November 21, 2002
LET'S DEMONSTRATE!
by
Dale Cripps
No, this is not a call to show our support for or against war. An email arrived the
other day that provoked a good deal of commentary here about retail demonstrations. I
passed it to the Tips List with an added note to Martin Franks at CBS urging him to convey
it to his sponsor, Sears. You will find this email below. The stir from the Tips List
triggered a much wanted discussion about the last deplorable bottleneck for the HDTV
transition--retail. I would like to expand on this idea tonight.
No broad indictment of retail activities is inferred here for there are retailers doing
an exemplary job in demonstrating HDTV. They understand quite well their critical role in
this transition. But a few good ones cannot mask the many who dont do such a
marvelous job.
Let me repeat for emphasis: It is impossible to overstate the importance of the
retail function in the transition to HDTV. Without knowledge and appealing
demonstrations a buyer is utterly lost. They can't tell from a standard television
advertisement what is supposed to be the experience anymore than from a print add. That
all comes from either you owners of HDTV or from a retail setting.
Moving to HDTV is an advancement into a new world. Modern skills for overcoming human
resistance to newness and change are the stock and trade of good salesmen in this rapidly
evolving era. Not many have mastered this art, but those who have are treasures to their
companies. How well one is escorted to a new circumstance in life makes a profound
difference in how one embraces that new circumstance. Were you led there by intimidation
and against your better judgement or from a genuine consideration for your well being? The
buyers will look at their acquisitions through many different lenses which are all
"ground" at the time of the sale.
Indifferent and slovenly sales efforts produce expensive product returns and a general
business malaise. The customer was sold the wrong thing trhrough lack of attention to
needs, or the right thing was not properly presented and never fully appreciated by the
buyer. How can there be a better, faster, and more profitable way to complete this
transition than by refining retail salesmanship? Yes, I know it is easier said than done,
but it is never done if not said.
The front line selling force must also enjoy the same experience in their own homes if
they are to be qualified spokespersons for the HDTV experience. A demo plan insures that
the sales force for automobile agencies is excited about their latest products. They can
talk from personal experience. This nation would see sales soar if a similar demonstration
plan were adopted for the HDTV sales forces. Since the launch in November 98 I have
not met one salesperson who said they had a HDTV monitor /receiver in their own home. How
can one be sold by someone who is themselves not already sold?
I had a young man here working for me this summer with the magazine. He is a natural
salesman. He got the benefit of HDTV while living here. I opened my home to his friends
and their dates. They made my home theater their own for three months. All were
converted to HDTV and are evangelist going about "selling" their
social world from a spontaneous enthusiasm springing naturally from their delightful
experiences. I sent the young man off to a retailer where he is already their top
producer--selling HDTV, of course, where none had been sold before.
HDTV has only ONE feature to sell--big image and audio quality. It offers nothing else.
No amount of digital interactive goodies can carry the digital television movement to its
desired conclusion. It only advances when the quality of the image and audio lead it. That
has to be demonstrated. Should a retailer offer a poor demonstration it must come as no
surprise that prospective clients shrug their shoulders and walk out unsold.
Let me illustrate the power of a great demonstration using my own case. Back in 1984 I
was invited to the old CBS Laboratories in Stamford, Connecticut. In less than twenty
minutes into the demo I knew that HDTV was worth any fight it would take to commercialize
it. That one superb demonstration motivated me enough to make a substantial 7 figure
investment and devote every day since-- over 19 years right up to this very second--to
help insure that it gets to all of our homes undiluted. Had I been given a marginal or
indifferent demonstration with a substandard signal, improper lighting, monitor set up,
viewing distance and time to adjust my orientation to the bigger screen, and with audio
all-but-forgotten, I would have left that CBS demo sullied and disappointed in HDTV and
instead of investing my life into its cause I would have gone looking for someone to bill
for the time and transportation cost I needlessly wasted in going to Connecticut. Please
believe me retailers, the importance and power of a good demonstration cannot
possibly be overstated!
