SELLING: The Cleanup Man

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Up by 7 every morning in his 15-room grey stucco house in Cincinnati, McElroy breakfasts on whatever suits his fancy, e.g., bacon & eggs one day, chocolate cake the next ("I figure eating cake in the morning doesn't hurt the waistline"). He is at work before 9—but not always in his office. He spends much of his time seeing the company's big team of "bright young men" and visiting his 35 U.S. plants. One of the most public-spirited businessmen in the U.S., McElroy devotes up to a third of his time to such functions as Community Chest, Cincinnati's Citizens Development Committee and the National Citizens Commission for Public Schools. He doesn't keep up with all his own soap operas (there are too many), listens in only when driving his car. He seldom brings work home with him, spends plenty of time with his handsome wife Camilla (who often accompanies him on business trips) and their three children: 17-year-old Nancy Sue ("Bitsy"), now a Bryn Mawr freshman; Barbara Ellen, 15; chunky Malcolm Neil, 10, who McElroy describes as a "champion consumer."

One reason McElroy seldom becomes excited in the excitable world of soap is that Procter & Gamble has been decentralized until it is virtually a cluster of separate organizations, each with its own boss. For every P. & G. product, there is a "brand man" who takes full responsibility for results. If sales slip, it is up to the brand man to find out why. If an ad goes sour, the brand man gets on the agency's back. If more production is needed, it is up to him to try to get it. And when a competing company puts out a product at a lower price or with a new "wonder" ingredient, P. & G.'s brand man must know about it and have a comeback. Broad company policy is set by Chairman Richard R. Deupree, McElroy and the other directors. But the big operating decisions are made by McElroy himself, and they are usually made with quick efficiency. McElroy belongs to the new breed of scientific salesmen who base their selling not on emotional appeal but on facts & figures. Are sales slipping in Milwaukee? Research will find the reason why. Is there a new product to be sold? Charts and tables are at hand to tell exactly what the new product should be and how to sell it. "Mac is especially tough on accuracy," says one colleague. "If you want to tell him something, you have to have complete support for your statement. Don't guess, and for God's sake don't just give your opinion."