You are going to integrate all the facts you've collected about your career and yourself into a campaign to sell your services. This will take time and effort. For you are selling the most complex product ever made -- yourself.

Sure, you can most likely find a job without all this preparation. But you must decide if you want a job or the job. You might even get the job you want with an off-the-cuff search. We can only say that all our experience indicates the odds are far more in your favor when you go through this step-by-step approach.

A case in point, and an excellent one, is that of Edward Bronson. He is a tall, sensitive man, and when we met him discouragement was plainly written on his face. He was out of work. He hadn't been out long, only a month. But that month convinced him he had no hope of finding anything in his own line.

"But how could you even scratch the surface in one month?" we protested.

"It's a very unusual case," explained Mr. Bronson. "I'm a research chemist in one of the newer types of plastics. There are only eleven firms in the country where I can get the job I want. I just left one of them. I contacted the other ten and they all say, ‘Not a chance.' They all need what I can do for them, but they don't know it. So you can see, I'm completely stymied." <pg. 57>

"Stymied, perhaps. But one can play out of a stymie. Let's see if you can't lick this one."

With so few prospects Mr. Bronson had to devise an unusually fine selling campaign. He already knew no definite openings existed in these firms. Hence he had to create a demand for his type of service, then prove he was the man to meet that demand. This called for a high order of salesmanship.

Mr. Bronson based his campaign on careful research -- on individual study of each company, its needs, its problems, and the personalities of its executives. He picked the three most promising firms and made an intensive study of their products, the share of the national market held by each, their methods of distribution and display, their advertising. He sought personal introductions to several leading executives in each firm. He went back again and again with material of vital interest to them. He built three portfolios, similar in detail, but each one slanted directly at one of the prospects.

When his study led him to believe that one of the three firms was not in a good position to use the special service he wanted to sell, he substituted a fourth for it, and made a similar study.

Of course, this cost him much, much time and effort. He could have dropped back to less specialized work where the demand was greater, the income less, and the jobs came faster. But Mr. Bronson preferred to stick to his major goal. And in six months he created a position for himself in one of the ten firms.

Some four months later a second one sought him out with an offer. He did not care to change, but the second offer did cause his employers to give him a substantial increase in salary.

Without a carefully planned campaign Mr. Bronson was stymied; the campaign landed him neatly in the cup.

You may be in no position to wait six months, six weeks, or even six days. In that case you have to take any job -- fast. But you can still plan and carry out your campaign for the job you want on your own time. In such a case don't overlook the possibility that the position you want may exist in the place you now work. Should that be true, aim your campaign at your new boss.

"Agreed," you say, "I see the need to prepare a sound campaign. But what goes into a good campaign?" <pg. 58>

"What do you mean -- ‘good'?" we shoot back. "Good for whom? Good for a youngster just out of school? Good for a man who wants to convert from one field to another? For someone looking ahead in his present job? For someone out of a job?"

Quite clearly, every situation is different and every campaign must be tailor-made to fit the particular case. What is a good campaign for one may prove disastrous for someone else.

Don't overplay your hand. A good campaign does you full justice -- but is geared to your own level. A substantial portfolio that is quite in order for an executive with an impressive record, may seem presumptuous or overdone for a raw beginner. An eye-catching stunt may hit the jackpot for a copywriter or publicity man but seem brash and undignified for a bank executive.

Your campaign material must represent you. Otherwise you defeat your own purpose. If someone else, professional or otherwise, writes your resumes or letters for you, they won't be you. They may give impressions that won't stand up in the subsequent interview.

Arnold Craigin, for example, came to the Clinic for help in planning his interviews. The letter he sent out brought a remarkable number of good leads. Getting interviews was not his problem. But his interviews always went wrong. The employer always received him with interest but as the interview moved along the atmosphere changed and Mr. Craigin would find himself on the defensive.

We asked to see the letter. Then we discussed his experience as one would in an interview. The two did not fit together, the letter and the man.

"Did you write this letter yourself?" we asked Mr. Craigin. "Why no," he replied. "I hired someone who does direct-mail advertising to work it up for me."

No wonder the interviews went sour! The picture that letter painted was evidently attractive to many employers. But it was not a true picture of Mr. Craigin.

Oversold by that letter, Mr. Craigin couldn't measure up in the interview. This put him at such a disadvantage that he couldn't sell the excellent experience he did have.

Besides, what matters most is what happens in your mind when <pg. 59> you do it yourself. The increased confidence you gain is of greatest value in making you a more positive personality. After you have done all the thinking and work you can do with advantage, then use skilled friends or good professional resume writers as critics and editors.

With this necessary digression out of the way, we can now examine the elements of an adequate campaign. We will list them first, then discuss each in detail:

1. The Sales Presentation
  A. The portfolio
  B. The resume
  C. The letter of endorsement
  D. The prospecting letter to get you leads
     a. The shotgun approach
     b. The rifle approach
2. Third Party Letters
3. Master letters for answering ads
4. Situation-wanted ads
5. Your prospect list
   A.  Researching your market

You are not likely to need all these campaign tools. But after studying each case carefully, you can choose more wisely those that fit your situation.

Remember you are a product on the job market. Now the way a master salesman sells is not by looking to build his own income. Rather, he offers services that will benefit his prospect. The better he knows his product, the more invitingly he wraps it in service form, the more he will sell.

Keep that image before you constantly. You are a product. Know yourself thoroughly. Package yourself as a service to your prospect. Make him want to buy, make him feel you're giving him a chance on a good thing. Don't ask him for a job, offer him a deal he can't afford to pass up. <pg. 60>

This does not mean you must be brash about it. On the contrary. Be sincere and convincing. Above all be specific. Prove you have a service he needs.

"What do my prospects want? How can I show I have it? What else have I got they can use?"

In those questions lies the secret of a successful campaign. And remember, you have the answers in your work sheets on the job requirements and your own assets. And now, those illustrations you dug out will have redoubled value. They will be your service package.

An interesting case of the power of selling a service came to light when we conducted a job clinic for the welfare clients in Greenwich, Connecticut, during the depression. The Welfare officials arranged for the Clinic in order to help their clients find employment.

After our first session Stanley Koloski, a pleasant, weatherbeaten man of about sixty, stopped to talk with us. In broken English, but with touching sincerity, he told us how much he hated being on relief. But elderly and unskilled as he was, he could find no work anywhere.

Regularly, he made the rounds of the fine private homes in Greenwich asking if he could mow the lawns. He liked to mow lawns because it kept him in the open and reminded him of his days on the farm in the "old country."

Besides, he added, he knew all about crab grass, how it spread and ruined lawns, and how to combat it. Still, while he was hired occasionally, he did not earn enough to warrant giving up his relief checks.

"You say you know a lot about crab grass," we said, "could you tell us something about it?"

For all his broken English, Mr. Koloski gave us what amounted to a scientific lecture on the propagation and control of crab grass.

"You certainly know your subject," we told him. "But now, Mr. Koloski, what do you say when you go around ringing doorbells?"

"I just ask. 'Can I mow your lawn, lady?'" he replied.

"You've proved you have a lot more to sell than just mowing a lawn. You have a real service to offer. With your knowledge of how to control crab grass, you can save expensively seeded lawns <pg. 61> from ruin. And you can always keep them looking their best.

"The next time you go out," we went on, "why don't you try a different way? Study each lawn before you ring the doorbell. Then you can say, 'Madam, I'd like to show you how I can save your lawn from ruin.'

"Point out all the spots infected by crab grass. Explain why you've got to root it out regularly. You can finish up by saying, 'If I work on your lawn one day a week it will always keep in good shape and you'll never be bothered by crab grass. And it will only cost you $10 a week.'"

Mr. Koloski thanked us and said he would try it that day. He practiced on his case worker first in order to get his presentation down pat. Then he made his rounds again.

