Presto

16
August 29, 1925.
PRESTO
DOES CANVASSER
HELPER HURT?
Literary Business Experts Discuss the Prob-
lem of the Outside Salesman Who
Has Done a Great Deal for the
Retail Piano Trade.
IS THE SYSTEM DYING?
It May Be, but Canvass of Industries Seems to
Show That House-to-House Workers
Still "Get In."
"Beware of the stranger who raps on your door!"
says the full-page advertisement inserted in a South-
ern newspaper by a merchants' association. "Patro-
nize local merchants if for no other reason than self-
protection." Thus the retailer seeks to combat the
method of direct selling which, as Walter Curtis m
tells us, "now represents a yearly volume of business
in the United States in excess of $300,000,000."
Mr. Curtis is president of the Independent Indus-
tries, Inc., and an enthusiastic advocate of direct
selling. In The Nation's Business, he writes: "What's
wrong with our method? If it proves its place in
our economic life, as it seems to be doing—nothing.
Did not the phonograph dealers of St. Louis send
representatives out to the homes in a highly success-
ful effort to sell Victrolas by direct methods? They
did. Retailers have their own vacuum-cleaner direct
sellers. Automobile dealers do not wait, but go out
after business. Insurance men don't sit still and hope
for some one to come and buy. Nor do real estate
men."
And Mr. Curtis might have extended his list to
include pianos and other instruments of music and
utility. For the sale of pianos has been very largely
the result of the work of the out-of-door salesmen.
And so Mr. Curtis continues: "Let's permit eco-
nomic law to take its course (it will, anyhow) and,
in the meantime, play the game squarely. There is
business enough for every one." In the same maga-
zine Harry R. Wellman, Professor of Marketing at
the Amos Tuck School, writes: "First of all, house-
to-house selling isn't a new development."
Start Installment Trade.
Of course not. When the sewing machine came, it
was sold almost entirely by solicitation. It was one
of the first of the "installment" articles, and such
things almost require the out-of-door salesman. And
as Mr. Curtis continues, from the first small be-
ginning of the "peddler," the system of selling by
door-to-door solicitation grew until—
"The telephone, magazines, newspapers and, more
recently, mechanical music, radio and the Ford car,
usurped much of the former idle time of the house-
wife. So, with the influx of all of these new sales-
men the doorbell became an irritation and the visit
an interruption..
"It should be pointed out that this pressure of try-
ing to sell all types of merchandise to the homes has
already made it more difficult for the real service
utensil salesman to 'get in.' Even now, new 'free
goods' propositions have to be worked out fre-
quently, to get the door open to the salesmen. In
other words, the peak has passed and, given a rea-
sonable amount of time, this particular type of sales
effort will return to its normal status.
"While interesting, this experiment has so far
proven successful only when operated by the owner.
If profits are figured as wages, if warehouse and
other transportation charges are avoided, and if
the owner can buy in sufficient quantities to get a
wholesale price, he can make a living. Operated
with these charges and making a profit over and
above, hasn't been found very feasible to date. In
addition, these self-service stores do not attempt to
sell in isolated communities."
Doesn't Fit Pianos.
That argument applies to some smaller lines of
merchandise. It does not apply to pianos or other
things of the musical family for the household. As
Prof. Wellman also says, and correctly:
"This again emphasizes the point that shopping
goods can not be sold in this, or any other, house-to-
house manner over a period of years. Experiments
will continue, but the increasing number of failures
in this particular field further indicate our return to
normal merchandising methods.
"How soon this desirable condition is reached,
however, depends not upon the housewife but upon
two very definite conditions, namely, the general
business condition of the country as reflected in
purchasing power and the attitude of the manufac-
turers regarding overproduction.
"General business conditions in the main appear to
be fundamentally sound. Which makes our second
reason all the more imperative. Manufacturers have
been told by the wholesalers, the retailers, press and
pulpit and by their own trade associations that there
is overproduction in too many commodities and
specialty lines. This condition of overproduction,
with its resultant wastes, which have to be paid for
by some one, has brought forth a warning from the
Secretary of Commerce himself. For three years
manufacturers have not heeded these warnings. For
three years banks have continued to furnish the
funds to make this overproduction possible. For
three years this surplus merchandise has had to be
scrapped through sales and basements.
