Western Red Cedar ls a natnral.

June

Dubs Ltd.June 12, golf tournament, Peacock Gap Golf & Country Club, San Rafael, Ca.

Jensen-Byrd Co.June 14-15, summer show, River park Center, Spokane, Wa.

North American Wholesale Lumber AssociationJune 1420, wood marketing seminar, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Or.

Pscific Coast Builders ConferenceJune 17-20, Moscone Center, San Francisco, Ca.

National Building Material Distributors AssociationJune 26, executive committee meeting; June 27, board of directors meeting, Chicago, Il.

Western Wood Preservers Institute - June 28-30, summer meeting, Sunriver Lodge & Resort, Sunriver, Or.

July

Fenestration World '87 - July 8-9, window/door trade show & seminar, Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, Mn.

Dubs Ltd. - July 18, golf, Meadow Golf & Country CIub, Fairfax, Ca.

Black Bart Hoo-Hoo Club - July 24, annual golf tournament and BBQ, Hidden Valley Lake Course, Middletown, Ca.

International Lawn, Garden & Power Equipment ExpoJuly 27-29, Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, Louisville, Ky.

August

National Wood Window & Door Association - Aug. l-5, summer meeting, Westin Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, Ma.

American Hardware Manufacturers Association - Aug. 9-12, Hardware Industry Week/National Hardware Show, McCormick Place, Chicago, ll.

Lumber Association of Southern California - Aug. 13, board of directors meeting, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Laguna Beach, Ca.

Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo Club - Aug. 14, golf & dinner, Costa Mesa Country Club, Costa Mesa, Ca.

Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Association - Aug. 20-23, summer meeting, Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, Ca.

HouseWorld Expo - Aug. 3l-Sept. 2, sponsored by 1'he Interface Group, international housewares industry show, Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nv.

September

Lumber Association of Southern California - Sept. 9, Second Growth dinner meeting, Hyatt House, City of Commerce, Ca.

Yakima Hardware Co. - Sept. 13, market, Yakima Convention Center. Yakima. Wa.

Morse Hardware Co. - Sept. 21, market, Holiday Inn, Bellingham, Wa.

Woodmac Asia 87 - Sept. 30-Oct. 3, forestry, woodworking & furniture supplies show/conference, World Trade Centre, Singapore.

June 1 987

G-P Plans to Buy U.S. Plywood

Cieorgia-Pacific Ciorp.. Atlanta. Cja.. has agreecl to purchasc IJ.S. Pllwood. \\'ilton. (t.. for $215 nrillion in casl.r. lrencling a dcfinitiv'e agreenrent ancl rcglllatorl approval.

The acquisition covers six nranufacturing flcilities. including hardboard and particicboard planls. iinci ,14 clistribution ccnters ancl shipping lucilitics thror.rgl'rout the coLlntr)

\\'ith 1986 net sales of' $944 million. I i.S. Pllriood nrakcs industrial proclucts. sr-rch as rioocl lbr l'urniturc. and distriburcs specialrr building nratcrials. t\!o areas in which (i-l' does not lrave a strong prcsence.

('hanrpion Internalionul C'orp.. Stamford, Ct.. nhich owns aboLrt .18'I' of Il.S. Pl]'woocl, said rt will receive lbor-rt S8-{ nrillion. rvhich it plans to rrppiv torrarcls its short-terr.n debt.

\\/estcrn facilities include a Itardboard plant in Lcbanon. Or.. ancl clistnbution centcrs in Phoenir and Tucson. ..\2.: Los ,\ngeles ancl Tustin. ('a.. [)envcr. ('o.. and \lissoula. \1r.

Trus Joist Buys Dashwood

'I'rus Joist ('orp.. Boisc. Id., has pr-rrchasecl [)ushriood Industries. l.td., Canacla's largest rioocl *indow nranuf'acturer. which. togcther R itlt its nrid- 1986 acquisition of Norco \\ indou s. has r aulted I rus Joist into tlte Top lt) oJ' \ortlr \nterican u irrdow manufircturers.

