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FEBRUARY 6, 1926
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
Putting Over Radio Demonstrations
in Music Dealers' Stores
How Frederick Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., Meet a Condition That Has Made Good Reception Difficult
in Their Warerooms Because of a Situation Beyond Their Control—How Hardman, Peck & Co.,
Fifth Avenue, New York, Have Met and Overcome a Similar Condition
T
H E importance of putting over a suit-
able store demonstration of a radio re-
ceiving set has been stressed since the
outset of radio merchandising by music mer-
chants training members of their sales force to
meet radio buyers.
Lately there has spread
among the more progressive dealers the feel-
ing that the actual demonstration of the sot
should be minimized as much as possible, and
that more time be spent by the salesman in
presenting sound arguments for the instruments
he is showing, as well as developing in the
buyer complete confidence in the house and
the goods recommended by it.
There is little doubt that the conditions sur-
rounding radio selling have changed materially
in the last three years, making necessary a cer-
tain readjustment of selling tactics. Any mer-
chant who started his radio department in 1923
or 1924 knows perfectly well that he or his
salesmen were required not merely to show the
merits of the sets on display, but to imbue the
customer with the radio craze. Often stray
customers would enter his department and hcar
radio programs for the first time in their lives,
and it was up to the store demonstrator (he
hardly needed to be a salesman) to find out what
the visitor was most interested in and show him
how easy it was to tune it in. Once the pros-
pect became a "fan," the matter of taking his
order came naturally.
Present-day Buyer Knows Radio
It is rare now, however, to meet a radio pros-
pect who is not thoroughly familiar with radio
programs and thoroughly conversant with the
difficulties of reception, the upkeep expense of
the set and the like. The knowledge will have
come to him first hand from the experience of
his brother or his neighbor or he may have
even owned a set of his own. This situation
completely changes the selling ritual which
worked effectively enough in the early stages of
the craze. It is no longer a pleasant series of
concerts which gets the buyer's name on the
dotted line, but the easy delivery of good, sound
sales arguments proving the points of the in-
strument's superiority.
This system of selling has been worked out
most satisfactorily by the radio department of
Frederick Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., under
the direction of C. E. Hammond, manager of the
music department. Facing the steel elevated
structure, over which the Fulton street "L"
trains are constantly passing, radio reception
in this store has always been difficult due to
outside absorption of radio waves and the set-
ting up of static. The lack of emphasis on the
store demonstration, carried on by the Loeser
salesmen, has therefore worked to the general
advantage of the department.
There is nothing complicated about the sys-
tem of selling used by Loeser's and other metro-
politan department stores where reception is
poor. A customer approaches a salesman, who
escorts him to a booth, in which several makes
of sets are displayed. The customer is asked
if he had any particular type of receiver in mind
before any demonstration is begun and, if car-
ried by the store, such an instrument is shown.
The salesman, trained to know the exact tunings
of the different instruments, quickly adjusts the
dials to obtain the program of the station com-
ing in the strongest at the particular time. While
doing so he points out his own personal reasons
for liking the set.
If the set the customer had in mind is not
being sold by the house, the salesman shows a
set having many points of similarity and brings
out the matters of its sonority of tone and sim-
plicity of operation to the best of his knowledge.
The salesman is trained not to argue with a
customer but to summon his own personal feel-
ings for the instrument into his selling talk; pos-
sibly he will cite some examples from his ex-
perience, which will further recommend the set,
and establish confidence in the house.
Fine and Fancy Tuning Not Necessary
Salesmen are urged in Loeser's and certain
other department stores not to kneel before the
set and struggle with the dials just to get a
certain program. The idea is, of course, to get
a good, loud station as quickly as possible to
show the tone of the instrument, but there is.no
advantage in getting a fine tuning of some dis-
tant station merely as a sales stunt. Under the
existing circumstances of interference, it would
take nothing short of an engineer to get dis-
tant stations in the daytime, and the customer
can easily be shown that this is too much to ex-
pect. If the salesman shows that the set is
easy to operate and will bring in the local sta-
tions without distortion it quite suffices, and
does not lead the buyer to expect a guarantee of
distance reception.
Selling a variety of receivers, such as are car-
ried by the large city department stores, in-
volves the necessity of much accurate knowl-
edge on the part of the salesman. It is not
required that he be a technical man, of course,
to talk comparatively of the common types of
receivers. The average customer becomes bored
if the discussion becomes too involved in tech-
nicalities, but, on the other hand, remains inter-
ested if the argument is expressed in plain, every-
day English. The main point is that the salesman
or saleswoman loses out if he or she is not
"up" on ordinary trade information; a customer
who feels that he knows more about the various
sets than the salesman is seldom persuaded to
buy.
Overcoming Difficult Reception
Another New York radio department meet-
ing the difficulty of poor reception by mini-
mizing the store demonstration is the depart-
ment of Hardman, Peck & Co., 433 Fifth avenue.
Nestled among the tall steel buildings on that
famous thoroughfare, this establishment is able
to gather only a sifting of the radio waves
passing through its neighborhood. As is com-
monly known, the heavy metal structures with
their "roots" in the ground serve as a for-
midable "fence" to most radio waves without
producing a real dead zone. In this particular
store, the brushes on the elevator motor also
set up a disagreeable static, which is audible on
most tuning of the receivers.
In the face of these difficulties Calvin T.
Purdy, manager of the establishment, has
equipped his department with the more expen-
sive sets such as Radiola combinations in Bruns-
wick phonographs, Atwater Kent installations in
Pooley cabinets and the Super Zenith cabinet
receiver. Miss Jessie Robertson, who has
charge of the radio department, conducts her
demonstrations to show the full capabilities of
the set without making extravagant promises.
"Demonstrating a high-class radio set differs
very little these days from showing a customer
a reproducing piano or expensive phonograph
model," said Miss Robertson, speaking of her
selling methods. "The customer knows in ad-
vance that he is about to listen to an instru-
ment of the highest quality, and if it can be
shown to its best advantage for a minute or
two, there is little reason for playing it longer.
The rest of the time can be spent discussing the
beauty of the case-work, which is becoming
more and more important, now that radio has
shown itself to be a permanent institution.
Satisfy the Customer
"It would be foolish to believe that we will
ever get away from a suitable demonstration,"
continued Miss Robertson, "for we are selling
music and not articles of furniture. The rule
I follow is to satisfy the customer completely
that the instrument does all I say it does and
then hasten him toward the sales contract.
1 find that most of my demonstrations aver-
age about half an hour in length, and if I cannot
sell them in forty or forty-five minutes they
are not to be sold. The general education of the
public to radio has made them discriminating
buyers, but their knowledge also helps them in
making up their minds more speedily."