256 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
to see that the bulletins were for the best interests of all, and 
finally persuaded him to allow his name to appear regularly 
But the expected happened. He was careful to see that from 
that time on he wasn’t at the foot: in fact, he is often close 
to the top and one of the most loyal men. To add to the interest 
of the bulletins we have cuts prepared each year that not only 
liven up the general appearance, but very materially aid in run¬ 
ning up the volume of the sales. This year we have a “Ring the 
Gong” printed in green on the left side of the bulletin sheet. Up 
the side are figures running to $150,000 at the top. A little man 
is seen giving the thing sledge hammer blows, and driving the 
sales to the top. Each week a red crayon is used to show the 
point that the sales have reached. On a separate sheet that is 
attached to the bulletin, varieties to push are listed, varieties 
sold out, or other matters that we desire brought to the atten¬ 
tion of the salesman. Once a month we send out what we call 
our “Lung-Tester.” The amount that each man gave as his es¬ 
timate of sales for the year is designated as his goal. The ar¬ 
row is drawn in with a pen, showing how far each man has 
gone towards his goal. To do the work these bulletins must be 
full of pep. I ftave here two or three bulletins issued by other 
nursery concerns. The reading matter is good, and I am not 
criticising them other than to state that they do not appear to 
me to have any life at all, no color, too flat, and we doubt if the> 
carry out their mission. They resemble blank cartridges: they 
make a noise, but don’t hit the mark. Of course the bulletin 
sheet must be changed yearly, or interest will fade. We are al¬ 
ready getting our ideas together on next year’s sheet. We 
greatly prefer the mimeographed or multigraphed bulletin to the 
printed form. The former invariably bring better results than 
the latter, for us. This is doubtless due to the fact that the mim¬ 
eographed letter has more of a “personal” appearance than the 
printed form. 
About once a week our men are sent personal letters. Sales¬ 
men do better if their good work is seen and appreciated, or 
their poor work noticed. Often a hand written note will bring 
results, when tpewritten letters have been ignored. These let¬ 
ters are not long, drawn-out affairs, just short, snappy and to 
the point. Add the human touch by some remark of a friendly 
nature. Ask how Mary is, if she was sick when you heard last. 
Many sales letters are so radiant with good cheer and cordiality 
that they remind one of the inside of a tomb. Instead of rever- 
berating with human friendliness, they are generally strings of 
threadbare words that will likely land you in bed with a chill, it 
you are game enough to read them. Why any man should per¬ 
mit such letters to wander but of his office is more than I can 
say. They certainly are not emblematic of the man’s real na¬ 
ture, for he wouldn’t talk like that were he face to face with 
his correspondent. It is not difficult to get these letters out, if 
you have the proper office organization. If you do not have a 
good letter writer in your office, it is unfortunate, and you had 
better get one or turn the job over to some one outside of your 
organization who is able to write friendly business letters. 
Writing effective sales letters is a branch of advertising that is 
not fully appreciated. 
Then the contest. From experience we have found that a 
friendly salesman’s contest is one of the best surplus stock 
moving methods. By nature all of us are sports, we all enjoy a 
game, but something that creates interest or competition is 
necessary to make the game enjoyable. Our stock of Keiffer 
Pear this season is very large, and as a special inducement, the 
man who sells the most Keiffer each week is given a special 
prize. They are going, too. In this case a bill of some demon¬ 
stration or other is pinned to the bulletin, the amount depending 
upon the number of trees sold. The billed bulletin carries a 
punch with it that is generally felt the next week. For every 
month during the selling season we offer a prize for the best 
sales, and lesser prizes for the next best sales. It is not so 
much the amount of the prize; in fact, very little attention is 
paid to the prize itself; it is the spirit of game that enters into 
the thing and makes the men do their best to win. Usually we 
offer a money prize. This month we are leaving the nature of 
the prize in doubt, for a change. You would be surprised 
at the rivalry among the men for first place; several 
in reporting time worked show something like this: 6 days 3 
nights. One report last month for 6 day’s work in Alabama, by 
one man, was $2400. His average is around $500 per week. 
Would he do this if it were not for our constant pushing? We 
doubt it. This constant pushing can be done in a way that will 
get out of a man all there is n him, without antagonizing him. 
Many a man assigns as his reason for not getting orders to the 
poorness of crops, hard times or other unfavorable conditions 
in his territory, when the truth is he doesn’t work hard enough, 
or doesn't plan his work intelligently. The sales manager must 
be able to distinguish between a reason for a failure and an ex¬ 
cuse for it and help the salesman to analyze his own excuses. 
We say get ready for a big fall business, but in some quarters 
there is apprehenson about what the future has in store for us. 
Broadcasters of gloom are telling us to sit tight—to be conserva¬ 
tive, but most business men want to do more than the proprietor 
of a shoe shine parlor, who simply waits for business to come in. 
The kind of business that develops a community takes enthu¬ 
siasm and vision. It is said that 84% of American business fail¬ 
ures are due directly to executives watching business “ther¬ 
mometers,” which show present conditions, instead of watching 
business “barometers” which show coming conditions. In any 
event we are pretty apt to have active buying this fall. The 
South has planted more land to cotton this year than ever before, 
over thirty-eight million acres, and a fair crop is expected, even 
though slightly below the 10-year average. The government 
estimate of a crop of more than 10,000,000 bales would mean 
more than one billion dollars with cotton at present prices. The 
significance of this figure is readily apparent; it goes to show 
that the farmer will be in a better financial condition this fall 
than he has for several years, and it is but natural to assume 
that his good fortune will reflect favorably on all lines of busi¬ 
ness. Altogether the outlook appears bright to us, and we are 
unable to get any other view from the business barometer than 
that business is going to continue to be good. Once more the 
South is contributing heavily to the wealth of the nation, and 
will profit by it deservedly. If any of us have the “business 
hookworm,” a good antidote is a dose of new ideas mixed with 
enthusiasm and hard work. 
If any retail sales managers are interested, I will be glad to 
mail sample copies of bulletins and other literature referred to 
in this talk, or will exchange with you, if you issue a house 
organ. 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES 
PRESS SERVICE 
Cost Accounting 
A pamphlet dealing with the acceptance and install¬ 
ation of uniform methods of cost account ing by the mem¬ 
bers of a trade association has just been issued by the 
Fabricated Production Department of the Chamber of 
Commerce of the United States. The pamphlet is design¬ 
ed to 'be of assistance to the officers and members of 
those trade associations which have undertaken to secure 
the numerous and important advantages of such uniform 
methods.” 
The discussion starts with the premise that the techni¬ 
cal methods or systems have been devised and that having 
gone thus far a new problem presents itself, namely, the 
problem of finding the most means of securing the in¬ 
stallation of the uniform cost methods. 
The pamphlet is divided into two distinct but co-ordin¬ 
ate parts, as follows: 
“The Association’s Problems.” 
“The Member’s Problems.” 
The first part is devoted to the ways and means by 
which the trade association’s service to its members may 
be made the most effective. It deals with such matters 
as the organization ol an association cost bureau and cost 
councils, and provisions for keeping the members inform¬ 
ed of developments generally. 
The second part is designed to be of direct and sub- 
