Radio today (Jan-Mar 1939)

LICK 1939 WITH SALES PUNCH Phone 'em; go get them, still are A-l sales maxims. Below, sell radios for every room is 1939 strategy. Radio's merchandising minds tell how to beat bugaboos and make this a banner year. Radio has plenty of selling punch for 1939. Gilt-edged plans for getting some of that prosperity due in the next twelve months. Life has been no bed of roses, lately, for the average radio dealer. Console jobs found, a shrinking market in 1938. Everyone clamored for smaller and cheaper sets. When television was announced in some areas, higher-priced receivers took another one on the chin. After surveying the 1938 wind-up, Radio Today went into a huddle with manufacturers, jobbers and dealers throughout the country. What — we asked— can be done for 1939? Tell us your strategy for nicking sales, for pushing up unit sales as well as volume. The answers came pouring in, and they ran along strangely similar lines. Everyone agreed, for instance, that the radio-phonograph was the logical "big buy" for 1939. Mr. Customer is no longer taking "just a radio receiver" when he spends over a hun dred dollars. His music appreciation upped by broadcasts of symphonies; his yen for certain dance bands not confined to any station schedule, he has learned to want records of his favorites. At the crossroads If he buys a radio-combination, he wants to get records, too. Like the Gold Dust twins, the two go hand in hand. So the radio dealer will do well to install a record department in 1939, our informants say, pointing out that it can be done without any great outlay of money. Disc companies sell on liberal credit, and fixture companies are getting out lowpriced store units which permit a radio dealer to put in a record department at a small cost. In other words, the radio man is at the cross ways. He can diversify his business by selling music — or he can add electrical appliances and get the cash that way. But he just can't depend on radio alone! Don't put all your eggs in one basket. That's the watchword for the coming year. But there are some fundamental things the average dealer can do — basic principles he forgets — that will help business. He must keep his store neat and attractive, and display his wares. Covering up console models, not having them connected for immediate demonstration, never helped sales. Show all of the quality lines and keep as many as possible hooked up for try-out. When a customer enters a radio store these days, he doesn't come for the ride, our survey has shown. He wants to buy a radio. But don't ask him how much he wants to, pay. That's a good way to kill a big sale. One dealer has found it profitable to have what he calls a "pivot set" on his floor. This set contains all the manufacturer's selling points, but is medium-priced. Demonstrating this set, the salesman soon finds out his prospect's price class and desires. 14 Radio Today