Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
mSIC TRADE
VOL.
LV. N o . 10.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Sept. 7,1912
CENTS.
$ 2.OO 0 PER S VE°AR:
SINGL E
Important Factor
T
H E R E are a great many people who are engaged in commercial pursuits who delude themselves
with the belief that price is the all-important—the dominant factor in the sales argument.
But is it?
It seems to me that price is far from being the important consideration in sales making.
In my opinion false reasoning on the price consideration has been the stumbling block that has impeded
the onward progress of many business men.
Price does not endure—quality is enduring.
It is quality in products just the same as quality in men that counts.
An egg is not judged by its price, but by its quality. A piano should be judged likewise.
So far as price goes, no matter how cheap an article may" be offered, there always turns up sooner
or later some other similar article which is quoted at lower prices, and ofttimes the business rivalry be-
comes so keen that all profits are slaughtered as the price war goes merrily on. .
And, what is the end? Not merely profit annihilation but business instability has been created, for,
no position of permanency can be won by price destruction.
In my opinion this false view of commercial conditions should be remedied by a careful study of the
advantages which come from an adherence to quality and in producing an article which for the price can
meet competition; but, to work on the basis of price alone makes very unstable ground, which, as time
moves on, will be more and more difficult to retain.
And, that gets us back to the principle which I have advocated for many years and that is the estab-'
lishment of fixed prices by piano manufacturers so that the people themselves would have an accurate
knowledge of just what particular instruments are worth.
Who is better qualified to establish a selling price on any product than the man who manufactures it?
Who has a keener knowledge of costs—of conditions—of values than the man who stands responsible
for the finished product? And, who is better able to place a selling price upon that product?
I have claimed that if this custom were generally adopted that the special brand or stencil piano would
be forced to remain in its own class.
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Pianos then would become standardized.
Take the Steinway and some other instruments. When they are listed at regular prices all over the
land people at once have confidence in.the values offered; and surely, where Steinway leads it is safe for
others to follow.
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The same sound business rules apply with equal force to pianos of different grades and nothing would
do more to place the piano business on a stable foundation and to win confidence with all purchasers than
to establish a national custom of fixed-prices on instruments.
If a dealer sold under price he would be cutting his own profit, and he certainly could not sell over
price and sell pianos out of their class as many dealers have done.
The purchasing public would feel at once that it was receiving fair treatment and dishonest pricings
were not being made and that pianos were worth absolutely the price asked.
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It would do away with many business annoyances and the eternal price haggling and cutting.
If there is any single move which could be made which would result in greater benefit to the entire
piano trade than the standardization of prices then I cannot locate it.
I believe that the quicker that condition i§ brought $bout the better it will
be for everyone in this trade,
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