The Washington herald., 1921-11-13

Land hunger. said r. J. Norris
president of the Knight Norris
Gibbs Co. Cleveland, in an instruc-
tive talk on Subdivision Develop
ment and Sale" is the greatest
history maker we have"
Norris traced the development Of
a city. explaining how development
and growth always follows the
main arteries Of travel. From this
he deduced the statement that the
first requirement of a successful
subdivision Is adequate transpor-
tation facilities. The second re-
quirement Is civic improvements
and the third Is adequate COM
Imunity centers. s..
He made the somewhat startling
statement that any man who To-
Gates . subdivision a. much As
eight miles from the center Of .
city and two miles from q main
road. 10 thirty years ahead Of his
city. This statement he qualified
by explaining the usual growth Of
Q city and pointing out the manner
In which q city normally increases
In population
IT 10 important, he said. In locat-
ing . subdivision TO know very
definitely before hand the character
OF the people. who will populate Il
and where they will come from.
In this connection he gave a. his
experience that the people who live
in the north section OF q city gen
orally move farther north. those
who live south move farther south.
etc. From this II Is possible to
predict with considerable accuracy
just what kind OF people can be
relied upon to take up q subdiyi-
zion in any particular location with
regard TO the city proper.
Twenty-Five per cent of the sale
IL made. he said, when the land Is
bought: 26 per cent Of the sale
| depends upon the set-up: Is per
cent depends upon the character OF
the sales force: and the remaining
rs per cent depends upon the de-
gree OF training accorded the in
dividual statesmen.
On the score of set-up, Norris
stated that Il is important FIRST TO
develop the subdivision along lines
that will appeal to the class Of
people who will be the prospective
purchasers Further, when a man
buys a lot he wants It complete at
price, including pavements, sew
ers. gas. ELECTRICITY. etc.
Selling methods vary 10 q con-
siderable extent, he said. and offered
as his experience that IL the realtoI
will make the initial discount large
enough this will bring out a sub
the usual 10 per cent down. An.
other way he has used to stimulate
sales 10 TO offer q prize Of $1,000 e
each Of the nrst ten men who will
build. This. he said, has greatly
stimulated building. which, in turn
has considerably increased thu
value of the property. mo sub
stsntial first payment instead o.
divider can be successful" he said
unless his property Is built up"
Building Sales Organization.
In building . sales organization
Norris never hires Q man until tina
man comes TO him with the state
ment that he has burned all hii
bridges behind him and has entered
the real estate business for life
This is the first requisite. The sec
ond is to get the man sold on tn,
knight Norris-Gibbs Company. Tn,
third step is to thoroughly train tn,
man and this generally takes a
least a year. But before all thes'
comes the need for a strong
healthy. clean individual.
1t takes a long time to build al
organization, but the ekort is wei
worth the time and expense. Proper
training prevents q lot of futur,
grief which results from men mis-
representing the house or leaving
1t. Consequently, Norris puts hit
men through a regular course o.
training which includes a course o.
lectures spread over the first three
weeks, and taking as much as If
J teen hours q day.
Three Advertising Essentials.
In the second part Of the cours,
the candidate Is taken out into tn,
field under the supervision OF
trained salesman and gradually
taught the ropes. No man is turneC
loose until he can satisfy Norri'