Trus .loi:t cxpecls tlrc rrcquistions to pro\ icie at least ln aclditional $ 100 nrillion in annual sales o Railroad Ties o Poles o Posts o Dricon Fire Retardant Treated Wood o All Weather Wood Foundations- o AWPB-FDN Stamped

Thc conrpan-v- has entererl thc uood *'indow busincss "because ri'e sell to the same end-user. the honreo\\ ncr. lrnd the di:tribution sr stcrrr is similar. Now wc'rc able to scll nrore of thc package the honrco*ner bu1's." said president Walt \Iinnick.

Ganahl Honors Lumber Veteran (ianahl l.unrber Co.. ,,\naheim. Ca.. toasted Tcd Pa1 nc on his -59th anniversarl rvith the llrnr in a speciul cclcbration.

Now'acluvs. Pa1 ne u'orks thrcc duys a rieck in the harrlware depurtnrent. dail) lii'ing the lclage "Do not let what r-ou cannot clo interfere u'ith ri'hat vou can do."

.

I N rHe EARLY days of Hollywood I musicals, when money was needed to help pay for "mom's operation," the Mickey Rooney type would turn to the Judy Garland type and say, "Let's have a show." In fantasy it worked. The show was a quick cure to raise money.

In retailing, advertising is the apparent quick cure. I recently attended a management meeting where it was decided to allocate an additional ad budget for a one-storb promotion in an attempt to raise the sales volume. This is not always the best solution. I dug up a column written in l98l to highlight my view:

Advertising is the most expensive and often least productive cure for a sick store. I've been witness, and sometimes party, to increasing an ad budget in the attempt to bring the volume and margins up to a store's projections. Alone, an increased ad budget never worked!

Many retailers look upon advertising as chicken soup, penicillin, the wonder ingredient that's going to bring in traffic and make customers buy. It won't. Advertising is the vehicle that carries a message about merchandise and services. No matter how fancy or powerful that vehicle, unless the store realistically presents those products and services, the advertising alone won't cure the ills.

During my days as director of sales promotion for a home center chain in the midwest, the fifth store we opened in town missed our first year's goals substantially. A task force moved in to uncover the problems. We found the manager was a closed-minded,ironfisted, do-it-my-way personality and the rest of the store's management team was ineffective. There was much employee dissension. Customers felt uncomfortable shopping in the store. The out-of- stocks were at two or three times that of the other stores in the chain. Also, we were not as competitively priced as the market area demanded.

Immediately we replaced the store manger with the best "people" man we had in the bull pen. Next we instituted a special promotion program in the immediate shopping area of the store. The finest sales letter I have ever written was part of that campaign. It was a simple letter. The top was adorned with a photo of our new, smartly attired manager. Over his signature was an invitation to come in, see the changes, and shake his hand. The letter was warm, sincere and inviting. But it was also too soon! The letter was a cure for the traffic ailment, but the patient almost died.

Our campaign brought back many customers who had previously committed themselves never to shop there again. They shook the manager's hand, and then proceeded to seek out the promised changes. They couldn't find 'em. Instead they faced the same disgruntled sales staff, the same poor housekeeping and merchandising and the same non-competitive prices. Many said goodbye forever. This time we added a credibility gap to our other illnesses.

The store eventually made it. It's now doing very nicely, thank you. But it took the third time around for us to realize that it takes more than words. It takes

June 1987 action, in-store merchandising and in- o Sign rhe displays store action.

Here are a few of the functions pulled from the in-StOre merChandiSer'S aCtion . Supervise store-wide housekeeping o Schedule clinics and demonstrators o Communicate price changes to selling force check list:

. maintain an in-stock condition

. Rotate aged stock

Remove expired signing o Maintain the inventory of d-i-y instructions We learned that we had to be . Create visual displays that take the cus- and books tomer through logical price steps u oooKs specific in telling the sales force what was expected of them and how they could meet our expectations. Our ads

Y|il"l[tJ3t products in conjunction with *'"#i',l$#:?til o police rhe price stickers ro b. g::r_.l-,Fl talked about our .,fiiendly, knowledge_ product' same ;;"r;[r herp." Too 'many times, however, our customers recognized that the guy behind the counter wasn't Create dual displays to cross-reference Shop competition the gUy who wrOte the ad. specific product categories

Communicate promotional pricing and . Create promotional signing during a sales inventory location to store personnel promotion event including part timers.

Place your classified ad now!