with rhe Customer Poses q Problem

The one largest marketing expense in most lines is the cost of maintaining the field selling force. Many companies are reducing their selling costs by increasing the number of sales calls per day, according to a Dun's Reyiew and Modern Industry survey of a selected group of companies,

Nine out of ten companies are getting more sales calls per day than they were ten years ago, according to the survey. This is being done not by any one sweeping change or panacea, but rather by combining skillfully an entire pan,orama of cost-cutting measures.

To meet the new era of the hard sell, many companies find that they have to provide their customers with more than just a reliable product at alair price. Customers demand more service and more attention to their special problems. This calls for a substantial increase in the selling time spent face-to-face with customers and prospects and a corresponding decrease in time spent in travel.

According to the Dun's Review survey, the problem is being partly met by realigning sales territories. Smaller territories enable the salesrnen to provide more intensive coverage of alarger number of accounts. Also, many companies are opening branch sales offices to follow the shifts in industry and popuLation.

Several of the surveyed companies are providing salesmen with more selling time by turning over technical detailsof the sale to an office engineer. He can talk to the customer by phone and save the salesman's time and. in some instances, a trip.

Other companies stretch the field force's selling time by increasing sales research. They not only locate prospects for the salesman, but also estimate how many calls the prospect merits on the basis of projected sales. In most companies, the prospecting is left to the salesman, but increasingly the men ari provided with the latest directories, trade lists, and other time-saving sources of information.

Since "too much paperwork" is still the salesman,s persistent plaint, many companies are taking a fresh look at how the salesmen's call reports are being used. Some companies find that much of it is not really needed, but has been compiled as a matter of course. {irr. .o-p"ny now requires call reports only in unusual situations-when a major change in the status of the account occurs, when new competitive practices develop, or when an initial call is made.

One company increased the selling tirne in the salesman's working day with the help of an .,Itinerary Call Report." This is a report on planned calls and is filled out before the salesman begins to swing through his 'territory. The very act of placing plans on paper points up any time-wasting backtracking and idleness that could be used productively.

In most of the surveyed companies, salesmen are doing rnore selling by phone now than they did just a few years ago.

About half of the surveyed companies report that they have improved the salesmen's use of time by closer field supervision. Not only are territories being made smaller but

Tbe Salesman

And in those d.ays, there cam.e through the gates of the city a Salesman from afar 0fi, and it came to pass as the day went by he sol'd plenty.

Ancl in that citl zaere they tlcat were the ord,er-takers and they that spent their d,ays in odd,ing to the alibi sheets. Mi.ghtily were they astonished.. They said, one to the other,"lVhat the hell. How doth he getteth azaay zuith it?" And it came to pass that many were gath,ered i,n the back office and a soothsayer carne a?nong them. And he zuas one zuise guy. And they spoke and questioned him saying, " How is i,t that this stranger accomplished the irnpossible?"

Whereupon the soothsayer made answer,"He of whom you slteak is one hustler, He ariseth zter! earh ht the inorning and, goeth forth futt of pep. ie coiplainetlt n,ot, neither doth he hnow d.espair. He is arrayed. in purpte atd f.ne linen, while ye go forth zaith pants unpressed.

"Wh,ile ye gather here anil say one to the other,'Verily this is a teruible day to rgork," he is alreacly abroad. And, when the eleaenth hour cometh, he neetleth no atibis. He hnoweth his li,ne, and they that zaould staae him offthey gizte him orders. Men say unto him,,Nay' zuhen he corneth i,n, yet zahen he goeth .forth,, he hath their names on the line tltat i.s dotted.

"He taheth with him the tz.uo angel.s ,Inspiration' and 'Perspiration' and worketh to beat hell. Verity I say unto !ou, go and, do likezsise." (Author unknown.)

-Reprinted by Rurnett Lumber Co., lulare. California.

more people are entering sales management, so that ferver salesmen report to one immediate supervisor. Consequently, salesmen can get assistance in solving sales problems more quickly, and are not bogged down searching for answers that sales management may havej atits fingertips.

In many companies, sales training is no longer confined to the newcomer. Instead, it is now an integral partof the sales management program. Salesmanship is becoming increasingly systematized and "sqientific" to keep pace with the growth of plant technology. Consequently, continuous training and retraining in the light of new markets and methods is mandatory to improve sales efficiency and stretch selling time.

Onlya handful of companies have so far made h systematic study of how salesmen spend their time. But those that have done so report considerable benefits both to the salesmen and to the company. One company which made a time and duty study reduced selling costs almost 40%, rvhile sales rose noticeably. The study was made by having time-study observers go along with the salesmen on thousands of calls and make a detailed record of actions and resul ts.

Despite the necessary intangibles'of selling, such a study pinpoints the'areas of wasted time, evaluates various sales techniques and sales aids, measures the accuracy of sales territories, provides ratios of sales efiort to orders receiverl, and many other facets of the selling job.

Bf le Sioaaa

Ag" not guaranteed.--Some I have told lor 2O years---Some Lcss Ertinct

' ffe was just back from a hunting trip into West Texas, and was regaling a group of friends with tall stories of his adventures.

"The biggest thrill I got on this trip was shootin'g all those big, tall giraffes," he said.

He was quickly interrupted- "Wait a minute," said one of his listeners. "Stop lying to us. You know there aren't any giraffes in'West Texas."

"That's what f'm telling you," said the cheerful liar. "I killed them all !"

Which reminds us of one of Qroucho Marx's famous old movies, in which he tells a group of friends about meeting a huge polar bear in the Sahara Desert. Someone quickly reminded him that there are no polar bears in the Sahara. Said Groucho: "IIe was sick, and his doctor had ordered him to go South. He was rich and could afford to travel. And besides, you look after your animals, and I'll look after mine."

