Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

18 Visual Education Motion Pictures in Business Doubling the Salesman's Sales A motion picture will do a salesman's hardest work and double his sales. A motion-picture machine never makes a mistake. The pictures can be understood by everybody, no matter what language they speak. The pictures teach through the eye, which is the best way to teach. The nerves of the eye are twenty-two times stronger than the nerves of the ear. When you talk to a prospect, most of what you say goes in one ear and out the other. If you would have him believe and retain what you say, teach him through the eye. — John H. Patterson, Late Pres. National Cash Register Co. Dayton, Ohio Creating Confidence in Life Insurance Moving pictures portraying the value cf life insurance have been most effective in developing on the part of educational institutions a receptive attitude which has led to the teaching of lifeinsurance salesmanship. Motion-picture films and institutional advertising have created a better public understanding of the ideals and aims of life insurance and the companies which provide it. — Winslow Russell, Vice-Pres. Phoenix Mutual Life Ins. Co. Educating the Sales Force A circulating library of 56 reels, covering the manufacturing processes oi many articles handled in department stores, was shown last year to over 200,000 salespeople. Through these films employees have gained a better understanding of the products they are called upon to sell, and the merchandise has sold better through the advertising value that the picture brought. — Director of the Bureau of Research and Information Nat'l Retail Dry Goods Assn. Encouraging Real Estate Investments A film to be used all over the country for the encouragement of homebuilding is being produced. Through the eye we can in an hour or two learn as much about how to solve the problems connected with building a home as in three or four days given to the study of technical books. A small brick house is now being built solely for the purpose of starring in the five reels of the film. It will picture, step by step, the story of how a man with a small salary went about raising the money, getting his plans, building the house, installing modern electrical equipment, and furnishing the different rooms. — Ralph P. Stoddard, Secy. Common Brick Manufacturers' Association of America Building Up Raw Silk Supply Six years ago, when I was in Washington, the representative of the American Silk Manufacturers came to me and said: "We need more raw silk. Our industry is growing so fast that we are endangered by the lack of raw silk. We are getting nothing from China simply because the Chinese won't reel the silk for standard looms. I have talked to a great many Chinese in the silk business, and they all tell me it is impossible. They say, 'The Chinese won't change; they have done these things in that way for centuries ; if you want to take them as they are, well and good; " if not, leave them alone.' " I said to this representative : "Indeed, they will change if you show them how. They have a number of different dialects in China and you can't depend on interpreters ; they don't know ; they haven't the enthusiasm. But you can do it through the motion picture. Bring pictures of the Japanese silk mills. It will not be long before the Chinese will see it is to their profit to change, and they will change." He did this. He spent a few thousand dollars on a film and brought it to Canton, one of the silk centers of China. They used the Y. M. C. A. auditorium and had 1,400 people there every night. The audience had to be chased out at twelve o'clock; they would have stayed all night, they were so interested. And the gospel of the silk work spread over the south of China. People came in from the country to see the method of reeling the silk thread. In only two years' time, twenty-five per cent of the Canton silk was being reeled according to the standard American skein. Today all the Canton silk is made according to the American standard skein, showing that these people will change if only you show them how, intelligently, in a way they can understand. Now that we have the motion picture film, we can carry the gospel of industry to China. — Julian Arnold American Commercial Attache to China Advertising a Community Crowds of visitors every night are viewing "Journeys Through the Valley of Heart's Delight" and pronouncing it one of the best attractions at the Industrial Exposition. No such advertising has ever before been conceived as the motion-picture screen, and all other means of advertising are completely paled in comparison. — /. Walter Crider, Mayor Los Gatos, California Teaching "Safety First" There are few more effective methods of gettingr over the safety message to the employee than through the medium of the movie and the stereopticon. — Chicago Headquarters National Safety Council Promoting Meat Sales Abroad Reports received from our foreign specialist in live-stock and meats indicate that the department film, "The Honor of the Little Purple Stamp," showing the thoroughness and economy of Federal meat inspection in the United States, is being well received abroad. At the request of the German Meat Handling Association, this film is to be shown in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, to various government officials. Directors of the association believe that a knowledge of the American system of meat inspection will lead to a relaxation of import restrictions on meat products entering Germany. — United States Department of Agriculture Washington, D. C. Getting Machinery Orders The motion picture is a salesman that gives us good business year after year and never asks a cent in wages. Our projectors have paid for themselves several times over in sales for which they have been almost directly responsible. — Harwood Frost, Pres. Brown Portable Conveying Machinery Co. Chicago, III.