The drive to digital TV has taken on the trappings of national objective, but without
the Federal funding. The government is goading it rather than promoting it, and the
federal mandate for it is managed through the private sector (although some federal funds
might get to PBS). So, in the strictest sense it is not a national objective, though it
needs to be treated as such.
For you new readers just joining us you might not know that the governments
position and reason for being involved is that digital makes more efficient use of
spectrum as well as enables more public-spirited services and after a transition analog
spectrum can be recovered and sold at auction for other purposes. There is a lot of money
at stake and the government figured out how to be first in line for it.
For that spectrum deal to be completed, of course, the transition must be
completed. The existing analog services cannot be arbitrarily ended, at least not without
a harsh public reaction. The transition must have the ideal Hollywood ending if an
unthinkable catastrophe is not to occur to our existing terrestrial signal providing
services.
The broadcasters had the most at risk. Imagine being forced by your government to use
your own money to go to the moon and be left entirely dependent upon an unregulated third
party for your landing! and with the government saying they will sell your rocket at
auction shortly before you reach your safe harbor? That is only a slight exaggeration to
the circumstance broadcasters face. They are highly dependant on industry sectors over
which they have no control. One of those is not doing as well as it could do and that
problem needs to be fully addressed and answered. That weakest link now is retail and with
the least complicated corrections could become the strongest booster we have in our
transitions marketing chain. Retail is where most of the publics initial
perception of HDTV performance occurs and where demand for it is catalyzed. Demonstration
police--to your post.
If there are strict company guidelines for demonstrations they are not being followed
uniformly. Demonstrations are all over the map. Some HDTV demonstration monitors have
never seen a digital signal, others may display stretched image of DVD content. The fate
of the spectrum deal, Mr. Government, hangs on the perfection of these RETAIL
demonstrations.
THIS IS THE EMAIL WHICH SPARKED THE DISCUSSION ON
THE TIPS LIST, AND THIS ARTICLE . ASK YOURSELF HOW THE BROADCAST INDUSTRY, WHICH IS FORCED
TO MAKE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DIGITAL BROADCAST EQUIPMENT INVESTMENTS MUST FEEL WHEN
READING THIS AND MULTIPLYING IT BY THE THOUSANDS OF SIMILAR EXPERIENCES EVERY MONTH.
Hi, I need to ask an HDTV question, and I couldn't find anyone in the store who
could answer it. can you help? My wife and I were in Sears tonight looking at the Hitachi
line of HDTV's. we noticed that the picture on the 16:9 sets seemed to be
"stretched" (horizontally) to fit the screen. Yet, when we viewed the same high
def picture on a traditionally sized 4:3 High Def set, the picture appeared to look
normal. The store had the Dish's HDTV demo channel on all the sets so we could compare
pictures. We actually went with intent to buy this evening, but that stretched out picture
really turned me off. Is that the way the High Def picture is going to look?
_Mike Jacobson
HERE IS ANOTHER CONTRIBUTION FROM TIPSTER
.
It gets even worse! Just last Monday I was in San Francisco; cosmopolitan, world-class
city that it is. I had a half-hour to kill and I was a block away from the Sony Metreon, a
state-of-the-art, 4-story permanent mall/theater/showcase for everything in the Sony
electronics & entertainment empire. Factory trained sales people are showing off the
latest & greatest equipment in the glitziest retail environs. A prime place to see and
learn about HDTV, right?!
Sorry! Not a single HD thing in sight! No TVs, no STBs, no projectors, nothing! Shocked
and assuming I was just missing some special HD room, I asked a salesman "Where do
you keep the Hi-Def equipment?" "Huh?" was the reply. You know, high
definition TV? Where is it? "uh, I don't think we have any. Let me ask someone."
