20 



The Florists^ Review 



June 8. 1922 



that we had inherited either from our 

 predecessors or from outside influences. 



One of the things we found we could 

 pare to the bone was the keeping of 

 statistical matter of many sorts. And 

 one of these was, we decided, keeping 

 the statistics on inquiries from each 

 advertisement and mailing piece. In- 

 quiry figures are among the first things 

 a space salesman talks about. We had 

 always kept them. But we decided, 

 when we investigated, that the only 

 value of the inquiry figures was to show 

 how many extra mailing pieces we had 

 to send out that did not result in orders. 

 Our method of relegating names to the 

 dead list after two inactive years made 

 this question relatively unimportant; 

 in fact, we are willing to take a shot 

 at selling almost anybody for a couple 

 of years. For we can even sell bulbs 

 to apartment dwellers in the fall, and 

 do sell them; they grow small assort- 

 ments of bulbs in water, or sand and 

 water, for winter house flowers. 



Consequently, we discontinued the in- 

 quiry statistics. We kept up scru- 

 pulously, however, our figures on the 

 cost, per publication, of selling each 

 dollar's worth of product. For that has 

 a direct bearing on our advertising and 

 use of mediums, in accordance with our 

 fundamental policy of considering ad- 

 vertising as buying customers at so 

 much apiece and keeping them long 

 enough to make a profit from them. We 

 have to know what they cost us, in order 

 to ascertain whether we are making a 

 profit from them. 



Now that competent office employees 

 may be obtained readily, at a price that 

 is not unreasonable, we are preparing 

 once more to begin keeping statistics of 

 our inquiries from each advertisement. 

 But I shall keep an eye on the expense, 

 and if it is not productive wc shall dis- 

 continue the inquiry record. 



Handling Big Orders. 



I have said that wc are entirely a 

 mail-order concern. That needs one qual- 

 ification. For, occasionally, when an 

 inquiry or a tip discloses a big order in 

 the ofiinfj, wc may follow it up in jier- 

 son. Wc follow up in person only lo- 

 cally, however; the time and expense 

 involved do not justify traveling any 

 considerable distance. 



This is done through the firm of El- 

 liott & Leonard, made up of myself and 

 our vice-president; both of us are grad- 

 uate landscape architects, and Elliott & 

 Leonard operate in that field. Tlie 

 ethical requirements of the profession 

 do not, as in so many allied linos, allow 

 for active solicitation of business. 

 But within "ethical limits" prospects 

 may be followed up. 



We should not, either of us, practice 

 our profession if it were not a practical 

 necessity as a time and expense-saver 

 for the Elliott Nursery Co. But when 

 someone is going to spend several thou- 

 sands of dollars in beautifying a largo 

 estate, he seldom wishes to do it in 

 haphazard fashion. And if wc had no 

 way of handling this landscape archi- 

 tecture, we should ]irobably have to 

 turn to as the Elliott Nursery Co. and 

 give it as free service, which in many 

 instances might be a waste of time. 



So now the nursery company turns 

 over to the landscape architects nny in- 

 quiries that involve layout work and 

 the like. The firm of landscape archi- 

 tects makes for its services a charge 

 that covers simjily the time nnd expense 



it has incurred in handling the job; 

 and the profit comes in the order that 

 the nursery company gets. If, as is un- 

 likely under the circumstances, the or- 

 der goes elsewhere, at least we have 

 not lost the time we have put into the 

 job and the drafting expense. 



Catalogue Mailing. 



Our mailing of catalogues and circu- 

 lars is carefully scheduled both by time 

 and by quantity. We started this year 

 off by mailing 6,000 copies of our seed 

 catalogue January 3. (This mailing will 

 doubtless increase from year to year; 

 our seed business is a new enterprise.) 

 February 1 we mailed 55,000 copies of 

 our general nursery catalogue, and en- 

 closed with it a seed folder that has 

 another use, to another list at the same 

 time; it is the oxygen treatment that 

 we administer to the dead list at this 

 time. 



May 1 we mailed 75,000 copies of our 

 bulb catalogue — an expensive and 

 elaborate job of color and special proc- 

 ess printing. And along with this bulb 

 catalogue we enclosed a special circular, 

 which "doubles" as an oxygen treat- 

 ment for the dead list — the second oxy- 

 gen treatment of the year, and the last 

 for those who do not respond and who 



have been on it for two years. Sep- 

 tember 1 we shall mail 75,000 copies of 

 our fall catalogue, which includes some 

 bulbs as well as such plants, trees and 

 shrubs as may with safety be planted 

 in the fall. 



