Out and Home. By "The Extractor."
Page 15
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Get Out and Get On, "There is always plenty of room at the top" is becoming a trite saying. It is astonishing to me all the same that there is a dearth of really good men in the selling side of the motor business, that is to say, the outside selling men. Why the young men shouici prefer indoor avocations at a relatively low remuneration when, with aggressive work, out and about, a reputation for selling can be established, I do not know. The prospect of a salary and commission has no enticement for many, and they are just the men who will complain dismally that they remain inadequately paid. Take, the solid-tire business now : this is growing so rapidly that the output two or three years hence will probably be double that at the present time, for the obvious reason that business vehicles are being run over, not picked roads, but all sorts of surfaces on every working day. Active, pushing, popular men are going to secure from users and manufacturers the lion's share of the trade for their respective firms, and there is solid remuneration for the men who can make a respectable turnover. This is surely preferable to remaining indoors waiting for Customers and mourning the fact that one's salary is but small. Large pay must necessarily go to the man who influences business, arid he is the man who goes outside and makes the acquaintance of his customers thoroughly, who turns the scale in favour of his particular commodities. I am delivering this lecture because I see so many men who miss their opportunities because they dare not venture on to the outside selling staffs. In another paragraph on this page I give some particulars of two instances which I know of, and which deserve most careful consideration.
No Otie-Nied-App:y Unless Some while ago two solid-tire concerns were requiring fresh travellers, and enlisted the help of this paper. Now, another large company indicates to me the need for two really good men, one for London, and one for the Provinces, to push the sale of solid tires. A good salary and commission will be paid to firstclass, live, serious, business men. It is not necessary to have been in the tire business before, but they must have business knowledge, preferably acquired in the motor industry.I feel sure this is a choice opportunity. Letters addressed "Serious," care of this paper, will be forwarded.
Burnside and His Latils..
"Whether I fight for the Queen or the Pope So long as I fight, that's sufficient, I hope."
The above lines from an old Irish song come to my mind somehow in connection with Mr. Massey Burnside, the subject of our sketch this week. I do not suggest for a moment that he has especially pugnacious instincts, but if he was doing battle you could imagine he was engaging in it for the pure joy of it. Burn-side comes from old Irish stock, an equal mixture of north and south. He has had a fine grounding of engineering experience, first of all for some years on the marine side in Clydebank, and then with Comb, Barbour and Comb, Belfast, where he essayed in turn the
roles of coppersmith, tinsmith, and blacksmith, in addition. to the usual routine. He joined his brother with the isenard road train some Mx years ago, and tells of some quaint experiences during his journeyings with the itenarci. He has taken an. absorbing interest in the Latil front-drive for some time now, and he took up the management of that company on its formation. Because he so strongly believes in the front-drive principle, he: talks enthusiastically and convincingly on the subject. In his hands the Latil is slowly gaining a foothold in this country. He tells me the United states are taking them in large numbers, and would take almost their entire output, but he wants his share of the British market for the excellent reason that our Dominions, Colonies, and Dependencies, follow the Mother Country's lead, and not America's, especially in commercial motoring.
Burnside's ready smile and delicious brogue are becoming very familiar amongst large users, and also amongst his trade opponents. He has persistency • doggedness if you will—together with good humour that cannot be denied.
Wanted, an Air-cooled," Extractor ".!
There is another matter. I indicated some while ago that I was looking for an assistant in my own department here. Although a good many applications reached me, to the writers of which interviews were given, the exact man required has not yet appeared on the horizon. Let me explain again that some knowledge of the motor business is preferable, though not altogether essential ; he is not required for journalistic work, but to represent us outside, purely on the business side, by which is meant the advertising department, a by no means unimportant section of a paper such as this. In this case, commission does not CT enter into the question at all. An , adequate salary will be paid to the (L give right individual. I shall be glad to give personal interviews to as many ) as possible, and will devote one
evening next week to this, so written .1/ applications should he immediately (addressed to "The Manager!'
Battery Developments.
"It will be the largest motor factory in Great Britain," said Mr. F. 0. Pullinger to me last week, as we chatted about the progress of the Arrol-Johnston building at Dumfries. T. C. R had just arrived in town from Dunifries, after a, gathering of his agents up there to discuss important developments. It will be found that the commercial side of this progressive business is going to take a big step forward very shortly in popularising battery-driven vans,
etc. For in addition to the petrol vehicles, Arrol-Johnston and Co. are devoting considerable attention to the question of the electrically-propelled vehicle in Britain. I do not think I am disclosing information prematurely when I state that the interests of the Arrol-Johnston people are closely bound up with the much-boomed Edison battery, from which many great developments may now be expected. I have heard a lot in my time about the wonderful things that the cell will do. T. C. P. of all men can be trusted to get it all