Play Meter

international datel ineSnooker champ
sponsors meet
for
PHIL NEAL, [far left] the Liverpool
soccer player, prepares for his
demonstration game with Rex Will-
iams Isecond from left], accompan-
ied by II to rl Ray Gable, Music Hire
regional director; Ray Baker, man-
aging director of rex Williams Lei-
sure, and Ken Shaw, Northern
director of Rex Williams Leisure.
A column of opinion
Marketing Overseas
By ROBERT WICK
One of the fascinating things
about trade shows is that the
operator gets a chance to see the
machines the distributor won't
show him . Obviously, I am not anti-
distributor, but let's face it, many
distributors " know" what is good
for the operator and that is all they
will show.
Selling should be the most creat-
ive management activity in any
company. Unfortunately as of late,
the most creative guy is the book-
keeper . The salesman has the
golden opportunity at first hand to
match benefits and needs .
At the risk of being pilloried, I
would like to make the following
suggestions for selling to your
international accounts as well:
Discard the shotgun and get out
the rifle . We spend too much time
and effort and money sending out
thousands of flyers and releases.
Instead , let's tailor our next cam-
paign to our customers' specific
needs.
Let's give the customer a half
dozen valid reasons why he should
buy our equipment . By this I mean
showing the benefits that accrue in
return for the use of valuable floor
42
space .
Let's sell value not price .
Let's stop promoting games to
those areas that cannot sustain the
game. 25 cents per play is great in
the U. S ., but that is a day' s wages
.in Malaysia .
Let' s direct our selling efforts to
the markets that payout . How
many times have you prepared pro
formas, sent alternative proposals,
to find out that the buyer is a two
unit customer?
Finally, I would like to recom-
mend an open mind . Yesterday' s
unmarketable games may be to-
day' s winner . Because an idea died
six months ago doesn't mean
eternity . Reincarnation in our busi-
ness may be beneficial.
Having personally comitted all of
the sins mentioned in this article,
I can say that doing it right is more
fun and far more profitable . We are
selling a luxury item and it behooves
us to know what the player wants so
that we can transmitthis information
through channels right to the manu -
facturer . As the great merchant
prince of Chicago, Marshall Field
said, " Give the Lady What She
Wants ."
pool men
The current World Professional
Snooker champion , Rex Williams,
recently brought the name of his
pool table manufacturing company
to the fore when he sponsored a
pool tournament in Liverpool, Eng-
land .
Rex 's company, Rex Williams
Leisure, joined Music Hire, a major
operating company, to run the
North West Pool Championship in
conjunction with a local brewery
company .
The competition was open to pool
players throughout the area and the
contestants were whittled down to
eight for the final stages--six from
Merseyside, one from Bolton and
one from Stockport.
The eventual winner was ex-li-
verpool policeman George Birch
who beat Steve Barnett by two
games to nothing and won a
100-pound prize and a cue . The
runner-up won 50 pounds and a cue
and the losing semi-final ists 20
pounds .
All the cues were made by Rex
Williams' associate company , Pow-
er Glide Billiard Cues Ltd .
Williams gave a demonstration
session with some remarkable trick
shots for the benefit of a large
crowd . He told reporters afterwards
that he foresaw pool becoming a
national pastime with recognized
competition in the future .
" I first saw a coin-operated pool
table in 1968 when I was touring
Australia . I thought it had possibilit-
ies in Britain and formed our
company in Britain in 1972."
He redesigned the American -style
table with differently shaped poc-
kets. The Rex Williams' table has
formica sides and stops with alum-
inium edgings and uses British-
made composition balls. The com -
pany, which became limited 18
months ago, produces tables that
measure six feet by three feet and
seven feet by three feet-six inches,
turning out 25 a week .
Their products are sold or hired to
clubs operating mainly in the M id-
lands, Northwest and Southwest of
England . Their factory is in Wor-
c.estershire .