November 1957 'Red Book' Off rhe Press

The November 1957 issue of the LUMBERMEN'S RED BOOK is just off the press. It is the 152nd issue of the famous credit and sales guide.

Since 1876, the Red Book has been the principal source of credit information for the lumber, wobdwoiking and allied industries of the United States. It lists-and evaluates -the manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and quantitv users of lumber and wood products of all kinds.The'listingl inctude credit ratings, business classifications, addressis and other facts of,value to buyers and sellers alike.

The Red Book is published semi-annually and is kept up to date by supplements that go out every iuesday "nd Ftiday throug\ou-t th-e year. These TwiCe-A-Wee-k Supplements contain hundreds of last-minute items of credit and sales inforrnation. They provide a unique service that is available nowhere else.

The Red Book agency also compiles detailed analytical credit reports, and conducts a collection service for the handling of commercial claims.

The Red Book is published by the Lumbermen's Credit Association, Inc. Its headquarters are located at 608 South Dearborn Street, Chicago 5, Illinois, and an eastirn branch is maintained at 99 Wall Street, New York 5, New York. Inquires to either office tvill receive prompt attention.

'lRevolutionory" Housing Chonges Predicted by BRI Officiol

"There is good reason to believe that the next 25 years will see changes in houses far greater than anything seen before. The forces for change, perhaps revolutionary change, are even now shaping up," said William H.'Scheick, executive director of the Building Research Institute, at the second technical conference of the National Warm Air Heating and Air Conditioning Association in Cleveland, Ohio.

Two major factors are dictating this change, Scheick said. They are 1) the way people want to live, and 2).the ability of the home building industry to meet these wants, "To meet_this market," he stated, "the home building industry pfoper will move farther and farther intci mais production

Brick lndustly Announces First Pre-Fqb Brick Ponel House

The "SCR building panel,"'t a new load-bearing pre-fabricated brick panel, two and one-half inchei thick, has been successfully used for the constr0ction of a full-sized ranch home, the Structural Clay Products Research Foundation announced. Load-bearing brick panels totaling l,ZX) square feet were erected in eight and one-half hours by a construction crew of five men. For this Geneva, f[., house, the panels were one foot wide and eight feet long, using a special norman-face brick, two and one-half incheJ thick-. The 36 brick in each panel were set in stack bond.

*Reg. T. M., Pat. Pend., SCPRF.

techniques and factory assembly of major components of houses."

Noting that the greatest markets will still be in the middle and low-income groups, Scheick said that "the ingenuity of the industry will be focused on these two classes of houses in a constant battle to reduce production costs and at the same time give the home buyer a more appealing producf. The hammer-and-saw contractor will disappear from the scene.

"New industries, notably the chemicals, electronics and metals," he said, "will make strong bids to capture major shares of the market for housing products. These industries have the know-how to achieve change through research."

Research and development will divide its attention between the shell, or house proper, and the service systems with much effort given to integrating these into a complete "package for sale," Scheick stated. Goals for the shell will be an easy-to-assemble structure having for selling points minimum maintenance, good planning and attractive styling. Yearly changes, he said, will tend to make older houses more quickly obsolete than today.

Mr. Scheick predicted that the structure of many massproduced houses will probably be frameless. "Many types of panels will be available which can be combined in many ways to give far greater variety to the prefab house than we knorv today," he said. "Most panels will consist of exterior and interior skins bonded to cores of honeycomb or foamed materials. The skins may be of plastics, metal, hardboards, chipboards or plywoods to give the best performance for exterior or interior conditions. Permarlent films may take the place of paints or 'natural' finishes.

"There is good reason to believe that the house structure

STote 5-8873 may be divorced from the ground, figuratively,'r he said. ''iThe floor panels may be kept out of contact with ttlb 'ground by 'support on pins.' The battle with mud is a nui,sance during construction and the battle with ground mois$lr; ture and termites continues for houses in or upon the earth. i:ll If exterior walls can be comfortable, so can floors off the

EXCLUSIVE NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVE FOR FINDLAY MILLAR TIMBBR CO.

.ii "The overriding problem," Mr. Scheick stated, "may well 1r r. be the scarcity of land that may force us to find ways of disposing of the quickly obsolete, undersized postwar houses which occupy land too good for them. The industry will find ir:'.,wafs to prevent obsolete houses from remaining on highly ir, valuable suburban residential sites convenient to the cities i;, and major shopping centerS.

"The goal will be to be able to sell new models to re-

Now You Gon Pump Up ' Your Own Worehouse

' A pneumatically inflated temporary warehouse, 40 by 80 feet, is the newest solution to on-site storage of building materials. Made of nylon fabric coated on both sides with synthetic rubber, the mushroom-shaped building is waterproof, air-tight and translucent. A door at one end, padded with urethane foam so a truck can bump it open, allows a forklift to enter without affecting the inflated structure; door closes automatically. Air pressure inside is maintained by a l-hp motor. Building, which is claimed to withstand rain, snow and winds up to 70 mph, has been tried out by Du Pont at the site of its new Parkersburg, W. Va., plant. Manufacturer of the warehouse is Birdair Structures, Buffalo, N. Y.

place outdated ones on the same piece of land. I{ouses will be built so that they can be added to or subtracted from, according to the owners' living requirements, and ultimately sold second hand to another homeowner for use somewhere els€. No longer will a good site have to be occupied by one house through its full life cycle and into obsolescent years."

"The forces needed to cause the actual development of these ideas," he concluded, "are here-an ingenious, competitive industry with huge markets just far enough ahead to make a good technological race out of it."