Competitive Tips

Competing Against Large Box Stores (updated)

Helping the Walk-in Customer

Differentiating Your Organization to the potential Video Services Customer  (work in progress)

 

Competing Against the Large Box Store

Some ideas on how to compete for Film and Video Tape Transfer business against Walgreens, CVS, Costco and Wal-Mart:   The large discount store chains have national contracts with Yes Video. Yes Video offers a good transfer product at a reasonable price that is made for national distribution. When customers order film or video tape transfer to DVD, Yes Video also includes free Digital Scrapbook editing software (patented by Yes Video). This software gives customers the ability to create a digital slideshow and story in which they can import photos, create titles, import movie clips, insert background music, move content around, and export the finished product as a data movie file to share with friends and family via viewing on their computer.  The Digital Scrapbook Software comes standard with DVD transfer, and is easy to use for minor customization of transferred content.   Customers that want to edit and customize their movies will typically be more computer literate, and be willing to invest their time to customize transferred content to their liking.

Best competitive selling points:

Price conscious shoppers - offer our High Definition Film Transfer to MP4 files, downloaded via the Web, priced at $0.15 / film foot - comparably priced to the Yes Video, but offering a higher resolution film transfer (our 1080P to their 480p film scan).

Concierge service - with the larger stores, options are limited, and for high-touch customers wanting a special tailor-made product, we can offer options to customize the final product with on-screen titles, custom menus, background music, and video editing.

Quality conscious Buyers - offer the 1080P transfer and color correction - the big box stores do not offer color correction on their products.

DIY Customers wanting to do their own video editing - offer film transfer to MOV, AVI, MP4, or JPG or even TIFF formats - something the big box stores do not offer.  The data file copies are far superior to the large chain stores’ product in that the movie content is delivered in a less compressed, higher quality format that is ready for editing with either Windows Movie Maker or Apple’s iMovie, or other third party software program.

In competitive situations, please call Cintrex for help. In some cases the best winning tactic is to offer the customer what the competition cannot: high definition transfer, digital data copy, and Blu-ray disc.

 

HELPING THE WALK-IN CUSTOMER

Selling Transfer & Conversion Services is different from selling milk or scotch tape or T-shirts or gasoline.  Not just any product will do.  Our service products are not something the customer must have, but something the customer consciously chooses to purchase with discretionary funds.  It’s an emotional purchase for most customers.  This type of sale involves customers that have specific needs in mind, not unlike someone buying a high-end camera or watch, and the purchase will be made only after correct answers are given, and those specific needs are met.  Most times, customers will shop around before making their selection.  They’ll be very discerning.  The top criteria for making the purchase involve quality product, customer service before and after the sale, peace of mind, desired features, optional extra’s, ongoing support, and the value gained for money spent. 

Why are customers looking at transfer & conversion services?  What do customers want?  What is their budget?

• Customers are considering these service products because they want to save their past audio and video recordings, organize them, view or show them again, and share them with friends and family.
• Customers want a service provider who understands that their audio and video memories are priceless, that these media collections from the past are some of the most valuable collections that people own. 
• Customers want good value for their money.  Budget considerations – ask upfront about the customer’s budget range, what are they willing to spend for conversion of their valuable memories; many times they’ll spend more for a superior service.  Knowing the budget range will help later on as you decide which added features to introduce for the customer’s benefit.

 

In this sales transaction, it is important that you are sincere, that you know your product and company, and you speak with conviction and belief that you have the best value and right product for the customer. 

The retailer or dealer salesperson will have several goals in mind when discussing Transfer & Conversion Services:

• Meet customer needs with quality products, professional services, competitive prices
• Ask proper questions of customer to better understand expectations
• Look for ways to increase average value of each sale
• Look for ways to create repeat business
• Gain customer satisfaction to enhance store / dealer reputation
• Continue good PR and good word-of-mouth advertising

 

You provide customers peace of mind with conversion services.  Increased customer satisfaction is gained when you outperform expectations.

Asking questions is very important in order to better serve your customer.  Most times the customer will know less than the salesperson about transfer services.  If the customer doesn’t know what to ask, then please consider asking the questions below as a way to start conversation and better understand customer needs.

Questions to ask:

1. What do you want done with your film or video tapes or photo’s or slides or audio tapes?  Why are you making the transfer?  What do you want to accomplish with this order?  What is the special occasion?
2. Who is the transfer product for?  Who needs extra copies? 
3. What other tapes and film do you have to transfer? (ask for everything to increase sale value)
4. What type media do you want the transfer put onto?
5. How do you plan to show or listen to the transferred contents?  What type media player or DVD or Blu-ray player do you use?  What type TV or HDTV do you have?
6. What about data files, any interest in saving the contents as data files on a hard-drive?
7. What type of hard-drive will you use for the transfer?   What type video editing program do you use?  What data file types do you prefer?  What type of computer do you use, Mac or Windows PC?
8. What do you have for a long term plan to keep and protect the contents on the new DVD or Blu-ray Disc or Hard-drive?
9. Where do you plan to store and keep the new media, so to protect its contents?
10. When do you need the order completed?
11. How should the DVD and DVD case sleeve labeled, with what titles?
12. What onscreen titles do you want within the transferred contents?
13. What special editing might you want done?  What background music should we add to the movie film or DVD slideshow?
14. What additional narratives would you want to add to the new digital movies?
15. What special information would you like us to add to the order for future reference?   Additional information onscreen or on the hard-drive makes the content more valuable in the future
16. What will you consider a good deal?  What will you consider a good transfer?
17. What about high-definition transfer, have you considered this for your film and High Def video tapes?
18. Who else would be interested in purchasing this service?
19. How did you learn about our conversion services?
20. May we have your referral?
21. What else can we improve upon to better your experience?

