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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE SELLING FORCE.
Importance of Demonstrating the Player with Music Suited to Particular Taste of Prospect
—How the Salesman's Close Study of Mechanism and Rolls Can Prove Valuable.
11
like it. So why not be willing in the first place
and gain the enormous advertising value naturally
flowing therefrom?
Will Help the Dealers.
For to take this attitude will be a great gain to
(Third Article.)
the dealer from every point of view. One parallel
may be found in the clothing business. Everybody
For such a man is a bargain, at any price within
The subject of maintenance is of pressing im-
knows that not so very many years ago this busi-
reason.
portance in any well-conducted player business.
Such a foreman as we have described should be ness was always under suspicion. Nobody be-
The player is peculiarly an instrument which de-
lieved anything that was said by the retail clothing
mands care and attention during its whole life. left free to decide upon the sort of men he needs
to help him, and should be given as much of a dealer. A man went to buy clothes—that is, the
It may be very closely compared with the automo-
ordinary man did—with the expectation of being
free hand as comports with the requirements of
bile, which likewise demands constant care from
cheated.
Now all is changed. There is one great
the
business
involved.
He
will
be
the
best
judge
its owner during the whole term of its useful life.
house in Chicago which has built up an enormous
in most of these matters. He will preferably
But the difference between the two lies in the fact
business on the policy of giving back the money
that the automobilist cheerfully takes upon his own choose his own men and train them himself.
•if the customer is displeased. This is not merely
Where Close Communion Pays.
shoulders the entire cost of maintenance and never
dreams of asking the dealer who sold him the car
Given a head, a program is next needed. One an advertising point—it is a policy which is carried
to spend any money on it afterward. With the
cardinal-principle of a player business should be a out consistently. The consequence has been that
player-piano, on the contrary, and very unhappily,
close and intimate communion between the depart- the increase in business arising from a sense of
confidence on the part of the buying public has
the owner either refuses to pay any attention to ment of maintenance and that of sales. Every sale
the upkeep of his instrument, or else demands
that is made should at once be certified to the paid-back many hundredfold any loss that may
ever have arisen in the beginning.
that the dealer should undertake all necessary ex- maintenance department and a complete record
The same truths hold good in the player-piano
pense, generally on the groin.d that this liability
should then be taken of the sale when the instru-
H specified under the contract of warranty.
ment' passes through the polishing and inspect on business. People do not yet really trust these in-
struments. They still fear that something may "go
Now, whatever may be the justice of this posi-
processes on its way out to the customer's home.
wrong" at a critical moment. And many of them
tion, it is certain that it prevails. Arcl while a dis- The department foreman should be provided with
cussion of the moral points involved would be a card index system, with division cards dated, so know by experience the delays, the annoyance and
useful, it would not come within the province of
that each sale can be filed under that system. the difficulty generally encountered when the house
this article. What we have to consider is this:
Then, every three months the piano can be visited. is called on to remedy defects. Let a house once
gain the reputation of doing this necessary thing
Given the necessity for a maintenance department,
The tuner who goes out to it will be a combina-
without having to be asked, of doing it willingly
how can it best be conducted?
tion—if such a miracle be possible—of tuner,
and
graciously, and its business will be immensely
Specific Maintenance Department.
player man and demonstrator. He will see that
benefited. That is the meaning of a maintenance
First, it may be worth asking once more whether
the player is in good order, that the customer
department, and that the use to which it should
a specific maintenance department is in fact neces- understands how to play it, and that the piano part
be put.
sary? But the question can quickly be answered.
is in tune. He will make it his business to interest
{To be continued.)
In present conditions of the player business the that customer in the whole proposition, will sug-
public demands some sort of warranty with every
gest new music that might be purchased, and so
PATENT TONE SOFTENING DEVICE.
instrument that is sold. Not only so, but the on. He will make a report upon his experiences
greater number of player-piano sales are made
in each case, which will be filed on the appropriate Albert Krell and Peter Welin Assign Patent
upon contractual arrangements essentially similar
card.
Covering the Above to the Krell Auto-Grand
to those in force with ordinary piano sales. This
Value of Inspection.
Piano Co.—Details of the Invention.
being so, it follows that the average player-piano
In addition to this quarterly inspection, each
is sold on terms running over a period of y^ars. player-piano should be visited immediately after
(Special to The Review.)
