OPPORTUNITY UNLIMITED

this is the story of a businessman who often lets opportunity pass him by a man whose horizon is limited limited by habit by the daily routine of 25 years service to his friends and neighbors old friends mostly who still like to trade with bill Jackson even though service might be a little better or prices a little lower somewhere else yes bill like a lotta folks is quite content with the small circle of his own horizon but now as we tune into mrs. Jackson something tells us that bills horizon is about to expand oh yes but this miss Jackson hmm Alan Beckham the travel agent yet about the reservations for your trip mrs. Jackson we got everything completed this morning steamship tickets hotel arrangements it's a real bargain for a fine vacation I know you'll enjoy it yes you sail on the twenty-ninth can you come in for the tickets yes mr. Beckham yes I'll have my husband pick up the tickets on his way home for lunch he's down to service station now down the court judge what and a half maybe let it go I'll way to let ginger again ok Jackson's esso service Fred Rodman speaking oh yes hello miss Jackson well he's out at the island with judge Bailey or column oh sure be glad its own tickets at Beckham's uh-huh no he'll be here for a while yet i guess the esso salesman's waiting to see him okay miss Jackson your well nothing do and I told him don't count me in on any committees once they get you in on those Town committee's you got no time left for anything well we better get a few you practical businessmen on some of these planning committees for in another 10 years you and I will know this town hardly know it now it's growing too fast you could handle a committee job and the time you waste fishing time I waste ah you could catch anything bigger than a minnow it wouldn't be so bad listen just cause you've been lucky enough to beat me out of the club trophy two years in a row lucky sale and if you fill up these displays here you won't have much stock left over I'll put down what I think you need and check it with mr. Jackson here he comes now sorry to keep you waiting Charlie yeah plenty of time just going over the stock miss Jackson just called note for you here on the desk home I'll catch it pick up tickets from Beckham Oh travel agent oh boy trouble oh not exactly last fall I let my wife talked me into planning a trip West Indies West Indies wow how rich can you get in this business Mary's been saving up for years it's our 25th anniversary well congratulations thanks charlie I kind of hate to spend all that money right now and business falling off well we'll have to put things up a little around here just been checking over what you need now here are the tires and to you ought to get in a few more of each of these and these batteries and you'll need a lot of motor oil spring changeover coming up why should we load up with all that motor oil we did so have that much all this time last year I don't know but I think we can sell it boss I hope you're right okay you'll be boss here while I'm away it'll be up to you that all better be gone when I get back well do the best we can you've got a good man bill he does a good selling job yeah hard to find man like Fred I didn't have him I couldn't get away at all Larry's only been here a few weeks and Hank the new boy we're just breaking in well as long as you stay close nights and sundays the three of them can manage but bill your business shouldn't be slowing down it ought to be growing I think your short hours is one of the reasons this is a good location neighborhood well build up and still growing almost every family owns one car at least you can get your share of trenchant traffic to overall business is good auto manufacturers predict more than five and a half million new cars will be sold in 1955 total gasoline volume is growing everywhere it's growing right in this area so if you're competitive your business should be going competitive look Charlie if I would cut my margin my gross would go down which we bring my cost per gallon up now wait bill did I say anything about margin no but you can be competitive a lot of ways one way is a longer our of operation yes but are satisfied with your SL franchise aren't you been selling s 0 for almost 25 years that you know what the SL sign means to your business esso has spent millions of dollars to build public competence in the esso identification sign and NSO dealers as reliable independent businessmen millions more on research and refining to give you the very best quality products on the market as long as customers are free to choose where they'll buy and are satisfied with the price you have the competitive advantage of years of public confidence in your sign and your products but when you yourself limit your hours of operation when you lock up your products and walk away with the key when you're close your doors to the business while other stations stay open and when you turn off your identification sign while your competitor signs are still lighted up or when you fail to open your doors to the motors to drives on Sunday you leave customers no choice they have to buy somewhere else they're exposed to competition and some of them just won't come back and if I do stay open I'll need more help and it'll cost me more to do business so I lose a few customers a few bill any dealer that loses customers even as few as one or two a month without replacing them is slowly liquidating his business your gala me just been dropping ya little the total galleries for this area has gone up a lot your competitors including other s or dealers must be getting it right yeah I suppose