Mobile Electronic News

Using the ‘fun factor’ to sell audio equipment shouldn’t be a forgotten art. M.E.N investigates how you can inject that fun into your pitch.
As a dealer yourself you have probably witnessed at first hand how ‘fun’ can become a selling point. Take for example two separate visits from sales reps from two different manufacturers. Both of these reps want you to place big orders with them or take on a new product that they’re offering and they will do whatever they can to clinch your interest. Naturally, as a business, you will want to know all about the profit margins, delivery times, support offered by the manufacturer and more, as well as what the product actually does.

But consider that both the products are virtually identical with similar profit margins and you know that both companies speaking to you are good suppliers…which one are you going to choose then? There may be external factors such as long-standing working relationships with a particular company, but if for instance both of these reps are from companies you’ve never dealt with before the difference can be down to how they sell their products to you. Do you go with the guy who puts the product on the desk, bores you to tears about the functions and pushes you into a ‘yes’, or do you go with the rep who takes you out to his demo car, gives you a no-hassle example of what that particular product does and gets you in a good mood? For the majority of people, the second rep would probably get the deal, after all, if he can sell it to you then you shouldn’t have a problem selling it onto your customers.

But turn this example around on yourself, and ask yourself whether you really sell to your customers like the first rep or the second? As was mentioned in the introduction to last month’s issue of M.E.N magazine, this idea of putting the fun back into the market is something that may not be a new idea. Especially on the audio/visual side of things the fun element is the key reason for purchasing. A stereo in a car isn’t really a necessity like a washing machine is to a home, but by having a stereo car journeys can become a whole lot more enjoyable. And it can pay to remember that. If a customer comes to your shop wanting audio equipment it’s because they realise this, they want to enjoy their car audio more and so it’s down to you to show them just how they can do that. One of the best methods for this (as the example of the two reps earlier suggested) is to have a demo vehicle. Get the customer inside, play a track of the kind of music they want to hear and impress the socks of them, then watch them open their wallets. Take your time with them, explain why your set-up sounds so good and try to give them options that will suit their budget, all on the back of this fun experience. If they’ve got as far as sitting in your demo car then they’re likely to be a serious customer so you don’t need the hard sell, instead you need to focus on what will give that customer the best result and what they’ll enjoy the most.

But the fun factor can go beyond just individual transactions with a customer, it can be employed in all manner of other ways. In the current climate dealers face a battle to get any custom, especially when products like up-graded head units, subs, amps etc are all luxury purchases. But this may be the very point. What you’re selling is not a necessity purchase and when times are hard people will be more likely to keep their hands in their pockets when it comes to the kinds of products you sell. But even in these times people will want to have fun and holding things like an open day can certainly help them to do that. With many distributors willing to bring along their demo cars to these days it gives you the chance to show the public the fun side of the industry, and once they’re having fun they may be more amenable to spending. It can even come down to what you do with your own demo cars, perhaps even buying a £300 shed of a car but making it sound fantastic while looking terrible will attract the attention of those who would normally pass you by. It doesn’t always have to cost you a lot of money, but the key is simply to remember that the products you sell are fun, so the way you sell them should be fun too. If people see you having fun with them they will be attracted to your company, much like the guy who’s the life and soul of the party always has people eager to spend time with him. With that in mind, try and figure out ways that you can employ the ‘fun factor’ in your business, whether that’s an unusual demo car, an open day or something even more creative and let Mobile Electronics News know about it so we can tell the rest of the industry.

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