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has the look most sought-after by builders, remodelers and home owners. That's whyits appearance is so widely copiedby the imitation wood people with thefu "cedar-like" names and claims for metal, plastic and composite substitutes. Ancient clear cedar is diminishing in supply and rising in cost, but Skookum's young

CEDAR siding you get a product of maximum useability-reducing retums and callback. Better packgrowth knotty cedar compares favorably in all performance categories whenproperly sanm, kiln-dried, applied and finished at about half the cost and with as much or more margin for you. . Here is how Skookum fulfills its longterm commitment to supply you with profitable quality cedar sidings. New state-of-the-art dry ki1rs, saws, sawing methods and manu-facturing processes make a superior product. you keep your profits o" cause constant in-line quality.oX agtng insures you receive what you ordered, with a 99% on-time delivery record. . The ads we run to builders and architects, along with the support you get through our distributors with literature, training sessions and other sales tools will make real Skookum siding your customers' choice.

This is the time to go for the money

It's usually said without any emotion of any kind, just uttered as a flat statement. "Yup, we've been selling those for at least 20 years that I know about." All very routine. And that may be just the problem.

That comfortable routine may be masking a situation where what you sell is based more on tradition than a hard nosed analysis of what produces the most profit.

Sometimes what we sell gets added casually. customers may request an item so it's added. Years later it's still on the list. But no customers ask for it. Other times products are added as part of a foray into new areas. Years later those same products arc still around, "but we don't sell that kind of stuff anymore." Buyers with a herd instinct can be stampeded into fattening up the inventory simply because other companies are getting into those lines. The reasons go on and on.

The inertia behind the failure to drop unprof- itable items sometimes is blamed on the occasional customers who request it. While this may be valid, no one is ever going to lnow if the practice pays for itself without examining whether it's really necessary and/or produces enough profit to justify continuing to do it.

How long has it been since your business did a complete review of everything you sell? We'll bet it has been too long.

The best review includes everything the company sells, even the sacred cows. Make certain that absolutely nothing escapes going under the profit microscope. This must be a clean sheet of paper operation where 1007o of what you sell earns its place on the products roster. If it doesn't produce an adequate return for the money you must invest in it, out it goes.

This is the time to forget the wann fuzzy routine, the personal relationships and the rest. This is the time to go for the money.