so I guess they need a little help out there well think about this bill and when you get back let's talk some more about sure thing Phil not you yeah it's me get the tickets no I I didn't have time that time bill we've been planning this trip since last fall but it seems to me you're acting pretty cool about it lately what's the matter nothing's the matter I mean when we first talked about it I thought it was a swell idea after all we didn't get any vacation last summer last summer why bill you and I haven't had a real vacation by ourselves together since since little Mary was born and Here I am a grandmother last summer indeed don't you want to go of course I do but you have to be practical this trips gonna cost a lot of money well I've scrimped and saved so we'll have the money and this is one time that we're gonna do is we've planned it's always the same you just can't imagine that station getting on without you Oh Fred can take care of the station I just thought if we could put it off a while put it off put it off William you can do what you want to I'm sailing and on the 29th you yeah the boss sure hated to leave you think he was going to jail instead of on a pleasure cruise well he's been working so study it's hard to break the heaven yeah I know how I felt I don't like to loaf myself get more fun out of working you know I'd get a big kick out of it we could turn over most of that stuff before the boss gets back so would i but you'll have to get in a lot more customers to do it get him in yeah how lots of ways one of my dealers over in postville worked out a new customer campaign but got him in a lot of new business he used almost everything in the book special displays giveaways handbills direct mail to everyone in his part of town telephone solicitation newspaper ads even some commercials on the local radio stations well gosh he must have spent quite a lot of money not so much and it really paid off here's a list of everything he used and just what it cost him boy sure be fun to go fishing in that thing some difference from fly casting back oh my mr. we need another couple to go along with some people we have here in the boat they're all ready to go fishing they'll only close to fifteen dollars for a nice days fishing on the ocean I not feel for fifteen bucks why not ready you'd love it come on when you get a big fish I'll take your picture come on we might never get another chance we you mean you want to go along why not whoa might be rough out there well I'm game if you are if I am ok grandma you ask for all right captain you got yourself a couple of customers let's go no that's not so bad sure could do us a lot of good too when you go out after customers you have to know what people want no they're buying habits outside a brand identification and convenience of location surveys prove the two things start motorist trading regularly at a particular station one out of every three motors said that friendship for the dealer or the friendliness of his employees was the reason for his choice get acquainted friendships important and getting new customers but surveys also show there's a competitive factor even more important that is service customers know what they want suppose you were in the driver's seat the set of the customer the other boys were serving you you've wanted your windshield cleaned of course but in more than 20,000 surface checks in over a thousand stations twenty-six percent of the drivers who said they wanted this service were not given it of all the motors who said they wanted the radiator water checked only 68 out of a hundred got this service of all the motors who said they thought an oil check was important only fifty percent actually received this service that's a lost opportunity on every other car the same with battery entire checks the service is given on the average we're all far less than what motorists wanted or considered important so when you start out after new customers you want to be sure that your service is really competitive the kind of service you want yourself and that includes good housekeeping clean restrooms a neat clean personal appearance of everyone in the station let's not kid ourselves competitions doing a good job in all these things well I know we can do better on service and all that but we're losing a lot of customers on account of price there Sheldon golf dealers down the street here selling lower than we are sure I know but prices the dealers own problem your boss has a different slant on it than your competitors do but they're getting business and you've been losing it yeah for the last six months you've dropped on the average of close to 4,000 gallons a month below the same months a year ago and even that was down from the year before well let's see at our margin that's a loss of about two hundred and forty dollars a month gross that's right but suppose we did meet their price we'd have to get back a lot more than 4,000 gallons a month with me to come out the same justin gasoline yes but that kind of figuring is what misleads a lot of dealers what's your average sale of gasoline oh I don't really know well let's say eight gallons just for a round figure now eight into four thousand goes 500 times right sure so when you drop 4,000 gallons in a month what you've actually done is lose 500 customer contacts 500 times a car that should have been at your island just isn't there and with it disappear all the sales opportunities that every car at your island represents that 4,000 gallons of gasoline that you didn't sell and your competitors did sell represents perhaps 60,000 miles of driving which would call for 60 