Business Correspondence | Page 3

Without the
collection letter the whole credit system would be toppling about our
ears.
* * * * *
THE LETTER SELLS GOODS DIRECT TO CONSUMERS TO
DEALERS TO AGENTS
INDIRECT BUILDS UP LISTS SECURES NAMES ELIMINATES
DEAD WOOD CLASSIFIES LIVE PROSPECTS
OPENS UP NEW TERRITORY THROUGH CONSUMERS
CREATES DEMAND DIRECTS TRADE
THROUGH DEALERS SHOWS POSSIBLE PROFIT INTRODUCES
NEW LINES
AID TO SALESMEN EDUCATES TRADE
CO-OPERATION INTRODUCES BACKS UP KEEPS LINED UP
AID TO DEALERS DRUMS UP TRADE HOLDS CUSTOMERS
DEVELOPS NEW BUSINESS
HANDLES MEN INSTRUCTION ABOUT GOODS ABOUT
TERRITORY ABOUT PROSPECTS HOW TO SYSTEMIZE WORK
INSPIRATION GINGER TALES INSPIRES CONFIDENCE
SECURES CO-OPERATION PROMOTES LOYALTY
COLLECTS MONEY MERCANTILE ACTS - RETAIL ACTS -
INSTALLMENT ACTS - PETTY ACTS PERSUASION

EMPHASIZE HOUSE POLICY EMPHASIZE ADVANTTAGAE OF
GOODS ESTABLISHMENT OF FORCED COLLECTIONS COST
OF FORCED COLLECTIONS CASH-UP PROPOSITION
EXTENSION OF ACCOMMODATION
PRESSURE THROUGH THREATS OF SUIT OF SHUTTING OFF
CREDIT
OF WRITING TO REFERENCES THROUGH LEGAL AVENUES
THROUGH LEGAL AGENCIES HOUSE COLLECTION BUREAUS
REGULAR COLLECTION BUREAUS THROUGH ATTORNEYS
HANDLES LONG RANGE CUSTOMERS SUPPLIES PERSONAL
CONTACT SHOWS INTEREST IN CUSTOMER WINS
CONFIDENCE DEVELOPS RE-ORDER SCHEMES BUILDS UP
STEADY TRADE
HANDLES COMPLAINTS ADJUSTS INVESTIGATES MAKES
CAPITAL OUT OF COMPLAINTS WINS BACK CUSTOMERS
DEVELOPS PRESTIGE GIVES PERSONALITY TO BUSINESS
BUILDS UP GOOD WILL PAVES WAY FOR NEW CUSTOMERS
_The practical uses of the business letter are almost infinite: selling
goods, with distant customers, developing the prestige of the
house--there is handling men, adjusting complaints, collecting money,
keeping in touch scarcely an activity of modern business that cannot be
carried on by letter_
* * * * *
Do you find it necessary to adjust the complaint of a client or a
customer? A diplomatic letter at the first intimation of dissatisfaction
will save many an order from cancellation. It will soothe ruffled
feelings, wipe out imagined grievances and even lay the basis for
firmer relations in the future.
So you may run the gamut of your own business or any other. At every

point that marks a transaction between concerns or individuals, you
will find some way in which the letter rightly used, can play a
profitable part.
There is a romance about the postage stamp as fascinating as any
story--not the romance contained in sweet scented notes, but the
romance of big things accomplished; organizations developed,
businesses built, great commercial houses founded.
In 1902 a couple of men secured the agency for a firm manufacturing
extracts and toilet preparations. They organized an agency force
through letters and within a year the manufacturers were swamped with
business, unable to fill the orders.
Then the men added one or two other lines, still operating from one
small office. Soon a storage room was added; then a packing and
shipping room was necessary and additional warehouse facilities were
needed. Space was rented in the next building; a couple of rooms were
secured across the street, and one department was located over the
river--wherever rooms could be found.
Next the management decided to issue a regular mail-order catalogue
and move to larger quarters where the business could be centered under
one roof. A floor in a new building was rented--a whole floor. The
employees thought it was extravagance; the managers were dubious,
for when the business was gathered in from seven different parts of the
city, there was still much vacant floor space.
One year later it was again necessary to rent outside space. The
management then decided to erect a permanent home and today the
business occupies two large buildings and the firm is known all over
the country as one of the big factors of mail-order merchandising.
It has all been done by postage stamps.
When the financial world suddenly tightened up in 1907 a wholesale
dry goods house found itself hard pressed for ready money. The credit
manager wrote to the customers and begged them to pay up at once.

But the retailers were scared and doggedly held onto their cash. Even
the merchants who were well rated and whose bills were due, played
for time.
The house could not borrow the money it needed and almost in despair
the president sat down and wrote a letter to his customers; it was no
routine collection letter, but a heart-to-heart talk, telling them that if
they did not come to his rescue the business that he had spent thirty
years in building would be wiped out and he would be left penniless
because he could not collect his money. He had the bookkeepers go
through every important account and they found that there was hardly a
customer who had not, for one reason or another, at some time asked
for an extension of credit. And to each customer the president dictated a
personal paragraph, reminding him of the time accommodation had
been asked and granted. Then the appeal was