The Fuller Brush Story
Part I
Alfred Fuller
A good place to start .. Fuller's father would often look at his hands and tell his son ..
These are your fortune, boy. Be suspicious of anyone who shows you how to make a living without them.
Imagine if today was more like the good old days! When products were made to last and landfills weren't stuffed with plastic remnants of junk! When interactions happend in real life, not on screen! When people just waited for their beloved Fuller Brush Man. A man who stopped by with some new products to sell.
It all started with Alfred Fuller, pictured above, born in Nova Scotia in 1855. He was the 11th of 12 children!
A country bumpkin, overgrown and awkward, unsophisticated and virtually unschooled.
Alfred Fuller, age 18
The above quote was when he was attempting to support himself in Somerville, Massaschusetts where he had joined some of his siblings. It didn't go well at first, to say the least. He was promptly fired from his first three jobs .. trolley car conductor, gardner and horse groomer. Days before his 20th birthday, his brother snagged him a job as a salesman for the Somerville Brush and Mop Company. He received a case of samples and went door-to-door, selling brushes in an affluent section of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The job fit him like a glove!
I washed babies with a back brush, swept stairs, cleaned radiators and milk bottles, dusted floors .. anything that would prove the worth of what I had to sell.
Alfred Fuller (American Heritage article, 1986)
Alfred went even further than just being nice and helpful. He paid attention! When his customers said, "I wish there was a brush for cleaning silk hats", he marked it down. When they said, "I need a brush that won't scratch the wood floor", he marked it down. He noted which brushes sold well and which brushes didn't.
The first brush patent was issued in 1830, marking the start of mass produced brushes. Barely any changes had been made to brush designs for nearly a century! Alfred Fuller would change that!
To Fuller's dismay, he also discovered brushes back then were purposely made to fall apart, fast! Most folks recall the old saying, "they don't make things like they used to". Fuller had a whole bucket load of ideas for well-made brushes because he wanted his customers to buy things that actually made cleaning easier so he took these ideas to his employers. Surprisingly, they ignored him so Alfred Fuller would keep all of his genius to himself!
The year, 1906 marked the birth of Fuller Brush. DOB: New Year's Day. Location: Alfred's sister's basement. Equipment: Hand operated wire-twisting machine spools of wire, horse hair, fibers and hog bristles. Total investment: $375.00 Business Plan: sell from sample kit, make requested brushes on nights or weekends, deliver orders the following week and give a lifetime guarantee with every purchase.
Fuller's first sale was a brush sold to a woman who used it to clean a radiator. Fuller's first week's profits were $42.15. That is $1,205.24 in 2020 dollars. Fuller was a master of "market research" before it was a "thing"!
I studied a housewife's needs and we made a brush for every need.
Alfred Fuller
Brushes for every need meant brushes for cleaning silk hats, Victorian furniture, floors and much more. Every brush he made was designed for a specific need he'd heard about on his door-to-door rounds. One day, Fuller visited Hartford, Connecticut which turned out to be a brush seller's paradise. Stately old Victorian homes with intricate paneling, moldings, stair banisters and ornate iron grillwork all needed lots and lots of dusting! Therefore, Fuller moved his shop to Hartford and named his business the Capitol Brush Company. He was such a success in Hartford he couldn't keep up with the orders! This was because he was still making all of those brushes with his own two hands and on the same machine he'd started with in the basement of his sister's home. Eventually, it was time to expand so Alfred moved to a larger shop, bought machinery and made his first hire. Total revenue in 1906: $8,500. Total product types: 32.
Fuller Brush's first female employee was Alfred's first wife, Evelyn. She outsold him on her very first day! She continued to do so nearly every day for the next two years! In 1909, Fuller made it big! Alfred wanted the company to spread its wings beyond Hartford. He placed an "agents wanted" ad in the nationally distributed "Everybody's Magazine" and before long, he had 260 new salespeople all over the country. The secret to his success was not the amount of salesmen. It was in the pledge every salesman had to sign and promise. I will be courteous. I will be kind. I will be sincere. I will be helpful.
Fuller asked his salesmen to wear overshoes (aka boots), a size too big. In that way, if they were invited into the home, they could quickly and easily remove them. In 1914, with sales soaring, the United States was entering WWI. Fuller Brush stepped up to help with the war effort. They put their famous brush quality to good use with specialized military brushes. In 1915, Alfred never stayed complacent and developed the Handy Brush. It was a useful little vegetable cleaning brush given out for free to any household visited by a Fuller Brush salesmen. His work paid off. Sales increased to $15 million and in 1915, the company had 1,000 salesmen. Later, in the 40s Fuller Brush had to divert many resources to help, again, with the war effort. Forty million Fuller brushes made it onto the WWII front.
Fuller Brush men would leave this card if the homeowner didn't come to the door
Circa 1921
Ad from a 1922 copy of The American Legion Weekly seeking more salesmen.
Let "Fuller" give YOU the same Opportunity
In the year, 1922 it might surprise you to learn the term "Fuller Brush Man" was coined not by Fuller Brush, but by "The Saturday Evening Post". The beloved character soon began to pop up in movies!
As an historial sidenote .. Some of Alfred Fuller's ancestors were among the passengers aboard the Mayflower. Alfred Fuller had such a good "avoid getting bitten by dogs" strategy the U.S. Post Office once contacted him for advice on helping mailmen prevent dog bites!
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