Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1908 Vol. 46 N. 3

Page 4 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
you cannot get your local editor to run in a reader or two in the
form of a little write-up calling attention to some special features of
your establishment. If the local newspaper man is enterprising
and clearheaded he will only be too happy to oblige a good adver-
tiser at this time of the year, and, if cleverly done, a neat little
.reading notice is an important aid to a first of the year business.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
Executive and Reportorlal Stall:
G B O . B . K'«1T.T.»Tj )
L. B. BOWERS,
W. H. DYKES.
F. H. THOMPSON.
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON.
B. BBITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAMBERLIN,
A. J.
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
B. P. VAN HARLINGEN, 195-197 Wabaah Are.
TELEPHONES : Central 414 ; Automatic 8648.
MINNEAPOLIS and ST. PAUL :
ST. LOUIS :
BBNBBT L. WAITT, 27&A Tremont 8 t
PHILADELPHIA t
R. W. KAUFFMAN.
ADOLF EDSTBN.
SAN FRANCISCO:
CHAS. N. VAN BURBN.
S. H. GRAY, 2407 Sacramento St.
CINCINNATI. O.: NINA PUQH-SMITH.
BALTIMORE. MD.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON. ENGLAND:
69 Baslnghall S t , B. C.
W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York
Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Matter.
SUBSCRIPTION. (Including postage). United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50 ; all other countries, $1.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS. $2.00 per Inch, single column, per Insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount Is allowed. Advertising Pages, $60.00; opposite
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill.
Dlreelory o l Plaao
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporations
"
~ ~
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
Maunlielnreri
f o r dealers and others.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prim
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal. Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma. Pan-American Exposition, 1901
Gold Medal.. . S t Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal. . . .Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905.
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4678 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Department*.
Cable address: "Elblll New York."
NEW YORK, JANUARY 18, 1908
EDITORIAL
R
EPORTS received by us from every section of the country
show bettered trade conditions. It is true that the move-
ment toward industrial sunlight in some sections is somewhat
sluggish, but nevertheless the turn is in the right direction and
financial affairs are steadily improving. Dealers do not hesitate to
say that they look for very much improved conditions within the
near future. Orders are coming in slowly at the factories, but
there are indications that a spring trade of fair proportions will
be enjoyed by piano merchants everywhere.
Stocks are low, in fact, the warerooms over the country con-
tain less instruments than usually carried at this season of the year.
As we stated last week, our special inquiries sent to every section
of the country indicate that piano stocks are in such a depleted
condition that it will be necessary for dealers to order immediately
when business brightens up.
T
HERE is nothing which attracts buyers any more than the
promise of bargains, and nearly every piano merchant in the
country has some stock 'which can be turned into cash and good
instalment paper without sacrificing in the slightest his regular line
of instruments. There are always some used pianos, "come backs"
and odds and ends which have accumulated for years that should
be gotten rid of at this season of the year.
Advertising space should be used in the papers to alluringly
exploit such special bargains. People at this time of the year
naturally find themselves short of cash and the bargains are about
the only magnets which will draw forth the money. There is
always a striking way in which to exploit special stock. Illustra-
tions are always good. Plain type stories require a little time to
mentally assimilate, pictures flash forth the point on the brain at
once.
If you do not know how to w 7 rite an attractive advertisement
employ someone who does. Try your hand at it any way—write
something about your store—tell what an enormous selling space
you have, how attractive your special showrooms are, and see if
T
HE advertising proposition is a great one and every business
man who hopes to make money in this little world of ours
is interested in the science of advertising, and everyone who in-
tends to influence purchasers is interested in seeking the best means
of reaching the buying public. First of all, he must put his adver-
tisement where it will be seen. In other words, select the mediums
that are widely read, but even then unless the advertisement itself is
attractively prepared the readers will be apt to overlook it. There
is still another essential, that is, to tell the truth. If you have some
special used piano stock which you want to get rid of tell the truth
about that stock. Tell it in such a way that the salesman will have
no apology to make .for over-exaggeration in advertising.
This is a money-making age and the man who will steadily
make money is the one who will continue to tell the truth about
his merchandise to his clients. It is a mistake to our minds for
business men to withhold their advertising appropriations in
such times as these. It is the business men who will help to put
trade back where it belongs and there is no way that they can
assist towards the speedy accomplishment of that desired end than
by showing their confidence in the country's present and future,
by exploiting their products, whatever they may be, in a consistent
manner. For, if the business men, the men who manufacture and
the men who sell, exhibit over-conservatism reaching pessimism
almost, it is certain that attitude will be sure to immediately affect
the purchasing public.
