Home Demonstration

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 24, 30 December 1927, Page 3

Home Demonstration

A KNOTTY PROBLEM

Can a radio shop give trial demonstraiions and make money? (writes Will Whitmore in the New York ‘Radio Merchandising"). This problem is just about as diflicult as the service problem, and has been the cause for many radio dealers being visited by the sheriff. Every dealer has to answer it sooner or later, and the way he solves the problem has much to do with the ultimate success of his business. ‘he Texas Radio Syndicate of San ‘Antonio, a retail radio shop in the hearl of the quaint old Texas city, was confronted with the problem of trial demoustrations in the home. ‘To-day its evswer is, ‘Yes, a radio shop can give trial demonstrations and make money." ‘Trial demonstrations are an abomination to any radio shop," declared Frank Davis, manager of the shop, "and we had just about reached the point where we could successfully 1efuse to give them, when our competitors began giving them on such a large scale it was impossible for us to refuse and still do much business. But giving trial demonstrations is one of the quickest and surest ways of losing money if it is not done carefully. We set about to do it carefully. ‘*To-day approximately ninety per cent. of our sales come from trial demoustrations in the home, and we are not losing money. The first rule of our trial demonstrations plan is not to leave any set in a home more than two nights, and we allow it to stay in a home two nights only on rare occasions, when static is bad or reception is poor from other unayoidable causes.

‘We have found that the easiest way | to lose a sale is to give a prospect too mucli rope. Leave a set in a home more than two nights and you can kiss your sale good-bye. We have found that the firmer you are with a prospect the easier it is to seli a set. Never seem too anxious to make a sale, We try to make the prospect ask us for a demonstration. ‘Then he feels indebted to us, and it is less difficult to make the sale. On the other hand, if we press a man to allow us to make a demonstration he feels no responsibility towards ws. "The country is full of people looking for radio dealers who will make trial demonstrations, people wlio have no idea of buying, Unless the dealer is able to weed these people out from those who aré actually desirous of buying a set, he will lose money just as" surely as if le cuts prices. We haye no set policy to weed out this class, but we ate successful just the same. Our method is to find out first as much about the prospect as possible. |

AVOIDING DEMONSTRATION HOUNDS. "The first thing to find out is, has the prospect had demonstrations before? If he has had a number of other sets in his home, we know that he is merely a demonstration hound who has no idea of buying a set. When we find a man like this, we become all the more firm with him. We make him understand that if we give him a satisfactory demonstration, we will expect him to pur- !

chase the set. This eliminates the average prospect of this class. "Next we always try to make the prospect decide on the type of set he wants before we make the demonstration. If he wants a set that requires an outside antenna, we attempt to install a permanent antenna for the demonstration. We charge £3 for this service, We know that if a man is willing for us to make this permanent installation he has made up his mind to buy a set. , "Towever, very often even the earnest prospect will not agree to this installaticn charge. Again we grow fitm, and stress the fact that we expect him to buy if the demonstration is satisfactory. When the earnest prospect clearly understands this, a sale is comparatively easy after a successful demonstration has been given him. ‘The cardinal principle of trial demonstrations is not to be too anxions to give one, Let the prospect be anxious to have it. SOURCES OF LIVE LEADS.

"Now, how do we go about getting demonstrations? We have from two to three salesmen, who devote their entire time to ontside work. "These leads usually come from satisfied customers. When we install a set, we always call the new owner atid ask him if the set is giving thorough satisfaction ‘This pleases the customer, to know that we are interested in him, but it has another advantage for us. We endeavour to get the names of the owner’s friends who haye seen and appreciated the get. These names afford excellent leads for new sales. | "Another source of leads comes from the trial demonstration itself, aud this is one of the best advantages of trial demonstrations. Very often the prospect invites his friends to his house the night that we are making the denionstration. Quite often if the original prospect is satisfied with the set and purchases, his neighbour who is present to hear the demonstration will also buy a set at the same time. If he doesn’t he is a good prospect for a demonstration in his own home. ‘As to the actnal demonstration itself, there is a definite technique and procedure to carry out. We always have a salesman at the home on the night of the demonstration who is in charge of the demonstration. ‘This is absolutely imperative, we believe, If the salesman goes about the demonstration in the proper way he can create a desire of ownership in any prospect. "Our salesmen first tune in stations themselves, in order to show the prospect the worth of the set, but the big idea is to let he prospect himself oper-

ate the set. Of course at first he does not have the same success as does the salesman. This makes the prospect deidea is to let the prospect himself operate the set efliciently. And when he sees that he can bring in a station with ease, he is proud of his own dexterity, and the pride of ownership begits to get in its werk for the salesman, FIRM METHODS NECESSARY. ‘Then is the proper time for the salesman to begin his selling. And at this point the firmness that the salesman has used with the prospect begins to pay dividends. The prospect knows that if he does not buy the set goes out of his home the next morning. The desire of ownership is strong. He .wants to operate the set longer, and he knows that the only way this is possible is for him te purchase the set. If he is the right kind of prospect he will. "From this it can be seen easily why we will not leave a set in a home more than one night. If we left it there longer, the first eager desire for ownership would wear off and the psyclio-

logical moment to strike for a sale is gone for ever. "Tet me repeat, Use firmness when making trial demonstrations. Make every effort to weed out the demonstration hounds who only want a set for a' particular occasion. During such events as the world’s series or some other equally prominent event which is being broadcast, we are particularly warty about making demonstrations. In fact, We make none, except only to those who, we are practically sure, intend to purchase a set."’