Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-15
ADVERTISERS TO
HOLD BUSINESS
BIG AUTO MANUFACTURER
LIKES PUBLICITY
GOOD GOODS FIRST ESSENTIAL
TO SUCCESS
Huqh Chalmers Combines Printers
Ink with Salesman's Art to Dis
pose of Output to the
Public
BY ID. w. sEMPLE

Automobile salesmanship is of two
kinds-the sales Of cars by the manu-
facturer to the dealer and the sales OF
cars by the dealer to the public; or
broadly speaking, wholesale and RETAIL
writes Hugh Chalmers
SO far as the wholesale side IS con-
cerned.h automobiles have been bought
rather than sold. The demand from
dealers has been enormous. 1t has
been too great for all the factories IN
the country to fill. hence there mas
not been as careful application py
many manufacturers of the principles
of craftsmanship in the distribution OF
automobiles as there has been in most
other lines of commercial activity.
Many companies seem to go on the
principle that as soon as the factory
output is spoken for by the dealers II
is sold. This is far from true. cars
are not really sold until they are IN
the hands of users at price that gives
a fair profit to both dealer and manu-
facturer. Competition is strong among
the dealers, and they know that 1T
takes brains and head work to sell the
cars no matter what the man at the
factory may think.
Selling Art of Influence
ciples in salesmanship which Apply IN
the distribution of clothing, farm ma
chinery, pianos, talking machines, or
any other line. Selling is simply the
art of influencing the human mind,
and the things which influence the hui
man mind are pretty much the same
all over the world in all lines of busl-
ness. The problem, no matter what
you may be selling, is to find out what
these things are and then use them.
The first potent factor in influencing
the public is good goods. NO possible
amount of strenuous salesmanship and
advertising will suffice to keep poor
article on the market. 1t is possible by
strong salesmanship and clever adver-
tsing to sell a FIRST edition" But
profitable business is matter of re-
peat orders, and you can't have repeat
orders when you put out poor goods.
The conditions in recent years in the
automobile industry have been such
that any factory that could turn out a
car that had any merit at all could sell
it's output. The time is bound to come
when only those factories which turn
out cars of unusual and unquestionable
merit will be able to sell their output.
When one stops to think of all the
energy and all of the brains concen-
trated now on the production end of the
automobile business one is inevitably
forced to the conclusion that sooner or
later production will catch up with
demand. Then good salesmanship and
good advertising will play a more
prominent part in the automobile busi-
ness than it has heretofore.
The second great fundamental prin-
ciple in craftsmanship and advertising
is honest statement. This applies
equally to salesmanship by word and
to craftsmanship in print, which is ad-
Vertising.
1t is my observation that you can't
fool the American public very long.
You can't even fool part of the peo-
pie a part of the time. 1 have never
known of a business to survive contin-
ued dishonest statement There has
been a tendency, think. in automobile
advertising to make eXtravagant state
ments. Automobile advertising has
not been dishonest, but some of it I'M
doubtedly has been careless. We are,
all of us, too ready to claim the earth.
Believes in Advertising
I am thorough believer in advertis-
ing 1t is sometimes possible to mar
ket good products without very much
advertising. But these are exceptions.
There has been many valuable in
vention or manufactured product which
the world did not get the full benefit
of simply because it was not adver-
t1Seu. ana Inere mas Deen many good
product utterly spoiled by poor adver-
tising.
Automobile manufacturers, it seems
TO me, should do everything in their
power to help keep alive this great
public interest in automobiles. 1t is
the most encouraging sign of our bust
ness. Every one talks about automo-
biles and wants to know more about
them whether they actually own cars
or not.
No matter how rapidly we sell our
output, or how far behind our orders
we may get, we still consider it our
duty to the industry as a whole, and
to our dealers and to the future of our
business, to keep up our advertising.