MONEY TROUBLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 114, 17 May 1933, Page 11

MONEY TROUBLES

HOW A WAY OUT CAN BE POUND. BUSINESS MAN’S ADVICE. In Christchurch to-day there is to be noted an increasing tendency for business men to get together and talk over their problems. Succesful retailers are earning the respect of their competitors, and are not so chary as they used to be in the matter of passing on their knowledge gained inthe school of experience. All this is so much to the good, and Mr. Beveridge, manager of Messrs. A. J. White, Limited, struck a useful note at a function on Friday night when he said that more informal gatherings of the kind would be an advantage enabling men to know and understand each other better, and each other’s problems. Mr. R. L. Burton, manager of the Army Stores, gave his recipe for successful retailing., "I attribute a great deal of my success,” he said, 1 ‘to advertising in the newspapers. I can’t see how manufacturers or retailors can hope to extend their business without advertising, and I want to say at this time how fully I appreciate the wonderful manner in which the Christchurch newspapers and the members of their advertising star have helped me along the way. There are many firms in this city to-day who have good stocks, but are short of customers and are worried financially. If they will advertise they will get the customers and end their difficulties. It may be that they allow the cost of the advertising to deter them, but they must be prepared to make a All they need is confidence, and the rest will follow judicious advertising. If they will only 'give it a go,’ many businesses can be improved, and money difficulties will vanish. I have found that increasing the volume by advertising enables me to sell at fair prices, and these prices add further to the volume. In a couple of years our business has grown from the employment of one man to a staff l of 54 people.” “The Tea Went.” Mr. Burton related one of his early experiences in advertising, many years ago. It was in Dunedin. An importing firm was "up against it.” Stocks were heavy, bills were pressing. They had enormous stocks of tea, which wouldn’t sell. It was good tea. Mr. Burton was asked if he could sell it. "One morning at about three o’clock—my wife must have thought I was ‘batty’ —I got out of bed and wrote an advertisement. I put it in half-page space in the Dunedin papers, and in one or two other centres. In a month the tea had all gone. We didn’t cut the price. The public got good tea, I got my commission, and the firm got enough money out of it to end their worries. And I’ve since been a firm believer and a big user of advertising whenever I wanted to sell goods quickly in a big way. ’ *