Ron's Wheeler-Dealer Promotion

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Ron’s  “Wheeler-Dealer” Promo

One of the functions of my job is to come up with ideas to promote the sale of Raine Inc. items to our customers.  This could involve trade show giveaways, promotional literature, advertising, and sales events.  Over the years, I came up with several  ideas that seemed to work.

One of our most successful promotions in the mid-90’s, was the “Wheeler-Dealer” promo.  We had a supply of spinner racks that weren’t being utilized in any kind of regular program.  If a dealer called and asked for merchandising display help, we would offer him the rack at a low cost.  The rack stood about five feet tall and took up a couple of square feet of floor space.  It had five rotors with thirty two arms on which to display product.  It wasn’t real sturdy, but we only charged $35 for it so they couldn’t expect much.  There was a pinch-clip that mounted in the top of the center post that held a surfboard-shaped sign with our name and logo.

John and I were talking one day about how to get AAFES stores to take a wider selection of product, and I had the idea to fill the rack with product and tell the store managers if they ordered the product we would throw in the rack at no charge.  John thought it was a good idea.  The managers thought it was a great idea.  Each of the managers I spoke to about it, placed the order.  Some stores even requested a second rack with different items!  It worked great.  As it turns out, the idea (in a somewhat re-configured application) may be making a comeback.  We are working on a new program we hope to have in place soon.  If it works out, I’ll fill in the details in another installment.

Those were the good old days of selling to AAFES.  Now a vendor can’t get a new item in with a crowbar because some of the vendors took too many liberties with the system and over-loaded AAFES with inventory.  We didn’t do that.  We have always been careful to make sure we did not abuse our good relationship.  We are proud of our record as a vendor and hope to keep them as a customer for years to come.   That’s the thing about Raine inc.; we treat every customer as we would like to be treated.  We know the customer is our employer and we can be fired if we don’t perform.  If you’re a new visitor to Raine, and can use our products in your inventory mix, give us a call and experience what it’s like to be treated as someone special.

Best Regards,

Ron