T
HERE is nothing like publicity and a display of confidence on
the part of the business men to assist in the complete restora-
tion of normal business conditions. Great business concerns realize
the advantage of this policy. Concerns like the Aeolian Co., for
instance, have never slackened in their advertising appropriations.
We understand there are a number of the leading music trade
institutions who have made larger advertising appropriations this
year than ever before. They propose not merely to wait until the
clouds roll by, but they propose to" assist in helping them to roll.
In other words, they are going at the present problem with a de-
termination to win out, and it is safe to say that they will achieve
success. A man must have enthusiasm to win in anything. It
would probably take enthusiasm to sell harps in Heaven, and it
surely requires plenty of the right kind of enthusiasm to manufac-
ture and sell articles which are not classed strictly as necessities in
these times, but it is the optimistic business man who will be ahead
next year and the year after.
The entire development of industrial America has been due to
the progressive spirit of our leading business men and there are
men in every industry to-day who have exhibited signs of extreme
timidity within the past few months. There are others who could
see the sun shining behind the clouds and they are the ones who
will be far ahead when that sun comes out so that all may bask in
its rays. Optimism of the right kind, that is what we need.
O
VER-CONSERVATISM is just as dangerous to business in-
terests as too much plunging. There is a medium course
which it would be well to adopt if we are so constituted. It is well
enough to talk about saving money and it may be the very best
thing to do, but if everybody were to keep at it for a while faur-fifths
of the world would soon be facing starvation. The trouble which
has been most annoying for the past few months is that many people
have been holding too close a grip on their money, and it has not
been doing what it should as a circulating medium. If the system
of holding on to it still continues it will mean a steady contraction
of trade.
DEALER who is refitting his warerooms asks The Review
A
if we favor small individual salesrooms rather than having
large exhibition space. We believe that a large and tastefully
arranged wareroom is at all times impressive. It suggests busi-
ness strength and it shows the customer at a glance a large line of
instruments which presumably can suit a. variety of tastes and

Page 5 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
pocketbooks, but in addition to the large wareroom we think that
every piano establishment which can afford it should have at least
one or two private exhibition rooms.
In support of this statement w 7 e might say that one of the main
factors which go toward making a sale, is the ability of the sales-
man to secure the prospect's undivided attention. It is not enough
merely to get a man's ear, but he must be in a position where his
mind will be at least free from outside interruption. He must be
in good susceptible form, and if the salesman is clever he will con-
centrate his efforts to win the man to his way of thinking, tem-
porarily at least. Now, if he has a small show roo'm where he can
sit down and have a heart to heart talk with his customer where,
entirely free from interference of other people who may be coming
in interrupting him for some trivial matter, he can focus his whole
strength on the customer. He can follow out a line of thought and
argument calculated to convince the prospective buyer that the time
to buy is now, and that the piano to purchase is before him. In
other words, when one has a customer alone and entirely free from
other influence, it is possible to exercise the full strength of sales-
manship.
These sales conditions are at their best in our opinion in small
individual showrooms. We have seen the attention of many a
customer diverted in larger rooms by callers coming up to the
salesman and joking with him about some trivial affair, thus break-
ing up a splendid line of argument which the salesman had brought
to bear upon his client to the point of having him almost convinced
and the sale clinched. By the interruption he had to go back over
the same ground again, take up the thread and follow it up only
to be broken in upon again. Now this weakens the efforts of the
best salesman in the world and does much to interfere with sales
closing. Individual salesrooms do away with the possibility of in-
terruptions and in a large degree enable a salesman to focus his
strength upon his customers when he has them where he can exert
all of his influence to effect the sales. The less the diverting influ-
ences the better the sales strength.
T
HAT branch of the industry which we colloquially term "the
supply trade" is deserving of the warmest praise for the atti-
tude of its members in the aiding and upbuilding of the piano in-
dustry.
It has been claimed by some that credit has frequently been
extended to undeserving parties who have helped to keep alive that
kind of competition that honest manufacturers who pay their bills
have found difficult to meet. Of course, there may be sporadic
cases in any great trade where the unworthy obtain credit, and, of
course, no man who pays his bills can meet the competition of a
man who does not and there has been and always will be probably
until the final trumpet is sounded individuals who can work upon
the sympathies of others to the extent of getting monetary or mer-
chandise backing. It may be that in the supply industry indi-
viduals have gained credit where it should not have been given
them. Of course such cases have occurred and probably will occur,
yet it 'must be said in all fairness that the men of the supply in-
dustry have aided-in every consistent manner the development of
piano making.
