Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MU JIC TRADE
VOL. XLIII. No. 7. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI at I MadisonAve., New York, August 18, 1906.
some reason had not told him of my previous
visit, and his first idea was that if I brought
the organ into the house, he assumed responsi-
A Quality Battle Interestingly Told by an Organ
bility of paying for it. I had a hard time in
Man in "Salesmanship"—He Secured a Big
calming
him down and explaining that he had
Order by Showing Persistence.
the privilege of returning it, if he decided not
The following interesting story is told by M. to buy.
"At last he grudgingly agreed to assist me
J. Hambleton in Salesmanship. He says:
and
the baggageman in bringing the heavy in-
"I was traveling for the B
Piano & Organ
strument into the parlor. As soon as it was in,
Co. and on my first regular trip called on S
Bros., retail dealers in a small town in Ontario. i gave him the best selling talk of which I was
Both of the members of the firm were chilly, capable and while I talked, he passed by stages
not to say hostile, in manner, but by using per- from indignation to interest, from interest to
sistence and taking all their rebuffs in good part, entire approval, and things became so favor-
I managed at last to get their attention while I able that I decided to take his order there and
explained the merits of the goods I sold. I was then, not even leaving the organ on trial as first
cut short with the ultimatum: 'No use in talking arranged.
* * * *
about it; we do not want any goods so high-priced
"Mr. Ross had just hunted up the pen and ink
as yours. Couldn't get the people around here
and had started to sign the order when his wife's
to buy anything so expensive as that.'
"I tried every argument to get them to place shrill voice issuing from the bedroom warned
an order with me, but they insisted on their him that he had tetter not sign any papers—
point that our goods were unsuitable for them that they couldn't afford an organ, that he had
on account of the high price, although there was better remember all the other bills that he had
no complaint of the quality. I then challenged to pay, etc., etc. I turned quickly to my man
them to give me the name of one of their hard- and said: 'Mr. Ross I wouldn't have you sign
est prospects and agreed to go out and sell that that paper without your wife's entire approval.
prospect a high-priced organ, just to show that Now you know your obligations and responsibili-
the people of the community would spend their ties as well as she does, and since you are con-
gocd money if any pains and enterprise were vinced that you can afford the organ she cannot
give any reasonable objection. Let me talk with
used in selling them.
her.'
"The senior partner took me at my word and
"Mr, Ross took the message to his wife, and I
gave me the name of Mr. Ross, living seven or
heard him urging her to grant my request. In a
eight miles out in the country.
"I drove at once to this farmer's house and, few minutes she accompanied him into the par-
finding him absent from home, I had a little talk lor, apologizing for a hasty toilet, and i spent the
with his wife. She was quite crabbed in in- next twenty minutes in going over my canvass to
forming me that they did not want an organ the man and wife together. A good deal of
and did not have time to talk about buying magnetism was needed for them to forget their
things that they could not afford. I persisted, qualms on the score of expense, but I succeeded
and suggested all that the possession of such aii in getting them as enthusiastic as myself and
article means in the home; gave her an idea of when I left the house shortly after midnight I
the pleasure the family would get from it in the carried an order signed by both of them.
"In the morning I called on S
Bros, and
long winter evenings; how it would develop a
showed
them
the
contract.
Nothing
more
was
taste for accomplishments in the young daughters
of the house, and built up in her mind the idea required to be said. They looked at me and at
of an organ not only as an expensive musical in- the signatures on the contract and ended by giv-
strument, but as a type of all the refinement and ing me one of the largest orders I had received
from customers on that route."
niceties of life.
"She became interested and finally agreed that
EXTRAVAGANCE IN ADVERTISING.
I might leave an instrument in her house on
trial for a short time, this with the understand-
ing that she would be under no obligation to A Great Mistake Not to Carefully Weigh All
purchase it.
Statements Made in Public Print.
"Then I drove back to town, hired a rig and
loaded one of my high-priced organs on a wagon.
A firm of piano dealers not a thousand miles
Owing to the condition of the roads—it being from Brooklyn have been carrying some adver-
winter—and some delay in getting a baggage- tising in the street cars that is a trifle odd, to
man to assist me, it was late before we started say the least. One sample reads in part:
and we did not reach Mr. Ross's house before
"We can save you from $100 to $200 on the
11:30 in the evening. I would not have gone at price of a piano. We employ no agents. We
that hour, of course, except that I could not af- pay no commissions. We have no expenses."
ford to spend another day in the town. The
What an ideal business. "No expenses"-—all
house was dark. Mr. Ross and his wife had re- profit, and the dear public getting the benefit of
tired. On my arrival with the dray and my the self-sacrifice on the dealer's part.
musical instrument, I was saluted by the bark-
There is nothing that affects the confidence of
ing of savage dogs, which brought Mr. Ross to a prospective customer so much as an extrava-
the door, very sleepy, very cross and very much gant statement in advertising. The saving on
astonished at the appearance in his yard of my- agents' salary and other commissions might pos-
self and the big organ on the dray. His wife for sibly result in a considerable saving to the pur-
HIGH PRICED ORGANS.
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
chaser, but to claim "no expenses" takes the
entire effect away from the previous reasons.
The statement may not have been intentionally
overdrawn, but the reader can't be expected to
know that. Carefulness is one of the primary
requirements of good publicity.
L. S. PARSONS CELEBRATES.
L. S. Parsons, the piano dealer of Waterloo,
la., has been celebrating the thirty-first anni-
versary of the establishment of his business in
that city on August 25, 1876. His location in
this time has been changed on several occasions
to care for the continually growing business.
Mr. Parsons has been eminently successful in
the piano business, buying in carload lots and
unloading from the car directly in his own build-
ing. He employs road travelers and a manager
for each district, the success of the system be-
ing indicated by the fact that as many as 400
instruments have been sold in a single year.
L. S. Parsons is proprietor of the business, but
for the past three years H. O. Parsons has acted
in the capacity of general manager.
LAGONDA PIANO PUBLICITY.
The Lagonda Piano Co., New Castle, Ind., of
which the Krell-French Piano Co. are the pro-
prietors, have just issued a handsome new cata-
logue containing illustrations of four of their
most popular styles, a view of their plant, as
well as some interesting reading matter concern-
ing the merits of their instruments. The de-
signs shown are dainty and attractive in ap-
pearance, showing in most instances delicate
carvings on the panels, with a variety of styles
to please the most fastidious. Beveral pages of
the catalogue are given over to testimonials
from different parts of the country, all praising
the Lagonda piano in unstinted terms. As re-
gards typographical appearance the booklet is
all that can be desired.
ROUS CO. INCORPORATED.
Among recent incorporations filed with the
Secretary of State of New York was that of the
F. W. Rous Co., of Brooklyn, with a capital of
$5,000 to conduct a music store. Incorporators:
Mary P. Wilkinson, Randall's Island, N. Y.; John
P. Rous, 385 Sixth avenue; Emma ri. Rous, 388
Eighth avenue, Brooklyn.
THE KURTZMANN PIANO IN MILWAUKEE.
The agency for the Kurtzmann piano in Mil-
waukee, Wis., formerly held by the Rohlfing
Sons Music Co. before they were burned out,
has been placed with the Ross-Schefft-Weinman
Piano Co.
DEATH OF S. R. MASON.
S. R. Mason, a music dealer, of Connellsville,
Pa., died last week under sad circumstances.
Mr. Mason was a major general of the Rifle
Brigade and a member of the Elks, Eagles,
Knights of Malta and Odd Fellows. He leaves a
family.