"Last May a firm manufacturing metal goods attempted to enter the culvert field in Western Canada. We sent out a letter to every Councilor in Manitoba and Saskatchewan showing the weakness of its culverts. It looks as though our letter settled all chance of selling the kind of culvert it was making, for it immediately quit the campaign for business. We do not think a single culvert was sold.
"The same company is again making an effort to enter the field, and we would be pleased to see it get a nice business If it sold a good culvert, but as long as it sells anything like the one now advertised we shall most vigorously oppose it because we are certain the culverts will not give satisfaction, and that will mean purchasers will be very much disappointed, and will have a tendency, as a result, to be opposed to all metal culverts; their disappointment will be so great that it will react against our company.
"Look at the illustration in the magazines of the nestable culvert—a man is pinching the metal on the lower section of the culvert back upon itself. There are very few machine shops in the country in which the heavy metal we use could be bent. At any rate, to bend back our metal, you would require a machine shop wherever you were doing your road work. Take a sledge hammer the next time you see one of our culverts and prove to yourself the task that would be before you to bend our culverts. You simply could not do it."
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The farmer who receives such a letter, if not entirely convinced, is at least reasonably certain to make an investigation before placing an order with the firm selling culverts that can be bent by hand. And it is probably a good thing for the mail-order business that such efforts are being made to protect the public against inferior goods.
Experience has shown that while offers to the farmer must be clear cut, the chances of pulling an order are increased if he is given a number of options as to price, plan of payment and different kinds of items open to purchase. He does not like to be restricted to one particular item, or one arbitrary form of payment. This fact was long ago recognized by the large catalogue houses, for they aim to offer several kinds and sizes under every item listed. It has been found that where both the number of items and options in a line is doubled or otherwise substantially increased, that the percentage of sales immediately increases.
A company in Canton, Ohio, putting out a line of sprayers, offers on the back of its order sheet four sprayers of different prices and four forms of making payment for each sprayer. This gives the prospect sixteen options—one of which will look best to him, when he sends in his order.
This information is printed on the back of the order sheet, where it can not get separated from it and where it will have a "last appeal."
The mail-order houses have been vieing with each other in trying to find unique appeals to the farmer. To this end profit-sharing plans and various premium schemes have been introduced, in some cases with phenomenal results.
While the farmer is no different from the ordinary public in wanting to get his money's worth he is open to conviction through smaller devices than is his city brother. And the "novelty device" appeals to him strongly.