What the Heck is This?

New York, New York: it’s so Nice we say it Twice

We were doing a trade show in the Big Apple one November. Nice time of year, warmhearted atmosphere and a great host in ABCO Refrigeration. Food and drink galore, the ABCO show is the best in the country, ask any manufacturer. The show was a trial balloon for Refrigeration Technologies this particular year. We had just completed the packaging on our Checkmate Contamination Detector Kit, and we were unveiling the finished product for the first time.

Most mechanics walking by our table never noticed our array of neatly placed products and literature. Basically, if you didn’t have something you were giving away for free, you just didn’t attract any interest. Now I can’t blame them because I found myself doing the same thing later in the day. Dupont had these nifty temperature pressure charts and Honeywell is always good for a little screw driver. The best give-a-way was at MDI Pinnacle with the tank magnets which indicate temperature, I grabbed about a dozen of those.

To sell in New York, you’ve got to be aggressive. You can’t just let customers walk by, you need to open your claws and drag them into your booth. "Hey bud, over here, I got something new I want to show you." "Check this out". I unveiled the Checkmate to my first client. The mechanic looks at the product, picks it up for closer observation and says, "What the heck it this". "Well", caught off guard I said, "it’s a Checkmate Contamination Detector Kit for measuring the amount of Acid and Moisture in Refrigerant Gas." The mechanic put down the kit and said "what do I care." I responded cordially, "this kit will tell you whether the refrigerant in your system or any refrigerant you have removed from a system is clean enough to use." The mechanic chuckled and replied, "who cares." I felt at this time, he was not the ideal candidate so I said, "here take some literature and get the heck out." "Fine" he said. The rest of the day the show went well. I got some good action on the Checkmate product, and unlike my first conversation most of the feed back was positive.

Paradise Lost is Paradise Regained

The show was winding down to a close. Everyone at the booth had just about lost their voice from pitching people all day long. Low and Behold, my first customer of the day returned with several more people. He picked up the Checkmate Kit, displayed it to a crowd of people behind him, and gave what I thought was the most clear, most intelligent explanation on the Checkmate method I had ever heard. I later learned the people behind him were his service techs and he (the company owner) had just ordered a kit for every truck in his fleet. He thanked me, asked for more literature, looked me in the eye and said, "you will never make it as a salesman in New York". "I can sell this thing". "That you can," I added.

New products are tough to gauge for the manufacturer as well as the technician. There are products a technician will buy once and never purchase again. The death of a product is the lack of any follow through. Sales will sky rocket to a peak, then drop like a lead balloon.

I believe it was the late Andy Warhol who said, "if it sells in New York, it will sell anywhere". The premise has held true. Over the years to follow, our Checkmate Kit would expand worldwide and gain prominent OEM acceptance. "Thanks New York".