Radio today (Sept 1935-Dec 1936)

THE VITAL FIVE MINUTES Only once, every two or three years, does Mrs. Average Customer come into your store to look for a new radio. • IN THOUSAND'S of homes everywhere, new radio sets are needed. In fact, surveys of radios now in use have shown that at least three out of five home receivers are superannuated. And should be replaced! It is only at long intervals of two to four years, that householders look up new radio sets for their own use. For two to four years, Mrs. Customer does not come near your store. She takes her radio for granted, and assumes that it is bringing her all the reception the family needs. Then after two or three years she begins to notice that her radio appears to bo a little out of date. Perhaps she finds that the tone quality of a neighbor's receiver is much more lifelike. So she decides to stop in at your store and look over what you have to offer. Then comes your time of all times, out of the whole period between Her Ladyship's calls. You have five minutes at the beginning of the interview, during which you can either interest her for a demonstration, or let her turn on her heel and look for a radio somewhere else. Five critical minutes — out of four years ! But during those five minutes, selling opportunity knocks. Another chance will not come for another two or four-year interval. Are you on your toes and prepared with all the answers? Are you ready with all the information you need about the new sets? What are called fine points Have you some attractive new cabinet designs ready to interest her? Can you point out the superiority of the new models over the old set in her home? Can you discuss periou-art design and demonstrate how the new cabinet will harmonize with her home furnishings ? Can you explain to her the new control advantages of your offering? Can you sell her on all-wave reception, which is probably lacking in her old set? Are you equipped to demonstrate the new special gadgets of your line which have particular selling appeal? Handsome handling of prospective "THREE OUT OF FIVE" NEED A NEW RADIO! radio buyers has really "produced" for those dealers who have given it a whirl. Vogue of higheT-priced sets, increased interest in radio-phonograph combinations, more broadcasts of quality music, more consistent attention to the matter of cabinet design, bring the matter sharply into industry news. Sales manners are easily neglected, and patrons report daily that dealerways are lax in this respect — so lax that hundreds of sales are never clinched because of some unfortunate undercurrent in the sales procedure. True, many radio salesmen have come over to the quiet, genteel, leisurely style of selling after they saw that their wild exhibitions of super-super-salesmanship got them nowhere at all. Obviously, there is no point in a modest-community dealer suddenly assuming an ultra Park Avenue attitude and greeting his customers with a new frost in his manner. But he may certainly pick up a lesson or two from those who are careful about such things. Good morning, patron First greetings to the customer may be si-Tiple and pleasant and not in the life-long-friend tone. Earliest sentences need not concern radio but should be something else besides obvious attempts at conversation. Patron should be given time to size the place up, and if he misses some of the more comfortable and homelike features of the sales room, it is perfectly legitimate to call his attention to them in a tactful way. Do not expect a patron to look at a model when it is in a poor light. And do not keep him or her in a standing position more than is necessary. It seems wise to get the name as quickly and as gracefully as possible, so that you may use it during the conversation, but there is probably no point in presenting your own card until after the interview. Find out whether the prospect is chiefly interested in short wave, fine reception, tonal quality, or cabinet design. Also you need to know something about what makes this customer Photo by E-wing Galloway. Also front cover. 12 Radio Today