Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

HOWARD W. DICKINSON says IF I OWNED A RADIO STORE Td make it PAY. mill mill! iiiimimilmiiiiimiii | he above title comes naturally to one of my breed. Most any advertising man or exadvertising man is a Mr. Fixit by habit and training. The idea of my owning a radio shop is not such a far cry, though. I am keen for radio, convinced that it has possibilities much bigger than are being realized. I should enjoy retailing. It is the intimate, human side of business contact which interests me. A retailer of experience is apt to be a good judge of human nature. He may or may not be skilled in catering to human beings — but he generally understands them pretty well. Why Fd Enjoy Radio Retailing I like mechanics and electricity. I am reasonably handy with tools and I like the adventure that lies in the things a radio set can do. Yes, I'd enjoy the retail radio business. While the above does not prove that I would be a good radio retailer, I hope it indicates that I would be an enthusiastic one. In fact I have enjoyed thinking about it so keenly that I have pipe-dreamed myself into the business already. I am afraid I have even bothered a few dealers by sticking around and asking questions, disguised as a customer. I really am a customer for a new set but I can't afford to buy one from every dealer I've talked to, so I hope the others will forgive me. In my pipe-dream radio business I am keen to see how my competitors do it. And I am sorry to say I've seen some poor salesmanship in radio shops. I've been rather high-hatted in a great department store's radio department. The "brilliant" young salesman couldn't see why I wanted to look around and ask questions. He couldn' t see why I need do any more than follow his advice. He was very courteous about it all, but to me it seemed like the kind of courtesy which comes out of a can rather than from a chummy heart. Evidently he has been instructed on how to work on averages of human beings rather than to try to understand individual human beings. In some of the smaller shops I've found proprietors who seemed so keen on repairs and service that they didn't seem to have any keenness left for making a sale. Give them a pair of pliers and a screw driver and they fairly purr. Give them a cash customer for a new set and they don't act naturally, although they really want to make the sale. That's where I imagine my pipe dream might make me a living, I'd get a tremendous pleasure out of demonstrating and selling. I'd feci that I was selling daily joy, that I was sell ing high adventure, and I'd try to make my customers see it. Oh, I wouldn't gush too much about it, particularly with men. "Not half bad," to a man may mean more than "glorious, gorgeous, simply perfect" might mean to a woman. If I were dealing with a woman I'd not try to imitate her adjectives either, as a woman knows how to interpret men, and senses intuitively whether or not they really believe in the stuff they are trying to sell. Where I have an idea that I might fall down would be on trade-ins. I am afraid I would allow too much on trade-ins and rob myself of profits. On the other hand, I would need every bit of my profits. I know I should need them to support a good service shop and also to put a little money in the bank, and above all things there is another thing I'd try to do. Even if I had a little eight by twelve hole-in-the-wall store, I'd organize it as a business, pay myself a salary as manager, and expect to make a profit as owner in addition to that. I'd have a good bookkeeper, at least part time, and I'd learn how to use a bank for my own profit and advantage. Many a small dealer falls down by forgetting or by not learning these things. He thinks all the money in the till and in the bank is his, and forgets that all the bills are his too, also that the kind of troubles which may come from sailing too close to the wind will be his, too. He doesn't figure out whether all the money he takes out is salary or profit or what is the proportion of each, and he lacks the check-up necessary to make him increase his working capital up to the point of safety and progress. Dividing the Surplus Suppose he has made a gross profit of $15,000. If he pays himself a $3500 salary — takes a business profit of $2500 — he can put $9000 into surplus and working capital, be in position to expand, open another shop, or take a bigger place and equip himself for a bigger business. If that $15,000 means a new high-priced car and a lot of luxuries — look out! I have seen businesses successful one year, go broke the next year, even when they didn't need to. Usually it is because they used all the profits and put none into sinking fund or usable surplus. Two valuable things can be had from that $9000 undivided profits — insurance against a temporary slump and more promotion. I've taken the small shop as an example. A $15,000 gross profit is not a big business. The principle is just the same with $50,000 or $150,000 or $6000 gross profits. I consider 198 • • AUGUST 1929 •