Leaning On Dealers

We can­not depend much in most lines on the active help of job­bers or of deal­ers. They are busy. They have many lines to con­sider. The profit on adver­tised lines is not gen­er­ally large. And an adver­tised arti­cle is apt to be sold at cut prices.

The aver­age dealer does what you would do. He exerts him­self on brands of his own, if at all. Not on another mans brand.

The deal­ers will often try to make you think oth­er­wise. He will ask some aid or con­ces­sion on the ground of extra effort. Adver­tis­ers often give extra dis­counts. Or they make load­ing offers — per­haps one case free in ten — in the belief that loaded deal­ers will make extra efforts.

This may be so in rare lines, but not gen­er­ally. And the efforts if made do not usu­ally increase the total sales. They merely swing trade from one store to another.

On most lines, mak­ing a sale with­out mak­ing a con­vert does not count for much. Sales made by con­vic­tion — by adver­tis­ing — are likely to bring per­ma­nent cus­tomers. Peo­ple who buy through casual rec­om­men­da­tions do not often stick. Next time some­one else gives other advice.

Rev­enue which belongs to the adver­tiser is often given away with­out ade­quate return. These dis­counts and gifts could be far bet­ter spent in secur­ing new customers.

Free goods must be sold, and by your efforts usu­ally. One extra case with ten means that adver­tis­ing must sell ten per­cent more to bring you the same return. The dealer would prob­a­bly buy just as much if you let him buy as convenient.

Much money is often frit­tered away on other forms of dealer help. Per­haps on win­dow or store dis­plays. A win­dow dis­play, act­ing as a reminder, may bring to one dealer a lions share of the trade. Yet it may not increase your total sales at all.

Those are facts to find out. Try one town in one way, one in another. Com­pare total sales in those towns. In many lines such tests will show that costly dis­plays are worth­less. A grow­ing num­ber of expe­ri­enced adver­tis­ers spend no money on displays.

This is all in line of gen­eral pub­lic­ity, so pop­u­lar long ago. Cast­ing bread upon the waters and hop­ing for its return. Most adver­tis­ing was of that sort twenty years ago.

Now we put things to the test. We com­pare cost and result on every form of expen­di­ture. It is very eas­ily done. Very many costly wastes are elim­i­nated by this mod­ern process.

Sci­en­tific adver­tis­ing has altered many old plans and con­cep­tions. It has proved many long estab­lished meth­ods to be folly. And why should we not apply to these things the same cri­te­rion we apply to other forms of sell­ing? Or to man­u­fac­tur­ing costs?

Your object in all adver­tis­ing is to buy new cus­tomers at a price which pays a profit. You have no inter­est in gar­ner­ing trade at any par­tic­u­lar store. Learn what your con­sumers cost and what they buy. If they cost you one dol­lar each, fig­ure that every wasted dol­lar costs you a pos­si­ble customer.

Your busi­ness will be built in that way, not by dealer help. You must do your own sell­ing, make your own suc­cess. Be con­tent if deal­ers fill the orders that you bring. Elim­i­nate your wastes. Spend all your ammu­ni­tion where it counts for most.

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

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