SELLING POWER FOR ALL PURPOSES.
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Commercial Vehicle Agents Have Many Opportunities of Selling Stationary Engines and Lighting Plants.
By "Vim.'
RECENT EVENTS in the labour market have directed the attention of all who use power in connection with their businesses to the desirability of being independent, so far as possible, of centralized energy and fuel resources. The rationing of gas and electric Currentr which had to be instituted in many districts owing to the dearth of coal, brought. home to industrial consumers the fact that the possession of oil or petrol engines would have permitted them to carry on without the slightest difficulty. Tho obstacle was temporarily overcome in many instances by setting motor vehicles to work at driving maohinery, and astute farm tractor agents -were able to reap quite a nice harvest from supplying them to small manufacturers who were faced with an almost complete stoppage of their plants. But such methods of obtaining power, while satisfactory enough in a great emergency, will not stand in competition with the ordinary public supplies_of energy and the means of energy, and it followS that, as quickly as can be managed, these temporary expedients are being discarded in favour of the old methods, Agents Should Push -Stationary Plant. ,
In every direction, this country is ripe for development by enterprising agents who arc prepared to push the sales of stationary oil and petrol engines. The business that has been done so far is absolutely negligible when compared with 'what is ready to be done. This, indeed, i3 the psyshoIogical moment for propagating that 'business, because all the potential purchasers have been thinking as one man for sonic time past that it might pay them to install their own "self-contained power plants, and so become, within limits, the masters of their own fortunes. Every week that passes now is blunting that thought, for, in these more or less secondary matters of their trades, -the line of least resistance is the one that is almost always followed. In a few months' time, it will require another coal Miners', gas-workers', or electrician's strike to bring the question into prominence again.
A motor agent who has a good circle of commercial, vehicle owners for customers is in. a fortunate position, for it is amongst this elass of car user that the largest market for stationary power plants exists ; andsince he is already in touch with the possible buyers he should be' able to secure their orders. The selling and maintenance of oil and petrol engines for workshop and lighting purposes are branches of the motor trade which can very suitably be run in conjunction with the selling and maintenance of road vehicles, and, narticularly1 of farm tractors, but they must be handled in the right way.
On the .sales side, it is, of course, necessary to understand thoroughly what types of engines are -being made, what their respective merits are, the costs of running them, -delivery dates, cost of putting them. down, and so on. ' All this information can be obtained by the simple process of writing to the makers, after which it can be readily assimilated by anybody who is thoroughly familiar with cars of all kinds. There is not a quarter of the knowledge essential to a motor vehicle repairer to be acquired in order to master the functions and scope of the
typical stationary oil or petrol engine, because the latter work under nearly ide'alistie conditions and because, in their design, simplicity has been kept well to the front. Such items of practical knowledge as pulley diameters, belt widths and speeds, and the like can be found in any handbook on engineering, if the' are not already known to the salesman.
Salesmanship, I have found from ray own experience, does not present any serious problems, se long as one has a proper commercial-vehicle salesman in one's employ to undertake the job. The " knut " type of salesman, with little interest in anything above how many miles an hour a car will do " all out," is as useless in selling stationary engines as in getting orders for vans and lorries. • " Knuts " and buyers or these kinds of commodities have nothing in common. On the other hand, the type of salesman who goes down with inen who look at things from an 2 s. d. point of view is exactly the right type to sell either stationary erqines or commercial vehicles. A more serious proglem is putting one's hand on the right sort of mechanic to place in charge of the work of installing engines when they have been sold. A good man who is used to putting down engines will make a first-class job of an installation in less time than the average motor mechanic will take to complete a botched job which will he both an eyesore and a constant source of trouble for ever after. A mechanic who has served his time with one of the big gas engine manufacturing firma, and who has spent several years in installation work, especially if he is no longer young in years, is usually the kind of fellow to save an. agent any amount, of worry and to add to the firm's• reputation. -Unfortunately, the species is becoming :somewhat rare ; but single specimens are to be picked up by those who will take the pains to search for them, and, when found, they are worth keeping.
Power Plant for Electric Lighting.
Besides engines for driving shop plants, engineand-dynamo combinations are also in demand for electric lightingpurposes. Several very fine combinations of engine and dynamo are being manufactured by British concerns who are, perhaps, better known as manufacturers of commercial vehicles. These lighting sets form an attractive selling line for any agent to handle, and deserve to be pushed with far more energy than has been devoted to them hitherto. For factosies and shops they are remunerative investments, both on account of their low cost of running and the power they confer on their owners of being independent of outside sources for a. supply of artificial light. Before very long, the evenings will be drawing in again, so there is no time like the present for making provision against the winter months. In addition to commercial buyers, it must not be forgotten that thousands of -people who live in the larger houses on the outskirts of towns and in the country, and whose grounds are sufficiently extensive to permit them to elect power-houses at a distance from their own and their neighbours' houses, so that the slight noise produced may not be a nuisance, would purchase lighting sets if the suggestion were presented to them in the right way,