The response was overwhelming. Not only was he able to get off the relief rolls but he got enough work -- with regular clients at regular times -- to hire an assistant.

[Barrett Havens, General Manager]

Stranger still was the case of Barrett Havens. For he was an executive with a remarkable sales record and all-around business ability. And he brought to the Clinic one of the finest written presentations we have ever seen.

Mr. Havens had been assistant to the owner of a wood-working plant. In reality he was general manager. Under his leadership the firm's sales curve went up consistently. He developed new product and new markets for old ones and almost completely eliminated the seasonal ups and downs of the business.

He had also been a trade association executive and had worked out plans that brought the industry new markets and considerably improved profits. These accomplishments were strikingly told by copy and by charts in a handsome portfolio.

All of us at the Clinic applauded this presentation. We could offer no criticisms. "But," said Mr. Havens, "the portfolio can't be good, because it's not doing the job. I've gone over it with prospect after prospect. They praise my work and this presentation. Often they refer me to some other firm."

Yet the interviews were always too short to indicate any real interest in him. He was at a loss to know why. So were we.

Then someone in the audience took the floor. "I think this is a wonderful portfolio," he said, "and Mr. Havens should certainly <pg. 62> keep on using it. But aren't we all forgetting one of the key principles you always pound home here? Is Mr. Havens using his portfolio to sell a service or to look for a job?"

That was all the clue we needed. The group suggested that instead of going through his presentation with the prospect, he ask questions: Had they been able to level out their seasonal slumps? How did they develop new products? Had they been able to get appreciable help from their dealers in demonstrating and displaying their products?

Such questions would start the conversation on the prospect's interests. Mr. Havens could then tell of similar problems he had met, dramatizing his results by reference to those parts of his portfolio which illustrated the points under discussion. Mr. Havens had already grasped the idea on his own.

A week later we received a letter from Havens telling of one interview in which the prospect became so interested he canceled his luncheon date in order to continue the conversation. Several other interviews were equally satisfactory.

Once he looked upon himself in the same light as other products he had successfully marketed, Mr. Havens had no difficulty in appealing to his prospects' self-interest. He showed them how his experience fitted their problems -- and got his job.

Quite often men and women of executive caliber run into the same snag. They are so used to dealing with commercial and industrial services that they can't adjust to selling their own. All it takes is awareness of what a job campaign is and the skillful packaging of your material.

The Portfolio

When you put your campaign into motion, a letter designed to secure interviews will often be your opening shot. Everything else is by way of being follow-up, clincher material. However, since the portfolio is by its very nature the most inclusive form of presentation, we start our discussion with that.

A good portfolio will serve as a basis for everything you do in your job hunt. From it you will take the material you need for any letter you may write. It will form the backbone of the story you tell in your interviews. The portfolio itself can be used in the interview with telling effect. Skillfully handled, it can enable <pg. 63> you to steer the interview in the direction you want it to go. Perhaps its best use is as a "smash" follow-up to promising interviews.

A portfolio, or brochure, takes a lot of work, but it makes the fullest use of your talents. You can run a successful campaign without it -- in some cases it won't even fit. But where it can be used, it adds a marked plus-factor.

Working one up makes you so much more aware of your abilities, that the "sell" part of your campaign becomes easier. In the very process of preparing such a promotion booklet, you build yourself up for a better job. To illustrate:

Back in the depression days, Jim Russell, an old friend of ours, lost his Wall Street job. This stunned him; he never dreamed it could happen to him. He tried hard for a new connection, but times were bad. He didn't make much headway.

One night he and Mrs. Russell came over for dinner. Jim sat there, the very picture of discouragement. Inevitably, conversation centered on Jim's troubles and we all discussed the problem.

"Why don't you prepare a brochure?" we asked. "In that way you can dramatize your accomplishments."

"A booklet? Me?" he asked. "Whatever would I put into it?"

"Well, I think it's a good idea," Mrs. Russell chipped in. So we all went to work on Jim, drawing out of him all the things he'd done on his job.

At the beginning Jim was plainly skeptical. Then, as he got going and gave us illustrations of his work, he began to be amazed. He knew he had done his job, all right, but he never felt he had done anything special.

All the accounting records of his firm had been under his wing. As he told us about it, two things stood out.

He always made a practice of tracking down every financial problem the customers faced, and checking their financial standing. He gave all this important material to the appropriate members of the firm.

He also took it upon himself to handle every complaint that passed through his department. He would search out what underlay the trouble and see to it that the customer got a full and courteous answer. This was invaluable in creating and maintaining good will.

By this time Jim was busily writing down some of these stories. <pg. 64>

Since it is often effective to include a letter of endorsement in a portfolio, we suggested he ask his old boss for one.

"But be sure he makes it specific," we said, "something that will back up the story you're going to sell."

What followed was almost unbelievable. Jim went up to see his former employer. "Mr. Perkins," he said, "I'm working on a plan to get a new job and I wonder if you'd help me out."

"Of course," said Mr. Perkins.

"I think it would help if you wrote a letter about me. I've put down some things I've done for the firm and if it's all right with you, I'd appreciate your including them in the letter."

"Let's see what you have there."

When Mr. Perkins looked over the material, he was as amazed as Jim had been. "Hey," he said, "we'd better not lose you."

And then and there he went into an inner office to consult with his partners. When he returned, he offered Jim a better job than he had before and at a higher salary. Jim went back to take over direction of all records, customer contact, and correspondence.

Clinic experience discloses many other advantages a portfolio offers. It has, for example, a positive psychological effect.

We all tend to take a person on his own valuation -- when it isn't too blatant. If you fill a portfolio with variations on "I'm good, I am," unsupported by evidence, you will only repel your prospects.

But a portfolio prepared in good taste, no matter how modest the claims or the experience, supported by evidence rather than opinions unobtrusively shows that you set a high value on yourself, your services and your time.

A portfolio has the added virtue in that in itself it shows what you can do. Ruth Seamore makes this point in a letter she sent to us some years ago.

Ruth was a college senior at a time when jobs were difficult to get. She came to New York during her Easter vacation and attended a session of the Man Marketing Clinic.

There she heard how others had succeeded in selling their services. Though she lacked their experience, she did have the imagination to adapt the selling principles involved to her own qualifications. She dug out of her school record enough assets to justify telling her story in a portfolio. <pg. 65>

Into it went a record of her scholastic work; comments from her teachers; a record of her outside activities and student honors. And since she wished to become a statistician, she featured copies of several statistical studies she had made for the dean's office, together with a complimentary letter from the dean himself.

Ruth had no trouble getting the job she wanted. After she had been working for some months she sent us this letter:

The use of my portfolio was of great assistance to me in getting my job. It is probably not uncommon for an advertising man of experience to present his qualifications in such a manner, but it is seldom that a person just starting out takes that means of showing the qualifications he has. After watching the girls who apply for positions at our office, I am of the opinion that few of them make the most of what they have to offer. Either they give the appearance of having little interest in whether they get a job or not, or else they seem entirely too eager for anything in the way of work.

My portfolio helped me do away with the disadvantage of both these attitudes. It made it simple for me to show a definite interest in business and a particular kind of work. It helped me present my qualifications more clearly. It showed originality and initiative. The portfolio in itself was a very good example of the type of work I could do.

Ruth's experience raises another point. Many people regard the use of a portfolio as something unique to a person of vast background, or from a special field such as advertising or publicity. Actually, it can be used to good effect for a beginner and for those applying for modest jobs. In those cases, of course, keep it simple, keep it on your own level.

For example, a stenographer might put together just three or four neatly typed pages telling her story, together with several commendatory letters from former employers. And a beginner in a field where creative imagination counts might well do as Doris Blake did.

While she was still in high school, Doris knew she wanted to work with women's clothes -- either design them or sell them. So she chose a college that had special courses in this field.

