How This Live Ohio Lumber Merchant Operates His Business

"Once you get used. to cufr buttons you never will go back to horse-shoes nails," says J. I[. Peterson, general manager of the D. J. Peterson Lrumber company of Toledo, Ohio, one of the most progressive retail lumber merchants in the eountry, whose office, service rooms' storage sheds and other equipm,ent are pictured herewith'

"A Place to Go Shopping for a llome," is the way Mr. Peterson describes his institution, and his ideas .on merchandising are so sound and the methods he employs are so practical that some knowledge of them is of unquestioned interest to dealers in California.

"Before we became retailers we had about 25 years' experience in the wholesale business, " explains Mr. Peterson, "and. with a few exceptions we found. that the way most of our customers did business was to stick a horse-shoe nail in the buttonhole and'let 'er go at that'."

"So when we started. ttris new plant of ours we built a modern retail store and not an 'old timey lumber yard.'

"First of all we planned to keep all of our materials in well designed lumber sheds so that our lumber could be kept dry, under cover at all times, and the stock could be handled' diidct from the car to the bins with a minimum of expense. Concrete pile bottoms were used throughout, and the shed's were buill with plenty of ventilation provided, so that aII stock could be properly cared. for. In fact, we built our Iumber shed.s so that we could. say they compare with those of the old. time lumber yard as the mod'ern d'epartment store compares with the old time general store.

"ind, we piled. our lumber in them so neatly, and classified it ai to g:rad.e, length, width, and quality so thoroughly that it makes it as easy for the customer to seleot the kind' of material he wants as it is to select a suit of clothes off the shelves of one of our modern department stores'

"The yard itself was tiled', drained, and kept free from water at all times. It was graded, levelled, and covered' with cinders to prevent weeds from growing in-it-, eve+. to the remotest corners.-Weed's in a lumber yard Iook like horse shoe nails in the button hoie'

"Next we built a modern lumber office, equipped with hardwood floors, fine interior finish and pleasing to -any customer's eye--both inside and out. The front of our plant was sodded incl plenty of paint was used on the builtlings to give then a pleasant appearance,. ""'W" then decicled. on the proced.ure of cloing business' We d.etermined that there would be three d'epartments of our retail lumber business, which would be equally important and each would be erclusive of the other. These departments &re:

"First-YARD MANAGEMENT.

'' Second-SAITES PROMOTION.

"Third-FINANCE.

..Underthesethreeheadswehaveoperatedourbusiness successiully for the past three years-' Let me describe the duties of these three departments:"

Ya,rd Management

(1). The Loacling and Unloading, and proper

' "a"e of lumber:

No matter how busy we are' we never allow lumber to be poorly pilett in our sheds; the ends- of the piles always looi aq ii fUey are cut with a knife, and this makes a pleasing appearance to the prospective customer' All stock' however, is handled with a minimum of cost. No lumber is unloaded that touches more than two men's hands. It is either handed out, or rolled on gravity rolls from thc car to the bent. During the course of three years, thir saving of labor effected has paicl for any additional er' pense in the proper construction of sheds.

(2) The purchase of the best lumber obtainable, and the carrying of a minimum of stock to do a maximum amouut of business.

We have never hand.Ied. anytf,ing but the best grade for the purpose intend.ed, and we have always mad.e it a point to buy thoroughly dried lumber-preferably kiln driec[. We know that poor stock such as No. 2 and Btr. 4imensionr although a little cheaper as regard.p purchase price, is the most expensive to buy. The culls that it contains and that are d.eveloped later must be sold at a, sacrifice price, and the appearance of culls in a lumber yard. never increases business.

We have found that it d.oes not pay to get out of lumber, and then wait for price to go lower before buying, because mill prices have no definite relation with regard. to volume of orders booked. We stock heavily on dimension and, items that have rapid turnover, buying these items heavily when we think the price is low, and buying upper grades with slow turnover absolutely on the market when the stoek is actually needed, and only in small quantities at that time.

(3) The exclusive handling, wherever possible, of good.s that are nationaly advertised.

'We have confined. ourselves to the nationally advertise4 article because this is half solcl before it is presented to the customer. It must be good, or it will be crushed. under its own publicity. 'We have found Curtis Standardized Architectural Woodwork, Bruce Oak Flooring, Johns' Manville Roofing, Creo-Dipt Shingles, and. Cornell-Wood' Board are easily sold. And, when seen in our plant by prospective purchasers, they give the appearance of sta" bility.

(4) The purchase of good equipment, and their proper care and upkeep.

Trucks, horses, harness, and wagons have never been al' lowed to appear on the streets in anything but "apple-pielt order.

(5) Lastly, under the Yarcl Management, comes the question of Service.