A minute later he brings over another fellow. He doesn't know either! "What are you
looking for, sir? Is there a specific product you are trying to find?" I was hoping
you had some HD equipment and programming on display? "Well, our VAIO computers can
record and playback video. You can edit it, too. You want to see that?" I know that,
but its not Hi Def. Don't you have the new model 200 STB? "uh, STB?" Settop box.
HI Def decoder box for satellite signals? Oh!" they take me over to a couple of
DirecTV and PVR boxes...
No! AAAAArrrrgggghhh! So I spent the next 15 minutes explaining the whole Bay Area HD
situation to them...all the primetime OTA schedule, the CBS Saturday NCAA football games,
PBS demo loops and specials, HBO, Showtime, Discovery, HDNet.
"Wow! That's really cool! So did you just get this set up recently?" they
ask. I explain how I'm watching this all on a Sony HD LCD projector on a 10 ft wide 16:9
screen for the last TWO years. While their jaws are still hanging open, I glance at my
watch and say " Whoops! I gotta get going!" They wave goodbye and thank ME for
the info. Then [probably only half-joking] one them says, "Hey, you wanna job
here?" As I'm walking out the door, I say "That would be cool, only you don't
have anything here for me to sell!"
This horrible experience left me in a funk about HD for 3 days! I'm still trying to
understand why ? I mean, if it were Joe Schmo's Camera & Stereo shop in Podunk I would
expect this. But a Sony-owned world-class showcase in downtown San Francisco????!!!!
Ken Lim,
Chmn. & Chief Futurist
CyberMedia Convergence Consulting
HERE IS ANOTHER REPORT FROM A READER
.
Dateline November 16, Best Buy, Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.
Was in there buying a line amplifier for my DSS when I noticed that over half of their
HD sets were turned off. Those that were on were either turned to a football game on ABC,
a TIVO ad loop, or some movie, I had no idea what it was. They all looked like hell.
One person wanted to buy a big screen TV, don't know if it was HD or not. They didn't
have it in stock. He asked about another. Didn't have that in stock either. He turned to
his wife and said "these guys are selling TVs they don't even have... lets go
somewhere else"
Another guy was discussing his HDTV purchase with an employee who was taking down all
his information... "So this TV is going to make my satellite look better,
right?" "Right... this TV is a must-have if you use satellite."
There were no employees available to answer questions... there were people waiting
behind people waiting behind people to talk to the two or three employees they had to
service people. This is not uncommon, each time I've been there it has been the same way.
There has been more than one occasion (when I had time and didn't have my 3 yr. old son
running around) when I would hang out in that department, find somebody who was looking at
the sets and not getting help, and just striking up conversation... "Looks nice, eh?
You thinking about getting a HDTV?" And from there I try my best to educate.
I DO feel like we're foot soldiers in this volunteer army and that we have to go out
and do our best to educate when we have the chance. It is discouraging to find that what
should be our biggest ally (the retail stores) are probably our biggest enemy. _Heath
White
AND STILL ANOTHER
.
Same experience here in LA Best Buy: I asked were the HD STBs were and the guy looked
at me like I was talking about a social disease!
I then explained what it was.. he goes "Oh, that RCA box over there." They had
one RCA, NOT hooked up to anything on a shelf away from the HDTVs with a small surround
sound system on shelves below (not hooked up)...that was it. I looked at all the DVDs
players VHS, etc. Could not find another STB sans I did recall finding one DirectTV PVR
and a Tivo. They had some nice Plasma, Panny and Pioneer, I think, screens showing DVDs.
All their HDTVs were showing DVD or regular SDTV
Sears: quite a bit better as for equipment. They had Dish HD Demo on their HD screens.
3-4+ brands of HDTVS: Mits Toshiba Samsung RCA Panny I think. They also had STBs:
Samsung(s) and RCA and a Mits doing the Demo But same as far as the help...well, they did
know you need one of those Dish STB boxes and a Dish on your roof... to get HD Dish. They
wanted to keep me there telling them anything I could regards HDTV OTA etc.
