KEEP THE FLAG FLYING

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 288, 1 September 1931, Page 14

KEEP THE FLAG FLYING

Rewards of Business Courage A salesman of Advertising Sendee dispassionately comments on the question of Advertising in Dull Times. . , “This practice of closing down on advertising expense in lean times baffles me. The habit of conservation in depressed periods is ingrained in the mentality of most British business men. I have a certain amount of respect for. that. .1 mean,, it is all right to put a watchdog, on overheads, to seek for economy in manufacturing processes, and to ginger up the Sales force to keener-activity and greater production—which brings me to my point. • ' , ' “As I said to a manufacturer the other day when he told me he was going to stop advertising fol- three months: Are yon going to sack your salesmen, or send them for a three months’ holiday?’ “It is just as ridiculous to cease selling by the printed word as it. is to cease sellin" by the spoken word simply because things are not naturally flourishing. Salesmen not only take orders for to-day, they constantly build up an edifice of goodwill and sales possibilities for the future. Every sales manager knows that if you take a man off his ground for a few weeks, a competitor’s man will jump in and reap, to some extent, the fruit® from the other fellow’s cultivation. To get back is as hard a job as starting all over aS “So it is with advertising. Three months lopped off the end of a twelve months* plan means nine months money almost entirely wasted. Those courageous and far-sighted advertisers who keep the flag flying in spite of bad weather are the ones who succeed, earn dividends and security in their markets.”