She studied dressmaking, millinery, principles of design. In addition, she took several art courses and some purely cultural subjects. Upon graduation she got a temporary position as sales clerk. <pg. 66>

She then enrolled in the Tobe-Coburn School for Fashion Careers in New York City. There she worked on practical problems of fashion promotion under leaders in the field. During two six-week vacations she sold behind the counters of leading New York stores.

She talked with many people who worked in the field. She decided she would like to be promotion manager for a large store. Of course, she wasn't ready for it, but that was the goal she set.

She was told she needed a firmer foundation of actual selling before going into promotion. But she didn't want to go in as just another sales clerk and be left behind the counter. She wanted to work in many departments; she wanted the chance to have some of her ideas used, if they were any good.

So she welcomed a school suggestion that she make up a little folder to show she had assets not usually found among applicants for junior selling jobs. First she listed the qualifications needed for both the selling job and her eventual promotion position, and placed alongside this list ideas on how to show she had these qualifications. Here is her work sheet:

<pg. 67>

Based on this list, Doris described what she had to offer an employer, in seven short pages. She stapled them into a neat binder she made herself of heavy cover stock.

The employment manager of the largest store in her home town was so impressed with this selling portfolio that he hired her. She accepted with the understanding that when she felt ready for a transfer she would be given the next vacancy in any department she chose. Nor did she begin at the usual starting salary; her folder proved she deserved more.

Let us take a quick glance at Doris' booklet. <pg. 68>

AIM

The aim and purpose of this booklet is to present my training, qualifications, abilities, and practical training in some tangible form in an effort to attain my final goal -- an executive position in fashion retailing.

Naturally I understand that wider selling experience must precede advancement to an executive position. I would like an opportunity to serve on your executive training squad.

            Doris Blake

<pg. 69>

TRAINING AT THE TOBE-COBURN SCHOOL FOR FASHION CAREERS

One year course of coordinated study in all branches of fashion work, specifically directed toward a fashion career in retailing and directed by experts in fashion and retailing fields.

1. Specific and coordinated work in Merchandising, Buying, Fashion Coordination, Advertising, Display, Fashion Reporting, and Salesmanship, with outstanding personalities in each field as instructors.

Result: Practice in making buying plans, planning co-ordinated promotions and displays, writing advertising copy and fashion news reports, and recognizing and tracing fashion trends -- all assets for a fashion executive in a retail organization.

2. Contact with the New York ready-to-wear market through trips to outstanding Seventh Avenue and Uptown Houses.

Result: Acquaintance with the market for coats, dresses, sportswear, and hats; a knowledge of resources that are suitable for the clientele of a particular store.

3. Selling experience at two department stores for a four-week period preceding Christmas, and a three-week period preceding Easter.

Result: A knowledge of the mechanics of retail selling; practical application of salesmanship training; contact with a large mass of customers and their problems -- the very basis for successful merchandising. <pg. 70>

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

Sales experience in three department stores:

1. Carter's in Pittsburgh -- extra selling during June sales in 1940, in housedress department. Good sales record as compared with other extras. Called back for summer and Christmas work, but was out of city on both occasions.

Result: Experience in sizing up customers for Junior, Misses, Women's, or half-size dresses; ability to promote sales by very simple displays.

2. Macy's in New York -- pre-Christmas selling in 1940, in Youth Center, boys' and girls' dresses and suits to size 6. Superior sales record as compared with other extras. When asked by the school whether they would like to rehire me, Macy's answered "yes."

Result: Ability to apply salesmanship training to actual cases; ability to handle large number of customers and act quickly; ability to set up simple counter displays.

3. Bloomingdale's in New York--pre-Easter selling in 1941, in the College Shop. Excellent sales record. Personnel report stated "yes" on question of rehiring.

Result: Ability to please both mother and daughter. Experience in wardrobe planning and selection of clothes for all types, sizes, and shapes of girls. <pg. 71>

COLLEGE TRAINING Bachelor of Science Degree in Costume Economics at Larkspur College, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Standing -- Second in a class of about one hundred girls.

1. Specific technical training in Clothing Construction; Textiles; Millinery, Principles of Design; and History of Art, Costume, and Furniture.

Result: A knowledge of fabrics and the ability to work with them; the ability to recognize and execute fine workmanship in the construction of women's clothing; creative ability in designing on paper and working in fabrics; a knowledge of Period Art, Furniture, and Costume as sources for modern designs and promotions.

2. Psychology and Education, Social Psychology, Practical Teaching in Home Economics.

Result: A knowledge of human reactions, both in individuals and in groups -- an essential in judging customers and their wants; the ability to understand children; the ability to conduct a discussion, organize a class, present material clearly, and teach skills -- valuable assets in dealing with both customers and personnel.

3.  General academic training in English, History, and the Sciences.

Result: An all-round cultural background.

4. Store Service Education -- work in the nonselling divisions of one of Pittsburgh's largest department stores.

Result: A knowledge, through actual experience, of the work carried on in the stock room, Bureau of Adjustment, Personnel Office, Comparison Office, and Display Department of a store. <pg. 72>

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Making for Executive Ability, Dependability, Ability to Organize.

1. President of Costume Economics Club, a college departmental organization which planned meetings, student fashion shows, and social activities which would unite the various classes within the department.

2. Secretary of Mortar Board, national senior women's honorary organization, consisting of ten senior women outstanding in scholarship and leadership. Correspondence with the national officers of the organization and with school administrative officials comprised the bulk of the secretarial job.

3. President of the Women's Activities Point System, which required organizing a committee to control and record the activities of officers in all women's organizations on campus.

4. Member of the Student Senate, elective governing body for the college. <pg. 73>

PRACTICAL DESIGNING AND DRESSMAKING

For the past five years I have designed and made all my own dresses, suits, and coats without the use of a pattern, but by draping them on a dummy figure. I have also made dresses for several members of the family and for a school teacher, all with problem figures requiring skillful fitting. In doing this, I was entrusted with the choice of style, color, and fabric.

As a result of these experiences, I have a knowledge of fabrics and how to handle them, of various figure problems and how best to deal with them in choosing clothes, and of fine workmanship in clothing construction. <pg. 74>

LARKSPUR COLLEGE
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

April 25, 1941

Miss Julia Coburn Tobe-Coburn School for Fashion Careers New York City

Dear Miss Coburn:

Miss Doris Blake has asked me to write you about her work here. I am delighted to speak a word for Doris, as she is one of our outstanding students.

Her art teachers believe that she is talented and imaginative. Surprisingly, her standing in her other studies is equally high. She will graduate second in her class of 103 girls.

She is popular with students and teachers alike. She was elected secretary of Mortar Board, a national honorary society which is composed of just ten members of the senior class who are outstanding in both scholarship and leadership. She was elected by the students a member of the Senate, their governing body. She was president of the students' point system, which seeks to prevent any one student from overloading her time with extracurricular activities. She was elected president of the Costume Economics Club and served on many committees.

As you will recognize, these honors indicate an ability to take responsibility, to get on well with people, and to turn out a good day's work. Miss Blake gets things done and she does them well. To use a somewhat abused phrase in the student manner, she is "tops."

Sincerely yours,

Elizabeth Taylor
Dean of Women <pg. 75>

For the most part Doris makes a fine job of it. Note how she points up her school work and her summer experience in her "results" paragraphs. These very clearly depict the skills she developed and the talents she has.

Then read the last paragraph of the Dean's letter of endorsement. Observe how neatly the Dean spells out the relationship between what Doris has done in school and what she hopes to do in business. This is an important principle to follow. For when you can relate the problems you met and solved in the past to the job you seek now, you arouse your prospect's interest.

