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THE
MUSIC TRADE
type of buyer thinks that he is really the best buyer in his town.
He is always looking for bargains. When he learns the price, he
at once begins to figure on quantity in order to get a lower price.
Sometimes he gets it, but more frequently he only thinks he gets it.
Whether it is best to be a close buyer or a correct buyer is a
question, but in the general run leading merchants tell us that quite
frequently buyers are carried away with their own idea of what
constitutes a good buyer to the detriment of the firm's products.
The "close buyer" will overload on many things for the sake
of getting a small concession in price and an overloaded stock does
not turn as rapidly as it ought.
Then the "correct buyer," that is, the one who shows perfect
taste in his selections, oftentimes loses sight of price and fails to
get the goods as cheaply as they are offered elsewhere by some
other concerns, thus losing profits. In this way we can understand
why a good many business establishments which exhibit splendid
selections of goods oftentimes go to the wall.
It is a question of buying right. It is not alone quality, but
prices that count, and the best profits accruing to a store are by
turning stock oftenest. Now the quickness with which stock is
turned depends upon being a good buyer and a good seller. The
stock that turns itself three times shows a better buyer and a better
seller than the stock which turns itself twice and the stock that
turns itself four times has a better organization than the other two.
The buyer should keep uppermost in his mind the turning of
his stock, whether his specialty be correct buying or close buying.
I
N a specialty line like pianos and musical instruments, there is
not afforded the scope which is found in the great trade em-
poriums where everything is carried from a paper of pins to a pipe
organ. But still, the general principles of buying will apply to a
specialty trade, as well as to a department store.
The man in buying pianos must figure the non-conflicting ele-
ments which arise between certain grades of instruments which
he has in his warerooms. It is a poor business policy for a piano
dealer to carry too many lines of pianos which compete with each
other. It is better to have a complete and well defined line, em-
bracing pianos which appeal to the varied tastes of the people and
to the size of their pocketbooks as well than to have an endless
variety of instruments.
The more sharply defined the lines, the quicker the stock will
be turned, for it is reasonable to suppose that salesmen will become
acquainted with grades perfectly if instead of talking three or four
pianos of similar grade they concentrate their energies on one with
the result that more sales will be made in that particular class.
A great deal of improvement can be made in many establish-
ments which we know of where the dealers have shown too great
a desire to secure a variety of instruments, without the determina-
tion to push each one as it should be in order to show results for
the manufacturers and for themselves.
Now a dead agency, that is, an agency which does not produce
results, is valueless to the manufacturer, as it is to the dealer, and
if more concentration were shown by clearly defined lines and not
having antagonistic instruments to those lines in the same ware-
rooms, better results would be achieved.
The buyers should weigh all these points carefully. We can
name some stores in small towns where a single dealer represents
as many as twenty different makes of pianos with the result that he
is doing a satisfactory business in none of them. His salesmen do
not have long enough time to become acquainted with the particular
brands which they carry before some new styles are added. This
is not a systematic or up-to-date method to conduct a piano busi-
ness. It should be carried along lines of concentration. Concen-
trated energy is worth infinitely more than scattered energy and if
these points are kept well in mind by buyers and salesmen, results
will be much more satisfactory to all interested.
B
Y consulting the news columns of this paper, it will be found
that the Committee on Ways and Means will hold hearings
on Tariff Revision at Washington under Schedule "N" on Novem-
ber 28. This is the schedule under which pianos, organs, musical
instruments and parts thereof are listed. Full particulars concern-
ing the attitude of persons desiring to be heard before this Commis-
sion are given in this issue of The Review. It would seem the part
of wisdom to have the music trade represented at this important
hearing.
REVIEW
J
IN LIGHTER VEIN
KNEW HIS BOOK.—He—Wise men hesitate; only fools are cerfe,i)i
She—Are you sure?
4
He—I'm quite certain of it!"—Tatler.
