Men and Methods

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 82, 31 December 1929, Page 13

Men and Methods

BUSINESS PLANS AND IDEAS

(Conducted by

"OBSERVER")

Very few men arc more than 16 years old when it comes to a pinch,—Rudyard Kipling. * « * Engineers have know for a long time that noise can be stopped. The obstructing question is, who will pay for stopping it'.' » <1 ♦ Young Men in Business. Most young men in business, from what I have seen, have a firm private belief that most older men are hidebound conservatives, and, because they have succeeded, are haughty, sometimes patronising, and entirely impossible to understand. Many older men have expressed themselves, often and early, in conversations and in print, about the younger business generation. They will tell you that the young man doesn’t know how to work, that he is unstable, pampered, and used to having things given him on the proverbial silver platter. This establishes ah unfortunate gap between different generations. Perhaps you employ younger men. Perhaps you have wondered sometimes what they actually think of you and your generation. Perhaps you wonder more often how well these same young men will manage your business after you have retired and placed your life’s work in their hands. As long as the two generations look at eacli other across a wall of mutual misunderstanding' and doubt there is mistrust on one side and lack of sympathy on the other. These walls vanish as soon as one man takes the courage to establish an intimate personal contact with the other.—“ Nation’s Business.” * » • Smarter Shops for 1930! Within the last two years the erection of many.new office buildings and retail establishments has brought to the notice of the public the deepening spirit of cooperation that binds architecture, interior decoration, and business together. The congested shelves of the old-time store, with its formal counters and confusion of boxes, is rapidly giving way to the modern style in store arrangement. In many of the larger retail establishments recently completed overseas the side sections of the ground floor are really small specialty stores in themselves. Where perfumes are sold, for example, a semicircular alcove is suitably panelled. 11ns atmosphere of intimacy is carried out still further on the second and third floors. In one establishment the second floor is devoted to women’s shoes. But here one is not confronted with the usual shelves stacked with a forest of colourless boxes. Panelled walls of satinwood trimmed with metal form the background. Informally placed chairs and Chesterfields give the department the atmosphere of a club rather than a shoe shop, which helps to make the choosing of a shoe a pleasing task-. Many retailers can ensure increased business during 1930 by remodelling their store interiors. Teaching the Salesclerk. A speech reported in the “Dry Goods Economist” was so pertinent and full of truth that wc cannot help passing it on to you. The speech in question concerned itself with the arming of salesclerks for the sales task before them. That this is one of the most important tasks the shop has, is a point that wc too often under-emphasise. We discuss location, display, and advertising, and all too often forget that “the salesclerk is the final link with the customer." We entrust to her the carrying into effect of all our plans, the culmination of all our weeks of work. Wo must put into her hands the tools that will make her a success. The buyer is the best authority upon the merchandise, his knowledge has been tested.

If the salesclerks we have chosen are failures, the fault may be our own. They may be intelligent, charming and good salespersons if only given the information needed to face the customer. No amount of personality will be able to retain the customer’s confidence if a point blank question cannot be answered dir rectly and elicits hedging upon the clerk’s part. The merchandise and knowing it is the salesclerk’s job, she is inadequate for the selling task, most especially ■ in soft wares, if she had not definite, concise information regarding all plans of the merchandise she handles. Display of exact knowledge is of infinite aid in selling things.

You can never acquire anything in this world except by your own efforts as sacrifices. » * * Noise is the plague of city life, but it is more than that. Science finds that it has a deleterious effect on health and efficiency. This is bad for business and business has arisen to put a stop to it. ’Phone Selling. A very good idea which is becoming popular in a great numher of shops is ’phone selling. The service has been placed on what may be called an “organised basis.” In each department special sales clerks have been selected by the managers because they have shown an insight into selecting what a customer, who does not see the merchandise, would like. All telephone orders go to this selected personnel, who pick out the wanted items. The orders must be filled the same day they are telephoned. Service is speeded up by the floor superintendents who see that the orders are promptly filled and returned to the order department. In this way a telephone order of to-day reaches the customer the following morning and frequently the same day,” if 'phoned sufficiently early. From time to time an advertisement telling about the order department and its special ’phone, is advisable, also mentioning the “instant telephone order service.” ♦ « » Advertising Sells an Idea. Space is worth only what goes into it and the method by which it is used. One hundred inches a week, crowded with items uncharactcrised by ideas will not sell as much goods or build as much prestige as, a single advertisement which features the thought behind a single item. The department with the biggest assortments of a single stock cannot always get the lion’s share of business of one hundred of to-day’s purchasers, nor can the quality leader get a large percentage of quality customers by the mere circumstance of quality leadership in merchandise.

In only one way and by only one means can the bulk of the most trade or the best trade be acquired by a single department. By the continued and consistent building up in the customer’s mind its ability to satisfy specialised needs, that is, needs for goods that fit a definite requirement. An idea once buried in the mind of a customer never dies. It fades aud varies in intensity, but always come to life when the need for a special quality of goods arises. You can depend on it that it will. The customer may forget the advertisement and the date she saw It, but she’ll know where the shop and the department arc when she is ready to buy.—“N.Z. Draper.” * * * Bee-Keeping. “Registered bee-keepers now number 5985, with a total of 91,901 hives. For the nine months ending .September 30, 1929, exports of honey amounted to 2,363,1111 b., compared with 2,320,9051 b. for the same period in 1928. “Gradings of hemp and tow show an increase for the first ten months of 1929 over the corresponding period of 1928. “In connection with information relative to areas top-dressed, the increased area returned ns top-dressed over the three years is very significant. The figures are as follow: —1926-1927, 1,414.264 acres; 1927-1928, 1.834,366 acres; 19281929, 2,534,496 acres. “One of the outstanding results of work at the plant breeding station, Palmerston North, during the present seapen,” concluded the Director of Agriculture, “lias been the remarkable results obtained from top-dressing pastures composed of pure strains of grasses compared with the same treatment given to ordinary mixed pasture. It is quite apparent that to obtain maximum results from top-dressing it is essential that fertilisers be applied to ‘pedigree’ grasses, as they, in common with other pedigree stock, ate capable of giving maximum results for money expended.”