Help the customert help yourself

(Continued liom page l5) mum sales effectiveness. Albert Einstein maintained, "Imagination is more powerful than knowledge." The most successful sales people use imagination and appeal to the imagination and emotions of the buyer. There are three elements involved in selling a product: features (facts, data, dimensions, colorqpackaging), ftrnctions (how it works, why it works, how it is used), and benefits (how it adds, contributes, helps over and above other products).

Features and functions may be obvious or may need tobe demonstratedbut benefits require imagination, creativity, imaginative skill. In selling insulation the non-creative sells R-value, thickness, reflectivity; the creative sells, in addition, winter and summer comfort and energy savings. Nobody buys a product. They buy what it does for them. People do not want the drill (or drill bits); they want the hole it gives them.

Nothing is more annoying to the d-iyer in the midst of a project than finding

Owl Popularity Diving

Public sentiment concerning old growth timber and spotted owls appears to be shifting, according to three recent public opinion surveys.

According to the American Forest Resource Alliance, an Oregonian newspaper poll revealed 84Vo were against standing firm in protecting the owl and its habitat, and 82% agreed that forest products jobs must be protected, evenatthe costof losing spotted owl habitat.

A survey by Portland, Or., tv station KATU showed 54% favorcd protecting jobs vs. 37 Vo for protecting the owl he has to stop everything, hop in the car and return to the store or yard to get an item he would have bought gladly had the sales person suggested it. By diplomatically explaining and exposing the customer to these necessities, you are doing him a favor and building his confidence in you and your judgment.

Smart merchandisers lay out each department properly cross-merchandised. Smart salespeople cross-sell not only related and associated items but tools, accessories, fasteners, fixtures and completing materials which make the main product easier to install, safer, better able to function, better looking and longer lasting. They make the d-iyers lookbetter, smarter and more professional

When the customer looks for you to wait on him, you'll know you have succeeded. You've not only made a sale, you've made a customer.

Attridge frequently gives sales seminars for lumber and building material dealer associations. He is basedin Morrison, Co.editor over jobs and the economy. An exit poll after Oregon's primary election revealedTT % ofRepublicans and 587o of Democrats supported saving timber industry jobs over saving the spotted owl from extinction.

Gotter Members Get $12 Million

Cotter & Co. recently sent out interest checks totaling $ 12 million to holders of the company's promissory notes. The buying group has paid more than $ 1 1 I million in interest to its members in the last five years. Payments increased each vear.

TIMBER SIZER PRE-FABRICATION

Timbers

From cutting a wedge to pre-fab'd crane pads or mine shafts. Angle cut, cross cut, drilling, dapping-We'll do them all to customer specification.