A u t o m a t ic A ge
14
P E R S O N A L
L O Y A L T Y
V E N D IN G
IM P O R T A N T
July, 1931
IN
T H E
B U S IN E S S
By H. F. REVES
“ Personal relations with the salesmen
and distributors who carry on the details
of a business are the factors that make or
break a vending business,” according to
Harry R. Green, head of the Green Vend
ing Corporation of Detroit. Green has
maintained a route of machines throughout
the Detroit territory which has resulted in
unusual successes in operation even during
the period of hard times which has lately
come upon this business, as upon the en
tire field of industry. He has, despite cur
rent conditions, built up business and
continued to reap satisfactory returns at
old locations.
The knowledge that he was considered
even by several of his competitors as a
successful operater prompted the writer to
seek out the reasons back of his results.
They are summed up in his opening state
ment, but his entire method is based as
well upon means which will secure the
loyalty of the men who go around his
various routes. Here are some of his par
ticular methods which he has worked out
with the desired results:
A bonus system is used to encourage the
men in their work. This is not upon the
usual or occasional basis of a steady figure
week after week or month after month for
a certain amount of collections. Instead,
the man who is hired for a new route is
not told at the time that there is any
thing more than the usual commission
coming to him. However, when he has
had the idea of building up the business
of the company by adequate sales presen
tations instilled into his daily work, he
finds suddenly an additional amount in his
pay envelope, with an explanation slip. The
first bonus comes as a complete surprise
to the pleased recipient. It is made to be
a gift from the manager, and is all the
more appreciated for its unexpectedness.
When the man inquires about it, he is told
that there is not a definite bonus scale,
but that suitable sales accomplishments
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and collections are always rewarded by
additional grants, and that the only way
he can secure them is by consistently keep
ing up a good record.
The result is that the route man never
gets to feel that the bonus is just going
to come along anyway, and that it is a
routine affair. By occasional variations,
it becomes a constant surprise, and he
knows that it is something extr«*, volun
tarily given as a reward of effort, rather
than part of the system which is grudging
ly paid out because it is the custom. His
own efforts are accordingly enlarged, for
he knows they will be rewarded.
In actual practice, fairly definite bonus
standards have been set up by Green for
his own guidance. These remain strictly
confidential and are not rigidly adhered
to. He believes that occasional variation
from standard practice will encourage the
element of novelty and incite the route
men to greater work.
Green gives his men opportunities to
share in special opportunities which the
firm may have for itself—for instance, in
special or group purchases of items or
stock, when the individual route man can
benefit from reduced purchasing cost.
Numerous extensions of this unusual privi
lege have built up a staff of men who give
unswerving loyalty to the policies of the
company.
The specific and practical result is that
a marvelous field for practical experiment
in merchandising is always available. Green
is a pioneer in selling methods, and he
frequently adapts ideas from other fields
and original schemes as well for his own
business. Many of these seem unusual,
perhaps fruitless. In any case, they are
likely to cause considerable extra effort
on the part of the salesmen at first, with
out any satisfactory results for a time.
The ordinary vending operator cannot
experiment in this field because he cannot
convince his salesmen that they may pos
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