New Britain herald., 1919-07-16
ADVERTISING PAYS, 1. LECTURER ASSERTS
M. FannOn Tells How to Get
 Better Business

Flven in the Elks' hall by S. E. Fam
 oh' under the auspices of the cham
 per of commerce. MT. Fannon dwelt
 specially on advertising and declared
 hat store advertising is one of the
 weakest parts of New Britain busi-
 less lie declared that instead of
 utside advertising in the newspaper,
 his space should be wholly taken by
 ocal interests. In explaining how to
 Improve on advertising, Mr. Fannon
 sdvlsed the business men not to
 roWd too much into their ads, to
 aave new advertising story each
 aay, to eliminate "coSt sale'' ads and
 O sell all goods and fair prices.
 In order to get better advertising
 accommodations he said it is neces-
 Bary to give the newspapers their ad
 Eopy a day in advance of it's publica-
 ion. He declared that business should
 work hand in hand With the press For prosperity to one means pros Xperity to the other.
 Continuing MT. Fannon gave an il-
 ustrated lecture, showing the trials
 bf a business man and how he over
 game them.
 There were his tolls and struggles
 0 keep his business alive; there were
 his harassed endeavors to secure
 oans with which to tide over, and
 Ehere in their dozens were the thiev- Ing little leaks by which his honestly
 harmed profits were simply streaming aWay from him. Those thieVish little
 leaks were recognized by every retail
 merchant present, and the picture
 carried it's lesson right home to them.
 Two customers in the store, three
 clerks and the proprietor to serve them, but the proprietor struggling to serve both well at once. There was one situation. From the cus- tomers side of the counter the audi ence looked at it, and saw one cus- homer hurry off impatiently without $purchasing. Wrong change alleged i land no record or receipt to check the srefund necessary to hold business 8there was another leak In came f &customer irate at being billed again flor an already paid account. The 1 store had no record, but the customer could triumphantly produce a receipt ed bill signed by White himself l Overweight, waste, short change, | &complaints, customers estranged | through accounts of Whites service given by displeased customers ! EC. O. D. charges overlooked and not / entered, charge and goods taken" items forgotten, cash out for goods l bought left unrecorded-these and 1 other 'leaks' were all revealed in i their natural course of action.
 'Co-operation, not cut-throat com petition, is the keynote of today's 1 business" declared MT. Fannon, and 1 he showed further on in his address ; how the wholesaler and the banker ] are both partners of the retail mer- i oha iyo by proper organization of a store the i burden of the business can be shared 1 by all of the help and the owner so . that all of the weight need not bear l down on the one mind which should be most free of care-namely, the | owners. He emphasized at the out | set the fact that in 1918 in United | States s163, ,019, 979 had been lost through store failures, 6, ,494 stores be- 1 ing involved, including as the prin- 1 cipal business 593 general stores, | ,969 grocery stores, 645 clothing and ! furnishing stores, 296 dry goods bus l inesses and 152 hardware stores | Little leaks for the most part had { sunk them all, and the hundreds of | other businesses which had failed i also.
 Price cutting" said Fannon, "is 1 principal cause of failures. Letting ! your competitor make the price is poor business. Credit is important. Credit ist as important as capital in doingT business. Good business meth 0ds are essential to credit" The chairman of the federal trade commission said, "In the future the business man, large or small will not be able to get credit on loans unless he is not only sound financially but also able to show that he Is conduct Ing his business intelligently.'
 A store organization plan sketched by MT. Fannon for general merchants was on these lines: First, the owner with his mind freed from detail work, able to take care of the main prob iems, and advance business on the ] broad scale. Then the head clerk | supervising other help, assisaing in 1 buying, watching credits and help 1 ing in advertising. Then the second | clerk, taking phone orders' Ca man with smile in his voice" and a | pleasing way of speaking to people | for this work.) He would also have other duties such as checking taken l orders and serving otherwise.
 The third clerk would look after | stock, prevent shortages arising, l keep tab on slow moving stock, re- l port on conditions of stock, etc To l the fourth clerk would be assigned 1 as his speciality, window trimming, | and the watching of competing win- | dows. The delivery man would de- l liver, make outside sales, and get tips l leading to. sales, and especially note 1 and report all complaints. (This last is importantly
 Lack of system as to credit causes losses in three ways. First, through l