Business Correspondence | Page 7

and may furnish the strongest kind of
selling arguments. And it is equally desirable to have inside knowledge
of the methods in the sales department, in the receiving room and the
shipping room. It is necessary for the correspondent to know the firm's
facilities for handling orders; when deliveries can be promised, what
delays are liable to occur, how goods are packed, the condition in
which they are received by the customer, the probable time required in
reaching the customer.
Another nearby source of information is the status of the customer's
account; whether he is slow pay or a man who always discounts his
bills. It is a very important fact for the correspondent to know whether
the records show an increasing business or a business that barely holds
its own.
Then a most important source--by many considered the most valuable
material of all--is the customer himself. It may be laid down as a

general proposition that the more the correspondent knows about the
man to whom he is writing, the better appeal he can make.
In the first place, he wants to know the size and character of the
customer's business. He should know the customer's location, not
merely as a name that goes on the envelope, but some pertinent facts
regarding the state or section. If he can find out something regarding a
customer's standing and his competition, it will help him to understand
his problems.
Fortunate is the correspondent who knows something regarding the
personal peculiarities of the man to whom he is writing. If he
understands his hobbies, his cherished ambition, his home life, he can
shape his appeal in a more personal way. It is comparatively easy to
secure such information where salesmen are calling on the trade, and
many large houses insist upon their representatives' making out very
complete reports, giving a mass of detailed information that will be
valuable to the correspondent.
Then there is a third source of material, scarcely less important than the
study of the house and the customer, and that is a study of the
competitors--other firms who are in the same line of business and going
after the same trade. The broad-gauged correspondent never misses an
opportunity to learn more about the goods of competing houses--the
quality of their products, the extent of their lines, their facilities for
handling orders, the satisfaction that their goods are giving, the terms
on which they are sold and which managers are hustling and up to the
minute in their methods.
The correspondent can also find information, inspiration and
suggestion from the advertising methods of other concerns--not
competitors but firms in a similar line.
Then there are various miscellaneous sources of information. The
majority of correspondents study diligently the advertisements in
general periodicals; new methods and ideas are seized upon and filed in
the "morgue" for further reference.

Where a house travels a number of men, the sales department is an
excellent place from which to draw talking points. Interviewing
salesmen as they come in from trips and so getting direct information,
brings out talking points which are most helpful as are those secured by
shorthand reports of salesmen's conventions.
Many firms get convincing arguments by the use of detailed forms
asking for reports on the product. One follow-up writer gets valuable
pointers from complaints which he terms "reverse" or "left-handed"
talking points.
Some correspondents become adept in coupling up the news of the day
with their products. A thousand and one different events may be given
a twist to connect the reader's interest with the house products and
supply a reason for "buying now." The fluctuation in prices of raw
materials, drought, late seasons, railway rates, fires, bumper crops,
political discussions, new inventions, scientific achievements--there is
hardly a happening that the clever correspondent, hard pressed for new
talking points, cannot work into a sales letter as a reason for interesting
the reader in his goods.
* * * * *
SOURCES OF MATERIAL:
/ 1. SOURCES / 1. RAW MATERIALS --| 2. QUALITY | | 3. SUPPLY
| \ 4. PRICE | | / 1. CAPACITY OF PLANT | PLANT | | 2. NEW
EQUIPMENT | 2. PROCESSES OF --| 3. TIME SAVING |
MANUFACTURE | DEVICES | \ 4. IMPROVED METHODS /- 1.
THE HOUSE------| | | / 1. METHODS OF | | | SALESMEN | | 3.
KNOWLEDGE OF --| 2. POLICY OF | | DEPARTMENTS | CREDIT
DEPT. | | | 3. CONDITIONS IN | | | RECEIVING & | | \ SHIPPING
DEPTS. | | | | 4. KNOWLEDGE OF | | COSTS | | | | 5. STATUS OF / 1.
CREDIT | | CUSTOMER'S --| STANDING | | ACCOUNT | 2.
GROWING | | \ BUSINESS | | | | / 1. OLD LETTERS | | |