DEMONSTRATIONS OF CONVENIENCE A Further Detail of the Active Sales
Page 24
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Campaign. Originality—a Quality that Invariably and Instantly Commands the World's Attention Because it is So Rare.
By" Vim."
IHAVE -WRITTEN a circular -letter as a suggestion for agents who need one ; but please do not think that I imagine it to be perfect in any way. Whatever merits it has are in the facts that it starts off with a remark that should persuade a, recipient to go on reading the letter in order to see What it is all about, and that, while it is definite in its object (to secure an interview), it contains an argument. An argument is a desirable feature in a circular, because it makes the. reader think, and therefore impresses the letter on his mind.
Subsequent " follow-up " letters would refer to the unwisclem of trusting too much to mere figures of running costs of motor vehicles in comperison with those of manual and equine delivery_ systems. It would be pointed out that the factor of convenience, which has an unknown but very great value, varying. with the special circumstances of each case, has a far more important effect on the net expenses than costs of fuel, tyres, and maintenance. I think that neither manufacturers nor agents, as a rule, make nearly enough of convenience. Figures are often red herrings across the path that leads to the true assessment of the intrinsic worth of a thing. In terms of pence per mile, the old hansom cab was cheaper to operate than the taxicab, and should have .held its own against the motor; yet where is it now ? The public, possibly without being aware of it does, in all caSes that affect it, give convenience its empirical value, with the result that shillings and pence, and even pounds, are reduced to insignificance. It would be of great benefit to the trade if both manufacturers and agents were to devote more attention and publicity to the factor of convenience than to statistics, because, however favourable these may appear, they are still hopelessly inaccurate in representing the advantages of motor transport.
Demonstrations on Practical Service.
In another article I said that my firm, the " Gee" Motor Co., of blessed imagination, intend to arrange . a competition between home-drawn and motor vehicles; this, .too, apart from demonstrations of the superiority of the latter that we shall undertake for individual inquirers. These demonstrations will take the form of lending our trial cars to any tradesmen who wish to test motor transport, and, incidentally, the types of vehicles for which we are agents, on their own ground. Of course, we shall also supply the drivers, who will be' instructed to keep accurate account of the loads carried, distances run, number of stops, time occupied, fuel consumed, etc. We shall stipulate that the selection of the vehicles is to be in our' hands, and that, to enable us to make the best choice, all the information that we require about the work which they have to do is to be supplied to us. Practical demonstrations of this kind will not be carried out free of charge, but ordinary hire rates will be levied. A rebate of 33i.per cent, of the charge for a test will be allowed if a motor vehicle of any kind is bought from in within four months ; this will tend to prevent an order going elsewhere after we have brought about the conversion of the tradesman. '
eZeI
Is it probable that many shopkeepers and other potential users of motor vehicles will be willing to incur the expense of private demonstrations? The answer to that is, that the opportunity of thoroughly testing the merits of motor transport without buying will certainly appeal to all who are genuinely thinking of buying ; and we shall not worry very much about the others, who will eventually find themselves. converted without our assistance. 'While so demonstrafing, our vehicles will carry the name of the testing firth, painted conspicuously on white paper pasted to the sides. This will help the testers to appreciate the advertising value of having their name borne through the street. on smart cars.
A Body Blow for the Horse.
For the more public test, what we have in mind is an affair on these lines shall announce that on
a certain day a. 12 cwt meter van will be pitted againsta horsed van in fair competition, and that if the motor vehicle, which will be entered by us, does not perform the same amount of work as that done by the horsed vehicle in half the time required by the latter, we will pay to the local hospital a sum of £26. The day of competition will be well advertised, and an independent judging committee will he formed, consisting of tradesmen. The Press will, of course, be invited to be present to see justice done, and (more of "Vim's " guilelessness!) to report the proceedings afterwards. Meanwhile, we shall endeavour to fix up with some thirty shopkeepers, located in various parts of the town, to act as stationary observers, their duties to be as explained later. At aspot about five miles away from our showrooms, we shall arrange a supposititious warehouse, and there have staked 60 empty cardboard boxes, to represent 24 cwt. of merchandise. On the appointed day,. both competing vehicles will start simultaneously from our premises, proceed to the "warehouse," each pick up 30 dummy packages, bring them back to. our showrooms, unload, reload, and then start out on the "delivery round." Each vehicle will have to deliver one package at each of the thirty shops whose owners or managers have agreed to act as observers, and obtain a Signature for each on a way-bill. Both drivers will be accoriipanied by observers, who will see that no furious or reckless driving is indulged in. .The motor will have to do the complete trip, comprising journey to warehouse and delivery round, in one-half The time taken by the horsed van, which will be hired for the occasion, preferably from a tradesman and not from a contractor.
Frankly, this competition idea is simply an advertising stunt ; but it should he none the less interest ing and instructive to the public for all that, although I am ready to admitthat many objections could be advanced against the practical utility of the result. But positively no herrn will he done, while, obviously, it will serve to focus attention an motor transport, and help to endow it with reality as a question of the immediate present, not of the future. Obviously, too,
the idea is capable of considerable expansion, and might include a test between the parcelcar and boys
on bicycles, haulage of heavy loads, and so on. The nature of the test itself might be varied in any of a, number of ways, if thought desirable. As in the case of the circular letter, the competition that has been outlined must be regarded as a suggestion only—as the germ of a notion that can be developed into something of real educative value.
The old saying that the world will make a beaten path to the door of the man who has better goods to offer than his neighbour, is very true. But the world has so much to think about, and to do, that it continues .to follow existing roads for much longer than • it should, because they are there for it to see, unless the man with the better goods proclaims his presence and sign-posts the way to his place of business. And, with so many sign-posts at every turning, it is necessary that any new direction marks should be quite different from the others, or the world will be slow to discover them.
Originality, that is a quality that invariably and instantly commands the world's attention, because it is so rare. Agents for reliable commercial vehicles have the better goods to offer. The world of those, who transport, merchandise of all kinds only partially understands this fact, and so the beaten path is slow in making. The hackneyed sort of sign-posting by ordinary advertising methods is lost amidst the mass of humdrumness that is the stamp of most salesnianship. By breaking away from convention, commercial vehicle agents can, if they wish, set the world tramping in their direction with a will, but it is up to them to show a well-defined path.