his bank, which is all 

 right, but if such changes happen rather 

 often, we note it as a warning and will 

 not extend credit. 



Who Deserves Credit? 



A person who sends us money orders 

 is not considered a good credit risk. We 

 figure that it takes time to get a money 

 order and costs something besides, which 

 we consider a waste and not in harmony 

 with good business. A man who is care- 

 less in his expenses this way may be so 

 in others. Perhaps he has no bank ac- 

 count, or has other reasons for sending 

 money orders; should he ever ask for 

 credit we would surely not extend it un- 

 til he had been fully investigated. 



In extending credit to persons who 

 simply send an order without sending 

 check, money order or reference, we 

 have been guided entirely by the im- 

 pression the letter gives us. We have 

 asked for cash before shipping, if we 

 were doubtful, or have shipped without 

 question, iind have still to make our first 

 mistake. C. O. D. shipments have usual- 

 ly been accepted and in case one is not 

 accepted, we shall have no occasion to 

 ship .again, as we shall not be asked to. 

 People who arc offended by • receiving 

 C O. D. shipments are better the cus- 

 tomers of somebody else. 



We extend credit to everyone wliom 

 we think worthy of it. We have ex- 

 tended it to beginners for as much as 

 two years and they are still our cus- 

 tomers, and I suppose we appear pretty 

 strict to others. 



We act from the standpoint th;it after 

 his business is C) years old, a florist 

 sliould be able to discount his bills. He 

 should be settled by this time and have 

 got into a routine of paying promptly. 

 If one cannot do it by this time, he is 

 likely rot to do better in future. Of 

 course, there are exceptions in the case 

 of alterations, extensions or unforeseen 

 expenses, but excuses that one has to ])ay 

 his coal bill first or something else first, 

 are no excuses at all. Let him go to his 

 bank and borrow; that is what the banks 

 are there for. 



Sending Statements. 



We send nut statements the last or the 

 first of each month and figure that this 

 im[ir('sses tlie customers as businesslike. 

 A statement going out any old time does 

 not seem to make the appeal for pay- 

 ment. We also acknowledge all orders 

 immediately; it is seldom that this is 

 put off, but. it does happen. We try to 

 he prompt in all our correspondence and 

 uo from the standpoint that promptness 

 breeds promptness. 



We expect our payment by the tenth 

 of the month following date of invoice. 