lubrication jobs at least 30 oil changes two sets of tires and batteries spark plugs transmission fluid and any number of other possible products and services in other words it isn't just 4,000 gallons of gasoline you're losing though that's bad enough it's 500 chances to make additional profit 500 opportunities to win confidence and repeat business I wish the boss figured it that way I'd like to give these guys some real competition hold it but smile there now the judge will have to believe you caught it hello honey be starting for home in just a few minutes sorry you had to keep dinner waiting so long but I wanted to get a letter off to the boss and tell him about the campaign and see what he says what no it doesn't take that long just to write a letter but the customers kept coming in and well of course I could have turned the lights off but I was kind of curious I've got an idea that we're losing a good bit of business by closing at night of course it's not my loss well I still I want to make a good good showing while the boss is out of town all right all right I'm coming barrel mmm it's a letter from fred shall I open it yeah what's it say dear boss well how are you getting on with all those dark I'd sing your reasons they should see you sure hope you're having a good rest things were a little slow the first few days after you left so I decided to stir up a little action first I ran an ad in the town Harold hi newspaper ad waste of money they gave us a special price on a half page a half page is he nuts why that's real nice get acquainted special well our tweeted 25 years in one place and we have to get our Quentin Oh William Jackson you don't even know what goes on in town why every time I go shopping I meet dozens of women I've never even seen before and they all drive cars okay okay well there are six new families right on our own block and we don't even know one of them oh no we can't do it what cut our regular prices like that what's the matter with it well you should be glad that fred has gumption enough to go out and drum up some business Mary look if we start cutting prices our customers will be looking for lower prices all the time Oh nonsense almost every store in town has some kind of a sale on most all the time I look at the chain stores and the supermarkets and the drugstores how do you think I'd ever stay inside my budget for the house if I didn't shop around a lot oh that's different they just put on those sales to get you in there then they sell you a lot of stuff that isn't on sale well you could do with a few more customers yourself you're always complaining you know I think this is a good idea I'd go for a bargain like that and I bet a lot of other folks with 20 okay okay suppose they do suppose they come crowding in droves up who's gonna do all those lubrication jobs and wash jobs and checking up on everything you got free man who's gonna handle the driveways while everybody's lubricating in Washington delivering cars oh for goodness sake you'd think credit committed a crime this will be the first time that a lot of youthful santal have ever heard of Jackson's service station well do you want to hear what else he has to say your doctor huh go ahead go well he says you know I think it would be a swell idea if we could meet competition with our gas prices but I don't want to do anything until I hear from you well he'll hear from me all right I'll go and get it off my chest right now before the mail goes cut gas prices huh bill yeah yeah while you're riding send him this it's a snapshot of you and the fish and Bill don't forget to ask about his wife okay here boss and mrs. Jackson thanks a lot for the picture when it came we all got a big kick out of it you look like you're having a swell time well while you're taking it easy we've been busier than one-armed paper hangers the spring change over at I put in the Harold kind of started things going it began to get us all pepped up even before it came out we kind of felt we'd stuck our necks out and had to be on our toes Charlie bruckman got us some strings of penance and we really decorated the place up pretty nice we had the spring changeover ad display in the window and we used most of the stuff you ordered before you left to build up displays around the lube Bay and along the fence we had the paper print us up a bunch of handouts that we could use in the station and around the neighborhood now luck fellas will handle one of these to every customer and don't forget each new customer we try to sell the string change over to we're trying to turn into a regular at the same time so we've got to give them better service and they're getting now no matter where they train afternoon sir swell day isn't it the afternoon beautiful day beckylyn man glad to see you we're going to do every windshield show each customer how careful we are to give him a perfect job and we're going to solicit a full tank of s Oh extra from everyone fill it up with s o extra sir yes please and don't forget the rear window while you're at the back of the car be sure to take a look at the tires too we're going to check everything take nothing for granted and at least while this specials on we'll make a test on every battery when we check it for water level show people that were in the battery business and know what we're doing and let's use a whisk room whenever get a chance it's a little extra service customers like and a good way to get a look at the oil change sticker and speedometer reading I gave the fellas a real going-over on order of service and then made them solicit every customer for a spring checkup special they weren't