BUYERS AND SELLERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4954, 22 March 1926, Page 1

BUYERS AND SELLERS.

INCREASING THE TURNOVER.

MERIT NOT ALONE' SUFFICIENT.

The hardest man an advertising salesman has to deal with i.\ one who is a thoroughly good craftsman or professional, and smugly relies, solely on the wares he is handling, or on his persona). ability, for hfe sales of goods or service. This type ok' m.an is the one that, generally figures in the bankruptcy proceedings. His ability and .honesty are unquestioned, but his books are in .a chaotic condition, his advertising appropriation nil—in short, he’s a man in business, but not a business man. The following from the Christchurch Press is 'apposite, on an international scale:— For a considerable time past the people ,of New Zealand have been ■urged to ‘ buy British goods,’ And the Press has. done what it might to encourage the public to give as much support as possible tc the Old Country* to which New Zealand owes, so much more than money, and in whose strength and welfare the Dominion £ progress and prosperity are deeply involved. There are, however, 'two sides to the British goods campaign. as is pointed out in the London Spectator in an article with the terse j heading < “ Buy British ‘ Goods ’—But Why Not Sell Them ? It, is all very well, .the Spectator in effect says, to urge the inhabitants of the - British Isles to buy British goods: but what about the need for selling British goods abroad 1 Is Britain adopting the means of doing this ? J The occasion of the Spectator’s article was its receipt of a letter from a well-known and very able American who is a great admirer of England, and who is depressed when he sees Britain missing great opportunities to restore its trade. He is constantly travelling between England and America, andalthough he meets spores of Americans going to England to< sell American goods, he has met only two. oi three Englishmen on their way to America, to sell English goods. Pei - hapS', t,hough, the English trade relies on advertisements,? But no. For the Spectator’s correspondent says't— Tn a recent number of Punch I counted seventeen American advertisements of goods produced in America, like .the Waterman pen, Colgate’s soap, Remington type--1 writers, and things like that. In . the current number of Life, wnich more or Less corresponds to Punch, I fAil to find a single advertisement of any English goods. When 1 was in England in the fall. I think on every postage stamp were printed the words. ‘ Buy British. Goods.’ which surprised me. I thought the words should be ‘ Sell British Goods.”

“He 'adds ,that the curious thing is that British goods are. popular in America, and American goods, with few exceptions, are unpopular in England, Another striking ■ fact which he ■mentions is that *in America, from tjie Atlantic to the Pacific,, you will find Roger and Gallet’s soap in practically every chemist’s. <on the other hand, we don’t even hear any more Of Pear’s soap.’ ' Isn’t theire, he naturally asks, some. way. for England merchants, to organise and get some of this trade ?

The lesson of this American story< is plain, and it Is this: That.ordinafy merit alone will not istell goods, because the consumer generally cannot spend time and money (enquiring and testing for. himself what goods he had best buy. The American trader learned long ago- tliat he. must look for customers : the. customers will not look for him. He has learned the value Of publicity- There is a prejudice in England against Americangoods, and he deals with it'by -taking special pains with his English publicity work. There is, ample room for . improvement in measures.. taken by British traders to assist with publicity, tiie inclination, of New Zealanders to buy British products. And we may remark also that our local manufacturers;, who are anxious to have New Zealanders give their preterance to New Zealand-made articles, cannot achieve their ends- unless they learn the’ value of effective advertising, and the maintenan’cei of a steady appeal to those who have money to spend.”