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THE WVSIC TRKDE
The document issued by Mr. Miller shows
deep study, and is well worthy the perusal
of all who are interested in corporation mat-
ters. Taxation of corporations is a live is-
sue at the present time.
SHOULD BE NO SLOW STOCK.
A
PIANO man from
one of the smaller
inland points writes us
for information as to the
best manner of disposing
of certain stock which has been a little slow.
We should say there should be no slow
stock with piano men, particularly with the
small dealer, who should go through his
stock so frequently that it should all be kept
moving along in good form.
There is no merchandizing business to-day
in which there is such a small percentage of
slow stock, or out-of-date stock, as in the
piano lines; for, while styles may change
somewhat, yet there is no necessity for sweep-
ing reductions or any great out-of-date sales
such as are marked features in general mer-
cantile lines. Piano men have special sales
sometimes as advertising features, and even
then the regular dealers do not let the knife
go too deep into the price. Piano stock is
not shrinkable to any appreciable extent by
becoming out of date.
Our friend, the piano man who is finding
his stock a little slow in moving, should go
to the editor of the leading paper in his town
and see if he cannot make some kind of a
deal on a prize contest scheme, advertising,
of course, the name of the piano. We know
of a number of wide-awake piano men who
have gained not only considerable fame for
certain pianos in advertising in ways of this
kind, but have secured large and generous
slices of business as well. Of course, there
is a diversity of opinion as to the wisdom of
these paper contests, but there is nothing un-
dignified in them, and they keep the name of
a piano on the tip of the tongue, as it were,
for weeks, make the piano merchant talked
about, and to sum up is one of the best kinds
of advertising in small cities.
Of course, if our friend who finds his
stock slow does not believe in advertising,
why then he is,out of it, and we have dis-
covered usually that the men who are non-
believers in advertising are the men who are
not particularly noted for their business bril-
liancy or accomplishments.
We can say right here that it is up to the
small piano man to fight for his business.
The catalogue house man is cutting into his
territory, and the big city houses will make
a more and more thorough canvass of coun-
try territory. The small dealer may as well
make up his mind that he has got to fight to
defend his preserves. He must be just as
Dealer w r i t e s of
" slow stock "—Some
methods suggested to
make it "live"—The
prize contest scheme
—The small d e a l e r
versus the big com-
bination.
lively and just as active as the big city fel-
lows, and if he is, why then, he should not
lose a moment's sleep about any of his trade
getting away from him. But if he drifts
into a rut, and thinks that people will buy of
him because he lives in the town and knows
every one, and that they should patronize
home trade; if he permits the dust to get a
quarter of an inch deep on his pianos, spends
his time in theorizing instead of hustling,
he will wake up some fine morning and find
that his trade has almost entirely disappeared,
that some other fellow has swept right in on
his preserves without so much as saying
"howdy," and has captured the lion's share
of his business. A business man has got to
get near to the hearts of the people whether
in selling pianos, shoes or sewing machines.
It pays to study the methods of successful
business men, and try and improve on them,
if possible, but at least appropriate as much
as can be utilized to advantage in one's own
locality.
There should be no complaint of stock
being slow from this time on from any live
piano man, for things ought to run smoothly
until after Christmas—no cause of complaint
from any source. It's the piano man that is
slow, not the piano stock. If your organi-
zation is all right, much of the ordinary dif-
ficulties will be obviated.
Understand, we do not mean to urge the
adoption of sensational schemes in advertis-
ing. We do not believe in the "going to
Europe" plan, or the "private house" sale
scheme, or the "going out of business" idea.
This is not the period for sensational work
or bombastic methods to attract trade. They
act a good deal like a cyclone which makes
a big stir, but is somewhat destructive in its
way of handling things.
Steady pushing and emphasizing of facts
is what our slow piano man needs—plain,
reasonable,' resolute and convincing logic.
Make those slow pianos the most talked
about pianos in the country. The best way
to push for business is to keep on pushing
—just as the best way to advertise is to keep
on advertising. Lapses are invariably losses,
time and money gone to waste. Just keep
that "slow stock" moving.
THEY HAVE THE CURE.
C O M E Philadelphia
dealers seem con-
siderably disturbed over
the fact that a number
of leading pianos which
were at one time found in warerooms along
Chestnut street are now domiciled in piano
departments—or piano stores, rather, for they
really are stores—of the great general mer-
cantile emporiums of the Quaker City.
The fault is wholly their own, and not the
Philadelphia regu-
lars grumbling over
department store com-
p e t i t i o n — D o not
change their tactics—
Great pianos now in
department stores—
Despicable methods.
Trade Journalism
was complimented by the jury of
awards at the PAN-AMERICAN
exposition, by the awarding of
a diploma to
THE REVIEW
piano manufacturers; for in no city in the
United States has piano selling been brought
to the level it has in the Quaker City, and if
the dealers would study the advertisements
and methods adopted by the department
stores in Philadelphia and would then apply
them to their own business they would not
only do better financially, but would re-
tain at least the respect of the army of regular
dealers throughout the country who have
long looked upon Philadelphia methods as
being the worst known in pianodom.
Of course, there are a few notable excep-
tions, for Philadelphia has some piano mer-
chants who are an honor and credit to the
music trade of the nation—some men who
have held to progressively consistent lines in
the conduct of their business and in the ex-
ploitation of the instruments which they rep-
resent. There is, however, a larger proportion
of the warring element in that city—an ele-
ment which has contributed to the degrada-
tion of the business—than can be found in any
other of the important distributing points
in all America. Philadelphia methods have
become a by-word and reproach in trade cir-
cles, and it can be said without fear of con-
tradiction- that no meaner or more despic-
able plans to malign competitors have been
adopted by any merchants than have been in
vogue in Philadelphia. As a result of this,
the piano purchasing public has become dis-
gusted, and because the piano departments
in the large department stores, like Wana-
maker's and Gimbel's, have developed an as-
tonishingly large trade, the cause is direct-
ly traceable to the peculiar ways of piano men
of Philadelphia, and the quicker they wake
up to a keen realization of these facts the
better it will be for them. The piano business
should not be degraded, and it is more than
surprising how seemingly intelligent men en-
joy following a course of procedure which
is contributing to their own business ruin.
PIANO ADVERTISERS OF NEW YORK.
'THE old fight of
The public asked
not to buy pianos ad-
vertised in a New York
paper—Advertiser no
longer a free agent in
selecting mediums.
the Typographical
Union No. 6 against the
New York Sun has been
carried on unceasingly.
The Union now issues weekly a little book-
let which they call "a shopper's guide and
bulletin of advertisers for the use of trade
unions, their friends, their families and their
sympathizers."
The piano men who advertise in the Sun
come in for their share of condemnation.
In this little booklet appears the statement:
"Advertisements in the New York Sun drive