The Big Fall Drive

The live lumber dealer should organize and. operate a big fall drive.

There is no closed. season for drives after Better Business. Every lumber d.ealer in the country should be making or preparing his fall drive for business at the present moment.

The question of how much business he is going to do this fall and early winter, is going to depend almost directly and entirely on the amount of efrort that he is going to make to force such business into his own hands.

The direct question is-',What can a lumber dealer DO to improve his business, and create some interest in build_ ing right now"?

The answer is that he must sit right down and figure out some speciffc things to work on that should be of interest to a man or woman with a building idea anywhere in their heads, and. a builtting dollar anywhere in their possession, and, having settled on the points of atta-ck, he should get busy with enthusiasm and determination, AND pUT THEM OVER,.

'What is the mail ord.er lumberman ofrering the trade right now? 'What are the auto folks offering them? Not generalities, surely. Therefore yOU should use none. To advertise lunber and building material for sale at cut prices won't loosen up dollars in times like these.

You mustn't ofrer building material. That won't interest your trade. You must ofrer BUILDING FUNC_ TIONS, BUIIJDING SER,VICES, BUIIJDING ATTR,AOTIVEN'ESS, BUILDING COMX'ORT, each in a specific form for a specific PRICE.

The mail order man selects a batch of home pictures and plans; a batch of garage, and barn, and shed plans. Then he gets up a circular letter ,and. encloses literature that is attractive. Flis "copy', is what they call ,,ioformativiif It tells the prospect, before he frames the question, what he wants to know about these plans. HE NEVER, tr'OR_ GETS TO MENTION TEE PR,ICETHE FINISIIED PR,ICE.

The average retailer^who {oes attempt advertising, runs, copy that simply RAISES QUESTIONS IN TEE UflrIOS OF HIS TR,ADE.

The mail ord.er man writes copy that answers the questions raised by the local dealer.

tr'ollow that scheme. Select some distinctive IIOME plans, secure cuts of them, put a price on the ffnished home, 4nd run it in your local paper, using such copy to go with it as the mail ord.er man uses, copy thai answers the reader's questions in ad.vanee.

Have your best ads printecl as circulars on book paper, and use them as inserts for a good letter that you send the prospective home builders of your district.

Try that scheme with regards to barns, sheds, gerages, etc., appealing to those who should be interested in each particular building.

Make your town folks talk about you for the next month, and at the same time keep pumping interesting -building ideas into them, so that they will become interested likewise in YOU and your BUSINESS.

Appropriate a little cash for your X'ALI_r DRfVE, and don't try to do it on a shoestring.

fn order to make a fall drive successful, you must neces_ sarily do two things; ffrst, you must get up some interest_ ing building things to sell I second, you must ad.vise and interest your trade in those things.

Every man's situation, trade, and stocks, are difrerent from the other fellow's. Therefore, he must apply the local idea to fft his particular needs.

Dream about your business oftener. Think over the scheme that other merchanis have used. for creating interest. IMAGINE how your business would respond. to such efiorts. Consider what local service would be appealing. DREAM, PITAN, EQIIIP, ADVERTISE, -e.lfO MAKE YOUR, FALIr DRIVE A GOOD ONE.