Lew:
I can understand your frustration in FTEL not moving the hardware. I agree this is a new product and they must become very creative in order to get these things installed and working quickly. If that means giving a few away to some high profile customers, then so be it.
I was always impressed with the Gilette philosophy: Give away the razor and sell them the blades = customer for life. Maybe they can do the same thing - give away the DVG and sell the usage. Oh, duh, I forgot that's what they ARE doing. Hey - they're pretty smart after all!
Being even more creative is what will help move these products - not cold calls, telemarketing, mass mailing, etc. Those are sales gimmicks of times gone by.
Creativity in sales can be found everywhere. Even in the most unlikely places:
I was impressed when my kids set up their Kool-Aid stand in front of the house. They charge a nickel or so for a cup full and give away the salty pretzels.
Not that different than the guy who packages hot dogs and rolls. The tube steak is in a package of 10 and the rolls in a package of 8. Anytime you check the fridge to make your shopping list you see one or the other. So you end up buying the complimenting piece just so you have a complete set! If its picnic time, you must buy 40 of the damn things before it equals out!
(We're suppose to be smart, health concious shoppers; yet week after week we commit suicide by buying and eating the worst meat that was ever manufactured! Yes, thats right - manufactured.)
I just read about another creative sales move: A store somewhere in LA had purchased a huge inventory of soup and they weren't moving it as fast as they would have liked. The signs said special, sale, closeout, etc - you know, all the usual stuff. They lowered the price but it still wasn't moving. Then they got smart: They raised the price back to it's normal price and re-worded the sign to say "Special, Campbells soup xxx per can - LIMIT 12 per customer" The "LIMIT" got them moving and the "per customer" purchase of soup doubled. The average customer was walking out of this store with 6 cans of soup. They were able to move it all without lowering the price.
Not too shabby!
- Pat |
