PLAN No. 356. NEWSPAPER OBTAINED BUSINESS BY LONG DISTANCE PHONE
The owner of one of the leading papers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, during the oil boom found that the Denver papers were obtaining all the advertising while his paper, which was in the oil district, was not receiving any business.
He knew it would be difficult, if not impossible, to send a salesman to Denver and obtain this business. The matter was discussed pro and con in his office as to how this business could be obtained. He told his advertising man about a plan of getting business by day-letter—upon which this man proposed they secure this business by long distance telephone. This the owner thought impossible but decided to try it. All Denver papers running ads. were gone over carefully and his $35-a-week advertising man began work. The business of that paper increased $4,500 a month for over three months and the $35-a-week man became worth $150 a week. The plan provided a new and very direct method of reaching the man who had the giving of the business. The salesman in this way had the right of way. He got a quick decision. In talking to the prospective advertiser he stated his name and the newspaper he was representing, then complimented the advertiser on the excellent copy he was running in the Denver paper and suggested that this ad. should be run in the Cheyenne paper, stating his reason why it would be an advantage. He was tenacious and intelligent and got the business before he hung up the phone receiver. This plan brought more than $10,000 worth of business to the paper in four months. Many claim that it is impossible, but it has been successfully handled. It cost something like $300 a month for phone charge, but that expense was made up by adding to the cost of the advertising space. He did not lose 5 per cent in his collections.
PLAN No. 357. CLUB PLAN FOR HOUSEHOLD GOODS
A man who had been in several suit clubs, where each member pays in $1 a week for a certain number of weeks, and a suit is drawn every week, thus getting it for whatever he had paid in, be it $1, $10, or $40, wondered why the same plan wouldn’t work just as well with sewing machines, stoves, ranges, carpets, rugs, etc., as with suits. After thinking it over he concluded it would. Then he started to work out a plan.
Having about $500 of his own, he rented a small store on a side street, fitted it up with a desk, and a few chairs, and then going to a wholesale furnishing house, he bought one of each of the articles above mentioned, the retail price of which was $50. He paid $100 down, and the balance he agreed to pay in installments of $50 per month. His discount on the articles was 25%. These he had taken to his store room and displayed to the best possible advantage.
Then he proceeded to secure 100 members of the club, each to pay $1 per week for 52 weeks, one member to drop out each week. These payments met the installments on the goods as they became due, and left a comfortable balance besides, which was duly deposited in a bank. Each month one member was awarded his or her choice of the articles bought, and another was bought to replace it on the floor of the club room.
Many states now have statutes against drawing of any kind so the statutes of your state should be first considered.
PLAN No. 358. STREET CAR TIME CARD ON CLOCK
A wide-awake advertising man in the Middle West worked out a plan that was good, inasmuch as it gave accurate information every hour of the day or night as to the exact leaving time of all the street cars. He obtained a dozen good sized clocks, set up in different parts of the city, and the Clock Co. kept them in perfect time for 50 cents per week each.