In her opening statement, "Aim" p. 69, Doris slips up just a bit. Pointing to her long-range goal is, in itself, an excellent idea. It indicates she will bring real zest to her work. But she should have wrapped this statement up in terms of her prospective employer's interests, not just her own. She might have said, for example:

My aim is to place at your service the selling skills and display techniques I developed through my department store experience and my training at Tobe Coburn. In helping you build up your women's wear sales I know I will also be moving toward my eventual goal, an executive position in fashion retailing.

Naturally . . . etc.

This says somewhat the same thing as the original. Yet obviously it is not the same. The difference lies in underlining the offer of a service.

Doris' booklet was so well conceived that its virtues more than balanced its slight defects. This is highly instructive. For no sales presentation can be absolutely perfect. But as long as you are aware of and follow the principles of good selling you need not fear an occasional slip.

What should go into your portfolio? What are the principles that underlie a sound one?

It may be best to approach these questions indirectly. Let us analyze a number of portfolios that clicked. As we take them apart, probe into their weak spots and search out their strengths, both the underlying principles and a checklist of specific content should emerge. We can then tie everything together into one neat package. <pg. 76>

Newspaper Advertising Manager

Let's begin with Bill Grogan. Bill prepared one of the best portfolio campaigns we have seen and it is well worth careful study.

It was toward the end of World War II, while he was still in the Navy, that Bill Grogan dropped in at the Man Marketing Clinic in New York. Tall and lean, the humorous twist in the corner of his mouth belied the solemn look he bestowed upon us.

"Do you think I might pick up a few pointers here on running a job campaign from the deck of a ship?" asked Bill. "I expect to be shipped out again soon and maybe I should be thinking of other things. But I'm a little afraid the best jobs will be gone by the time I get back. So I'd like to do something about it now. If I can."

"Why not sit down and see how we do things here?" we suggested. "Then you might ask some questions and work up a plan."

"Thanks," said Bill. "I'll be all ears, I can promise you."

After listening to the ideas tossed around the Clinic and to the discussion that arose around a couple of questions he asked, Bill decided that a "prospecting" letter followed up by a portfolio was his best bet. (He would not, of course, be available for an interview.)

First he researched his market. He knew he wanted to work as advertising manager for a paper in the West or Southwest. With this in mind he visited the American Newspaper Association. On talking things over with a few people there he drew up a list of nineteen promising prospects. These were papers that seemed likely to grow in the postwar future.

Then he went to work on letter and portfolio. Here is the letter be wrote: <pg. 77>

U.S.N.
Armed Guard Center
New York, N. Y.

Mr. Leslie Grainger
Publisher, Dallas Post-Herald
Dallas, Texas

Dear Mr. Grainger:

When this war's over I'm pitching my tent Southwest. The spot in particular I'd like to stake my claim is in the advertising department of your newspaper -- especially as advertising manager. As a result of some talks with the American Newspaper Association, I feel your paper is going to grow after the war, and I think I can help it on the way. Here are some reasons why:

For one paper I built mid-week food advertising from nearly nothing to thirty per cent of the town's gross weekly.

For a shopping paper I planned, laid out, edited and sold most of the advertising for the Fall Home Furnishings Edition in two colors.

I planned and executed a campaign for national advertising that added twenty-five regional accounts at national rates.

A brief glance at my experience: Owner-publisher in college. . . . Four years with Centertown Publishing Co., advertising manager of group of four allied papers. . . . And, later, advertising salesman handling store accounts for the Kansas City Shopping Dispatch.

That can't tell the whole story, but it gives you an idea of the kind of story I could tell. I'd like to show you I am versatile enough to grow, and have experience enough to make that growth sound. In lieu of a visit with you, which my service in the Navy prohibits, I have prepared a small folder on my experience and what I have produced. Won't you let me send that to you? When you read my story I think you'll want to help me stake my claim.

May I hear from you soon?

Sincerely,

William Grogan,
Y2c c/o Detail Office <pg. 78>

Now let us dissect Bill's letter and see why it produced results. His opening paragraph is beautifully paced. Go back to the first sentence and read it again. It seems to depart from the accepted canons of good business writing. For it speaks of some thing of concern solely to Bill himself. But mark, that despite this license, Bill takes no liberties with the principles of selling. His touch is sure and he is always master of the situation.

That first sentence may be unusual. But consider first that he's writing to newspapermen who appreciate a dramatic, storytelling approach. Beyond this, Bill demonstrates here his technical skill as an advertising writer and promotion man -- qualities pertinent to the job he wants. In short, he molded his approach to conform to the "feel" of the newspaper world.

Neither in his letter nor his portfolio does Bill depart from the matter at hand -- selling a service. But he saturates his pitch with his own unique personality, lets a flash of humor dart in and out the pages, and blends it all together in a way to command attention and respect. This is indeed individuality, but individuality subject to the best laws of selling.

We can't all do this. And when an attempt to be clever falls flat, someone else gets the job. Still, if you are trying for a position where creative imagination and good writing are at a premium, you should try to let those qualities shine through your presentation.

Now Bill goes on to ask for a specific job -- advertising manager. Being specific, as we know, always helps.

Casually he mentions "some talks" that establish his interest in the paper he's writing to, and just as casually he promises a benefit: "I think I can help it on its way." There upon he immediately becomes crisp and businesslike with his staccato: "Here are some reasons why."

No matter what test one may apply, this is superb selling.

You must first dangle a benefit before your prospect's eye or there's no reason why he should hire you. Offering a service is not enough, however. Your prospect wants to know if you can come through with the service you offer. Both promise and proof must register clearly, quickly, and convincingly.

Bill immediately followed his "I think I can help" with proof. And wisely he centered each statement of proof so that it stood out from the rest of the letter. <pg. 79>

With a flick of the pen Bill runs through his experience, avoiding the dry tabulation of dates and places ordinarily used. Then he builds toward his close.

See how much he packs into one line with the sentence that begins: "That can't tell the whole story. .

This hint of untold accomplishments makes for another deft appeal to his prospect's self-interest. Bill can afford this neat buildup because, as his portfolio shows, he has plenty to back it up with. Not only does this bespeak a quiet conviction of his own ability but he offers to send proof along via his portfolio. And twice at the end he asks for action.

The response was terrific. Nine of the seventeen sent for the portfolio. And after reading the portfolio, seven of the nine asked to see Bill himself upon his discharge.

Before moving on to the portfolio, one other point in the letter is worthy of mention. Bill addresses the publisher by name. Moreover, by mentioning his talks at the American Newspaper Association, he makes a direct reference to his prospect's paper.

We can state this as one of the very few absolutes you will find in this book: Whenever you send out a letter, resume, portfolio, or whatever, find out the name of the man you want to reach.

Don't send your presentation to "Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen" or "Personnel Department." Get the name of the owner or the appropriate department head. Address your letter to "Dear Mr. Black" -- or Mr. Jones. Of course, if you can't find the name, that's another matter.

Now for the portfolio. <pg. 80>

U.S.N.
Armed Guard Center
New York, N. Y.

Mr. Leslie Grainger
Publisher, Dallas Post-Herald
Dallas, Texas

Dear Mr. Grainger:

Thanks for your letter of interest in my claimstake.

Tbis folder is to give you an idea of the kind of work I am capable of doing in developing that claim. I think you will agree that the job of advertising is to sell merchandise. This folder is designed to show how I have done it.

It is an honest account of five years' experience in newspaper merchandising. While it is built almost entirely of incidents, the whole, I believe, covers a valuable background in newspaper advertising.

I could have used another five pages describing my wonderful personality and beautiful wife. But, frankly, I would have been lying about the former and unable to do justice to the latter. I have been able to sell because I know merchandising and am honest . . . and have been able to convince the cus-tomer of these things. <pg. 81>

Increasing Mid-Week Advertising

When I became advertising manager of the Centerville News and three small affiliated papers in 1938, it was like having a bear by the tail. We had no advertising because we had no pulling power, and no pulling power because we had no advertising. Chief local revenue came from a few days in the year--opening of school, graduation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a few other special-events days. The advertising we did have was bunched on Fridays and Saturdays.

