Turn lt Around

INSIDE this issue, on pages 10 and ll, is an I article entitled "Merchandising ideas to help sell hardware and housewares." We hope our readers who deal solely in lumber and other wood products won't be too quick in passing it up. While it doesn't deal directly with what they sell, the basic thrust behind the ideas presented is that you have to think about what the customer wants and needs before you're going to make that sale. And along the same line, lumbermen selling the retailer would do well to take a few minutes to read it and learn about their customer's business. That kind of an investment in time can be good business for all concerned.

What the ideas that tell how to woo and sell the customer are also saying is that the seller, any seller, must look at it from the customers' point of view. "If I walked into my store and looked at that display, would I want to buy?" And in turning around the situation, the seller is making a commitment to think about his customers'needs and wants. Not strictly his own.

A seller of virtually anything, whether from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer,