AROUSING INTEREST IN MOTOR TRANSPORT.
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This Article Forms a Sequel to that entitled "Creating a Selling Atmosphere," which appeared in our Issue of November 23rd.
By "Vim."
WE ARE SUPPOSED to be planning, it will be remembered, a. commercial vehicle selling campaign on behalf of my imaginary agency firm, the " Gee " Motor Co., of Effton. Our first care was to ensure a favourable atmosphere, which, we are agreed, must occupy some considerable time to
bring about. .
During the period when we are spreading our teaching that "Iii Pays Tradesmen to Use -Motor Transport," by means of advertisements in the local news' papers and precessional displays of our demonstration vehicle; we intend to imbue our showrooms with rather more interest for shopkeepers and others than such places usually offer. Beeswaxed linoleum, with a car or two standing on it and flanked by a few palms in pots, may be the recognized style of lay-out for a motor agent's window, but we have a horror of recognized styles. No idea corm-lends itself to Us so forcibly as that which nobody has tried before. At any rate, we are going to cut right away from orthodox window dressing, as practised in the motor trade.
The manager of the "Royalty" Theatre in our town has put us in touch with a scene painter who is quite a passable artist at his work, and who has gladly promised us his professional assistance at a. moderate fee. We have two variations of the same idea in mind, and have not yet absolutely decided -which we shall adopt, but we incline to the second, although it will cost rather more than the other. One is, that we get our artist to make for us a series of scenic backgreunds representing different kinds of shops—grocer's, draper's, butcher's, baker's, and so on, with some to counterfeit the appearances of a warehouse, builder's yard, farmyard, etc. The second is that we get a couple of rollers made, and fix them upright, one on each side of the back of the window space ; we should then have painted on an endless c28
canvas belt a number of panoramic scenes' of which the following description will give a rough notion : There would be a shop front (for example, a: wine merchant's), then a portion of a street with a number, of people in it and then the front of ,a private house. We should have to provide sonic way of turning the rollers, either by electric motor or boy-power, but the objectwould be to keep the scenes slowly on the move, in order to inculcate the doctrines which would be painted on the appropriate sections of the pano rama, that—(shop front) appropriate Vehicle is Always
at Your Beck and Call "-•' (street scene) "A Motor Vehicle is a Constant Advertisement" •' (private house) "Your Customers Appreciate Quick Delivery,"
Whether we adopt the stationary or the moving scenery, the floor between the scenery and the window will be Covered with cloth, painted to look like a roadway and pavement, and on this will stand a specimen of that make and type of vehicle handled by our firm which we consider most suitable for the class of trade referred to by the scene, of which it will -form a part. The picture will be embellished with "props." (as, I think, the theatrical gentlemen call them), consisting of specimens of the goods distris buted by shops of the same nature as the one that happens to be the subject of our display for the time being. And here is another little secret—we are not going to pay for those goods! No' we have been chatting with the proprietors andheads of the leading shops, and they are all agreeably eager to cooperate with us by lending us reasonable quantities of their stocks for a few days each, provided we announce to the public -that the fruit and vegetables" (or whatever the articles may be) "have been kindly loaned for the occasion by Messrs. Tom Artow and Sons" (or whoever the firm may be).
You ask whether the sort of window display which we :intend to have is not going to cost money? Yes, it is ; but not nearly so much as you might Imagine, and certainly not more than an indifferent salesman would draw in salary in a year, without counting the .stationery and stamps he would waste in that time. Moreover, we already pay a fairly high rent for our
premises, entirely because they are in popular centre for shoppings se we are always prepared to buy a few penn'orth of tar to keep our expensive ship up to its job. I have not the slighteSt doubt that what We do spend will be returned to us in full measure, pressed down and running over, as they say. Look at the publicity we shall get! Nearly everybody who passes will stop to gaze in our window, and will go away to talk about it. We do not despise -even errand boys, and the more of them that we -persuade to press their noses on our panes the better we shall be pleased—for it is odds on that they: will telleJoe the counter assistant, aboutit when they return io their shops' and that Joe will make an excuse to. come along himself to have a peep; after 'which we shall expect Mr. Jones himself, acting on information received from Joe.
Publicity's Pushful Purpose,
In addition to the methods of creating a selling atmosphere, and •of arousing interest, that I have detailed at some length in. this and my last article, my firm Will probably take advantage of the publicity afforded by posters, and sandwich men to hammer honae the slogan " It Pays to Use Motor Transport," particularly towards the end of the five or six weeks which we have allowed ourselves to bring both to a state of what may be termed "expectancy" We shall then begin to approach possible buyers indivi
dually, through the medium of circular letters. , Before going further into this part of the selling campaign, permit me to make a few observations on circularizing. Employed rightly, there is no more effective way of pulling in business; used wrongly, it may do more harm than good.
