Some of the Germs That Are Bitin$ the Lumber Business

By Jack Dionne

The more retail lumbermen I meet, and the more I dircur with them their buriner problem'r, the mor-e I mar' ;;i;t the number and varietv of the rrg€rm!" that prey upon the lumber induetry; (germr in the rhape of wrong idear, antiquated notionr, negative thinkins)'

Of "oor"t, these "gerrlr" alwayl rcem mighty red to the fellow they are biting on, and it ir no eary matter to pry them loose from him.

AII retail lumbermen are intererted in the rubject of their product. Maoy of them may not be practicing a dngle thought in the line of nprchamdiring that they--were not orl"i-nft""" years agor-their interert being rtill parive and NOT active-but I doubt if there ir a retail lumber' man who irn't to rome extent intererted in the eubiect'

And naturally, thore who are not actively practicing modern merchandiring alwayr have their rearonr whyt while rtill others who have modernized their methodr in many rvays, still find it difiicult to apply ttremgelves wholeheartedly to this burines religion.

For instance, the other day one of the keenert men I have met in the retail lumber buriners in many a day, told me that he had not been able to rell himrelf on outeide rolicitation of bwiners; likewise could not underctand how the dealer can sell complete building renrice without offending hic contractor friends. He aaid that it reemed to him that perronal solicitation of business had a tendency to create price cutting; and that as far as selling building FUNCTIONS ii concerned, he war sure his contractor customerr would never stand for hir sticking hic nose into their busi' netr.

Take the aecond proposition firrt.I remember reveral yean ago hearing one of the most successful lumber merchants in America make a talk on that very rubiect.

He laid he hecitated for a long time about inrtalling a plan room and plan booh, becaure he war anured that the con' tractorr would obiect to hir apparently going into thc building burineer. Finally he decided to give it a trial' The firgt day hir rtuff wac spread out, hir biggeet contractor canne in, looked at the rtufi contemptuorrdy, nipp-.d $e "ote, of a plan book, and walked out. The next day the rame man carne in, and finally looked through the plan book. The third day he arked to be allowed to bonow it, and war refused. The ner<t day he rtole it, and went to building houser from it.

Mort dealerr have had the same experience. Jurt bccaure a dealer decider to begin relling building IDEAS ald building FUNCTIONS and BUILDINGS inctead of boardr and plankr and ehhgler, doer not mean'that he has to go into tbe contracting buriner, or go to fighting t{re contrac' ton. Far from it. Mort dealers are not equipped to go aroumd erecting buildingr for sale. But that doern't kcep ttem from anticipating, and then rupplying the buildilg needr of their territory. Mort ruccecrful lumber merehantr work hand in firt with thir best contractorr, to the cnd that they both make money.

But the dealer should NOT continue indefinitely to lct hir buriness depend on the ability, the activity, the virion, and the energy of their local contractors. Not on your life! The modern merchant ADOPTS HIS TERRITORY in a building way; looks it over carefully, checkr up itr visible building needs, anticipates its building necesitier, and then uses SALESMANSHIP to change thore needr from PASSIVE to ACTIVE"

There are probably several thounnd building NEEDS of rome khd in every town everlrwhere right NOW' that no contractor knowr anything about. The businees of tbc

Concentrate on ONE prospect at a time. Sell him. Then try another.

lumber merchant is to energize thoce NEEDS into orderr. But he can't do it if he ir afraid to go out and work them up.

If he findc that a man needr a new roof on his home, he would be a fool to go to that man and cay: ..your home needr a new roof. I'll be glad to eell you such-and-such a roofing material for ro much a thousand or a square.t' Jurt a fool, that'e all. For if the man agreed that he DID need a new roof, the information he had received wouldn't 1ne9 qlythbg conrtructive to him; wouldn't mean a thing in the line of senrice.

But if, on the other hand, the lumber merchant said to him: ttYour houre needr a new roof. Here are aome rarnplet, with pricer attached for the completed job. Select the kind of roof you want from these sarnplee, and lrll have the old one torn ofi, and the new one put on, without any further efrort on your part except to rign the check in p"yment."

lVhy rhouldn't the dealer be able to go to a contractor or builder and ray: "Let'l go take a look at Smith's roof. How much will you charge to replace it with these roof' ingr?" Add the contractor,r price to YOUR material price, and rell the man a ROOF. He needr the protection, the rhelter, the attractiveneu of a new ROOF. It irn't roofing he ir interested in. And he will thank you for the reroice, and will remember it long, and will boort your game, and look upon you as a REAL merchant, and tell hir neighborr.

And you can do the samc with a house, or a shed, or a porch, or a fence, or a rwing for the kids. It IS being done by thourandr of live lumber merchants throughout thc countr5r. And the contractorr have reason to thank God for an enlarged businere in the town.

And you ree thic practically covers the FIRST point made by my retail friend, also; that of soliciting burinesr cncouraging price cutting. IT DOES EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE.

f tttart dependr, of coune, on what you mean by rolicitps. If by roliciting you mean having a rnan or men char/ing around from one contractor and builder to the other, / ofrering them pricer on the jobr they have in hand, then it ir true that coliciting will rimply encourage price-cutting.

I But if you mean the art of going about among the people

I of the town and with brainr, and intelligence, and good-

I eyeright, and quick witr CREATING A DEI\,IAND for

I MORE BUILDINGS, mone building IMPROVEMENTS and I building ADDITIONS, then you are doing constructive

I work of the highert order. Selting people building THINGS

I before the people ttemselver have reached the rtage of I nurcharing; enveloping the THING in an attractive PLAN, offering a building SERVICE, means nothing less than I non-competitive buisneu.

I Th" world ir willing to pay a premium for IDEAS and for \ SERVICE but not for raw materialr, regardle* of their

What wire raleemen can do ir eternally plant

IDEA of building SPECTFIC THINGS in the -i.i, of proapective builderr, and when the parsive proepectr bccome active, furnirhing a SERVICE that attractr, plearer, and enthurer.

Your trade ir entitled to your agsistance in furnirhing them with building ideas. It is entitled to have you rcll them complete building rervice, and so TAKE THE FEAR OUT OF BUILDING.

July Exports Of Softtyoods Siiow Decliiie While Iiardwoods Make Gain

Reports from Axel Oxholm, chief of the lumber division of the United States department of commerce, show that the softwood lumber exports for the month of July-the last month for which statistics are available-experienced a .sh-arp deeline, particularly in Douglas fir, which dropped to slightly under 44,000,000 feet, or 12,000,000 feet beiow the 1.913 average. Meanwhile hardwood.s continued their up- ward trend.

Shipnents of oak lumber totaled over 10,000,000 feet, and gum 5,000,000. The total exports of all sawn lumber amounted to 116,000,000 feet, a d.rop of nearly 82,000,000 feet below those of June, which makes July the io*"st poiot for the year.

- Douglas fir lumber exports to Japan have declined to but 12,000,000 board feet, while China absorbed over 14._ 000,000, the latter's total for the year so far being g6,000,_ 000 feet.

OF ESTABLISHED QUALITY

"Thc Sign of Servicc"

VITRIFIED CLAY SEWER PIPE IRRIGATION PIPE and DRAIN TILE FACE BRICK-PRESSED, ENAMELED and RUFFLED

HIGH GRADE FIRE BRICK , ELECTRIC CONDUIT

FLUE LIMNG-CHIMNEY PIPE STONEWARE--OLI.AL-MIXING BOWI.S