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322 HARVARD BUSINESS REPORTS
sales, all bartering would be carried on by correspondence under the direct supervision of the sales manager. Little difficulty was expected from this usually troublesome factor, because prices to small exhibitors were fairly well standardized, and the problem of protection and run, as a rule, was not involved in this type of sale, for the reason that ordinarily there was but one theater in each town.
The allocation of play dates would not present a problem, since even under the regular sales method, designations of dates, in a majority of cases, were sent by mail. Disputes and adjustments, in some instances, might demand a personal call. Experience, however, had taught the company that in general such difficulties could be settled by correspondence. While the salesmen whom the company retained would confine their efforts almost entirely to the larger accounts, it would be their duty also to call on all small exhibitors located directly on their regular routes. In cases in which disputes could not be settled by correspondence, a salesman would be dispatched to act in the capacity of adjustor for Puritan Films, Incorporated.
In their consideration of mail order selling, the partners weighed certain factors. If competitors did not follow a similar plan, Puritan Films, Incorporated, might not succeed in this method of selling. Regardless of competition, however, the partners believed that by passing part of the resulting distribution economies to the exhibitors, by rendering excellent service, and by fair treatment of exhibitors the proposed plan would prove successful. They believed, furthermore, that independent exhibitors preferred to patronize independent exchanges provided the pictures secured through these exchanges were of a quality equal to that of the films produced by the large fully integrated companies.
One of the company's executives questioned the attitude of small town exhibitors toward mail order sales methods. In his opinion such exhibitors, especially those who operated their theaters on the basis of a family enterprise, anticipated eagerly the regular visits made by salesmen, who in many instances represented the exhibitor's only contact with the motion picture industry and with general business activity. Another problem to be met in selling to small town exhibitors by mail order resulted from the inability of some of these exhibitors to express their thoughts in writing.