too good at first but after a few flubs they did all right yes man now's the time to have your car put in shape for spring and summer driving and we'll give you one stop service everything you need at one price you see we go by the chart your own car so we lubricate every point with exactly the right oil or grease that includes the transmission and differential draining the oil and refilling with new uniflow washing the car and flushing the radiator a complete change over for summer driving this is the whole list of what we do it's a real bargain suppose I come over and pick up the car wheel service it and bring it back when the boys did sell the deal they were really proud of it it was a new experience to be really selling something we got more cars for checkup and lubrication than we could handle in regular hours we had to work late so I decided to take on another man at least temporarily got a fella that worked in a service station before the war and did mechanics work in the army he took the job on a temporary basis so of course if you don't want to keep it you can let him go when you when you get back hey you see we'd get off more than they can chew just like I told you just hire another man where's the profit in that well it sounds very sensible to me with another man you won't have to work so hard yourself when we get home and you can take in more work and make more money ah is that all he says oh he goes ahead beating about the price was hoping you'd let us go ahead getting some kicks lately from customers that have been trading with other stations well you can't satisfy everybody even judgment what places what's the matter he says I saw judge Bailey go into the shell station yesterday why that old skinflint well he's one of your oldest customers do you mean to tell me after all these years for a couple of and he's well you can't blame anybody for wanting to save money bill why should you have to get higher prices than anyone else I'm not getting higher prices they are cutting prices well what's the difference look my customers never kick about prices I don't kick either when I'm overcharged I just go someplace else overcharged look don't you care anything about service of course I do but sometimes the stores that have the lowest prices often have the best service to that's how they keep their customers and make so much money oh now don't get all worked up again you'll be home next Friday and you can take care of everything when you get there I'll take care of everything right now I'll show that old double cluster wednesfield gonna get back friday just got a wire from him trying to miss him like to take him out fishing makes him mad when I get a good one what's the idea keep an open so late good business lot of people come in at night they are else okay judge say you notice the difference in the engine since we put in the uniflow whoa runs all right don't notice too much difference maybe your spark needs a Justin spark what for well your spark was probably set at the factory to prevent knocking on average gasoline but that cuts down your power now that you're using esso extra and uniflow you've got the top power combination that you can buy and you can set your timing for maximum power might as well get what you pay for we've got special equipment to do the job just takes a few minutes how about running the car over the lube Bay and let ray take a look well okay all right okay judge have put her up a few points yeah big difference now take a rod and try it she doesn't run better let us know huh I'll let you know darn quick if she doesn't run better how do you like that boss nice publicity huh yeah say that's all right that's good none better ray boss would like it meet ray ray hilton brain meet the boss glad to meet you sir i'm here at kind of temporary i guess well we'll see about that nice to meet you excuse me sure here's the record since you left boss the daily total average since we posted new prices we're noticing difference already hmm saying this well excuse me boss sure good work hey welcome back bill good to see he'll learn Charlie boy it's great to be back what do you think of that record looks like the boys have been doing a job here yep they're gone right after I haven't hardly seen a customer i recognize yet happy almost like a stranger oh there's one customer I know but good ol boy gonna have some fun wait'll he sees this yes sir want some I want what the hell welcome home you old scoundrel good to see you back sure is nice to be here hey you seen the news today so I can't catch anything bigger than a minnow huh let you sure is what a fake danke camera trick though makes it look almost real almost real huh I'd like to see you hooked onto that thing door up with that saw extra judge okay dad well it's okay judge right in the line you met ray judge ray Hilton sure right picked up the old bus so she runs like new little more pet than judging you bet ray is gonna be with us right along now thanks mr. Jackson okay boy more help you know gives me a little more spare time say remember that committee job we were talking about before i left happen to know if they still need someone so I really ought to help out if he can well that's the story a tiny part of the story of a businessman whose horizon is beginning to expand in this fast-growing business so important to the economy of our land no one can foresee how far the horizons of tomorrow may reach but the greatest opportunities of all are within the reach of aggressive independent esso dealers businessmen who accept the challenge of competition a challenge that opens the door to opportunity unlimited you