The Washington herald., 1912-06-30


with q stand In g downtown ofica
building. II took me less than two
months 20 make up my mind that
there was q distinct limit to the amount Of
business to be obtained there. So sold out"
At q prohtT' asked the Average Man.
Yes" said the ucssssful Cigar Msr-
chant Here II is handing the Average
Man q List Of the other forty-nine stores.
The Average Nan waved the list aside
i've seen that. Go ahead"
And the Successful Cigar Merchant re-
gumed his tals- After I'd disposed Of the
stand relocated In q residence peIghbor-
hood. Ny FIRST store was q small one but
trade was good-thRt Is, average. One day
q eanvasssr dropped in and before he LEFT
sold me q stock book. Convinced me that
It was q good, thing. So began taking in
yentory Of my stock. Entries from my cash
register at the end Of each day kept It al
ways up TO date With very little trouble. by
referring 70 this stock book. knew when to
order and what to order. II was an excel
lent way to watch the sales, too. Showed
lust what items sold and their relation TO
other items.
Watching the stock book soon developed
the, fact that nickel cigars made up over IS
per cent Of my sales. or course. knew that
before. but the stock book brought the fact
forcibly home. Making inquiries amonS
other cigar merchants. found that the sams
thing held true with them. In other words
the American publIo-or the largest part OF
It-moked the 8 cent article.
Then began studying the advertising end
of it. WANTED to advertise my busners-get
more tra6e-but 1 couldn't afrOrd to spend
much money. Then. again. had to copcen-
- 80 ~ fTnrH F0 NRFL
people VINO never got down my way about
my store.
3
Ciearmaker In Window.
On q trip downtown to one OF the whole
sale houses I noticed q cigarmaker plying
his trade In the window OF a store. Quite
crowd IN front, too. Crowds usually result IN
customers Thinking that possibly here was
q solution TO my advertising problem.
walked in and. telling the owner who was
and what wanted. got a good deal Of IN
formation from him The cigarmaker in
the window was a business bringer all right,
but he cost too much. increase in sales was
not large enough to pay increased expense.
He was making 10 cent cigars" couldn't
make a 5 cent cigar altogether by hand and
sell # probably" said the man behind the
counter. And the trouble was trade did not
run to the 10 cent brand However, had
the information was after, and after thank
ing my Informant I left.
One thing was settled In my mind, how
ever. 4 clgarmaker IN my window would
bring business to the store. The ony Quss-
ton was how to utilize him probably. am
a great believer IN the old saying. 4" When
you know what to do it's easy to find how to
DO II" One thing knew was wrong with the
other fellows plan. and that was the 10 cent
price on the cigar he made. Five eenters
were what the people wanted, and the best
way to succeed is to supply demand That's
a whole lot easier than creating It
So I was two steps on my way TO an idea.
A 8 cent cigar made in my window where
people could see the operation and be at
tracted by II. Finally decided TO see H.my
problem wouldn't solve itself I inserted a
want ad in one Of the big dailies for a cigar
maker. Only one man applied He told me
that he wasn't particularly anxious TO go to
WorI-applied more to see what I had to
ofer than anything else-SaId he Intended
to go into business for himself II he didn't
hnd a Job that was just what be wanted
That struck me right between the eyes
opened up both OF them wide.
what kind Of cigars are you going to
make II you go In for yourself7
hand made ~ centers. ne answered
D." How much money can you make per cigar
after you've paid your rent and light and
cost Of BellIng7" q.
Accepted Ny Proposition.
He was 4 pretty intelligent fellow and he
had figure on this
How many 10 cent cigars can you make
q week. I asked him
He told me-
Now" said q II you turned out cent
cigars which require far less labor, how
many could you maker
He knew that, too, 50 got busy with a
pencil and made him q proposition to go to
work In my window and pay him so much
per cigar. whether they sold or not, and fur
nish him with space and material for max
ing. I put the proposition to him so that
It was practically a case Of being In business