A Study of the Situation Indicated

1. Institutional advertising should be good for the middle of the week when is wouldn't be lost in the hunt for bargains.

2. A few good merchandising ads would stimulate others who were running pointless copy that was little more than business cards.

3. There was no reason why certain classifications of want ads would not pull as well in the middle of the week as on the week end.

This is What We Did

We set out to demonstrate some pulling power. I planned a city-wide sale, "For One Hour Only." I helped merchants select goods, plan store displays. I publicized it, planned the merchants' copy in the paper. We packed the streets and stores and "shocked" both advertisers and readers into a realization of the paper's power in selling goods.

We started plugging want ads with copy and over the counter, aiming at both advertiser and reader.

We presented pictures of buying crowds with layouts in series as suggested campaigns to logical prospects. <pg. 82> Increasing Mid-Week Advertising

RESULTS

1. Fresh, sparkling copy replaced "rerun" ads, and readers started buying from institutional copy that had something to say.

2. Injection of merchandising food copy caused three grocers to liven ads and use more space, with increases up to 50 per cent.

3. The Want Ad columns grew gradually and continually because promotion was never dropped.

4. The Centertown News became a vital factor in planning any selling campaign, and on occasion carried more lineage than the week end opposition.

5. At the end of the first year the News showed an increase of 25 per cent in local revenue. <pg. 83>

Building for and with Lumber Yards

Lumber advertising in Centertown was chaotic. One yard ran twice a month with us, twice a month with the opposition. One was "going to start soon." A third wasn't even interested. All this in a town that had built one hundred new homes the previous year!

Since these dealers were so jealous there seemed no chance of getting them to work together, we set the campaign as three separate problems--one for each yard.

For the first I made a quick survey of the town, found nearly two hundred homes needing paint badly. Then I planned and laid out a summer campaign for painting, tapering it into Fall Planning and Winter Comfort to make it run the full year. Presented with a sensible campaign not outside his budget, he took it, doubling his space and running every week.

The second, who was building most of the new homes under ERA, was glad to subscribe to a program that helped him with his selling, brought him new prospects.

The third I was still working with on a program of farm improvement when I accepted a better job in Kansas City.

RESULTS

The first eventually increased his space four times and successfullv introduced a new paint into the territory.

The second was solidified in friendship and became an "exclusive" customer because of the response to his ERA campaign.

The third had been built into a more receptive prospect although I had not sold him up to the time I left. <pg. 84>

A Jeweler Learns a Better Way Than Appeasement

Missouri's largest jeweler, C. D. Plummer, appeased all papers with a little advertising, but did his merchandising in the Daily Express.

He was satisfied with the job the Express did for him. And he was afraid to try our paper with any large space because the Express hinted he would get poor position there if he did.

I set out to prove that he would get results from an advertising campaign in one of our papers, the Shopping News. Since our paper was practically untried with jewelry advertising, I induced him to take the minimum necessary to get a front-page box. I insisted on helping him select the item for the box and we finally selected a watch chain. He had ordered a hundred for the season, but the single ad had him turning away customers inside an hour. Another shipment the next week brought the same stampede on a repeat ad.

RESULT

Many salesmen can persuade a merchant to try a newspaper. But it takes one who knows merchandising to get him to try it successfully. C. D. Plummer's trial in the Shopping News was just before I left. Because he had a "supervised trial" he was pleased with the results and has continued to use large space in the two years since. <pg. 85>

Maintaining Grocery Leadership

In Centertown our unquestioned leadership in the grocery field made us the object of much sniping--cut prices and trade cut" advertising. Our problem was to stay far enough ahead to avoid a newspaper war. In order to maintain that leadership without cutting prices or accepting a can of peaches for an inch of advertising, we worked out a three-way campaign:

1. To Keep Old Customers
we used both mail and personal calls to impress on them the value of our circulation. We made an effort to always have a part in planning a grocer's campaign, and to keep him planning.

2. To Get New Accounts Started

we strengthened our relations with wholesalers, jobbers, and jobbers' salesmen, so that we would know of any transactions pertaining to our city. Real estate men were also valuable allies in the campaign to get to the customer first. Twice we got an advance tip from another grocer.

3. To Add Small Accounts

we studied their problems and, wherever possible, found the solution in newspaper advertising. We were careful not to waste the small grocer's money on worthless advertising. <pg. 86>

RESULTS

Old Accounts Increased Space

One, who was running a split account, cancelled his other advertising and ran exclusively with us. Others increased space up to 25 per cent. Three New Food Accounts were landed by straight selling on the value of merchandising. Two of these used both our Tuesday and Friday papers. Neighborhood Stores  increased amount spent and several ran on continuity basis. <pg. 87>

A Druggist Didn't Like My_________ Boss!

Centertown druggists offered little as a source of revenue. One ran small space about four times a year to promote mail-order sales and the other ran twelve to thirty inches a month of institutional copy.

Net result was that neither got much tangible return from advertising. There was antagonism toward our papers because of the feeling we wanted to promote cutthroat competition. Most drug business went to Kansas City. The druggists thoroughly disliked each other.

Talking to each druggist individually, I asked them to study Kansas City drug ads with me. We compared prices, and I asked them to explain price drug advertising. We spent two months at this and reading trade journals.

At the end of that time I presented the more enthusiastic one with a program of regular advertising to run for one year. Then he broke out with all the pent-up fear of our motives, concluding his tirade with the exclamation, "As a matter of fact, I don't like your boss!"

I suppose I should have run, but instead I encouraged him to tell me all the things he didn't like about the boss, and when he had finished had him agreeing it was remarkable that a man as mean as that could build such a fine advertising medium. He wanted to know if he could talk my program over with his competitor, as he felt the town would be helped more if both of them advertised. Smart man!

Before he could talk with his competitor, I interviewed the other druggist with the same result. They were going to ask each other to start advertising!  <pg. 88>

RESULTS

1. The first customer used the program, but the second had it vetoed by his partner. However, the second started using "splurges" of price advertising to supplement his institutional copy.

2. Drug advertising increased four times.

3. Drug sales reached the highest peak in a decade. <pg. 89>

How I Increased National Advertising

Trying to give the department a workable policy, I set up the following source of leads to be cultivated:

1. Retailers.
2. Jobbers and Jobbers' salesmen.
3. Trade Journals.
4. Other newspapers.

This Is the Way I Worked:

1. The retailer, close to both the consumer and the manufacturer, was considered the best channel through which to exert pressure. Retailers were encouraged to request advertising of salesmen, to try to handle as many brands as profitable that would permit tie-ins. They were shown how their own sales and prestige of their stores could be increased by handling these.

2. No matter what a man was selling, I always tried to earn his friendship, show him how our papers could help him with his selling job. Wherever possible, I worked out conferences with the salesmen and retailer. The three of us worked together to sell the goods. In this way we trailed the staff working on any one account.

3. I begged, borrowed, or bought all trade journals possible that pertained to merchandising. From these I made notes of articles on new advertising programs starting, was often able to get the retailer to ask forthem when he bought.

4. Other newspapers gave clues to national advertising that might have been missed. I also checked for national classified and found a post card mailing brought profitable returns.

5. All this work was in addition to the regular correspondence with agencies and firms that did advertising direct. <pg. 90>

RESULTS

1. Our papers carried all national advertising in our town that was on a one-paper basis. This included such accounts as Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Electrolux, Conoco, etc.

2. Our papers carried most cooperative and local placement such as Frigidaire, General Electric, Cook's Paints, Seiberling, Buick, Folger's, Armour's, etc.

