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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
THE PLAYER-PIANO A S j \ JELLING PROPOSITION.
An Analysis of the Problem That Will Interest Salesmen and Dealers Wherever Player-Pianos
Are Sold—How Prospects Can Be Cultivated and Educated—Lines of Argument That
Can Be Effectively Used—What the Player Is and What It Aims to Be,
In our more optimistic moments we sometimes
find ourselves making statements and thinking
thoughts about the progress of the player-piano as
a selling proposition which, later on, during times
of more acute reflection, we dismiss peremptorily,
because they seem exaggerated. We are ever un-
willing to admit, in the face of a competitor, that
we have either fear or disappointment regarding
the player-piano, but to ourselves we only too often
have to admit that this wonderful new instrument,
which should by this time have revolutionized the
piano trade, has in fact done nothing of the sort.
Why is this so?
Why is it that the player-piano is still, in very
truth, an incident in our business? Is it not largely
because we continuously think of it as no more
than this? Is it not true that we in the trade have
not, as a body, sat ourselves down to think out the
player proposition in a logical, connected, reasoned
manner? Have we not been for ever so long try-
ing to sell players as just another sort o f piano?
And have we not utterly refused, as a general thing,
to sec that the player is so entirely different from
the straight piano as an article of sale that it must
be treated on a new, a revolutionized basis?
Putting aside for the moment the direct answers
to these questions, let us take up the facts them-
selves. We are not selling as many players as we
ought to. By all rules of probability we should now
be disposing of one player to every four straght
pianos. As a niatter of plain fact, the number ac-
tually sold during this year 1910 is, so far as can
be judged, less than one-half of what we have sug-
gested. This, plainly, is all wrong. For the player,
as we view it, is the last refinement and perfection
of the piano. It is not an apology for, but an im-
provement cm, the ordinary instrument. It is not
something for the beguiling of those who are not
musical, and do not want to be, but rather a means
for bringing musical culture into places where
before it could not find a resting-place.
If the player were anything less than this it
would be merely a fad. Yet it is not only not a
fad, but we dare not even think it might be, unless
we are going to give up all thought of a future
for it. And certainly we cannot afford to do that.
So we must simply make up our minds that the
player is here, that we have it, and have to make
something out of it. Now, the question for us is
just this. We have the player-piano. It is some-
thing that must be driven into the public mind as a
permanently desirable article of acquisition. We
must create a demand for it that shall be perma-
nent and continuously increasing. How are we to
do this?
How to Tackle the Task.
Selling a player-piano is not selling a piano. The
piano is a standardized commodity. • Its appeal is
not, however, immediate and positive, but rather
mediate and negative. When you are selling a
piano to a customer, that person is continually
thinking of the fact that the purchase he is about
to make may not be a profitable one to him per-
sonally, and very likely will not be. The average
citizen buys a piano, not for himself but for
"mother and the girls." "Father and the boys" are
hardly, if at all, considered. And this is an im-
portant point. The straight piano is sold to the
feminine members of the family.
Now, when you approach the player-piano ques-
tion everything is changed. The player-piano is a
positive, live proposition. It is not a case of selling
a pretty piece of furniture for "father" to look at,
but of giving everybody in the family the chance to
produce music. People, buy pianos only too often
because "it is the thing to have one." Player-
pianos, however, appeal to people because they are
a source of musical entertainment open to every-
one in the home. Hence, the two selling proposi-
tions are radically different from each other.
What, then, are you selling when you dispose of a
player-piano to a customer? You are selling him
"music and entertainment." And this idea is one
that you must keep in your mind from the very
beginning of your sales talk. It is as inept as it is
ridiculous to charge down upon an unsuspecting
prospect with a lot of technical talk about the fine
points of your player, unless indeed your prospect
really has been comparing one player with another.
In such case you can, of course, begin by showing
off your own fine points. But when a customer
comes to you, or you go to him, with no set ideas
in his head about players, but with simply the
notion, if even so much, that player-pianos are not
such bad things, maybe, then there is just one thing
that must be kept in your mind first, last and all
the time. That is, "the joy of music." Remember
that you are going to sell your man something
which is either to be a blessing or a curse to him.
Your whole talk should be based on the one prin-
ciple.of the joy, the pleasure, the cultural value, of
music. Get him enthused, not about a lot of con-
trolling devices concerning which he knows noth-
ing and cares less, but over the thought that he is
going to "play the piano." Nineteen times out of
twenty that sort of talk will win the prospect's at-
tention, and to do this is to have started the game
properly.
How to Close the Sale.
say, "I would not have one of those 'things' in
my house." Such prejudice must be met, and it
cannot be laughed away.
The Line of Attack.
