UP FRONT
Guest Editorial
Selling videos,
forgetting the quarters
There was once a hardware sa les m an who was not
doing well. One day, he met a very successfu l salesman
who was selling video machines, and in the discussion
that always comes up between two sa les m an , he told of
his rather dismal sales efforts. Th e video salesman
listened very quietly and then sm il ed and said, " I think I
know what your problem is. You're se lling drill bits and
not the holes ."
The hardware salesman was taken back and was
very outspoken in his disbelief of this c riti c ism: " You
can't sell holes, no more than you ca n se ll air," he
remarked .
The video sa lesman, very co nfid e ntl y said, " Sit
down , friend , and have another beer and let m e
explain. No buyer, no matter what h e says he wants to
buy, doesn ' t really want that item . H e wants what it ca n
do. The buyer of a drill bit wants the hole it can pro-
duce, not the drill bit, no more than the buyer of a
video machine wants it for a place to kee p beer glasses.
This selling tactic works, from se lling ref rigerator s to
Eskimos-to sel ling hammers to ca rp e nt e rs."
This, like so many stories, has a moral, and we in
the video business sometime need to see or hear it to
stay successful or to compete . It app li es to an operator
selling a location on the placement of a machine , as
does to a distributor sel lin g a machine to an operator,
or a manufacturer se llin g to a distributor.
We need to keep this idea foremost in our sales
efforts and not sell what is not needed or wanted . Let 's
PLAY METER. October 15. 1982
fa ce facts : the operator and the location want the same
things- high income and no maintenance. They could
think , or at the very least say they want a pretty machine
with a ca tchy theme . But if it doesn't meet the profit
and maintenance requirements, it 's like a drill bit that
will not produce a hole .
Quality is one answer to the buyer; warranty is
another. But the sure proof to any product is its track
reco rd . Can the seller show-either by references or
dir ect co ntact-a proven income and a proven main-
tenan ce history? If a competitive product is less expen -
sive and can not " produce a hole," no one should
co nsider the price difference, when his specific need is
not fulfilled.
New ideas and products are necessary. They put
" new blood " into our industry. New machines are
demanded; but the new machines, like any product,
must be first, quality, and second, at the very least,
backed to the hilt by the seller until it has the tra ck
record .
It is an old axiom, but true : " You get what you pay
for ." If one of the three (manufacturer, distributor, or
operator) forgets this, he will lose the respect or desire
to fill his customers' needs. He will be in real trouble, if
not today , definitely tomorrow!
Bill Stanard
General Sales Manager
Videotronics of Oregon Inc.
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