3. We opened over twenty-five sectional accounts such as flour, cereal, oil, paper goods, etc.

4. We carried Lever Brothers' campaign at full national rate when opposition wanted it at local. <pg. 91>

Ideas Kept Them Advertising

Both large and small advertisers like to be stimulated with ideas. If methods I used to solve problems mentioned in this folder seem but ordinary good business practice, perhaps the ideas submitted will give a key to why ordinary methods and hard work were so successful. Here are some of the ideas (most of them worked out with store or advertising managers) that clicked:

1. Third Anniversary sale for grocer--double truck in black with judicious use of red. A five-day program that appeared in the paper on Tuesday and Friday, with reprints (and item changes) on Thursday and Saturday. Ad was reproduced with lengthy article in N.R.O.G. bulletin.

2. Canned Foods promotion -- one that got pleasing comment and a picture from I.G.A. headquarters.

3. "What You Should Know About Vitamins" and "See Your Doctor First"-- informative drug ads on prosaic themes, but good enough to he reproduced in Publishers' Idea Exchange.

4. "A Tribute to ------," a series for a funeral home that received statewide recognition and built many friends for the firm.

5. Opening of new funeral chapel. A full-page formalinvitation, and another page of congratulations from outside. This followed the "Tribute" series and the two working together accounted for over one thousand guests registering for the open house. "Little Red Wagon" (ambulance) congratulations from Ford agency given partial credit for increase in use of Fords for ambulance service in Missouri.

6. "Slips That Pass in the Light," lingerie ad that has been reproduced or copied in nearly every city in the country. <pg. 92>

You Ask, "Can You Sell?"

Can you sell? is one of the most embarrassing questions ever asked a man.

Few of us are born salesmen. One man who worked for me, a meek, highly subjective, former rewrite man, hated to call on people, ask them to advertise. But he sold advertising because he used my way of selling. Since I found it hard to "drop in" and pick up an ad, I had to plan my work, have something to say and say it well. I had to plan my time so I wouldn't be tempted to drink coffee with my favorite customers.

Few "born salesmen" can offer more unusual evidence of the results:

1. I sold the town drunkard and the town bootlegger signatures on a prohibition ad.

2. I sold (by telephone) over one hundred signatures on a cooperative ad in two and one half hours.

3. I sold my insurance agency a series of ads.

4. I was the first (and only) in Centertown to sell paid advertising to medical doctors.

5. I sold "Dog Daze" and "April Fool" pages. These were such outright promotions that one merchant ran as copy, "Take my money, boys, but write me no ad."

I am no "pressure salesman" but know how to apply pressure judiciously to get maximum and long-lasting results. <pg. 93>

Four Months on the Shopping News

The four months preceding the outbreak of war, I worked as an advertising salesman on the Kansas City Shopping News.

I didn't burn up the town, but I did sell a contract on my first day and averaged one a week for the time I was there. I outsold all salesmen but the manager, the others including a former Scripps-Howard advertising manager. Some of the Things I Did

1. Opened display dry cleaning advertising.

2. Handled our only food account (about sixty stores).

3. Changed jewelry account from minimum to a merchandising user of space.

4. Opened two furniture accounts.

5. Wrote or edited all copy, planned and made up Fall Home Furnishings Edition, which ran in two colors. <pg. 94>

That's My Story

And that, Mr. Grainger, is my story -- the parts of it in which I thought you would be interested.

I've staked my claim. Now you certify it. Offers of a job as your advertising manager after the war would be welcome. But more welcome would be an invitation to talk things over with you if and when I get another leave.

I am anxious to know what you think of how I might fit into your postwar program. If there are any questions I may have left unanswered, please let me know, as I am anxious to settle as soon as possible the place where I am to build after the war. I can anticipate no more pleasurable place than your city.

Sincerely,

William Grogan,
Y2c U.S.N.
Armed Guard Center
New York, N.Y.

<pg. 95>

Note again how in the cover letter Bill creates a "this-is-for-you-only" feeling by once again addressing Mr. Grainger directly and by the thank you at the beginning.

In the body of the portfolio each illustration tells a complete story. The general situation he found; the specific problem he faced; what he did about it; and the results -- all come through in logical sequence. When the reader is through he knows Bill Grogan. He knows how Bill's mind works; he knows how Bill operates.

Mark well how Bill exploits layout techniques. None of his pages look crowded. When he wants to emphasize something, or stress a result, he surrounds it with plenty of white space. He indents, underlines, numbers. In one way or another he sets off his important points from the rest of his copy. And how adroitly he handles headlines! Look them over!

How I Increased National Advertising

This Is the Way I Worked

Some of the Things I Did

Maintaining Grocery Leadership

Results

Ideas Kept Them Advertising

That's My Story

For a change of pace a "story" head:

A Jeweler Learns a Better Way Than Appeasement

Plus a touch of humor:

A Druggist Didn't Like My _______ Boss!

All in all a truly superb job. Nor did it stop there. Some of the men on Bill's ship had their hometown papers air mailed to them. Included were four of the papers on Bill's list. Every so often he'd drop a line to the publishers commenting on an editorial or an interesting news item. In each letter he'd mention some of his refreshing ideas about selling space.

One publisher got so excited he cabled Bill -- at this point 10,000 miles away in the Pacific -- an impressive offer sight unseen! However, since three other papers headed Bill's list, he sent a cautious reply suggesting action be postponed until a face-to-face meeting could be arranged. <pg. 97>

Came the war's end and Bill was mustered out. Returning to the United States he looked up the home office of a great newspaper chain whose Southwest outlets had not answered his original letter. There he showed his portfolio to John Chandler, the national advertising manager for the entire chain. Immediately, Mr. Chandler mailed excerpts from the portfolio to three publishers in the chain. Each arranged an interview by wire. And soon Bill moved in as assistant advertising manager for the paper that headed his list.

Not everyone can write as well as Bill. However, when you compose your letter or prepare your portfolio you can strive for clarity, simplicity, sincerity, and conviction. You can help your reader spot essential facts at a glance. You can do this as Bill did by using headlines, by centering key sentences, and the like.

Above all, you can be specific. Be specific about the job you want; be specific about the problems you've faced, the work you've done, the results you achieved.

For example: "I did general typing in a statistical department" is somewhat vague. Much more precise would be: "I did tabular typing from rough-draft pencil copy of complex statistical reports with six to eight columns of figures. I also cut stencils."

Again: "I was in full charge of the company's library" doesn't say overly much. Whereas, you could paint a graphic picture by being specific. Like this: "I directed all the work in my firm's library. I recommended purchases; classified and catalogued all incoming publications; and prepared reference lists and bibliographies on engineering and machine shop subjects. I had full administrative responsibility for the functioning of the library and for the activities of the library staff."

Personnel Executive

Personnel executives have no sales curves to show, no sales quotas to beat, no spectacular savings that change red ink to black. As a result, their experience records often run to lifeless listings of functions any personnel man performs. Devoid of "sell" such listings are hardly calculated to inspire attentive reading.

Yet any personnel executive can make the businessman sit up and take notice if he sells his services in terms of good, hard cash. Ann Peters set out to do just this. And succeeded.

Let her portfolio tell its own story. <pg. 98>

WARNER MACHINE TOOL COMPANY
ROCHESTER, MASS.

July 21, 19--.

Miss Ann P. Peters
322 East Avenue,
Rochester, Mass.

Dear Miss Peters:

I have read over the statement of your activities with the Warner Machine Tool Company. In no case have you overstated -- however, there is much more detail that cannot be put into a paper of this kind, but which would add greatly to your value wherever placed.

May I say that what pleased us most was your self-reliant nature. Our confidence was supreme that your foresight and ability would solve whatever situation arose. Whoever may use your services would be paid in this respect alone.

I am sure that our employees reacted to your spirit as we did. The run-of-the-mill labor troubles, which in other plants around us developed into expensive shut-downs and strikes, were almost entirely avoided under your leadership.

