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award to the customer who gave them all his business on one item -Merchandise award should include the wife or something for the home.

On the second day of the convention, members in attendance divided themselves into a number of business seminars based on the annual dollar-volume sales of their companies.

This gave those in attendance an opportunity to discuss mutual problems and benefit from successful experiences of others in the field. Groups were formed for sales under g1 million; sales g1 million to $2.5 million; and sales over 92.5 million.

Ilere are some of the problems discussed:

How do you arrive at cost f4sf6r'-uss the cost most favorable to the company ? . . Cost your invoice at value of material at time it was purchased ? How profitable are various lines of merchandise ? How much commission should you pay salesmen ?

(In one group the consensus ran from !5 to 2S.l:, with variations on exemptions, car allowances.)

How do you motivate salesmen? (Some reported regular weekly meetings, some bi-weekly. One company representative said he has one salesman who travels 290 miles everv other week to attend a sales meeting). One company gave a trip to Hawaii as a sales award.

Other topics under discussion were incentive programs for deal_ ers, problems of communicating with a large sales staff, problems of introducing new items and bringing the non-sales staff into a cooperative arrangement with the sales staff.

Thursday afternoon saw the opening of the manufacturer conference booths in the Palmer llouse exhibition hall and the program preceding this event was highlighted by a panel discussion on "Cost Reduction Through Increased Efficiency in Management.', Moderator of the panel was Joseph F. Dillon, South Bend, Ind. Panelists were Richard D. Lindo, Watertown, N. y.; CarI Miller, International Paper Company, Long-BeU Division, I{ansas City, Missouri; and Robert D. Peterson, Palmer G. Lewis Company, Seattle, Washington.

Lindo said there are three major areas in the field of cutting costs and improving methods for sales: First, the area of proper planning, to include the use of proper records. It has often been stated that 90ok of any salesman's time is non-productive, and therefore there seems to be a large area here for improvement' Second, increasing sales productivity by making all personnel in the organization sales minded. This would include actually training th-se people on the road during slack seasons. T'hird' the proper use of incentives to achieve the desired results in the sales ffeld.

Milter said that many are trying to do a 1960 business with 1920 methods and facilities. "Our own program of building new low' cost facilities designed for the 1960's and the foreseeable future has already pointed up the great savings to be made in tlris operat' ing area," he said.

IIe sotil new efficlent focllltles &ro &n oxpense ln the long run but are actually a eavlng and are mondatory "lf wo &re to survlve tn thts competltlve race."

Peterson reported that the net-profit percentage for most businesses has been shrinking and therefore "we must do a lot more business just to make a little more profit. We must nrn faster' work harder, Just to staY even'"

Peterson pointed out that the most effective way for a who-19saler to inc-rease net profits is to increase the eficiency of his performance.

- 'Inventory control," he said, "is a fertile fleld that possesses untapped souices of profit. The inventory, itself, represents our urlest investmentJometimes as much as our net worth' Our wh"olemotiveforbeinginexistenceistoprofitablyconvertthis inventory into receivables and then into cash."

A perpetuat stock-record control system must be in operation' he said, and a system of costing invoices is necessary'

E riday, ttre tirira day of the convention' was opened with tlre presenti,tion of an inspirational film extolling the fre-e entgrpris-e iystem. It was titled "A Letter to Moscow" and presented through the courtesy of Armstrong Cork Co.

This wal folowed by a panel discussion led by .William J' Salmon of Building Supfty News, Chicago. Panelists who discussed ,icost Reduction rrrrougn rncreased Efrciency in Material Handling" were R. R' Dooley, Chicago; R. J. Douglass, Weyerhaeuser Sate]s Co., Louisville, Ki.; u. J. Fehlings, Cape Girardeau, Mo'; Ray R. Haley, Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Jay W' Lindsey, Denver' Colorado.

Salmon stated that one of the few remaining areas of cost reduction in a warehousing operation is a better management of tlre movement of materials. ffl pointed out the increasing need for greater standardization of functional unit loads that can be handled irom the manufacturer to the wholesaler, to the dealer, and in many cases/ even to the consumer without being broken'

The panelists Pointed out:

-todt< for the lowly handtruck to help gain efrciency'

-many goods don't lend themselves to palletization'

-"t co-o"ig" use of disposable wood and cardboard pallets'

-when pu-rchasing heavy equipment, consider the use of secondhand equiiment that can be renovated and maintained inexpensively.

-[ry to get into a standard unit progtam wherever possible' tfre panJtists wed slide fflm of their own operations to demon' strate their brief talks.

Prof. Wayland A. Tonning, professor of Marketing at Memphis State Univirsity, Memphis,-Tenn., spoke next on the subject of