Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

Determining Your Firms Degree of Perfection A GAME FOR RADIO DEALERS By S. GORDON T. PARKS President, Parks & Hull, Baltimore, Md. S. Gordon Parks HERE is a list of questions which dealers will find profitable to ex- amine. Take the list and note your answers, "yes" or " no," in the margin—play it as a game, if you like. But the writer feels that this is more than a game—every dealer can with profit use these questions as an aid in taking mental stock of his organization. The idea of this little game is briefly this: you read the ques- tions carefully, and indicate your answer with a check mark for "yes" and an "X" for "no." After going through the entire list in this way, look at the an- swers in smaller type at the bottom of the page. These answers, in the experience of the writer, are those which would be made by a one hundred per cent, perfect dealer. By comparing your answers with this theoretical ideal you will be able to determine readily how closely your or- ganization approaches perfection. And then, what is more important, by concentrating on the problem of making the wrong things right, you will be able to improve your standing in a manner that will be reflected in increased sales and a higher degree of customer good will. And, best of all, you can make this test in perfect privacy, with no one but yourself viewing the outcome, be it good or bad. What happens after- ward is up to you. The hundreds of Atwater Kent dealers who are clients of the writer's firm expressed great interest in this game, which was published in our house organ, Parks Hullings, and I am glad to present these questions to a far wider group: for the • thousands of other radio dealers who are readers of RADIO BROADCAST. And now, on with the game! The Questions 1. Do you reserve about 5 per cent, of your expected gross sales to be used for advertising? 2. Does your advertising in newspapers consist of two or three feature display advertisements per season, rather than regular and consistent efforts? 3. Does your newspaper advertising consist of display advertising used consistently throughout the season? 4. Do you use billboard advertising? 5. Do you advertise over your local broadcasting station? 6. Do you use direct mail advertising, such as the "Tone in the Home" campaign and the "Donnelly Post Card" campaign? 7. Do you use to the fullest extent the window-trimming aids available to you through your jobber? 8. Do you change your window display weekly? 9. Do you maintain at all times an attractive store display of a representative line of sample stock? 10. Do you make full use of the various dealer helps which are available to you? 11. Do you stress the real talking points of the lines you handle? 12. Do you make a practice of knocking merchandise that you do not carry? 13. Do you keep well posted on programs and broadcast features in order to be able to tell prospective customers what they will hear if they buy a radio set? 14. Do you spread your sales efforts over a half-dozen differ- ent lines? 15. Do you concentrate on three or less, well-chosen lines? 16. Do you carry consigned merchandise? 17. Do you carry an adequate staff of outside salesmen the year 'round? 18. Do you maintain a staff of outside salesmen during the winter season, cutting that staff down to little or nothing during the summer? 19. Do you demonstrate in the prospect's home? 20. Do you demonstrate only in the store? 21. If your antennas are erected by an outside firm, do you caution your installer to see that the job is properly done? 22. Does your serviceman see that all inside connections, particularly the ground connection, are carefully made 3 23. Do you follow up all sales to make sure that the customer is satisfied; and to obtain all possible prospects from this source? 24. Do you answer all service calls as speedily as possible. and as near to the promised time as can be done? 25. Do you maintain adequate service equipment to render service with efficiency and satisfaction to the customer, and with the lowest possible cost to yourself? 26. Do you render free service, except on tubes, for ninety days—thereafter making a fair nominal charge for time and material? 27. Do you train your servicemen to sell accessories such as new tubes, power units, and extra loud speakers, in the course of their regular work as well as to obtain the names of people who have shown interest in the customer's set that is being serviced? 28. Do you maintain your service department so that it is self-supporting and not a drain on your profit and loss account? 29. Do you maintain a clear, up-to-date system of service records so that your billing can be done quickly and fairly, and so that your sales staff can periodically ex- amine the records for live prospects for the sale of a new set? 30. Do you offer favorable terms to those customers of good standing who cannot afford to pay cash? 31. Do you acce_pt small down payments from customers whom credit investigation shows to be worthy of trust? 32. Have you a standing order card on file for new merchan- dise? 33. Do you hold regular meetings of your organization to dis- cuss new sales efforts? 34. Do you insist that your sales and service staff keep in touch with the progress of radio by reading regularly one or more good trade papers? The Answers (Read these after you have checked your own replies in the margin of this page). The perfect dealer—yes indeed there are many of them!— would answer " Yes" to all of the questions with the exception of the following, to which the reply should be "No": Numbers 2, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20. And now just a final suggestion to help you make more money and achieve more good will: if you are not letter-perfect make this game serve you by an effort to see how closely you can approach the ideal. Keep the questions and their solution in some con- venient place where you can check them over from time to time to determine how quickly you are progressing. You will find, without a doubt, that the more closely you approach the ideal rating, the greater will be your success. Give it a trial and see! 86 JUNE -1929