Selling Grade-Marked Lumbe r"

By Kenneth Smith, Secretary'Milr gc',

Lumber and Allied Pnoducts

In*itute of Southcm CiiforniN-

Address made at the Annual Convention of the Cdifomia Rct il Lunrbccmen's Association, November 61 7, and E, Pasadcoa, C-elifornia.

One of my treasures is a small, thin, unimpgrt-an! looking brochure wiittett in 1922 by -y friend, Axel Oxholm, titled "Grade Marking of Lumber." From the day I read it, converting lumbermen to believers in grade-marking has been one oi-the pleasures of life. Trained in the export lumber btrsiness. trhere grade-marking had been practiced fgt scores of years. thi wonder to me rvas, and still is, that it has taken so long for it to win acceptance in the retail lumber field.

In 1925 Mrs. Fraser asked me to talk at your Fresno convention onthis nerv idea of grade-marking lumber then beginning to be advocated overthe country. At your 1927 convention, your l9B convention, yow l9D mid-year meeting when grade-marking was officially adopted by Souther-n Ciiifornia-dealers, and at your 1929 annual I spoke in advocacy of the theory and idea of selling grade-marked lumber. Ahvays an advocate of an idea. And then Earl Johnson wrote me a little note the other day and gave me one of the thrills of my life. All he said was, "We want yott to talk five minutei on "How to sell grade-marked lumber." Get that. I wasn't asked to again try to sell you the idea of selling grade-marked lumber. That note said the idea was sold, ind that what you want now is ideas that will help you sell grade-marked lumber to your customers.

In the interval since rve last met together, grade-marking has become an actuality and today I am not asking you to buy and sell on the basis of on-grade and marked lumber, bui am here to contribute something, if I can, that rvill be helpful to you in doing better and more quickly the job that you have all now agreed that you are going to do.

You may question that last statement as an exaggeration. It is today, but acceptance of the idea is growing like a snowball going dorvnhill, and the year 1931 is going to see grade-marking so firmly entrenched that you will w_o-nder it came so faJt and that it rvas so long in coming. 1931 is the year that will witness only two types of dealers left selling mixed and unidentifiable grades, the man rvho has rvorn the rut of lumber warehouseman so deep that he cannot see over the edge to vision the new day of the lumber merchant, and the dealer who prefers to deal rvith an uninformed buyer.

Horv to sell grade-marked lumber? In these few minutes all I can possibly do is spot-light a few fundamentals.

First. Be convinced yourself that grade-marked lumber is a service to your customer. You cannot successfully sell anything until you believe in it yourself. If you still have any lingering doubt, go home and sit down with your conscience, ind two copies of the two National Lumber Manufacturers Association publications, "Taking the Mystery Out of Lumber Buying" and "Know the Lumber You Use." You will come back from that session a convert to selling knorvn quality lumber that protects the innocent buyei, or you will decide that you do not want to be a lumbeimah known for selling dependable merchandise. Up until this summer it *'as difficult and in many cases impractical for even those thoroughly sold on grade-lnarked iumber to supply it; but there is no reason today, be you the largest oi the smallest dealer, excepting only the determination not to modernize your busines.

Second. Sell everybody in your establishment the idca and the magnificent new opportunity that it offers them for serving your trade in a better fashion. Educate them first. Today salesmen must know what they. are selling, and be able io discuss quality intelligently and convincingly.

Third. Display it. Put it out in front. Put samplcs where everyone rvho comes in will see it. Get enthusiastic about it. Make everyone who comes in aware that you have made a revolutionary change in your business. No selling equals visual selling. Put grade-tnarked lumber in front of their eyes.

Fourth. Advertise. Get from the National Lumber Manufacturers Association and from the West Coast Lumbermen's Association the fine literature they have developed to help you sell grade-marked lumber, and use it rvith your trade. Advertise in your papers, direct mail the contractors, architects, engineers, and public buyers. Then make it your business to personally call on the most influential architects, engineers, your school board, and every large buyer in your market and sell them the idea of protecting themselves by specifying lumber graded according to the rules of theWest Coast Lumbermen's Association and marked with their symbol.