They have given credit to deserving men in the days agone
and they have seen their actions richly rewarded by the steady de-
velopment of honest industry. There are plenty of men of good
character and practical business views who are long in honesty and
integrity, but short on cash, but character and ability form assets
which are not easily put aside. We can name quite a number of
piano manufacturers who commenced years ago in a modest way,
men who worked and saved and whose character standing insured
them reasonable credit on the part of supply manufacturers. This
credit was generously extended and as a result these enterprises
have grown and thrived and are to-day sound financially and in
every other wa^y. These men would not, perhaps, have succeeded,
surely not as emphatically as they have, had not credit been given
at the inception of their business by the supply industry. It is
therefore right to say of the men who compose this branch that
they have been liberal and broad-minded in their treatment of the
trade as a whole, and have been a powerful factor in its strength
and development. They have not given credit indiscriminately—
they have exercised keen judgment and discriminating tastes in
extending in the main, credit to those men whose character and
standing entitled them to consideration at their hands.
REVIEW
Even wild oats seem tame to some wild young men.
Some men grow under responsibility, others merely swell.
The power of a determined will has made men successful in all cases.
Don't be afraid to drive home a strong talking point in every way
possible.
Will power is.a wonderful force in making things go as we like to
have them.
Some men are thrown in the shade by their rivals, others stand in
their own light.
Between air ships and submarine boats the coming generation won't
be on the level.
The pessimist doesn't believe in putting off until to-morrow the trouble
he can borrow to-day.
It is better to pay for one paper you want than to receive a dozen
free that you don't want.
him.
No man knows it all. When he thinks he does it is time to avoid
He is not pleasant company.
The man who lacks courage in these days presumably will be crowded
further down the line when the flood tide of business comes in.
The highest qualities of salesmanship are necessary when business is
a trifle off, and the man who wins out clearly demonstrates his ability
to stand near the front of the line.
NOT ALONE FIGURATIVELY.—"Jigson is a man who always puts
his best foot forward."
"That explains why I can never tell whether he's walking or skipping."
PREJUDICED AGAINST BILLY SNITZ.—Some one shoved a dead
coyote through the basement window into the cellar of Billy Snitz's pala-
tiai two-room shack, thereby causing the members of the family to wear
clothespins on their noses except when the cabbage was cooking. That
superlative degree of infamy, known as Skinny McAllister, is suspected
of the crime, as he was seen feeding poisoned meat to Jenkins' pet coyote
last week.—Riverton (Wyo.) Big Bend Bazoo.
CURIOUS ADVERTISEMENTS.—The following advertisements are
not the product of a funny man's brain, but actually appeared in news-
papers of various cities:
"Big bargain sale now on—don't go elsewhere to be taken in. Come
in here."
"A lady wanted to sell her piano, as she is going away in a strong
iron frame."
"Furnished apartments suitable for gentlemen with folding doors."
"Two sisters want washing."
LIBELED.—"Are you the editor?"
"We are."
"My name's Jones—George H. Jones."
"Sit down, Mr. Jones."
"Not on your life! Your paper printed an article about me yesterday."
"Yes?"
"You called me a corrupter of public morals, a thief, a blackleg and
a lot of other things."
"We did."
"Well, sir, I am here to tell you, by thunder! that my middle initial
is H. and not J. If you can't spell my name right after this, let it alone!"
COULD RUN SOME.—A college boy, shabbily dressed, applied to the
foreman of a sheep camp one day for some employment. TJie foreman
looked him over somewhat critically and inquired what he could do.
"Oh, I don't know much about ranch work, but I used to be on the
track at college and I can run some," replied the youth.
"Well, go over on that hillside and run those sheep into the corral,
and then we'll see what we can do for you," said the foreman.
The boy was gone a long time, but finally returned and reported to
the foreman.
"Did you get them all in?" asked the boss, as he looked at the young
fellow, who seemed to be somewhat out of breath.
"The sheep were no trouble, but the lambs were so nimble they took
most of tho time, but I finally succeeded in getting them in, too," said
the boy proudly.
"Lambs, lambs!" repeated the foreman; "why, there aren't any lambs;
you must be crazy."
"Just come down to the corral and see for yourself," said the youth.
The foreman put on his hat and went to the corral and found two
jackrabbits. He looked at the boy.
"I told you I could run some," returned the latter.

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