Order Forms Are Fool-i>roof. 



I have mentioned that we go over our 

 routine on occasion to see what we can 

 devise in the way of short cuts. One of 

 the plans we use regularly might, I 

 think, be of equal use to a great many 

 mail-order advertisers who do business 

 in a way not at all resembling ours. 

 This is the use of a fool-proof order 

 sheet, which we have devised carefully 

 so that the customer simply cannot fill 

 it in incorrectly. And to insure legi- 

 bility, we request that the name and 

 address be printed out. As it happens, 

 a large percentage of these order sheets 

 comes back typewritten! 



Our order sheet is punched at the side 

 for binding. Almost all our orders 

 come in on our regular order sheet. And 

 if the order comes in any other form, 

 we promptly copy it on an order sheet. 

 For the order sheet, which seventy-five 

 per cent of our customers fill out so 

 carefully, is bound as our individual 

 (Continued on pftsre 70.) 



L'-TJV-i'XT-TJ-i.rj-J.TtTJ'i-i.Tj^^^^ 



FIXES FAIR COAL PRICES. 



Hoover Attempts Regulation. 



Maximum prices on bituminous coal 

 at the mine in three districts were fixed 

 May 31 by Secretary of Commerce Her- 

 bert C. Hoover. Prices set ranged from 

 .'t;2.20 to $2.60 a ton for the Alabama 

 district; $3.50 a ton for the smokeless 

 coal districts of West Virginia, and 

 $3.50 a ton for the Harlan and Hazard 

 fields of Kentucky and southern Appa- 

 lachian fields of TennesHoo and Ken- 

 tucky. 



The prices apply only to spot coal, 

 with the maximum for the Alabama dis- 

 trict 25 cents a ton below the final Gar- 

 field war-time scale and the maximums 

 in the other districts somewhat above 

 the Garfield scale. 



In explaining the action Secretary 

 Hoover said: 



"It should be understood that the 

 whole object of the administration's in- 

 terest in coal prices is to protect the 

 consumer bj' indicating the maximum 

 price that would be fair for spot coal 

 during the temporary period of the 

 strike, and by doing so, to protect that 

 great group of operators who do not 

 wish to take advantage of the present 

 situation. 



"Out of the 5,000,000 tons weekly 

 ]iroduction of bituminous coal, probably 

 3,500,000 tons are under long-term con- 

 tracts to consumers at prices stipu- 

 lated in the contracts, and there can 

 1)0 no alteration of these contract prices, 

 which, as a rule, ru7i considerably below 

 l)riees for spot coal, as they represent a 

 steady business to the mines. The sug- 

 gestion of a maximum fair price relates 

 solely to spot coal. Many coal dealers 

 enjoy longtime contracts at lower 

 rates, and it would be only fair to the 

 ]iublic that, in the resale of this con- 



tract coal, these dealers should give 

 the customer the full benefit of their 

 lower prices, and I feel sure from my 

 discussions with them that the majority 

 will do so. 



Follow Garfield Scales. 



"The maximum price for spot coal is 

 not the minimum price. It is only a 

 general figure that will protect the pub- 

 lic from such occasions as the last pinch, 

 when spot coal in many places went to 

 over $10 per ton. In arriving at the 

 figure, the Garfield scales were taken 

 as a basis, as these scales were the 

 result of close investigations during the 

 war, and allowances have been made 

 for increased costs and a general aver- 

 age of the situation taken that would 

 protect the public and maintain pro- 

 duction. The maximum price includes 

 customary selling commissions, which 

 were established separately in the Gar- 

 field scale, and the operators are recom- 

 mended to use the usual wholesale agen- 

 cies, thus promoting direct movement 

 to the consumer. 



"What Ave arc endeavoring to pre- 

 vent is a panic in prices such as took 

 place at the last coal pinch. Every con- 

 sumer who is interested in knowing that 

 he gets a square deal can easily check 

 tlie freight rates, can compare them 

 with the maximum price, can inquire 

 from his dealer whether he is buying 

 contract coal and at what rate, and 

 can make proper allowances for retail 

 distribution. If consumers are unwill- 

 ing to take this degree of interest in 

 negotiating for coal, it is a certainty 

 that no one can help them. The govern- 

 ment has no authority in the matter, 

 for this is purely a moral question and 

 one of cooperation. The consumers 

 who are not treated fairly may appeal 

 to this department in Washington and 

 their case will be inquired into." 