I wish I had a fold up Bow Tie Antenna to whip out and try and tune in HD OTA
hopefully...or at the least something Dig. Maybe we should all carry them in our vehicles,
with Dale's HDTV Logo on them, ready to go with short Coax. Knowing here we (LA, CA) have
good content OTA (some night where we have 3-4, even 5 with PBS, Channels OTA HD at 8PM)
Go down there and have their sales guy hold the antenna and try and tune some OTA in.
It would be tremendous if one could pull in like 3 HD programs after a scan and flip back
and forth for customers to see HD, HD, HDTV take your pick! WOW !
Lucky for me we have Ken Cranes which hardly sells any analog or SD TVs anymore... in fact
they are just finishing a re-model of their store (Torrance, CA store) looks nice they
carry lots HD Equip. but NO Samsung STBs, which seemed odd.
Tom V
San Pedro, CA
SAGE ADVICE FROM THE TIPS
I think the onus is on the seller. Yes, the manufacturer can train the seller, but the
seller has to train the consumer. In order for that to happen, the seller has to train the
help. I don't think it is good enough to just sell a product to a consumer without
knowledge of what that product is, what it does, and finally, what it is capable (or
incapable) of. I worked a career in the telephone company. In that time I installed and
repaired very complex telephone systems. My customer looked to me for guidance, and I was
there to give it to them. I knew my products inside out and had the ability to pass all
the idiosyncrasies of the product along. I left my customer happy with the knowledge that
they had the right product for their needs.
That is missing today in the electronics (and others) industry. The key today is to
sell everything you can. Who cares if you don't know a damned thing about it. Hearsay is
the language of the day. "Somebody told me." That perpetuates bad service. If
the dealers would spend the time (and money) to train their personnel, they would come out
the winner in the long run. Of course they might have to add a dollar or two to the price
of the product to pay for it. In the end, if everyone doesn't do it, nobody will because
people buy the product for the least amount that they can.
Fortunately, there are some specialists out there who have the training and can give
the consumer the proper guidance. Unfortunately, they are far and few between. Their
systems also cost more. They probably should, trained personnel get paid higher than
minimum wage and they deserve it. We need to start shopping with these folks and make a
statement to the big guys (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.)
There is an old saying, "cheap is good, free is best." The other old saying
is, "you get what you pay for."
__Bobby C
During an exchange on the TIPS LIST I mentioned a plan that I have for making a
speaking tour across the nation to retailers. The message I would deliver would not be how
to do demonstrations but to establish the motive for doing them right in the first place.
I said I would like to have a Retailers Bible on the subject of HDTV to
pass out and I received encouragement for doing that, Just tonight a reader, retired
computer engineer, Ken Nist, presented the HDTV world with an extraordinary primer on HDTV
which should be in the hands of all professionals and their prospects alike. I would like
to print a hard copy edition handing it out on this tour but would need volunteers to
finance the printing as Ken has quite nobly decided to make this a free contribution.
http://hometown.aol.com/kq6qv/HDTVprimer.html
Do check it out readers. I think you will agree that Ken has made an outstanding
contribution to the streamlining of the HDTV education process. Thank you Ken.
And another has stood up to make his contribution felt
Dale,
I think your idea for a speaking tour is an excellent idea, as is the Retailer's Bible
for HDTV. In fact, I'd be happy to do the design/layout of the Bible. I have contacts for
the printing of it, too. As for contents, I'd be happy to sit down in my theater and
brainstorm, write down my thoughts, then forward them directly to you, Dale. I can pretty
much guarantee not having anything extremely technical to say, but that's probably so much
the better. Please feel free to contact me directly with any specific questions you may
have.
_Todd Tracey
Pasadena, MD
And still another...
