Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

.RADIO BROADCAST. He says— Carry Only One Line, Use Direct Mail Advertising Followed by Sales- men, Make the Customer Come to the Store, Carry Good Side Lines, Open a Second Store When Your First Does the Maximum, Choose a Similar Location, and Experiment Unceasingly With Selling Ideas. method of direct-mail selling has proved its ability to produce sales. This dealer is convinced that simple house-to-house sell- ing is not profitable for the salesman is •without introduction. However, if adequate preparation is made by a direct-mail cam- paign the possibility of making a sale is very much greater. No Home Demonstrations As part and parcel of this general scheme is Smith's policy of avoiding home demon- strations. The salesman calls on the pros- pect with the idea of getting them to come to the store for a demonstration! Two years' trial of this policy has led to a higher percentage of sales to calls made than any other method of outside selling which this dealer has tried. If after a store trial the customer insists on a home demonstration to make certain that the set will perform as well in his home as it did in the store, the set is taken to the home, installed, and operated to the customer's satisfaction. At that time the salesman either secures an order and a deposit or the set is immediately removed. Selling in Summer During the slack months of the year a considerable part of Smith's revenue is obtained from side lines—well chosen items that go well in summer and which are properly advertised by their manufacturers. Smith's side lines have also been chosen with an eye for what his sales staff can sell. He carries a large line of electric clocks and home motion picture cameras and supplies. He has found that his salesmen were able to sell these products and that the shelf and display space to be had in his store was suitable for these items. He is seriously con- sidering electrical refrigeration also, but his present delivery equipment is not suited to heavy merchandise. While on the subject of summer sales it should be pointed out that Smith does not subscribe to the intense effort of the radio industry to increase summer sales by increasing sales pressure. That increased sales pressure, he states, involves increased cost per sale and therefore represents a profit only to the manufacturer. Smith is in the radio business to make money for himself and if, in so doing, he incidentally makes money for others, he has no objection. But he will conduct no business activity of an intensive character in a manner which does not make money for himself. As a result of these policies, Smith's business grew rapidly. A second store was opened and the same principles which had proved so successful in the first store were carried out. To-day Smith operates a chain of stores in half a dozen large cities— and in all cases the stores are operated on the same essential principles that had been put through the fire and proved their worth. The same policies could be used effectively in every case because Smith always made sure that the stores which he opened were located in communities similar in character and population to that surrounding his first store. Sometimes a new store was opened, sometimes a well-located existing store was bought out. In connection with opening a new store, the location is not the only thing to be considered, Smith points out. For ex- ample, as Smith's chain grew he considered it desirable to have an outlet in a certain prosperous community. However, after an investigation of conditions he found two very com- petent dealers serving the territory and concluded that an additional store would simply reduce the profits of all con- cerned. Then, after extensive negotiations, he was unsuccess- ful in buying or merging with either of these stores. So, il- logical as it may seem, he does not sell radio in the most prosperous community of the entire territory that his chain serves. To the average reader the example cited above may sound like an unusual practice for a chain store, as, in other fields, such as grocery, drug, etc., chain stores frequently plunge into intense competition and, through a long period of price cutting, succeed in winning over customers of the long- established neighborhood stores. This method has also been employed in some instances by growing radio chains but, in Smith's opinion, it is financial suicide. The radio buyer's in- itial purchase is his most important one and, if that is not made at a profit to the dealer, there is little opportunity of making that customer profitable to him later on. Business Management In Smith's chain each store has its own manager. Direct-mail campaigns are conducted from offices in the parent store. New sales ideas are tried out in individual stores and are either dis- carded, if they don't prove in, or, if successful, are used by all the stores. Says this dealer, " Continuous experiment with sell- ing methods is essential. I make a trial of window displays, direct-mail campaigns, side lines, and personal selling presenta- tions at one store or another. The experiment then effects the operation of but one outlet. This method was employed for example in working out the summer side lines which have rounded out our sales curve in a very satisfactory way. My sales experiment work will never be completed. But one con- clusion which I have reached, after selling millions of dollars worth of radio sets and faithfully applying scientific methods of analysis to determine the cost of sales of every class of item I carry, is that an exclusive radio outlet cannot succeed in the average small community. Radio must be supplemented by other speciality products." NOVEMBER 1929 17