The Season is Over

The season is over as far as rotary washing lines are concerned - gardens in general suffer from neglect in winter, and garden centres quieten down. I always thought it would happen, but when the orders dry up it is uncomfortable. So I am brushing up on my marketing, and spending the time available to raise the profile for winter.
What I have to do is to peruade people that an airer with a dryline is an all-year round external drying facility, which is true. Even when the temperature dips near freezing the clothes come in iron-dry. A little damp but nearly all the water has been removed. It relieves households of loads of damp washing taking the energy from the indoor environment and replacing it with moisture. This is of course desirable.
I have gone back to Mike West's brilliant seminars on marketing enabled by MAS-WM, the regional support agency for manufacturers, in order to get my plan together. It is a really black art, and it shows for instance why Tesco is so efficient. Their tracking system is positively Machiavellian, and enables them to predict what will be sold from their shops and when. I won't bore you with the details but it is very clever indeed. What I need is a means of contacting likely customers to enable me to communicate effectively. I also need to spend more time displaying the product in public places, because it is only when people can see, touch and consider the Rotaire Dryline that they actually get the idea - something you can't communicate through a website. Then they realise what it could mean to their own lifestyle.
I spent Saturday in brilliant sunshine reading the course notes and talking to customers in a Co-operative car park with the Dryline on display. It proved to me that the time taken was worth while, even though I am unable to make actual sales on their premises. However, a lot of people were interested enough to take a leaflet. We shall see how many follow through to purchase.

The Autumn Show

The Malvern Autumn Show was blessed with some of the best weather this year. It was worrying that it was the wrong weather for selling Drylines, which was, of course, why Fran and I were there. However, a small electric pump, some troughs and a length of pipe gave a good simulation of what happens when it rains. Last year, at the same show, people didn't understand so readily the reasons for owning one. This year most of our 1000 leaflets were taken away, and we sold nearly £1000 pounds of dryline covers. Dressed in our corporate fleeces we talked until we forgot what day it was, but we were praised for our low key sales technique. In other words, we didn't press folk to buy: just gave them the facts.
It seems that the credit crunch (as it is affectionately known) energy price rises and a growing ecological awareness have influenced the public to be receptive to new ideas. If that is so, long may it last. The awful weather this summer may have influenced them as well.
A day later more orders than ever are going out of the door, and there is good reason to be optimistic. It is not easy to introduce a new idea without national media support, and I hope that winter does not blind potential buyers to its benefits. In this country gardens are strictly for summer, and garden furniture does not sell through winter. It has a much closer relationship to the home and kitchen (or utility room) than to the outside world.