You cut our labor turnover to a fraction of its former figure; your work in accident prevention secured for us the lowest base rate in the state, while our experience rating credit almost doubled.

We cannot praise too highly the work you did for us. Only the closing of our plant could make it necessary for you to be seeking another field for your talents.

If I can ever be of service to you, please command me.

Sincerely yours,

Brooks A. Warner

Brooks A. Warner,
President <pg. 99>

 

---

1926 TO DATE

Director of Personnel in the three plants of the Warner Machine Tool Company, located in Rochester, Mass., and vicinity.

Total number of employees on roll: 8,000 men and 1,000 women.

Excluding general strikes, which shut down the entire industry, these three plants ran continuously, while other plants in the same territory, because of labor troubles, had periods of complete shut-down.

There were many misunderstandings in the plants of the Warner Machine Tool Company. The following situations were successfully handled: Slow-Down in Production

It was my duty to go into the different departments, get both sides of the story, and bring about a settlement between management and labor.

I was able to bring production back to normal; and in many instances, working with the Production Managers, I was able to increase production to a higher point than production on the same types of machines in outside plants. Sit-Down and Stoppage Situations

I was called many times to the plants and told:

"The employees in department _______ have stopped work."

"The employees in department _______ are sitting down."

"The employees in department _______ have registered ‘In' and have refused to start operations."

"The men in the transportation department have refused to load up their trucks for deliveries."

On each of these occasions I would go to the department and, if the question under discussion could not be settled immediately, I was always able to persuade the men to continue with their work until such time as conferences could be arranged. <pg. 100>

Union Negotiations

From 1936 on, the entire industry signed up for a closed shop agreement and thereafter it was my duty to meet with the union officials and plant delegates when differences arose.

A number of times I was asked by outside plants for advice and help in settling their problems. Personnel Administration

I had complete charge of three Personnel Departments, which were organized in 1926. This included:

1. Interviewing and hiring all employees for factory and office positions.

2. Follow-up on the job, through probation period.

3. Job analysis.

4. Readjustment of all rates and wages.

5. Installation of system to handle increases.

6. Transfer and discharge of employees.

7. Organizing and directing plant hospitals.

8. Handling Workmen's Compensation Insurance and settling claims with employees.

9. Safety program in the plants.

10. Handling all labor difficulties.

Labor Turnover

Previous to 1926 the average monthly labor turnover rate was 4.2 per cent. This figure was constantly lowered until in 1936 the average monthly rate was 0.5 per cent. Safety and Control System for Industrial Accidents

The system installed for the control of industrial accidents resulted in a tremendous saving in the rate of Workmen's Compensation Insurance.

The base rate per $1,000 payroll was the lowest in the industry in the state. The experience rate modification was increased from 26.2 per cent to 46.1 per cent.

The first-aid hospitals and their ability to render service <pg. 101> promptly and properly resulted also in increased production by returning employees to their duties and by avoiding malingering.

Labor Troubles

The Big Strikes of 1927, which closed all the plants in the area, affected one of our plants.

On May 8th the flying fleets and picket lines came to the plant, where 3,500 employees were on roll. The plant had been running at full capacity; work was in process; customers were calling for their merchandise.

The management questioned the advisability of recruiting men and attempting to operate. I advised that we start recruiting men immediately. Within two weeks the plant was fully manned; deliveries had not stopped; material had not been damaged.

Although the picket lines continued for eight months, the morale at the plant was good and there was no further walk-out.

In the relations between employer and employee, differences are constantly arising. If they are not satisfactorily handled, they may become ISSUES, the foundation of industrial strife. Learning to think with the workers' minds and see their viewpoint was the foundation of "peace."

1923-1926

Employed at the Warner Machine Tool Company, in charge of Engineering Cost and Payroll Departments. Combined engineering force consisted of six hundred employees.

Installation of Cost and Control System in the Production Departments of the plants; later in charge of this department. <pg. 102>

---

Here is a woman who was director of personnel in plants employing nine thousand workers in a section known for its industrial turmoil. During a time of union slow-down tactics she "was able to bring production back to normal... (and) ... to increase production to a higher point than production on the same types of machines in outside plants."

This means money for her firm.

Further, her safety and control system "resulted in a tremendous saving in the rate of Workmen's Compensation Insurance." Lest she seem to be laboring the point, she opens her portfolio with a letter from her former chief verifying her whole story.

See how cannily her former employer plays up the money-saving features of her work. Like the "expensive shut-downs" she managed to avoid. In the "You cut our labor turnover" sentence he expands further upon this point.

Tact and diplomacy are essential qualifications for personnel work. But Miss Peters never says "I am tactful." She gives examples that say it for her.

In cases of dispute, she remarks, "I was always able to persuade the men to continue with their work until such time as conferences could be arranged." Her plants "ran continuously while other plants in the same territory, because of labor trouble, had periods of complete shut-down." Packing the portfolio with such specific accomplishments gives it the desired "service-selling" touch.

Keynoted by the opening letter of endorsement, Miss Peters' folder also sings of personality -- of her sturdy, "sell-reliant nature." As we saw in Bill Grogan's case, a dash of personality mixed in with your presentation gives it a tremendous lift.

College Girl Looks to the Future

Now that we've left Ann Peters it might be interesting to see what a young college girl did when just planning for a personnel career. While still in high school, Claire Small acquired a deep interest in industrial relations. Upon entering college she decided to use her summers to get practical experience that would help fit her for personnel work.

One day she called upon the personnel directors of three different firms that employed many women. In each case she asked <pg. 103> if she could send along some material that would allow for more meaningful study of her qualifications for summer shop work and for her long-range goal in personnel.

All three men expressed interest. So she sent each a folder made of a large sheet of heavy cover stock, folded twice. Inside it was one double sheet, somewhat smaller. She bound this home-made contraption with a needle and heavy thread, making a booklet of four pages. On the first page she pasted the letter on the opposite page (only the name differed in each case). <pg. 104>

Dear Mr. Morton:

It was interesting to talk with you about personnel work and employee relations, and I appreciate the time you gave me.

While in high school, I spent much of my senior year studying various vocations. I attended one of the Man Marketing Clinics quite regularly and took part in discussions of the qualifications of individuals present, and where they could best be used. Most kinds of white collar jobs were analyzed and many blue collar jobs. The more I attended these meetings, the more I realized that my main interest was in helping individuals to make the best use of their talents for the benefit of themselves and their employers.

Now I'm a junior at Columbus University. I plan to take every course I can which will enable me to understand employee relations better, and read on this subject on the side.

Each summer I want to do various kinds of work which will help me to be practical in my approach to these problems. As I told you, I would like to assemble packages or do other work in your shops which does not require too much training. My fingers are nimble, my hands and eyes work well together, and I like work. So I should be able to earn my pay as a new operator. And some day I shall hope to work in your personnel department.

I'm enclosing copies of personal data and my views on employee relations, as you suggested.

Very truly yours,

Claire L. Small <pg. 105>

---

PERSONAL DATA

Name: Claire Louise Small

Address: 105 South Elliot Place
City: Richmond, New York
Telephone: Richmond 5-0610

Nationality: American, English descent [Nationality and Age Information is no longer considered appropriate]

Age: 19 years
Height: 5 feet, 63~ inches

Weight: 128 pounds

Education: Richmond High School -- graduate honor student Columbus University -- two years, good grades

Foreign languages: Reading knowledge of French

Extracurricular activities:
Reporter and associate editor, Richmond Blade;
President, Richmond High Camera Club

Health: Excellent, have not lost a school day in two years <pg. 106>

VIEWS ON EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Employees and their managers seem to me to want more of the same things than is generally appreciated.

Both want fair play for all.

Beyond that both want an opportunity to express themselves, to have their plans for improving the business and eliminating grievances fairly considered. They want experience or training to fit them for better jobs, and consideration when opportunity occurs.

