Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

a complete record of each customer's business. The details of any particular job or purchase can be found at once from the reference numbers. These are kept in an ordinary box file. In service work there are three separate problems as Whitaker sees it: first, doing satisfactory work; second, being sure that the customer is pleased with the way in which the work is done; third collecting the money. The whole service procedure is cared for on one card — the "work ticket" — from the time the work is requested for until it is billed. The information is filled in when the customer places the call, whereupon it is passed to the service department. The department record is made upon the reverse side of the card giving complete details as to nature of the trouble, materials used, and time consumed, while a general report goes on the front. The service department places this card on a clip board. Each day the cards are removed by the bookkeeper, who, whenever possible, checks the operation of the set on the telephone. If the work has not been satisfactory the card goes back to the service department for further attention. If sa isfactory it goes to the administrative offices where the labor is priced and the invoicing okayed. The numbers of these cards are, of course, transferred to the "Service Record Card" of the individual customer and then filed numerically. These service reports are used for work done in the customer's home. Shop work is cared for by a tag which is attached to each article as it is brought in either by the customer or the service department. Information as to the equipment and trouble is filled in on the front and the record of work done by the service department goes on the back. Advertising Methods The advertising budget is set at 5 per cent, of the estimated sales. Originally started with newspapers and direct mail it has been expanded to include billboards. Ordinarily the mat service of manufacturers is used but slight changes have been found advisable from time to time because of local conditions. A daily advertisement is changed monthly. The direct-mail phases of the company's activities are divided into five general classifications: 1. Manufacturers' campaigns (with space for Whitaker's imprint) 2. Store Introductory Series 3. Demonstration Assistances Series. 4. After Trial Series 5. Monthly Series for Customers. Each of the above fills its own particular place. The first three are in reality part of the sales campaign. Manufacturer's campaigns are sent to a general list of prospects. These are usually charged with selling copy appropriate for particular seasons such as Easter, Christmas, Inauguration, etc. Whitaker finds them generally effective if they are followed up. The store introductory series is sent to active prospects, people whom Whitaker has reason to believe are about ready to buy. There are five letters in this series and they are mailed at three-day intervals. They serve to pave the way for the salesman when he calls. When a demonstration is secured the Demonstration Assistance Series is brought into play. Again five letters are used, one each day, or until the sale is closed. When the Sale Is Made When the sale is finally made the salesman turns in the order, payment-papers, and check for the first payment. The sale is invoiced and confirmation sent to the customer together with the first of the "After Sales Series" of letters. In the case of deferred-payment customers a copy of the contract is attached to a special letter which further impress the necessity of prompt payments. A week after the set has been installed a letter is sent with a return postal asking for the names of friends who might be interested. Near the end of the sixty-day guarantee period another letter is sent along with two return postals, one for use in case the customer wishes to avail himself of a yearly service contract and the other to permit him to register a complaint in case any trouble has developed with the set. With the advent of the house-current set, which has reduced so greatly the service problem, the yearly service contract is not being stressed as much as it was a year or so ago. HlTAKi ii RADIO S.U.F.S CO [:RC I. RAI>« L • ,i: TfiOL<Si° 2 View of Whitaker's store, which is located in the heart of the business district of Bradentown, Fla. Insert shows display counter. • AUGUST 1929 • • 201