The Customer fs King

'"Because the average building material dealer's business for. 1951 was off about 20/o as compared with his business in 1950. dealers throughout the country are realizing that they must do a better advertising, merchandising and selling job this year in order to keep this loss from increasing.',

The above statement prefaced a talk by Gates Ferguson of Chicago, Celotex Director of Advertising, at the annual convention of the Lunlber Merchants Association of Northern California at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, April 23-25,

"During the recent lush years in the building industry,', Mr, Ferguson said, "many dealers let their selling machine get 'pretty rusty but in traveling across the country, I find a lot oi activity with the good old oil can of courtesy, improved service and an occasional 'thank you' to the customer when he places an order."

To illustrate the power of advertising, Mr. Ferguson referred to the Celotex national advertising campaign in 1949, which announced that building material costs had reached rock

King Light With Georgic-Pqcilic Plywood d Lumber Co.

King Light is now a member of the sales staff of the GeorgiaPacific Plywood & Lumber Co. and will work out of the conrpany's Los Angeles of6ce. He will call on the trade in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. King rvas formerly sales manager for the A. K. Wilson Lumber Companv at Compton, Calif.

Virgil Oliver, Jr. is in charge of the Georgia-Pacific u'ood & Lumber Company's Los Angeles office.

bottom and presented a series of well-designed, substantial homes which could be built in the g10,000 to 915,000 brackets. This campaign was credited with being inffuential in breaking the log jam on home building and all records for the number of homes built in any one year were broken with a total of I,420,000.

"You, as retailers of building materials, must not permit yourselves to forget that the customer is king. He feeds you, clothes you, shelters you and sends your children to college. Yet some retailers don't treat him very royally.

"The wise dealer is remodeling his lumber yard into a department store of building materials, with a modern showroom, attractive landscaping, free parking, plus courteous, alert service."

Mr. Ferguson gave his audience a number of case histories covering dealers who had remodeled their yards and made increases in their business up to 750/o as a result of doing a better, advertising, merchandising and selling job.

Purchcrse Lcgunc Beach Yard

J. Leslie Steffensen of Corona del Mar and his father, E. Steffensen, of Fullerton, have purchased the public Mill & Lumber Company at Laguna Beach, and will operate the Business under the same name. Leslie Steffensen will act as president of the ompany.

Leslie Steffensen and E. Steffensen, are rvidelv known in lumber circles in Southern California and both have had long experience in the retail lumber business.