 

Once you have answers to the above questions, it becomes a matter of knowing your product, and then crafting or designing the best solution.  Please read the reference information and briefs within this website to become more knowledgeable on the products, and never hesitate to call Cintrex on 800-325-9541 if you have questions.

Many times it is best to have an order form handy (see our section on filling out the order form) so that you can mark down or write the answers, and therefore have a ready summary information sheet for the customer to approve when you ask for the customer’s business.

Your summary or wrap-up to the customer Q & A interview process should incorporate the following information:

• Summary of understanding of customer needs, including timeframe and final desired product; gaining customer acknowledgement along the way on each major point important to the customer.  If a due date is not mentioned, please set the expectation of 3 weeks to 4 weeks for delivery.  If necessary for sooner delivery, please note that on the sales order.  Rush orders can be accommodated, but it is important that rush orders are the exception, not the rule. 
• Outline of what you will do to meet customer request; again gaining customer agreement on each major point in your proposal, meaning they agree that your service components or points address their need.
• Answer customer questions, or if answers are not immediately available, please call Cintrex on 800-325-9541 for help.
• Statement of benefits to the customer, and the advantages they gain doing business with your store for their particular order; let them know about the warranty that accompanies their order; gain customer agreement.  Please see the competitive features or points about our different service offerings.
• Completion of order form.
• Closing the sale, asking for the order – if the customer has been nodding in agreement throughout the review process, if the needed features and budget parameters have been met, use assumptive closes such as “when would you like to pick up your finished product?” or “how many extra copies do you need?”.  Ask for the order and close the sale.
• If the customer does not agree to order approval, it becomes necessary to determine, via questions, what the customer objections are to the sale.  As previously stated earlier, the top criteria for the customer in making this purchase involve need for quality product, customer service before and after the sale, peace of mind, desired features, optional extra’s, ongoing support, and the value gained for money spent.  It may be necessary to review with the customer how your company addresses each of the criteria.  However, at this point in the sale process, with the customer having already spent considerable time in review of their order with you, the objections are over price and affordability and value for money spent.  Below are short statements that can help a salesperson help the customer overcome their own objections by appealing to the buyer’s emotions or debt to family:
  • “I understand your concern; this is a significant purchase.  Oftentimes our customers tell us that the most important thing about this transaction is their resultant “peace of mind”, knowing that they have saved valuable family archives for later revisiting by their family and relatives.  Yes, it’s an investment, a valuable investment that will be appreciated many times in the future.”
  • “I understand your concern; this is a significant purchase.  Life is an adventure, a journey, and representative of many experiences, some of which you or your family have already recorded.  With this purchase you are making sure that others can learn from where you were, and where you went, by saving and modernizing these memories, these recordings of you and/or your family’s?  Yes, it’s an investment, a valuable investment that will be appreciated many times in the future.”
  •   “I understand your concern; this is a significant purchase.  These past film and video recordings are priceless memories, representative of precious past times.   Modernizing them is smart investment because you help others remember or view times past, and rediscover past friendships and insights into your family.  You are making sure that valuable memories are not lost.”
• Ask again for the order.   If you need additional pricing consideration from Cintrex on its wholesale prices in order to close a large order, please don’t hesitate to call us.
• Establishment of next steps, including payment details, money down, etc.
• With receipt of customer order, the fulfillment process begins.  The sale is not complete.  We must collectively do the right things with the customer’s older media so that the new transfer product is delivered on time, and exceeding customer expectations.   
• This handbook’s sections labeled “Service Agreement” and “Filling Out The Order Form” cover the order fulfillment process.  Upfront work in organizing the customer’s old media and putting down as much possible information on the order form will better ensure a successful transfer & conversion services product.

 

Summary – Selling Transfer & Conversion Services requires preparation and attention to detail in order to gain the customer’s business.  The customer is entrusting to the salesperson and retailer something of great value, and they want to know, want to hear that they are making the right decision, and the product that they receive will be the very best for the monies spent.

 

Differentiation of your Company to the Customer

• Focus on Potential Customer - ask questions to understand customer need, listen more, say less

• Craft an Innovative Solution

• Show - Demonstrate - Give Value in your solution

• Review Features and resulting Benefits

• Explain the Convenience of doing business with your organization

• Explain the Warranty

• Value of Ongoing Relationship