. The preparation of the postal list must be carried out with the utmost dare. Fortunately, the agent for -commercial vehicles has in this matter a useful ally in Kelly's or any other reliable local directory. In the classified trades section are to be found all his potential customers, sorted out under the headings of the trades they adorn, and so it is an easy task to copy out their names. I recommend the use of earde for a postal list, because a, card list can always be kept right up to date with additions and alterations, without making a complete puzzle of it. Also, the cards relating to any prospects, who show, by favourably replying, that they are growing warm, can be removed from the general list and treated specially. This prevents their receiving circulars which would seem to ignore theiracknowledged interest ; a,ndthere is nothing that more annoys a person who has answered a circular than to be treated as though he had not. For a similar reason, the classified sections should be checked against one another, to eliminate duplicated names, because it sometimes happens that one firm will appear under several headings, and the whole personal appeal of a circular letter disappears if more than one copy of it reaches any one-individual.
Card Indexing Likely Customers. .
Once the principles of the card system have been grasped, it becomes a most. delightful business in
• strument.. You can almost play tunes on it, so responsive is it to every touch of the understanding hand. However, the majority of motor agents know as much as I do on this subject, possibly a good deal more, and so I will not let myself go on it now. I will, instead, content myself by pointing,outthat the card list may conveniently be iffdexed under trades, white cards being employed throughout at first. Afterwards, names may be transferred to cards of various tints, as information about them is accumulated. Blue might be used to indicate that a parcel car would seem to be most suitable to one firm's requirements ;pink, a 12 cwt. van; green a 25 cwt. ; buff, a 2 tonner ; red, a 3 tonnes, white, a 5 ton steamer' whilst other tints wculd. indicate combinations of different types of vehicles. Names typed in. red might show that the firms so marked were already users of motor transport. These are, it will be recognized by card system experts, vary crude hints' on what can be done, but they must suffice, for it is clearly impossible for me to do more than touch on a subject OD. which svholesbooks have been written.
Circularizing is only of value when.it is.an adjunct to newspaper or poster advertising. Every recipient must be well acquainted with the sender's name, or he will take no notice,of a letter, however excellently composed, attractively produced, and enticing as the suggestion which it contains may be. This is a law of circularizing which is, I fancy, too little understood. Disobedieace of it has resulted lin the failure of many circularizing campaigns. With so !many catch-penny schemes floating about, a recipient of a circular has only the signature to judge by in deciding its genuineness or otherwise. A letter from an unknown, or practically unknown, sender strikes him as an anonymous communication, and meets the fate of such epistles. On the other hand, if he realizes instantly, on glancing at the sender's name, that the letter comes from a concern whom he knows, then its contents will be read with attention.
A circular letter should be as brief as possible. If it is essential to convey a, lot of information, it is best to put the bulk of it into a printed leaflet, and to let the letter itself be an introduction to the printed matter. If it can be arranged, the letter should not run to more than one sheet, so that its commencement and termination may be simultaneously visible to the reader, who will then see that it will not take him long to read the message.The opening sentence should be as arresting as possible, and the first paragraph be very short.
Indirect Touch with Customers at a Cost of £10.
In our town of Effton we have a branch office of a
London typewriter firm, who specialize in turning out circulars which are exact imitations of typewriting, and in "matching in" names and addresses of addressees. Unless a circular letter is produced in this style it stands a poor chance of receiving a cordial welcome. Their prices are not low, but if they were twice as much they would get our swork, for advertising must be done well or not at all. With the 2d. post now in force, stamps mount up somewhat ; but £10 goes a long way towards covering our postal list, and I, for one' do not regard that as too large a sum to give in return for getting into direct touch with every one of the prospective buyers within the territory of our agencies.
The beginning of the week is better than the end
for posting circular letters to business men. They should be receivedz in my experience, on Tuesday morning. Monday is rarely a cheerful day for a.business man. On Tuesday he 'has recovered his equanimity and got into the stride of the week. Wednesday is, in most towns, early-closing day, and not the sort of morning when he will pay much attention to corre
spondence that comes by the first post on that day, although he often _puts by a Tuesday's problem for consideration on Wednesday afternoon or evening. By Tharselay comes a, feeling that the week is nearly over, and anything out of the usual run of things which chances to crop up then is generally shelved until "next week," by'whieh time it is forgotten or has lost much of its weight. Please don't think, 0 gentle readers who have not yet studied the mysteries of advertising, that the mere matter of choosing the day for posting can have no real effect on the success of a circularizing campaign.
[In his next article "Vim " will continue the development of his selling campaign, and will give a sped. men circular letter.—En. "C.M."]