The Wholesale Merchant

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II.—The Wholesale Merchant

Exercise 263

Oral

Each of the following should be developed into a paragraph:

1. You are a manufacturer and wholesale distributor with a factory on the outskirts of a town; would you have a warehouse in the center of the town? Give reasons for your answer.

   
   

2. What would be the advantage of having your warehouse near the railroad freight depots? Near the docks?

   
   

3. What would be the advantage of being located in a large city with many railroads and with water transportation facilities—Chicago, for example?

   
   

4. Speed gets orders. With this in view, what would you recommend with respect to the equipment for handling? What would you suggest about the number of people through whose hands the order would have to go before being shipped?

   
   

5. If you were looking for big trade in a big city, what kind of stock would you carry? Musical instruments? Clothing?

   
   

6. Would it be a good plan to make a specialty of certain brands for leaders and to quote a special price on them?

   
   

7. If you were just starting a wholesale hardware or grocery business, state which you think would be the better policy: (1) to concentrate on one kind of goods in one territory and to take on other kinds and territories later, or (2) to work all kinds of goods as widely as possible from the very beginning. Explain fully.

   
   

8. Would you bear part of the expense of retailers' advertising, especially of window displays, provided they handled your goods?

   
   

9. Would it be good business for the salesmen of the firm to suggest selling methods to retailers and to plan window displays for them? Give your reasons.

   
   

10. Do you think it would increase sales to offer a money prize to the retailer selling the largest amount of a certain kind of your goods, the sale of which you wished materially to increase?

    
    

11. Tell which you think would be the better policy: (1) to undersell your competitors for a time and then, when you had the trade, to raise your prices, or (2) to set one price and maintain it from the beginning. Give your reasons.

    
    

12. If you were getting out a new brand of carpenters' tools, where would you advertise? Would you conduct an extensive national campaign?

    
    

13. If you were bringing out a new soap or washing powder, where would you advertise? Would you conduct an extensive national advertising campaign? What would your answer be if you were introducing a new brand of crackers?

    
    

14. Would bringing out novelties from time to time help the sale of your staple articles? Explain.

15. Do you think it would pay to send circulars to the housewives of a certain locality to get the local grocers' trade? After you had the local grocers' trade?

    
    

Exercise 264

Written

1. You are Thos. H. Peabody of Peabody, Harper & Co.'s wholesale grocery. Prepare a circular letter, announcing your removal to a new building. The letter will be printed in imitation of typewriting and the introduction filled in later on the typewriter. Remember you are seeking patronage. Address one letter to Walter T. Barth, 350 E. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.

   
   

2. Write an advertisement to appear in the January number of The Grocer and Country Merchant, a grocers' trade journal. It will announce your change of location.

   
   

3. You receive an order from a retailer in which he asks for a certain brand of coffee that you do not carry. Write a letter telling him you do not handle that brand and offering him another.

   
   

   Make the letter as courteous as possible.

   
   

4. Write an advertisement for (1) a bookkeeper; (2) a stenographer.

   
   

5. Answer (1) or (2) above.

   
   

6. Write an advertisement for a traveling salesman.

   
   

7. Answer (6) telling why you think you could sell groceries although you have had no experience.

   
   

8. Write a circular letter to send to the trade setting forth the merits of a new brand of canned fruit. Say that you are offering the brand at a very attractive price in the expectation that retailers will make it a leader. Write to Mr. Barth (1).

   
   

9. You have made a contract with the manufacturers of the canned fruit mentioned in (8), by which you secure the exclusive sale but take the responsibility of advertising. Write to an advertising agency, saying that you are considering a three months' advertising campaign. Explain that you do not wish the expense to exceed five thousand dollars.

   
   

10. The advertising agency replies that, as five thousand dollars is a comparatively small sum for a campaign, it would suggest that the advertising be confined to one class: street car, billboard, newspaper, or magazine. Write the letter.

    
    

11. Notify the agency of your choice, giving your reasons.

    
    

12. Write a series of three letters to send to housewives, advertising the canned fruit, with the purpose of having them ask for this brand at their grocers': (1) Telling the name of the canned fruit, its excellence, its price, and where it may be bought; (2) Asking if the housewife has as yet bought any, and if she has not, telling her she can get a sample at her grocer's on presentation of this letter; (3) Asking how she liked the fruit and quoting a letter of recommendation received from Mrs. A., who lives in the neighborhood. Urge her to buy, but not too abruptly. A letter to a woman should be fairly long. (See page 265.)

    
    

Exercise 265

1. For two months you have been without a credit man. You wish to be very careful in your choice because of the importance of the position. J. B. Wright of 439 Russell Ave., Indianapolis, is a personal friend of yours. He has heard that you need a credit man and he recommends Joseph Haddon, who worked for him three years in that capacity until a year ago when he went to Colorado because of the ill-health of his wife. Meanwhile, Mr. Wright's son has been acting as his credit man. Mrs. Haddon has now recovered, and her husband is anxious to get another position. Reproduce Mr. Wright's letter.

   
   

2. Write the letter Mr. Wright sends Mr. Haddon in Colorado, suggesting that the latter apply for the position.

   
   

3. At the same time Joseph Haddon writes, applying for the position. Write the letter of application.

   
   

4. Write Mr. Haddon's letter thanking Mr. Wright for his interest. Remember that the two men know each other.

   
   

5. Joseph Haddon, whom you have engaged, is proving to be a very alert credit man. He has made a study of your credit files and has discovered that you have a great many accounts of long standing that ought to be collected. He prepares a courteous letter to send to the debtors, telling them that he has just been made credit man and that he personally would like to get into closer touch with their particular situation to find out how soon he might expect a remittance from them, so that he could plan the future of his department. Write the letter. (See page 254.)

   
   

6. A number of retailers remit the amount that they owe. Some explain their situation in detail, but a great many do not respond to (5). Write another letter, still courteous, but more emphatic than (5), to those who did not respond. (See page 255.)

   
   

7. Still a number do not respond. Write a third letter, saying that you will place the matter in the hands of your attorney unless you receive a remittance within ten days.

   
   

8. Mr. Haddon discovers that there are about a hundred retailers who used to be customers, but who have bought nothing for about two years. He reports this to the sales manager, Mr. James Woodworth, who writes a letter to the retailers to induce them to send another order, using the canned fruit spoken of in (8) of Exercise 264 as a means of interesting them.

   
   

9. Nathaniel Sears, a dealer in general merchandise at Joplin, Mo., writes to you asking for an open account. He says that he did a $10,000 business last year and that, apparently, sales this year will be larger. He gives no references. You refer the matter to Mr. Haddon, who looks up Mr. Sears in Bradstreet and then writes to one of your salesmen at St. Louis, asking him to investigate the financial standing of Mr. Sears. Write to the salesman.

   
   

10. After three days the salesman reports that Mr. Sears seems to be doing a good business, but he thinks the dealer is living beyond his means. He owes two wholesale houses $500 and $850 respectively; his property in Joplin is heavily mortgaged, and yet he is making extensive improvements on his residence; his son and his daughter are at expensive boarding schools. Write the letter. Be exact in your information.

    
    

11. As Mr. Woodworth, write Mr. Sears a courteous letter, refusing him credit but attempting to secure his cash business.

    
    

12. Charles Freeman, 141 Park Place, Newark, Ohio, writes in answer to (5) saying that he is unable to pay his account of $500. After the harvest his outstanding bills will be paid by the farmers, and then he can remit. He says he is willing to give his 90 day note for the amount he owes.

    
    

13. Mr. Haddon writes, accepting the note.

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