ffiOME GENTER MERGHANTI

BILL FISHMAN

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

'11650 lberia Place

San Diego, Ca.92128 llfE WERE flying about l50O feet

UU above the sround in a Cessna

172. Never before h-ad I felt so safe in a small aircraft. In an emergency we could have landed anywhere. During the entire 90 minute flight I spotted only a few houses. Below us was the clear flat land of eastern Colorado.

Finally a city appeared on the horizon. Steve maneuvered the plane to give me a good overview of the community. He spotted his yard and retail showroom, the few competitive hardware stores, and the traffic arteries into town. During the drive from the airstrip to the store I mentally reviewed all the possible reasons for some of his potential customers to shop at his nearest lumber competitor 170 miles away. My guesses were wrong.

I was prepared to find that his store was poorly located. It wasn't. I suspected the merchandise selection was bad. I found it excellent. I imagined high prices. But Steve was more competitively priced than any other retailer I had ever worked with who had "the only game in town." The store layout was good too. The sales help was pleasant, attentive, and well schooled in product knowledge. Even the displays and signing were more professionally prepared than I expected. Each department was well presented in the showroom from lumber and building material to housewares.

I then surmised that Steve's concern about his advertising program could be well founded. That was his original motive for retaining our company-to survey his advertising activities and find why they failed to deliver the sales projections.

The problem definitely wasn't interest rates or inflation. Housing starts were nol off in his market. Many homes were under construction by d-i-yers. Most disturbing to Steve was that some of these homes were started without giving his company the opportunity to bid the job.

Material was coming into town from competition 170 miles away.

Steve brought out the scrapbooks containing two years of the store's advertising. Before lifting the covers I envisioned hard to read layouts, ineffective copy, poor product illustrations, and bad newspaper reproductions. I was wrong again. The ads were crisp, well written, and easy to read. But only l0 minutes into my review of the old tearsheets the problem became obvious.

"When did you go out of the lumber business?" I asked him.

"Go out of the lumber business?" he answered. "Are you crazy? I've got the largest lumber inventory in two counties. "

"Not in print you don't," I replied.

Two years earlier Steve had joined a hardware buying group. One of the collateral benefits was a well designed advertising program. The group supplied him with easy-to-use module advertising materials that allowed Steve to create his own very professional appearing ads with a great supply of hardware and houseware artwork and copy. It was simple to prepare good-looking weekly ads with this material.

Steve and I slowly reviewed the last two years of ads. Can you imagine his shock when he realized that it had been 17 months since he last showed a piece of

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22OO No. Glassell, Orange, CA.92667 (213) 860-779t, (7r4) 637-5350

164 Healdsburg Ave., H€aldsburg, CA. 95448 (7O7) 433-3313

REDWOOD, WESTERN RED CEDAR, PINE, SPRUCE, INCENSE CEDAR, FIR.

Pole construction wos the onswer when Terry Mullin, owner of Torzono Lumber Co., decided to expond the tronsportotion ond storoge spoce ot his Resedo. Co., yord.

We odded 25.000 sq, ft. of procticol, usobte spoce in five buildings. The new structures, two porking goroges, two lumber sioroge buildings, ond o mechonic's repoir fociliiy, blend with the older estoblished buildings lo creote on overoll hormonious oppeoronce. Their efficiency con be counled on to contribuie lo the smooth operoiion of lronsportotion ono storoge in the yord.

Coll us when you need to expond your present focilities, We con provide you with quolity construction of o reosonoble price. Put our yeors of experience to work to get whot you wont, when you wonl it, of o price you con offord. You con count on us.

Frank Ruggieri, mgr. NORTHERN DIVISION

Hwy. 99 W. one mile south of Williams, Ca.95987

P. O. Box 837

(916) 473-5381 lWe can serve your building needs in Oregon and Nevada as well as California. For information please call (collect) to The Michael B. Esposito Construc-

Mike Esposito, mgr.

SOUTHERN DIVISION

1280 Unit F-1, West Lambert Rd. Brea, Ca. 92621

(213) 694-836r

(714\ 529-7790 tion Co. Nevada contractor's license no. ltl3r. Oregon conrractor's license no. 3008e. (2r3) 694-836r.