Ethel (sobbing)—Oh, dear, father disapproves of George, and I'm
afraid he will succeed finally in driving him away from the house! „
Maud—He isn't brutal with him, is he, Ethel dear?
;
Ethel—No. He borrows money of the poor fellow!—Life.
"It's ridiculous for a young man to get married as soon as
mes
of age!" said the bachelor.
"Do you think so?" said his vis-a-vis, languidly.
j
"Of course! Why, he's scarcely old enough to be his own master."
"Well, he isn't if he gets married!"
,
PAID THE PENALTY.—Innkeeper (to visitor, ^.meteorologist)—
Two hours ago you said it was going to rain.
.'" ..i**^- 1
Meteorologist—Well, was I right?
~.
,, i
youJjjjfi-jcause
Innkeeper—No;»but the other visitors might have he
they have taken your umbrella with them!
'il^
ANOTHER GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEME.—"Anything else you want
to say to John before I close?" asked the old lady.
"Yes," replied the old man. "Long as he's in the city telFhim to stay
thar till lie kin git another automobile to run over him. It's the only
way I kin see to git Sue a planner fer Christmas!"—Atlanta Constitution.
An Irish comedian was starring once at a small town in his native
land. A rehearsal was called on Monday morning for the night's piece.
"Now," said he to the manager, "I want a posse of constabulary on the
bridge, a group of male and faymale peasants on the right, and a squad
of soldiery on the left. How many supers have ye got?" "Two, sir."
"That will do; go on with the rehearsal.
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK.—Flipson—Young Waggles has got
the laugh turned against himself in his little joke against the Blazes Fire
Insurance Company.
Flopson—How ?
Flipson—He insured 500 cigars, smoked them, and then sent in a
claim on the ground that they had been destroyed by fire.
Flopson—And they laughed at him, I suppose?
Flipson—No. They had him arrested on a charge of arson.—Judge.
WHY HE JOINED THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.—"Tommy," said a young
lady visitor at his home, "why not come to our Sabbath school? Several
of your little friends have joined us lately."
Tommy hesitated a moment. Then suddenly he exclaimed: "Does a
red-headed kid by the name of Jimmy Brown go to your school?"
"Yes, indeed," replied the new teacher.
"Well, then," said Tommy, with an air of interest, "I'll be there next
Sunday, you bet. I've been laying' for that kid for three weeks, and never
knew where to find him."
BENT ON BUSINESS.—The merchant was explaining his business
methods, and the arrears of work to be overtaken, to the new traveler.
"Your predecessor," he said, "has got his business all tangled, and I fear
that for a considerable time you will have a difficult task in getting any
order out of chaos."
But the new traveler was evidently a business man.
"I don't know who chaos is," he responded cheerfully, as he helped
himself to one of his chief's cigars, "but 1 bet I sell him a line of goods,
if I have to hang on to him for a week!"
EXPERIENCED.—"Save me, save me!" she cried as her head rose
above water and she grasped a plank floating by.
"I beg your pardon," he replied from the bank, "but I want it to be
distinctly understood that I am a married man with seven children."
"Yes, yes; save me!" she shrieked.
"Then there'll be no falling into my arms and calling me preserver,
will there?"
"No, no; only save me!"
"All right, I'll try," he responded, as he threw off his coat. "You see/'
he said just before diving in, "I was caught once before, and that's how I
came to be married. It makes me a bit particular."
AMERICAN WEATHER.—An American and a Scotsman were dis-
cussing the cold experienced in winter in the north of Scotland, says a
Glasgow paper.
"Why, it's nothing at all compared to the cold we have in the states,"
said the American. "I can recollect one winter when a sheep, jumping
from a hillock into a field, became suddenly frozen on the way, and stuck
in the air like a mass of ice."
"But, man," exclaimed the Scotsman, "the law of gravity wouldn't
allow that."
"We don't do things by halves at home," replied the tale-pitcher.
"The law of gravity was frozen too!"