Changed Buying Habits.
"These sales have changed the buying habits of a
nation. They have made shoppers of us all, and it
will be some time before we return to normal. But
in addition to this change in buying habits, these
sales have raised the price of other merchandise and
have put a higher percentage of cost on a smaller
volume of units. In other words, this volume has
been made up of hundreds of styles and models where
formerly ten styles and models would have been
ample. If one style didn't sell, make a new one; if
your competitor offered forty models, offer at least
forty-one yourself. Never mind the profit. Get
your stuff sold.
"Just as long as this lack of standardization is al-
lowed to continue, and just as long as great mer-
chandise surplus are allowed to accumulate, just so
long will selling costs per unit remain too high. And
just as long as they do remain too high, the house-
to-house method 'to cut selling costs' will flourish
like the green bay tree. Moreover, the manufac-
turer who has tried this method of selling house-to-
house, to 'take care of his surplus/ is encountering
a very proper resentment from his regular trade, and
is finding his regular distributors unresponsive."
So Professor Wellman concludes that if the manu-
facturers plan sensibly the house-to-house canvasser
of other than home-service items will disappear from
the face of the earth.
The Brighter Side.
But to return to Mr. Curtis' article, we find him
denying that house-to-house buying has reached its
peak, and arguing that it is here to stay. He states
nine questions with answers, which we quote in ab-
breviated form:
1. How does the public feel toward the house-to-
house salesman? As a general rule the public is
friendly, and the best proof of this is the amount of
business being done by direct sellers.
2. Does the public favor the saleswoman? Yes.
3. Has house-to-house selling passed the peak?
No, I do not think so. The crest of the wave is a
long way ahead.
4. Is successful, big-scale house-to-house selling
restricted to non-shopping goods, (such as pianos),
and the like. House-to-house selling in its modern
phrase started with brushes for household uses, then
hosiery, then men's suits, then underwear.
5. Is it possible to sell style merchandise by
house-to-house, in profitable quantities, or must the
merchandise be a comparative staple? Yes, indeed;
there is no handicap.
6. Is it true that house-to-house selling has been
successful during the past five years mainly because
times have been less propitious, manufacturers had
extra stocks to move, and salesmen were plentiful?
The unemployment period after the war gave en-
couragement to direct selling-.
7. Is progress being made in enabling sales-per-
sons to "get into" houses to interview the house-
wives, and how, or is it becoming increasingly
harder, with no real relief in sight? I find that a
well-dressed, fairly intelligent woman can get in any-
where. (So can any refined piano salesman.)
8. Can manufacturers who both sell direct to
wholesalers and dealers also successfully use the
house-to-house method? Will not the "trade secret"
come out and hurt the firm's name with the dealers?
If either the dealer or the sales-person finds out that
his firm is selling to the other, he will be angry. It
is, therefore, wise to use different names in dealing
with each outlet.
9. Will house-to-house salesmen multiply until
they become such a pest that they will automatically
kill the direct-selling distribution method; If the
storekeepers of the country don't wake up there will
be many more direct sellers.
Without doubt it would be better could the house-
to-house selling be eliminated. But, in many lines
of business, the "follow up" systems, and the "pros-
pect finding" plans have proven so effective that
the activities of outside salesmen are invaluable.
Such has been the case in the piano trade in many
places. There are piano houses the prosperity of
which may be, in a very large sense, credited to the
outside "canvasser." There are, also, some large
piano houses that do not have any outside solicitors.
Both systems may be successful. But, in the latter
cases, it is necessary for the house to do a great deal
of local advertising and often to indulge in the not
very advisable custom of "special sales."
The J. H. Culp Piano Company, Frederick, Okla.,
will remove from the present location on North
Main street to the Oklahoma State bank building.
Grand and
Reproducing
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Philadelphia
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