Suggestive selling

By Ken Thim

IIOWHERE in retailing is "sugIlgestive selling" more applicable than in the retail lumber and/or building material(s) business. Yet, no one is more inept at it than the personnel and management of a large number of these facilities.

One of the most successful retailers is a doughnut and coffee franchise whose personnel is trained to say to each customer who orders a beverage, "Would you care for any doughnuts?" And to every customer who orders a doughnut, "Would you care for anything to drink?"

Of course, we know it's coming, and may consider it a "pitch," a ttcon," a "supersell," but isn't that what the game is all about? Certainly there is no reason to be offended or ungracious when the suggestion is made.

Few and far between are the sales made in our business that don't need a companion tool, an incidental item or a finishing product. Nothing is more aggravating to the average buyer than to get to the project and find that he has to make a return trip.

Story at a Glance

Salespeople should always suggest related merchandise to tie in with the main item sought... concept works lor virtually all projects. .sug. gestions are helpful to custo. mer.

The following examples point out areas where sales could be increased:

(a) Any lumber sale can be aug- mented with nails, putty, metal trims, moulding, and so on.

O) A roofing sale shouldn't be consummated without adhesives, roofing nails, gravel guard, eave drip, gutter, etc.

(c) Moulding sales, natural wood, should include nails, putty, stain, paint.

(d) Prefinished paneling needs prefinished nails, prefinished putty, prefinished wall plates and plugs. And, doesn't the same apply to the prefinished mouldings?

(e) A suspended ceiling(s) system, or a direct application, needs materials to support it and trim and border.

(f) P-A-I-N-T-I-N-G. The possibilities are endless. From brushes to rollers, to paint pans, to putty, to thinners and thickeners, shellac and varnish.

(g) What are bricks without mortar? Posts without a post-hole digger and cement? Shelving without shelf standards, brackets, clips? A door without jamb, casing, stop, hinges, lock and striker plate? Window glass without putty, putty knife, glazier's points?

Never miss an opportunity to indulge in suggestive selling.

New S.F. Bay Area Cargo Facility

December l, 1849. Having completed a tortuous twomonth journey from East Machias, Me., Andrew Pope and Frederic Talbot step off the steamship Oregon and survey the tiny mudhole of San Francisco. But rather than a ramshackle town with no streets or sidewalks, Pope and Talbot see a land of immense opportunity.

While others pan for gold, the two begin barging and brokering the lumber needed for San Francisco's building boom. Business is good and they soon realize the economic advantages of harvesting and milling their own lumber.

The company moves steadily into the rich timberlands of the northwest during the later l9th and early 2fth centuries, growing into one of the larga wood products manufacturers in the world.

Finally, in 1969, P&T bids farewell to the Golden Gate, moving corporate headquarters to Portland, Or., in order to be closer to its mills.

December l, 1984. Pope & Talbot returns to San Francisco.

Not the company founders, of course, but a corporation headed by their direct descendants.

The return is in the form of a cargo reload facility in Crockett, Ca.-the only one of its kind in the Bay Area. The facility is the latest in a series of bold investments by Pope & Talbot aimed at recapturing its historic place in the San Francisco market. One such investment involves $25 million in renovation and computerization of its Port Gamble, Wa., mill-the oldest continuously operating mill in the Northern Hemisphere. Between l98l and 1984, annual output doubled to 160 million board feet.

The increased output from Port Gamble is barged to the reload facility, which carries stocking inventory of fivemillion board feet (ranging in size from 2x4 to 2xl4 and lengths of 8' to 26'). For P&T customers, it offers convenience, instant response, competitive pricing and quality product.

"It's like having a sawmill in their backyard,"saysReed Trull, Port Gamble sales manager. "Dealers and wholesalers don't have to carry the cost of large inventories, there's no more long hauls to the mills, and no more empty backhauls. We can be more competitive because transportation costs are lower, and we can control the inventory depending on whether demand is up or down."

Len Viale, sales manager at Redwood Ernpire in Morgan Hill, Ca., is already a believer. He more than tripled his purchase of Pope & Talbot product during the month the facility opened and had no trouble moving it during what is usually a slow time.

"It's competitive with truck and trailer pricing out of Northern California with the added convenience of oneday delivery," says Viale. "It has also reduced my inventory commitment by about 2090."

Bill Whelan, P&T vice chairman, isnt surprised by the initial success of the reload facility. "We knew we could sell lumber down there if we could overcome our transportation problem," he explains. "We always have had a good reputation in San Francisco with our products from our Oakridge, Or., operation."

Pope & Talbot sales representatives spent some time exploring the possibilities in the Bay Area. The enthusiastic reaction of the dealers and wholesalers convinced them to forge ahead.

(Please turn to page 54)