Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with
support from namm.org
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
A8TOR, LENOX
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
TILDENF OUN p * TIONS.
Attitude of Salesmen in Adjusting Complaints.
of the retail trade is in evidence with a complaint
A MEMBER
regarding the attitude of many salesmen when purchasers
of pianos and player-pianos find fault with their instruments.
According to the dealer in question, many of these salesmen act
directly contrary to the interests of the house they are working
for and distinctly partisan to the customer no matter how much
justice there is in the complaint, or who is responsible for the
trouble. In other words, the salesman is so wrapped up in his
desire to have the sale stick at all costs that he loses all regard for
the interests of the house he represents and frequently jeopardizes
its reputation for the sake of putting the customer in a contented
frame of mind.
Some of the greatest merchants of the century, especially de-
partment store proprietors, are credited with maintaining that no
matter how unjustifiable is the complaint, the customer is always
right in theory, if not in fact, the desire being to encourage the
customer to patronize other departments of the store for years to
come and through future purchases make up any losses that may
be incurred through any one particular exchange or rebate.
In the piano warerooms, even of a department store, such a
policy cannot be carried out because the piano man is not in a
position to speculate on profits from future sales to the same cus-
tomer. Moreover, especially in connection with the player-piano,
there are difficulties that arise that are not due to any carelessness
of the manufacturer or dealer, but rather to misunderstanding or
misuse of the instrument on the part of the customer himself.
For the salesman to display, an inclination to place the blame
for dissatisfaction directly on the instrument sold and consequently
on the dealer and the manufacturer, or, on the question of terms or
manner of collecting, or be over-willing to condemn the practices of
the house he is working for regardless of the justice of the com-
plaint, is not only disloyal to his employer, but by weakening the
reputation of the house for fair dealing is injuring the prospects of
himself as its representative.
The salesman should be quick to adjust real complaints when
the adjustment is actually up to the dealer, but should be able to
distinguish the real and just grievance from the fancied and unjust,
and be firm with the customer is sustaining the position of his
house when that position is right. To encourage the customer in
unjust complaints simply with a view to getting out of the trouble
with the minimum of personal effort and loss soon leads to a con-
dition where that particular customer and his or her friends begin
to make demands that are distinctly embarrassing, and the final
refusal to grant the demands leads to a breach that is much more
severe than would have been the case if the salesman was firm in
resisting the unfair demands in the beginning.
Little things like providing free tunings for special customers
after the specified year is up, refinishing cases without charge when
they have become scarred through carelessness, giving extra music
rolls free or at small cost simply to prevent the customer from
registering a complaint and handling a dozen or so similar cases
that come to the attention of every piano man at frequent intervals
may be all right under certain conditions, but the salesman who
grants the favors as though they were the rights of the customer
and his to demand, is building up trouble for himself and the house,
especially in the majority of cases where the house makes it a
point to back up its representatives to the limit and displays confi-
dence in their ability to protect the interests of the house.
Free Export Trade School in New York.
URING the past tew years the subject of opening up larger
markets for our products in the countries south of us has
been under consideration in many forms. It is one of the frequent
topics for entertainment at the dinners given by trade organi-
zations when eminent orators present plans that are interesting and
commendable, but which, unfortunately, are rarely put into force,
practically. As a matter of fact in the piano trade there has been little
done toward getting a stronger hold on the Southern markets, and
enabling American manufacturers to compete effectively with Euro-
pean countries. Nevertheless we hear ample reasons why Ameri-
can goods are not more largely in demand such as inadequate bank-
ing connections, failure to supply the buying public of the South
with what they exactly desire, poor packing, careless transportation,
sending representatives who do not speak the Spanish or Portu-
guese languages, and so on.
But have American manufacturers paid heed to these com-
plaints? In the majority of cases they have not. Still these people
wonder why Germany and England not only" maintain, but aug-
ment their sales of manufactured products to South America!
For intensely practical people we are making haste too slowly
in connection with the upbuilding of our export trade. But there
are signs of an awakening, and one step in the right direction is
the opening in New York City this week of a free export trade
school by the foreign division of the National Association of Manu-
facturers, which includes in its membership many members of the
piano trade.
This school is intended to give additional training to employes
of the association's members, who already have some experience in
export business. For the present the sessions are being held in the
association's library on Tuesday and Friday evenings, and the
course is under the supervision of V. Gonzales, the association
foreign trade and banking expert, and over fifty men have been
enrolled.
The course of instruction includes a wide field of knowledge
covering commercial matters in the South, including commercial
geography, means of transportation, details of obtaining and main-
taining foreign business, the handling of exchange in foreign trade,
D
comparative values of goods, the relation of American money to
that of other commercial countries, and other informing topics.
This is the first practical step taken in connection with edu-
cating our young men as to the requirements of foreign trade. In
Germany this has been done for many years, with the result that
when a German house sends its representative to South America
he goes there with a full knowledge of the local situation. He
speaks the language and is "at home" with the people.
Another forward step is the possibility of the erection of a
College of Commerce and Administration in this city, thanks to
the generous offer of a member of the Chamber 'of Commerce, who
has donated $500,000 toward the erection .of a building. This
amount in conjunction with the $200,000 already pledged for the
same purpose should provide an adequate amount of money to
start this admirable project. The gift, however, is subject to the
provision that part of the money shall be applied to the establish-
ment of a Museum of Commerce and Civics, to be operated in con-
nection with the college.
It has been suggested that the old site of the City College at
Lexington avenue and Twenty-third street be utilized for this pur-
pose, and it is proposed that the yearly expense of the college shall
be provided by the Board of- Estimate and Apportionment, and that
it shall be controlled by a board of trustees to be elected jointly by
the College of the City of New York and the Chamber of Com-
merce.
In view of the fact that New York has no institution for a
higher commercial training, such as those already provided for by
the leading cities of Europe, this generous offer of the members
of the Chamber of Commerce opens the way for New York to do
for commercial education what the City College is now doing for
higher liberal education. If the United States is to maintain its
supremacy commercially—and judging from the export figures
printed elsewhere in The Review it is likely to play a greater part in
South America than ever before—the leading cities must provide for
the proper commercial and technical education of the rising genera-
tion, and it is most pleasing that the subject is being given more
serious consideration to-day than ever before in our history,