Business screen magazine (1938)

wood's Bedtime Story is the best sales talkie they have ever seen. Why? Because the film deals with a practical selling' situation. The story opens in a customer's home — husband gets up grouchy, because he nearly froze to death under a shrunken blanket. Refuses to buy wife a new hat. Scene changes to an afternoon bridge game, where our heroine is advised to buy a Kenwood. At the store we see her start to buy a cheap blanket — then the girl turns on the heat and sells the Kenwood. We see the customer interpose objections — we see how the clerk answers them. One nice bit of Showmanship is the spot where the clerk picks up the blanket by a fewhairs to show how strong it is. This clicks so strongly that when the customer gets home, she repeats in front of her husband. P. S. He gets a good night's sleep — and wife gets the hat. The film presents an almost perfect formula, both in plot and in handling. As Edward Weiss (Author of How to Sell Thru Department Stores) .says — "What a store needs is a film that is not too heavily laden with prestige advertising or processes of manufacture — but rather a scries of simple shots that tell the girl what to say to sell the product." Grey followed this formula in Knoieing It — And Showing It, a sound slide film they did for Printz-Biederman, coat & suit manufacturers. Women's Wear gives considerable space in a recent issue to a description of this film. The story tells, in part, that "Knowledge of stock; knowledge of fashions and how to present them to didcrenl types of customers — these are the two basic principles which enable .sales clerks in every department to sell more of almost any merchandise. This is the theme of the training film, 'Knowing It — and Shoicing It,' prepared this season for Printz-Biederman by Audivision, Inc. The producers declare it to be the first film on salesgirls' training in ready-towear selling ever made in the women's outer apparel industry. "In llic early part of the film, wliirli Ikis ilub riglit and left are I'rom the Wool Industry series and the center illustration is from Cooper's recent underwear subject for the retail trade, described in a recent issue. bed-in musical and voice accompaniment, an experienced sales-person in a coat and suit department is shown pointing out to a new clerk that more sales are made through the simple device of the merchandise approach. The latter girl learns that the first and vitally important step in successful retail selling is to know all the fashion features and selling points of the goods in her department. Xe.xt, she is told that these facts should be selectively presented in phases which appl.v specifically to the individual customer. This practice immediately arouses the customer's desire to own the garment and tends to make a permanent customer for the store, it is maintained. Finally, the inexperienced clerk learns that, while certain deductions can l)e drawn from a customer's age and general appearance, it is never wise to assume that any customer is only interested in low-priced merchandise. It is always easier to "come down" than to "trade up", the ^\r\ is reminded." SUPPLEME.\T.\RY TRAINING M.\TERIAL NeEDED Otho Hicks further points out that one of the greatest weaknesses in the present handling of sound slide film pictures is the absence of proper supplementary training material. He says, "The good effects of such a film evaporate very quickly unless they are tied d.iwii witli good printed material." Few manufacturers have provided any printed material to help supplement their training films. Much of the enthusiasm and educational work done by the film dissolves very rapidly unless crystallized in some permanent form. The Nashua Manufacturing Company. as an exception, provided department stores with a quiz sheet to be used in connection with their movie. Cotton From Seed to Cloth. The quiz sheet was to be handed out before the dim was to be seen — then the film was to be run. The quiz sheet consisted of 25 questions, many of which could be answered by filling in one blank space and by crossing out two out of three alternate answers. The quiz sheet included such questions as "What Country Grows the Most Cotton?" "Which is the Next Largest Producer of Cotton?" "Why is the following statement true: The Deeper the Nap, the Warmer the Blanket?" "The Calendar is a Machine which, (Starches, Roughs, Smooths or Naps) cotton sheeting. Along the same line. The Wool Institute provided stores with a little booklet called "Remember." The booklet included a picturization of the sound slide film and across the bottom of each page, under the caption of "Remember" is a brief summary of the pertinent facts developed in the picture, such as Remember: Wool is Strong and Durable. Wool Institute also furnished stores with a script and guide and a "list of selling phrases which have been tested." Many stores have used Everybody Ski. featuring Hannes Schneider, the famous Austrian skiing instructor. The film was made by the E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Company to do a constructive background selling job for Aridex, a water repellent used in treating ski wear. Sears Roebuck is using a film of their own. The True-to-Life Story of Mary, to promote corset sales. It gives women a comprehensive and authoritative lesson in what proper corseting will do for the feminine figure and health. Carol Post, a corsetiere consultant, makes personal appearances with the film. McCrecry's, in New York, found a new use for movies, when they rented old time feature pictures from the Stone Film Library and showed them in their store auditorium (seating ;5()0) . The films proved to be a grand traffic getter, pulling over 5,000 people in their first week. People stood in line to see Wm. S. IlnrI and ]Mary Pickford, and between shows tlu\flashed humorous merchandising suggestions, such as "Ladies will please remove their hats and go to the millinery department, wlinr newest spring models are on sale." The resiills (Please turn to Page i-i) 18