When a technician asks you about a new product that has captured their attention in a magazine, are you the mobile dealer who can say “Yep, I have it right here”?
As soon as the J&P motorcycles catalog comes in the mail, I go right to the new products section to see what new chrome doodad I absolutely must have for my Road Glide. Or if it’s raining outside, I’ll say to my wife, “Let’s go to Costco and see what’s new” … $300 later I am the proud owner of a $4.99 rotisserie chicken for dinner and something I never even knew I needed.
We all like to see, and sometimes buy, what’s new.
In the April edition of Professional Distributor, the “Automotive Aftermarket Profile” shows that 83 percent of shop owners and technicians ask their mobile tool dealers about new tools they have seen in trade magazines and catalogs. Just like you looked at the ads in this issue of PD for what’s new, your technicians look at PTEN for the new items, too. Let’s make sure that you’re the mobile dealer they look to to purchase what’s new.
Sure it’s an investment, but if you are the mobile dealer your customers can count on to have the newest and coolest tools, then you have a great shot at being the mobile dealer they buy their everyday and promotional tools from. The objective here is to get them in your store on wheels to see what’s new and to hopefully purchase something; any impulse item is more money in your pocket.
Devote a small 2’ by 2’ section of your mobile store to what’s new. Just like an endcap in your local grocery – you see an advertisement on TV or in a magazine and the next time you go shopping there it is right in front of you on an endcap. Invite your customers to come into your store to see your “new product” display and update this section often. For more expensive items or items that come in multiple sizes, it may be a good idea to just put a picture cutout on your “What’s New” board. This surely will solicit questions, which will lead to sales.
And oh, by the way, don’t tell me your mobile store is so stuffed with fast selling products that you can’t carve out a 2’ by 2’ section for a new product display board. We all know darn well that you have an assortment of dogs you’ve been driving around for the last year or two taking up space while you hope they will sell. Pull those puppies out, rearrange a little, and you’re good to go.
If you can put the display someplace near the door, it will attract more attention just like that endcap in the grocery or that pallet of wine inside the front door at Costco.
I realize that every five to six weeks your suppliers, either your major brand or a WD, have a new brochure of promotions that are good deals for you and your customers. Sometimes those promotions are for new items, but quite often they are just as good at helping to sell old line products at a discount, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. Brochures and promotions are excellent volume builders. Think about it this way: it’s up to you if you go that extra mile developing sales with the really new stuff that no one else is promoting but you. Be different, be bold, be successful. You might even consider your own flyer to hand out with your monthly promotion brochure. Call it: “New Stuff on the Truck”.
In retail, the usual thought on new products is to stock “one to go and one to show”. This way, as soon as one sells you still have another to show while you reorder a new backup. If a product is selling, then maybe two or more for inventory is the correct decision.
Many of the major mobile brand companies and WDs have a “new product” introductory program where new tools are discounted, given extra dating, and have special return privileges if the new item doesn’t sell. If you are not aware of your company’s program, be sure to ask your DM, and don’t forget to ask your favorite WD, too.
One other point to remember: if you go through all the effort of developing you own new product board, be sure you read up and understand the major features and benefits of these products. It would be a shame to get a customer interested and not know what these products do.
We would love to see a picture of your own new product board. Email them to [email protected], and we’ll highlight some in the coming months.
Now, go sell something!