Tell them that you, too, now have standards in your business. Here you have a great fundamental change in your business. You are no longer doing cracker barrel peddling. You are SELLING identiEable merchandise and you "* at least make as much fuss about it as an automobile sales_ man over a nerv gadget. Capitalize the statement of presi_ dent Hoover that. "The grade-marking of lumber seems to b,e particularly importani because, uniik. any other article, the quality of rvhich can be,analyzed. the g.ading of lumbei depends on judgment founded upor, "*p"rI"nce.'i

Fifth. Make an especial personal drive on bankers and building and loan companies and mortgage companies. Sell them on the protection to themselves In"specifying gr"d"- marked lumber from the standpoints oi retiabitiy, il,rifor-_ ity, eco_nomy and for the assurance it gives that in the event the property- unfortuitously comes bickinto their p"r..i_ siorr they will have the tremendous sales advantage o'i b"ing able_ to point out that the house was built of i'umber orrl grade and guaranteed by the grade marks of the West Coast Lumbermen's Associationl , L^y personallv before them the statements of financial leaders endorsilg grade-marking for the protection it af_ 1919,. I.ldgls.. .lust one is that of Wm. S. euinter, president ot the United States League of Local euita;ng and Loan Associations, Washington, D. C., who says, ,;The use of grade-marked lumber alone would justify " building "rso_ ciation to make a larger loan on a- homi because i? gives assurance of good construction material., _ Sixth. Keep everlastingly at it. Do not be faint hearted. Do not give the dealer who is still peddling unidentifiabG lumber any chance to unsell your customer. Believe in it yourself. Be enthusiastic about it. Get every man, woman and child in- your_organization and in your f-amily enthusiastic about it, and about what a marvilous revolution it is going to work in the retail merchandising of lumber. Get the men who furnish the money for build'ing to demand-it. Convince the specifications writers that they protect themselves and their clients by demanding it. Convince the speculativb builder that he can add a superb selling point by putting himself in position to prove that guaianteed grade-marked lumber went into the construction of the property he is offering.

Advertise to the home owner. And do it over and over and over. Do not send one piece of dire,ct mail and then forget about it. Keep right bn reminding him at regular intervals. Keep your copy fresh. Build up one reason in the first piece of copy, another in the second, a third in the third advertisement, etc. Then go over it allagain. Say it differently, and in a fresh manner, if you can, but above all, say it over and over, again and again and again. Never forget that until every dealer sells'it and every buyer buys it, there may be someone left who still has not heard or understood the story. Remember how long it has taken you to believe it.

How to sell grade-marked lumber is the least of your worries. Be happy that you have something to sell besides just lumber. Start out to make the most of your golden op- portunity. Every time you turn around use this handle that you have to lift your business up onto a higher plane and you will find that it is the greatest boon that has ever corne your way. Thank Fortune that you have it and go out and use it to revitalize your business.

And

Fully

If

Wholcralerr

DON'T QUrr

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, As evet'y one of us sometime learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow; Often the goal is nearer ttran ft seems to a faint and faltering man. Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victo/s cup. And he learned too late when the night slipped down How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of doubt. And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hitIt's when things seem worse that you mustn't quit.

THAT'S ALL

She was standing near the rail She was looking deadly pale, Was she looking for a whale? Not at all.

She's her mama's lovely daughter, Casting bread upon the water, fn a way she hadn't oughter'That's all.

First Actor-"A famous restaurant has named a sandwich after me."

Second Actor.-"!t/hat sort of a ham sandwich is it?"

A Motorists Prayer

Teach us to drive through life without skidding into other people's business. Preserve oru brahc linirrgt so that we may stop beforc wc go too far. Hclp us to bcar the knocks in our own motors and cloac our ears to thc clshing in other people's geara. Keep alcohol in our radiators and out of our stornachs. Absolve ur fpm ttc mania of tryrng to pass ttre other fellow on thc narro'r road- Opcn our eyes to the traffic signs, and kecp our fcct oa thc bralce.

Intolerance

This little globe, which is but a merc spcct, travels through space with its fellows, loet in immcnsity. tan, a ct'eature about five feet tall, i8 certainly a tiny rhing as compared with the rrniys6sl Yct me of thcac tible beings declares to his neighbor, "flearlcn unto me. The God of dl these worlds spcakr witrh my voice. Thcrc are billions of us wee ants upon thb earth" but only my ant hole is precious in God's sight. All others arc ctcrndly damned by Him. Mine done is blesscd."-Voltaire.

HE WAS TOUGH, TOO

"I am a man of few words," annormcd thc hard-boiled contractor to the new operator. "If I beckon with my 6nger, that meians come."

"Suits me," replied the new employec. "I'E a rnrn gf fss words myself. And if I shake my hcad" that means I 'i'r't coming."

The Package And The Goods

An attractive package lcssens salcs rcsistance. Crood looks will always help mate the 6rst salc. fbc qudit5l tbc customer finds inside thc package must dictatc futurc salcs.

True

A man's real limitations arc not tte thfuEs hc wants to do, but cannot; they are things hc ougbt to do, but does not.