One of our advertising slogans in Toledo is "Rush Orders are our Special Delight." In order to make it so, we alwayr find out in connection with each order just how long it will be before the stock purchased is absolutely needed by the customer. We have found that often customers ask for material RUSHED OUT, through a sense of habit, and if the question is asked "'When do you actually neecl the stock?" in a great many casesi they will say two or three d.ays later. This information, when put on the loatling ticket, helps us to make "Rush Orders a Special Delight."

Sales Promotion

(1) X'irst under Sales Promotion, which is equal' ly important to Yard Management, we have placed Advertising.

It is advertising that brings the customer to our d'oors, where we attempi to sell him so qirongly on quality antl value that the question of price is forgotten. 'We have never solicited business in Toledo through the personal calls of Salesmen. Advertising has enabled us to eliminate this expense. Because we have maintained. an up-to-date plant, we have found it easier to sell a prospeot when he calls on us than when we call upon him in- his home or office.

Our advertising has consisted of d^irect mail, which is of first importance. Our mailing Iists are kept up to date at all times, and are added to daily.

Newspaper advertising comes next. pains to see that this space appears at throughout the year. .

We have taken regular intervals

Display sign boards are next in importance, and they appear on some of our main thoroughfares illuminated at night. In front of our office we maintain a tempting sign showing the picture of a housewife serving breatfasi in a Breafast Alcove, with the invitation to itep in and. see a Curtis Breakfast Nook installed in our Service Room. 'In addition, under advertising, we have attempted during lhe past two years to put on a campaign whereby .we ex-hibited model Curtis Ilouses to the public.

The ffrst of these, called " The Prettiest llouse in Town.,, was inspected by 10,000 prospective home builders within three months time. The Gulf Coast Lumberman published a story regarding this house at the time it was opened.. It as located. directly opposite our offiee, which is not on a main thoroughfare, and this campaign established in the minds of 10,000 prospective home builders where we are located in Toledo. It resulted in the sale of 13 Curtis Ifomes within six months time.

A similar successful campaign was put on this year in the opening of the "Prettiest Ifouse in Ottawa Ilills". This home was inspected by 10,000 prospective home builders within a month, and. since then our business has increased. by leaps and bounds.

Our advertising eonsists in constantly bringing before the public new ideas in home building, and tieing these new ideas in with national-as well as local-ad.vertising campaigns, put on by concerns whose products we handle.

We have found it was very necessary to budget our advertising the first of the year, setting aside the amount that we are going to spend, to decide when we start out where we are going to spend it,' and never to deviate from this policy during the year, no matter how tempting the proposition for advertising may be that is presented to us. 'We are continually beset with appeals for advertising in religious and sectional newspapers, whieh we invariably turn d.own because we apply our advertising to the points where we eonsider it will be most efrective.

(2) Under Sales Promotion also comes the care and operation of our Serviee Room, which we have called "A Place to go Shopping for a llome.t'

'We have equipped this with numerous built-in features such as a Breakfast Alcove, corner china closet, kitchen cupboards, and the entire extensive Curtis Plan Serviee consisting of blue prints for over 300 homes. It is also equippetl with a library of books and magazines on home planning, and it is up to the Sales Promotion Department to see that this room is used.

The winter months of January, February. and March which used to be the dull months for the old horse-shoenail type of retailer have been the most aetive for uS, be- cause at that time we have worked most strenuously on the Sales Promotion end of our business. In January, a direct mail campaign is instituted, house plans are ad.vertised. in the newspapers, and prospective home builders are developed, who can be turned over to our contractor friends in the early spring.

Sales Promotion means most perhaps to the mod.ern retail lumber merchant because it is a source of continual eu- joyment in the conduct of business. There is wonder- ful satisfaction in creating the building of a new home through a direct mail campaign. We have accomplished this many times in the past. 'We have had people say to us: "Six months ago we never dreamed of having a home of our own, but we got your literature and the Curtis plan Books which you sent us, and my wife and I picked out just the house we wanted. You got us a contiactor that made us a price on that house that we neyer dreamed we could build it for. " We alwdys get testimonial letters from satisfied home owners whom we have assisted. in the planning and building of their homes.

Financial Department

The financial department is the dead-line of our retail business. It is under one head, who is final authority with regard to all sales. This man is an ex-cashier of a banknot a lumber man. Sales Prgmotion has brought the prospect to our d.oor through advertising, he has been sold by excellent Yard Management, but he has been turned. down flat by the financial department because he can not pay his bills on the tenth of the month, and. avail himself of the discount.

'We operate a cash lumber business and so inforn our eustomer that we can not carry their accounts for longer than the tenth of the following month. We have lost many orders because of this policy, but we never regret those that we have lost. It has not been necessary for us to use the lien law more than 15 times during the past three years, because of this distinct understand.ing we have with the customer before the stock is delivered. The first of January of this year, the unpaid accounts we carried over did not equal one quarter. of our sales for that month, and during the past three years we have not charged over $500.00 ofr to bad accounts. Our Finance Department looks on every transaction made from the standpoint of a bankernot a lumberman.