Re: Re:N.A.M.M show

[Kim Flint <kflint@chromatic.com>]

At 09:47 PM 12/11/97 GMT, Michael Pycraft Hughes, PhD wrote:
>Tom:
>>Actually we do go to see our paying public...our dealers. 
>
>They aren't you're paying public, they just tell you they are!!
>Go direct like Carvin, you know it makes sense!  (to us)
>Incidentally, do Carvin bother attending NAMM?

yes, they usually have a reasonably large booth. You have to realize that 
in
addition to being sales people and product managers and store owners and
whatnot, most of the people there are also musicians with reasonably well
paying jobs.


>>The presence of the general public is often a distraction and a
>>hindrance to doing business, which is the reason all of us manufacturers
>>paid for the space, the hotel rooms, the (so-called) food in the first
>>place.
>
>This just seems a strange mentality.  If Lexicon had taken the Vortex to
>the public themselves, it might have sold better than by trying to
>encourage Guitar Center to do it for them.  And if the message doesn't get
>through to the PAYING CUSTOMER, the product's shafted anyway.  To put it
>one way, how many distributors are on this list (LD)?  Err... none.  But
>they go, and we don't.

That's what marketing campaigns in magazines and in store clinics and
displays are for. At a tradeshow it's like this: An important dealer comes
up. He's busy, got a lot to do that day, you spend 5-10 minutes discussing
the products in the booth with him. He knods, says, "I'll buy 50 of those,
100 of those, let's do the order now." Papers signed, he's gone. Then along
comes some 22 year old who probably works in a shoe store. He asks detailed
questions for an hour and a half, plays all the gear badly while others are
waiting, and eventually wanders away and probably never buys anything at
all. As you might imagine, the manufacturer (who really does want his
business) would much prefer that said 22 year old explored the product and
asked questions at his local dealer rather than consume far more valuable
space and time at the trade show booth.  

That's not always the case with every manufacturer. The really small guys
will eagerly talk to anybody. They need all the exposure they can get,
probably don't have any sort of dealer network set up, and probably haven't
been to enough shows to get the hang of separating the important people 
from
the rest of the crowd. Some big manufacturers are good too...Roland for
example, has their booth set up with a big stage and lots of demo booths
around with headphones. They probably do all the business deals in hotel
suites. Even there though, it's mostly look-and-don't-touch for the new 
stuff.

kim
________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                      408-752-9284
Mpact System Engineering       kflint@chromatic.com
Chromatic Research             http://www.chromatic.com