There is only one line of attack wherewith to
demolish the argument that those "things" are
"mechanical." You must meet the enemy square
on his own ground. First, be careful never to let
the word "self-playing" or "mechanical" into your
own talk. Don't let the "mechanical" thought
creep in. Rather base your whole argument on the
plain statement that the player-piano is not some-
thing to manufacture music for a passively recep-
tive ear, but something to put the power of making
music into its owner's hands. If it be said that the
player-piano is a "machine," reply that the straight
piano is the same thing, and show practically how
this is so by exhibiting the complication of the ac-
tion. Make it plain that the player is a technic-
means, and no more. Make it plain that while the
player will always sound the notes of a piece in
order, the expression of the piece is something left
to the performer. And then back up this state-
ment with the further one that the player-piano
would not be worthy a moment's intelligent con-
sideration otherwise. If it be said that the player
does not, in fact, give entire expression control, get
the musician who makes the objection, or the music
teacher who put the idea in your prospect's head,
and show him that you are right. Show practically
by demonstration that you can play a certain piece
through the medium of the player as well as he
can by hand. You must be a first-class player-
pianist to do this, but if you are not a first-class
player-pianist, you have no business to be selling
players. This is not piano selling. It is the sale
of "piano-playing."
Perhaps you will find your prospect telling you
that he "only wants a little amusement in the
house," and that he is buying the player-piano sim-
ply to "give the young people something to amuse
them." Very good; the player-piano will fill the
bill, but remember that if that player purchaser
is to be a contented and satisfied man, he himself -
must be interested in playing. And if he does be-
come interested in the idea of playing he will not
only buy, but be sure to keep.
Have we made the general idea plain? To sell
a player-piano is to sell "piano playing," musical
entertainment. Men are interested in this side of
the question at once. Logic and common sense
will kill the prejudiced arguments of musicians who
have never heard a player-piano properly played.
Avoidance of the terms "mechanical," "self-play-
ing," "operator" and all that sort of thing will
serve to kill similar thoughts in your prospect's
mind. And, above all, some practical elementary
knowledge of musical theory, an acquired mastery
of the playing of your instrument, and an under-
standing of how to handle every part of the
mechanism as well as the music roll, are essential
qualities for success. Along such lines only can
retail player selling be properly conducted.
Having thus gained the attention of a prospect,
the next thing to do is to secure his interest. Still
talking music, and keeping away entirely from
mechanism, get busy with your man on demonstra-
tion. Show him that if he desires he needs do
no more than "put in a roll and pump." Then
point out that such "grinding out" is not the aim
and end of player-pianos, but that rather the real
pleasure of playing comes from the sense of mas-
tery, of power to express oneself. Show how this
power can be secured by intelligent understanding
of the manner in which the control of musical
effects is brought about. Do not expect that you
can do this merely by sitting at the player and
showing off your own abilities. The customer cares
less than nothing for these. What he wants to
know is whether he himself can learn to do the
same thing, without too much trouble and delay.
So begin by taking up the matter of inserting the
roll properly, starting it traveling, and rewinding it.
Then show that all musical expression resolves it-
self into these elements: Dynamics, accent, phras-
ing and tone color. Make him see clearly what
you mean by this. Tell him that these terms refer
respectively to these simple ideas: the softness or
loudness of playing, the emphasis placed upon sig-
nificant tones, the manner of handling the speed of
playing, both of the piece as a whole and of its
natural divisions, and the imparting of a singing
tone, a legato, or a staccato quality, according to
the necessities of the case. Take some simple piece,
pull it apart as you play it, and show how it is
made up. Then illustrate dynamic control through
RECORD=BREAKING PLAYER TRADE
the pedals, phrasing control through the tempo Reported by the Player Department of the J. B.
lever, color-control through the sustaining lever,
Bradford Co., Milwaukee—Sales of Pianos
and so on.
Also Active the C osing Days Before Christ-
By this time, unless your customer is a lunatic,
or unless you are yourself incompetent, you will
have made him so interested that he will be wild
to play, wild to get busy with this new toy. And
remember that you need not be afraid to talk music
to him. Everybody likes music. But do not leave
it to him to lead the thought of your selling talk.
Do that yourself, and fill his mind from the very
first with the thought of "pleasure." And then
gradually show that half the pleasure is in the
gradual mastery.
That is the sort of a selling talk which would
appeal to any intelligent man. And we must ever
remember that men buy players while women buy
straight pianos. This fact in itself is worthy of
consideration. Women, to a very large extent, are
opposed to the player, being prejudiced in advance,
because of what some piano teacher has told them,
or because they have heard music butchered on one.
You will have to meet arguments from women
based on these two points. It is the commonest
thing in the world to hear people, especially women,
mas—Strong Music Roll Department.
(Special to The Review.)
Milwaukee, Wis., Dec. 27, 1910.
Hugh W. Randall, manager of the player depart-
ment of the J. B. Bradford Piano Co., of Milwau-
kee, has broken all records for quick piano sales
by disposing of seven instruments within the short
period of after 5 o'clock to closing time. Included
in the list were five pianos, including two Chicker-
ings, two Shoningers and one Emerson, besides
two players, a Solo Apollo and a Cadillac.
A record-breaking player business was secured
during the holiday period by the J. B. Bradford
Piano Co., an unusual number of players being dis-
posed of to prominent Milwaukeeans for cash. De-
mand was so good for the Melville Clark Solo
Apollo that Manager Randall, of the player depart-
ment, says he was unable to keep a player on the
floor for a longer period than forty-eight hours.
The Bradford roll library, the largest and most
comprehensive in the Northwest, has again been
enlarged.