By Adam Blair, Executive Editor
Besides the fact that it’s an entertaining movie and stars the always remarkable Jennifer Lawrence, the new movie Joy holds special interest for pretty much anyone connected with the retail industry. That’s because the most interesting section of the film, which is set in the early 1990s, takes place in the offices and studios of the home shopping channel QVC. Thrillingly, it shows “how the sausage is made,” providing a behind-the-scenes look at this important precursor to e-Commerce.
The film, from director David O. Russell, who made Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, is based on the life of real-life entrepreneur Joy Mangano. It details her struggles (most of them with her self-involved, selfish and/or spaced-out family) to get her invention, the Miracle Mop, manufactured and, even more importantly, sold. The entire film is a rebuke to the old adage, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Joy has to travel a long, twisty, difficult road to push her better mousetrap into customers’ hands.
Things seem to take a positive turn when she visits QVC’s offices, incongruously located in the middle of Pennsylvania’s Amish country. Joy impresses QVC exec Neil Walker (played by Lawrence’s frequent costar Bradley Cooper), and he imparts several pieces of real-world retailing wisdom as he shows her around the studio. Some of the key lessons:
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• The Need for Repetition: People don’t hear things, particularly new information, the first time they’re told it, nor even the second or the third time. In some cases it takes seven, eight or nine iterations to get a message across. Walker explains that that’s why QVC is on 24 hours a day, and why its presenters repeat key information over and over.
• “It’s all about the hands”: Walker repeats several times that when you’re selling a product that people can’t see and touch, it’s important to show it actually being used. The presenters hawking jewelry, for example, hold up the necklaces and bracelets to show how they look against different pieces of apparel. It’s a good lesson for anyone making a product video.
• Listen when your customers speak: The ability of QVC to broadcast calls from real-world, real-time customers on the air became a big part of its success. In today’s world of proliferating consumer reviews, retailers may want customers to pipe down, but their input can still be quite valuable.
Later in the film, frustrated with the professional presenter’s inability to effectively demonstrate her Miracle Mop product, Joy herself becomes a QVC spokesperson. She rejects the fancy makeup and wardrobe Walker selects and goes on in her basic white blouse and black pants. She imparts what may be the most important lesson of any type of retailing, or any kind of business for that matter:
• Personal Passion is Persuasive: Nobody can sell Joy’s mop better than she can because it’s hers. She’s poured money, time and excruciating effort into designing it, getting it manufactured, and selling it. When she’s able to connect all that passion with the QVC audience, the sales go through the roof.
It may sound like a corny fairy tale, but there are always a few nuggets of truth at the heart of even the most outlandish story. Retailers, check out Joy to get a painless refresher course in what’s needed to get even the best products off the shelf (real or electronic) and into the hands of customers.
