Sponsor (June-Sept 1960)

ABRAHAMS (Continued from fxige 44) of factors which TvB and Abrahams are making the most of. There are many changes going on in the department store business among which these are of great importance: • Rise of Suburbia, demonstrated pointedly in the new U.S. Census. (By the end of this year there will be over 5,000 shopping centers at city perimeters. Many downtown stores are opening branches in such centers. • Metropolitan newspapers have failed to keep up with this population drift to the suburbs, but tv is following it right out of town. • Concession operations within department stores have been dwindling. There was a time back in the Depression era when, in some big stores, as much as 80c/c of departments were run by concessionaires. Now with more departments falling under store management, advertising authority falls to fewer persons, and there is less "necessity" for relying on print ads just because it was easy to allot and charge so many lines of ad space to a concession department. • Mutual buying offices also are instrumental in building store regard for the tv medium. Scattered through the major markets of the U. S. there are about 10 very powerful buying offices which serve as "buy ing scouts" for department stores. These offices have been keeping an eye on the job tv is doing for national products, and often will hesitate to take on a line that doesn't have strong tv support. All of these things have helped in some measure to raise the average department store's slice of ad budget for tv to about 10%. Abraham's advice at the recent clinics is for stations to try to get — as a starter — on a newstore account about 15% of the ad budget. This percentage has successfully launched in tv many stores of many types. He further advises that this tv budget be broken into two types of promotion : (II a year-round programing vehicle such as a threetime-a-week news show, and ( 2 ) announcement campaigns with flights geared to special selling seasons. Abrahams' counsel is based on a career in retailing that began in 1928. After he was graduated from Cornell that year in the first class of its nowfamous hotel management course, he married, then took a job in the advertising department of Rothschild's, the Ithaca department store. A year and a half later, he came to New York as basement ad manager at Bloomingdale's Department Store, later moved into its home furnishings advertising department. After a year there, he went over to Ludwig Bauman as ad manager, where he remained until 1943. For the next two years, he was with the N. Y. Times. In 1945, Abrahams joined the National Retail Merchants Association as manager of the sales promotion division, left 10 years later to go with Amos Parish, a management consultant firm for department and specialty stores. It was while at NRMA, that he began developing a high enthusiasm for the medium that had recently come on the advertising scene. "The idea grew and grew that here was a tool designed to do a great job for retailers. In fact, it looked like the only one that combined all the essential ingredients: the visual quality of print, the audio of radio, the demonstrative advantages of a show window or counter display, and the emotional impact of across-the-counter selling." He was pretty well conditioned for that tap from TvB. ^ SPONSOR ASKS (Continued from page 53) a rapport between buyer and seller is attained — i.e. when the spot buyer can depend upon the fact that the salesman has exercised judgment in the selection of spot availabilities. Constant competitive pressure will undoubtedly make it necessary for the station representative to present his sales story quantitatively. However, the selling, as well as the buying, of spot announcements on a numbers basis only, regardless of competitive pressure, is a poor irethod of media selection. A proper balance of quantitative and qualitative weight must be used by a time salesman if he is to do service to his station and to the advertiser. A good station representative must have the ability to mix product, market, programing and statistical data and come up with a sound decision. James M. Alspaugh, vice president, H-R Representatives, Inc., New J ork The ingredients that comprise a good representative salesman are mostly those same virtues that com SPONSOR • 4 JULY 1960 prise any good salesman — eagei aggressiveness, outgoing personality, intelligence, good grooming, and more importantly, knowing how to ask for the order. A representative salesman must be able to grasp the details of a station's story. He must develop a knack for retaining useful, facts and eliminate those which have no bearing on the success of a sale. Ability to synthesize. A good representative salesman should develop quickly the synthesis of his station's product in relation to the needs of prospective advertisers. The smart salesman is able to shape stations' rates, features, programs, etc.. to fit a particular advertiser's needs. Buyers time. A good rep salesman will always be considerate of an account or agency buyer's time. Therefore, he will have his material organized so that he can present it efficiently and meaningfully. Ability to shape rates, as well as programs, to an advertiser's needs Know when to listen. A good salesman must know when to listen to his prospect as well as to make his pitch. Many salesman find this difficult. Follow-through. It is one thing to get a prospect warm, but in the final analysis, the only thing that counts is the sale itself, so follow-up calls, at sensibly spaced intervals depending upon the situation, are a requisite. Service. A good representative salesman will have an acute understanding of the importance of the service aspect in our business. We must be able to go back to the same prospects to obtain renewals as regularly as possible. The rep salesman who gives good service to on-the-air accounts will often reap the highest percentage of renewals. Entertainment. A good rep salesman must necessarily do a considerable amount of wining and dining of prospects. The best I have known. however, do not over-indulge, but use plain common sense. At this time he is considerate of his firm"? expenses. However, he is not niggardly. In this aspect of the business good judgment is the only answer. ^ 67