Dale,
As you and I have repeatedly discussed, seminars at CEDIA and WCES must be
done. A booth for HDTV Mag and flyers promoting HDTV Mag at each video mfgs.
booth. Working with Joe Kane to set up a mfg. certification and dealer info and
training program. Along with all the other items we keep discussing. WCES is 7
weeks away. Talk to Shapiro and set it up. As always I am there to help.
_Joe Azar
Joe we are a subscription based service and our subscribers determine by way of their
subscriptions what we are to do. Be happy to do all of those things when the 'votes' come
in to enable it. __Dale
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HDTV
This last week marked HDTVbirthday. On the 16th of November 1998 it
set sail in swaddling clothes from Washington, DC. Formal ceremonies with a number of HDTV
stalwarts declared that the product was now going to enrich the homes of
America and Canada. Stirring speeches about the good it will do for so many rang out
through one of the best steak dinners I have had on the otherwise rubber
chicken circuit. There was a small trade show in the back with all of
the manufacturers showing off their commercial entries for the HDTV market.
Happy Birthday HDTV - Next year we will have a big cake!
This is newsworthy for the localism involved.
Carolina Hurricanes to be broadcast in High-Definition
_______________________________________________________________
DURHAM, NC - In a unique partnership, WRAZ-TV/DT, Time Warner Cable, and The Carolina
Hurricanes will broadcast ten Carolina Hurricanes games in High-Definition on WRAZ-DT and
on Time Warner Cable.
Nothing demonstrates the advantages of HDTV like live sports, and the fast-paced nature
of hockey showcases this new technology especially well. Digital viewers will be able to
see the players like never before, and the 16:9 wide aspect ratio of HDTV as well as the
exceptional resolution, will offer hockey fans unprecedented field of view and clarity.
"HD captures all the incredible excitement of NHL action," said Tommy
Schenck, General Manager, FOX 50 WRAZ-TV/DT. "It really adds a whole new dimension to
the game."
"We are excited to be working with WRAZ and the Hurricanes to bring this exclusive
programming to Time Warner Cable," said Tom Adams, President of the
Raleigh-Fayetteville division of Time Warner Cable. "The ten HD games will not be
available on the satellite TV services," he added.
The Carolina Hurricanes 2002 NHL Eastern Conference Championship title propelled local
hockey support to new levels, and as area hockey enthusiasm continues to grow, these
High-Definition broadcasts will provide the local fan-base with the highest quality sports
coverage.
"This emerging technology is incredible for our sport, " said Ken Lehner, VP
Marketing Communications of the Carolina Hurricanes. "This will only fuel the growing
enthusiasm for Carolina Hurricanes hockey." Lehner added, "The Hurricanes will
be just the fourth team in the NHL that will be broadcasting in HD with a local rights
holder."
To watch this select, ten-game package in High-Definition, viewers with High-Definition
displays can turn to WRAZ-DT (channel 49.1 or 49.2 DTV) or to Time Warner Digital Cable
channel 250. Time Warner Digital subscribers without a High-Definition display will be
able to watch a standard definition broadcast of the game on digital channel 251.
Games to be carried on WRAZ-DT.
November 27 7:00pm EST vs. Vancouver
December 18 7:00pm EST vs. Tampa Bay
January 12 5:00pm EST vs. Colorado
January 20 7:00pm EST vs. St. Louis
February 23 1:30pm EST vs. Anaheim
March 4 7:00pm EST vs. Boston
March 7 7:00pm EST vs. Minnesota
March 10 7:00pm EST vs. Columbus
March 25 7:00pm EST vs. Toronto
March 29 7:00pm EST vs. Buffalo
Note: This schedule is subject to change.
For more information, call WRAZ-TV General Manager Tommy Schenck at (919) 595-5003;
George Douglas, Time Warner Cable VP of Marketing at (919) 573-7092; or Ken Lehner, Carolina Hurricanes' VP Marketing Communications at (919)
467-7825, ext. 5200.
Until Next Time
