Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-08-17
MANUFACTURERS MISTAKES
AN INTERESTING CRITICISM By CON-
SUI MARSHALL HALsTEAD.


United States Consul Marshall Halstead
| at Birmingham has submitted an interest
| ing report to the State Department on the
| subject of American Statesmen In Great
| Britain" He says that the issue OF June
| % of the Cycle Manufacturer and Dealers
| Review of London has the following edi-
| torial:
I'VE believe We are right in saying that
the American machines which are bidding
| for an English trade have not sold at all
| we'll this Year. 1t is obviously well-nigh
| Impossible to get at first hand facts, but
| scraps of information which have reached
| us, and sundry admissions in certain quar-
| tiers all tend in the same direction-namely
| that the American bicycle can only get
sale when it Is very cheap. In our opinion,
the Americans are slow to grasp the situa-
ton over here, and neglectful Of the oppor-
| tunities that present themselves. For in
| stance, it may be taken for granted that an
American machine takes lot more push
| to sell II in England than an English ma
| chine of equal merit, and yet the advertise
| Ing of the American machines over here
| has been absurd.
Poor Advertising Methods.
In the first place, very little money has
| been allotted to advertising by the head
| offices In America, and then the style Of
| advertisements has not been such as would
De warranted to create demand among
the public. One firm took space in the
| public cycling paper, and In the proper
| course or events should have set them
! serves to prove to the public that the ma
| chine was worthy Of confidence that il
| was reliable and suited to English roads,
that 1T was built to English requirements
ana tnat 1T had many little points about it
Wnlen placed 1T In the very front rank Of
| cycles. In fact, this particular machine
| mas few talking points that are entirely
| absent from any English-made machine.
NOW. did the agency for this machine tell
the public word about all these things?
| Not bit Of it. They advertised that sthe
! early bird catches the worm. and that
| ehere are few worms so fat as the agency
Tor - cycles; and they repeated this adj
Vertlsement for couple of months, in
! . ,p oi protests on the part of the paper
that it could bring them no results The
| advertisement might have been all right in
trade paper. but in paper going to the
| PupAc IL was q sheer waste of money
c Inns G rs the kind OF thing that the Ameri-
| oaus give U.s. and not unnaturally the bust-
| Ness results are of very limited nature.
Americans Seldom Do Well.
TT Is the same with accessories An,a-,-
| can firms or agencies handling Amar,o,n
goods have seldom done we'll but when the
British get hold of the goods, business ia
| built up on right lines. and big trade is
Done The - lamp Is a case in noipt
Wnen 1t was first introduced into this
| country. big sale resulted from extensive
advertising. Then, in order to increase the
turnover. the American representatives
went IN Tor what they thought were smart
moves In selling-planting firms with enor-
nous quantities. giving sole agencies with
the freedom of price lists. and so forth.
dood, consequences st tha not un,naturaiiy was a
any price. In order to reduce stock. with
the result that the lamp was ruined More
over, TINS sudden reduction Of price fright
ened the public away. Afterward. the
agency was secured by the - "a British
concern). who ran It on right lines. and a
trade Is slowly being built I'D again but
tnere VIII for some time exist the sus-
picion that there may be a renewal OF the
former break in prices.
Another Failure.
with single-tube tires the Americans dis
| tinctly failed over here. We had the -,
| the -, the the - and others
but In the first place the tires were not
built to stand the amount of work which
cyclists give their machines In this coun-
try, and. In the second place. a lot of low
class stuff was dumped down here and the
s1ngle-tube tire earned for itself a shocking
reputation The American representative
were quite unable to meet the difficulties
| that presented themselves. and SO went
away In despair. leaving the - Com
pany to be formed by an Engfishman. the
goods to be made In America and suitable
for our requirements, and for the business
to be run on sound lines. The result has
been that the single-tube tire is gradually
getting good hold Of the trade. and very
| sound business has been built up.
about the only article that has been
really Wen worked by an American, and
which has steadily increased it's trade from
the day 1t was introduced into this country,
mas been the - hub. But In this case
| the American at the head Of affairs has
had the gift Of adaptability. and. quickly
gauging the system of doing business here
mas run his concern in a way that has
| this instance, we feel that we should be
justified in saying that the British atmos-
phere quickly duils the brightness of the
Yankee, and causes him to run to rust. At
any rate, those who have attempted to run
their business on the American lines of
selling for today and hang tomorrow have
| all OF them signaily failed to do business
with u.s.
Mistakes Of the Makers.
Consul Halstead says:
The only comment care to make on
| the editorial Of the British bicycle paper
as given above is that the editor assumes
| incorrectly that the mistakes he tells Of In
| methods Of selling were those OF the Ameri-
| can salesman. In nearly every case re-
| ferred to I can almost say it is within
| my personal knowledge that the selling
methods pursued were those stubbornly tn
| sisted upon by the American manufactur-
| ers. despite the protest OF representatives
whom they had personally selected to go
abroad-men whose Judgment has been
much valued when they were IN the home
| employment. but who found when they
were abroad that practically no credence
was given to their statements OF the trade
necessities here. Many a good American
salesman has been recalled IN Disgrace
and through no fault but inability to I'M
necessarily force American merchant Gus
| toms In foreign markets. The story of the
American salesman in our new export effort
as, /. an American consul, could tell 1t,
would not be pleasant reading. The won
der Is they have accomplished so much,
and must confess have about made up
| my mind to quit reading statements of our
| jumping statistics. for whatever are the
totals, they only touch the unbounded pos
| sibilities; no matter how they soar, there
! il waste In effort and failure to take full
advantage Of opportunity.
Complaints Of .Salesmen.
81 have met hundreds OF American sales
men since l have been consul here. and
have had most pleasant relations and many
friendly and confidential conversations with