They do not want shop politics or favoritism.

Favorable conditions such as these do not entirely do away with labor difficulties, but they reduce them and make peaceful settlements easier.

Claire L. Small <pg. 107>

Clearly, Claire did herself proud. With no experience to offer she shrewdly concentrated on displaying interest and the quality of her thinking.

The very statement of her plans shows a capable mind at work. In her "views on employee relations" her forthright personality shines through.

Nor does she lose herself in day dreams of future glory. She remembers to sell herself into a summer job. "My fingers are nimble, my hands and eyes work well together, and I like work."

The personnel directors went overboard on Claire's potential. They passed her portfolio around to others in the field, and it created interest wherever it went. And well it should. For Claire showed a surprising grasp of the subject for so young a person. As a result, she had a choice of jobs where an eye would be kept on her for future advancement.

Many young people -- and adults too -- could do as well as Claire if they planned their futures as thoroughly as she did. And as Claire proves, anyone can prepare a portfolio at his own level.

Comptroller

Without much ado, he worked out a portfolio that served as the heart of his campaign for a comptrollership in a larger organization.

This is it. <pg. 108>

It is my belief that the two main functions of a comptroller are to floodlight the path of management with facts,

Facts by which to gauge performance,

Facts from which policies can be determined,

Facts as a basis for capital investment,

Facts for short- and long-range planning, and to interpret those facts.

To make figures vital, more than a knowledge of accounting is required--there must be an understanding of all phases of manufacturing and selling. Because I have worked as a laborer and as a foreman, because for many industries I have worked out definite problems of production and stock control and have devised factory accounting systems, and because I have had selling experience and have made sales surveys, sales figures have a real significance to me and I can interpret them with understanding. Attached is a record of typical results I have accomplished as comptroller or treasurer.

R.S. Chapman,
123 Valley Way,Larchville, N.Y. <pg. 109>

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A LOSS OF HALF A MILLION CONVERTED TO A HALF MILLION PROFIT IN ONE YEAR

The A.M. Jones Corporation, of Sterling, Conn., had been the pioneer and for many years the leader in its field. But for six successive years it had lost money, until it was no longer considered a factor in the industry.

A new president, elected the middle of 1927, was confronted with a lack of cash, high operating and selling costs, and a demoralized organization. Before he could proceed he had to have the facts. He found reports from the Accounting Department biased and inaccurate. One of his first moves was to appoint me Comptroller. A month later I was made Secretary-Treasurer. What I Found

Accounting methods were loose, resulting in glaring inaccuracies and a profusion of figures without meaning.

The executive staff was unnecessarily large and inefficient.

Credit losses were high.

Manufacturing costs were high.

Relations at the banks were strained. <pg. 110>

What I Did

I improved accounting procedures and prepared reports of the vital facts which were used by executives and staff in the retrenchment program.

I made a study of administrative costs and functions, as a basis for sweeping reductions in personnel. With the reduced force, the efficiency of the organization actually improved. The total saving in salaries was over $200,000; $50,000 of that was in my department.

I found that the credit losses arose from an over-all liberal policy toward a few large customers. I re-established the authority of the Credit Department and reduced losses.

I found a part of the high manufacturing cost owing to obsolete equipment. We avoided a modernization program requiring a $500,000 investment by making a contract for purchase of material partially processed. This also made a substantial reduction in the costs and in the "in-process" inventory.

A full explanation to our banks of our reduced costs and future plans demonstrated the soundness of the new management and restored credit for seasonal borrowing. Results

The first full year (1928) with approximately the same volume of sales, a profit of S596,000 was earned -- against a loss of $622,000 the prior year. The President wrote, "I want you to know how much I appreciate your help. Your power of analysis has made it possible for us to make proper decisions."

Further improvements throughout the organization enabled us to maintain yearly profits in excess of a half million dollars, even through the difficult years of 1930 and 1931. At the end of 1931 I resigned to become Comptroller of Standard Home Products Corp. <pg. 111>

OUTRIDING THE DEPRESSION THREE TIMES AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY

Since 1932 I have been Comptroller of the Standard Home Products Corp., manufacturers of food specialties. They sell wholesale, have a sales volume of over $5,000,000, and distribute east of the Mississippi. I reported directly to the President and was responsible for credits, insurance, legal and corporate procedure, as well as for all accounting.

What I Found

Manufacturing and distributing costs were not properly analyzed and lacked sufficient detail.

Expenditures were made by plant executives without reference to effect on costs.

Credit losses were high.

Insurance costs were excessive.

The bonus paid to plant executives was not related to profits earned by their plants.

There were no reserves to absorb current depreciation charges arising from overvaluations of machinery and equipment and from idle and surplus equipment.

Overcapitalization when the company was formed had resulted in arrears of $500,000 on the second preferred stock, with the prospect of its mounting higher; no dividends were possible for common. <pg. 112>

What I Did

I improved the accounting so that the President had the facts which enabled him to keep expenses in line with the depression curve.

I established reasonable limits beyond which home office approval was required on plant expenditures; thus no large sums were spent unless lower costs were assured.

I centralized control and reduced credit losses materially.

Through study I was able to get a better buy on our insurance. I initiated a concerted drive to reduce accidents, reducing costs over 40 per cent. The annual saving was $40,000.

Inaugurated a bonus plan based on plant profits which made executives as interested in profits as stockholders.

I worked out a plan which provided over $600,000 to write off obsolete and inactive equipment, thereby reducing depreciation charges.

We effected a reorganization plan that revamped the capital structure.

Results

This reorganization eliminated the preferred arrears, reduced dividend requirements annually over $200,000, and made possible the payment of dividends on the common stock.

The cash position of the company steadily improved, rising from a ratio of 2.1 to 1 to 4.8 to 1.

Current charges on depredation were cut S30.000 a year.

In terms of earnings, the company rode through the depression much better than the industry as a whole. This is shown by a comparison with the composite figures for eight leading competitors. Earnings for 1930 are used as 100.

                       1930   1932  1933  1934

8 Leading Competitors  100    35    26     25

Standard Home Products 100    10    75      78
<pg. 113>

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Note how Mr. Chapman dramatized his outstanding achieve ments with these eye-catching captions: A LOSS OF HALF A MILLION CONVERTED TO A HALF MILLION PROFIT IN ONE YEAR and OUTRIDING THE DEPRESSION THREE TIMES AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY He brings out the full value of his contributions to both firms by applying that excellent formula: what I found; what I did; what resulted. An executive to the core, he wastes no time on generalities. Instead, he lets incisive instances of what he has done build up a picture of the excellent comptroller he is.

Each line bristles with specifics. It reads fast, holds the attention, and leaves the reader with the thought, "Here's a comptroller who really pays his way!"

On his first page Mr. Chapman says, ". . . because I have had selling experience and have made sales surveys, sales figures have a real significance to me and I can interpret them with understanding"

This makes an important point, that here is a sales-minded comptroller. The selling experience is worked in as a definite asset to a comptroller, instead of being allowed to confuse the prospect by appearing as an irrelevant experience.

Most comptrollers, and most office managers as well, can show where they have saved money for their firms. But the idea of building, of increasing profits by adding something constructive to the business, of spending money to make more money, is much more rare. Stressing that sort of thing will help you stand out from the crowd.

Corporation President

It is easier to land a position as salesman than one as sales manager; it is easier to get a sales-managership than a position as general manager or president. The higher up the ladder you go, the greater the need for careful preparation and for extensive contact, and the longer the time usually required for transforming a lead into a definite offer. <pg. 114>

[Dwight P. Mallon, Company President]

Dwight P. Mallon had been president of two sizable corporations. In both he had inherited sharply declining sales curves that he turned skyward in relatively short time. Told in portfolio form, these would make impressive stories. As you can see. <pg. 115>

<pg. 116>