And from that it comes about, though truly this
it has been placed in the purchaser's home. Prefer-
Washington, D. C , July 22, 1912.
ought not to be, that in practice the whole ex- ably a tuner should call, especially one who is em-
The Krell Auto-Grand Piano Co., Connersville,
pense of keeping that player-piano in perfect order
ployed in the maintenance department and who
lnd., is the owner, through assignment by Albert
is chargeable upon the dealer, until the last dollar
can play the player well. It is better that the Krell, same place, and Peter Welin, of Worcester,
of the instalment contract has been paid.
maintenance department should have full charge Mass., of patent No. 1,032,844 on a tone-softening
The attitude of the public may or may not be of the player-piano from the moment it leaves device for musical instruments.
The principal objects of the invention are to
morally justifiable. A pretty discussion might be the wareroom floor. This man will make it his
had on the question. But, whatever be the facts, business to call on the purchaser, preferably in the provide means divided up into sections in any de-
evening, see how the family is getting along with
sifed way for softening the blows of the hammers
ic remains that the dealer does in effect have to do
just what has been above alleged. Very plainly, the instrument, explain the difficulties which have of the instrument; and to provide means con-
arisen (there are always, plenty of them), correct
veniently; located on the keybed for operating said
then, 'it is to be seen that the need for a well-
the mistaken ideas often introduced by the sales- sections independently of each other; also to im-
equipped department of maintenance is not doubt-
man (who is occasionally an ass), fix up any small prove and simplify the construction of divided
ful.
troubles that may possibly have arisen in the proc-
muffling or softening devices.
How, then, shall it be conducted? Obviously the
Many different schemes have been proposed for
very first thing to consider is the selection of a ess of moving the instrument into the house, play
a little, talk about the music, and so on. He will dividing the action of musical instruments so as to
good man for the head of it. The ideal man
leave the purchaser in good humor, and his last
modulate or accent a portion thereof without in-
would be a tuner who understands the piano thor-
words will always be a reminder that, whether terfering with the rest, but as a general proposition
oughly from top to bottom, and who also has been
asked for or not, every three months for the period
they have been of a complicated nature, or in
well trained in the fundamentals of player mech-
of one year the player-piano will be looked after
some cases of such a character that they were
anism. Now, it is easy to get hold of men who
without charge.
likely to get out of repair and were not easily ac-
understand the player in a "more or less" sort of
Such a systematic plan as that, worked out in cessible for that purpose. They have also been
way, but those to whom it is as a book, to be
read easily and understanding^, are few in num- detail and applied methodically and consistently, open to numerous other objections.
will constitute an advertising force of immense
The principal object of this invention is to pro-
ber. One of the curses of the player industry to-
power. It will do more than anything else to re- vide for softening the blows of the hammers in a
day is the half-trained workman. Nay, more than
move the suspicion still extant that when you buy most simple and convenient manner, and at the
one piano manufacturer has found to his cost that
a player-piano you buy a pig in a poke, with the same time to provide means therefor which will
pleasing manners, a little mechanical handiness,
and some vague talk about vacuum, primaries, uncomfortable resulting experience of being unable always work in the same way and will have ex-
precisely to determine which is pig and which
actly the same effect on all the notes which jt is
pnd so on, do not make a player inventor success-
pcke. Difficult as it may be for the dealer to take intended to soften, and which can always be de=
ful, even though he have ten years factory ex-
to the idea of deliberately advertising such an
pended upon to have a uniform softening effect
perience working on other men's ideas, A well-
apparently self-sacrificing policy, the fact remains most pleasing to the user of the player-piano.
trained player mechanic is one who not only knows
that it is better to accept a condition as it exists
the practical methods used 'in building the player,
and then try to take advantage of one's acceptance
but also knowg the why and wherefore of every
If you are a talesman, tuner or traveler, and
than to pretend that it does not exist and yield to desire a position, forward your want* in an ad*
practice in use. This is where the average man
it only with grudging. In practice the dealer has vertuement te The Review in space not to ex-
falls down. And while we are well aware that it
to do unwillingly, whether he likes it or not, what
is not at all easy to get hold of such men, still
ceed four lines and It will be inserted free of
he had much better do willingly and as if he did
they shoud be sought and when found welcomed.
charfe and replies sent to you*
NATIONAL
PIANO
The w No Trouble" Player
NEW AST STYLES
MANDOLIN, and the New VIOUN-FLUTB
ATTACHMENT
Nickel-In-the-Slot
NATIONAL PIANO
PLAYER CO.
OREGON-ILLINOIS
Write lor Descriptive Catalogue
Continuous Roll, and Automatic
Rewind Styles-Also 88 Note Pedal
and Combination Pedal and Elec-
tric Styles.
_J