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The Weekly Florists' Review. 



October 10, 19<>7. 



age his business successfully, but a great 

 percentage of his success is due to the 

 ability and untiring efforts of the men 

 who plug away from morning until night 

 to sell the stock, and who after hours 

 will give him valuable suggestions to aid 

 him in the daily routine of his business; 

 this man is the salesman. Now, where 

 do we get these good salesmen of whom 

 we are boasting? Were they born sales- 

 men or made salesmen? Allow me to 

 answer this by saying that in my judg- 

 ment it is ability and experience on their 

 part, combined with keeping in cloee 

 touch with their employer, which has 

 made many of these men what they now 

 are; but I hope they will not take my 

 remarks as flattery, for they are simply 

 intended to give them the encouragement 

 which they deserve and which has long 

 been coming to them. 



We have few college-bred men in our 

 profession, but we have men of charac- 

 ter and ability, who are slowly but surely 

 pushing to the front. Why not a course 

 in scientific salesmanship for some of 



Telephone Service and Its Cost. 



Possibly two-thirds of our local busi- 

 ness is at the present time done over 

 the telephone. Each wholesaler has his 

 trade divided, and a careful man appoint- 

 ed to look after the requirements of 

 every customer. The stores are only be- 

 ginning to appreciate what these men 

 do for them in the way of keeping them 

 in touch with the market conditions, and 

 especially in the way of prices and new 

 material, which some of the out-of-the- 

 way stores would not know about for 

 possibly a week if it were not for the 

 telephone. As it is, they can now find 

 the exact conditions in a few minutes. 



But does our friend the storekeeper 

 realize the great expense item that the 

 telephone is to us? The total cost to 

 the wholesalers combined for local tele- 

 phOEe service is probably from $5,000 

 to $8,000 annually, and while we cannot 

 do without such service, I assure you 

 the cost is a problem which gives the 

 middleman some occasion at times to 



Sweet Pea Burpee's White Spencer. 



these young men, that it may develop 

 them and fit them for the positions 

 which will surely be to oflPer if the whole- 

 sale florists' business continues to ad- 

 vance with the same speed it has done? 



put on his thinking cap. With this 

 amount of money expended we expect 

 results, and in most instances we get 

 them, as I am glad to say that the ma- 

 jority of our stores appreciate the tele- 



phone service and the information which 

 it brings. But there are still a few 

 stores where the management is so poor 

 that they allow their employees to treat 

 a call from a wholesale house as a joke, 

 and believe the salesmen have nothing 

 else to do but to make telephone calls to 

 pass away the time. Sometimes the em- 

 ployees of such stores, when answering 

 the telephone, are not courteous enough 

 to inquire the purpose of the call, but 

 as soon as they learn that a call is from 

 a wholesale house simply say, "Nothing 

 doing,'' and hang up the receiver. This 

 is one abuse of the service which needs 

 attention. We can make allowance in 

 some instances, where the storekeeper 

 may be busy with a customer, or again 

 where he may have a good supply of 

 stock on hand and no prospects of busi- 

 ness, but salesmen are human beings, and 

 a little courtesy extended to them, though 

 it costs nothing, may work wonders for 

 the storekeepers at some future time,, 

 when certain material may be scarce and 

 the proprietor badly in need of it. Mr. 

 Storekeeper, try my prescription, and in- 

 struct your employees accordingly, and if 

 it fails to cure we will refund your 

 money with pleasure. 



Prompt Delivery Setvice. 



Just a word now in regard to delivery 

 service. Our city today is doing for the 

 retail trade what no other city does, 

 as far as I know — giving them prompt 

 delivery service at any hour of the day 

 from 7 a. m. to 8 p. m., and during 

 the holiday season, I may add, at any 

 time during the day or night. This is 

 , all free to the storekeeper, but not to 

 the wholesaler. To give the proper serv- 

 ice the larger houses are compelled to 

 employ for their delivery at least from 

 five to ten boys, at a cost of anywhere 

 from $4 to $5 per week. Total this up, 

 add the amount it costs weekly for car 

 tickets, etc., and you will find it runs 

 into money. 



The prompt delivery service which we 

 are giving today ha& been brought about 

 by competition. Often our larger stores 

 will divide a very large order between 

 two or more wholesale houses, ask for 

 immediate delivery, and then watch care- 

 fully to see which house has their order 

 delivered first. This is an important 

 item to the buyer, who makes a note of 

 the best service given him and in return 

 places the next important order which 

 he may happen to have, with the man 

 who gives him the attention and on 

 whom he can depend. 



Excessive Competition. 



I have endeavored to show you what 

 this service means to our most up-to-date 

 storekeepers, and to make it plain to you 

 that they fully appreciate our efforts, 

 but in some ways the competition has 

 been overdone in the way of delivery. 

 We have been at times so ambitious to 

 please the trade that we have delivered 

 at a loss very small bills of goods, pos- 

 sibly 75 cents' worth, or, to make it 

 round figures, $1, the commission on 

 which will amount to a paltry 15 cents. 

 The goods are placed in a box probably 

 worth 5 cents and the carfare to the cus- 

 tomer may run anywhere from 8 cents to 

 15 cents. Figure this up ^ourselves, gen- 

 tlemen. This is what some of our less 

 thoughtful storekeepers expect and insist 

 that we do, but I tell you that the 

 wholesaler is beginning to realize that 

 this is making money backwards, and 

 one of our houses has boldly come out 

 recently and told its customers, in a 



