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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
J. B. SPILL A NE, Managing Editor
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B. BRITTAIN WILSON.
A. J. NICKLIN,
CARLETON CHACE,
AUGUST J. TIMPE,
L. M. ROBINSON,
WM. B. WHITE,
GLAD HENDERSON,
L. E. BOWERS.
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Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques
tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning, regu
lating and repairing of pianos and plaver-pianos are
dealt with, will be found in another section of this
paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning which
will be cheerfully given upon request.
Player-Piano and
Technical Departments.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal- • .Charleston Exposition, 1902
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NEW
YORK, JANUARY
10, 1 9 1 4
EDITORIAL
A
STRIKING feature of the piano business of the year just
closed, and especially of the holiday trade, has been the big
increase in the proportion of player-pianos which have gone to swell
the sales total.
There are many piano men who have gone so far as to express
the opinion that without the player-piano last year's business would
have fallen far below past records. And the figures offered by
various large retailers seem to bear out that opinion.
Some piano houses report that the sales of player-pianos dur-
ing the past year, and especially during the holidays, equaled fifty
per cent., or better, of the total business. Even higher percentages
are given in many instances, the case in point being that of R. S.
McCarthy, manager of the piano department of Gimbel Bros., Phila-
delphia, who stated in an interview in last week's Review that
seventy-five per cent, of the total business of his department during
1913 represented sales of player-pianos.
Proof of the growing popularity of the player-piano comes
from every section of the country. D. C. Harmon, vice-president
of the O. K. Houck Piano Co., Memphis, Tenn., in an interview
made the following statements regarding the player business of his
company:
"The player-piano in the South is gaining in prestige and stand-
ing at a pace that is almost unbelievable to the casual observer.
Our own player business the past twelve months has been phe-
nomenal.
"Surprising as it may seem to the trade in the East, it is the
higher-priced player that is booming just now in the South, not the
cheap player. We sold out this season the better grade of player,
while the less expensive instruments were left on our hands at the
close of the holiday trade. Tt is merely a matter of educating and
training the public to the true value of the higher grade player in
order to close a sale of a more expensive instrument instead of a
r
cheap one.
'
^WWMf;
"Our player business in 1913 was more than fifty per cent bet-
ter than in 1912, and our campaign in 1914 should produce a still
REVIEW
larger gain. Personally, I believe that the player-piano is the in-
strument of the future. It is supplanting the straight upright piano
month after month, and will supplant it even more impressively in
the future. Practically every piano purchaser is, to my mind, a
player-piano prospect. This theory is being advanced by many
piano men throughout the country, but in our territory last year we
did more than theorize—we convinced the most skeptical that a piano
sale is almost invariably the stepping-stone to a player-piano sale."
Opinions as to the cause of player popularity naturally vary.
Though the general opinion, and probably the correct one, is that
the player offers a wider margin of profit to the dealer, a bigger
sales total with less effort, and without the danger of trouble that
was the player bugaboo in the earlier days.
Were players only sold to those who were unable to play by
hand the proportion would be much less than it really is.
Players are going into homes where only one of a family of five
or six can play, and where under ordinary conditions a piano would
be purchased for that one. They are being sold in homes where the
wife plays and the husband wants to. They are taking the place
of thousands of pianos, both in the matter of exchange and new
sales, and are in addition creating a big field of their own.
The era of the player is not something to be looked for—some-
thing to hope for in the future. It is here now.
The actual results in 1913 proved that fact better than thou-
sands of printed pages could ever do.
The dealer who does not understand player possibilities thor-
oughly, or who is not making a strong effort to get vM the player
business possible in his territory, is overlooking his opportunity. It
is a department of the business that demands attention to-day; to-
morrow will be too late, because a competitor will be there.
Whether or not the player-piano will completely supersede the
manual piano is, of course, a question for debate, but its importance
as a paramount factor in the trade cannot be overlooked any longer.
F
OR some time past piano merchants in various sections of
the country have been loud in their complaints regarding
the scarcity of competent salesmen.
They have been bewailing the apparent inclination of the young
men starting out in commercial life to "pass up" the piano business
for something offering greater opportunities—on the surface at least.
That the reports of scarcity of salesmen are not unfounded is
proven by the fact that good retail men are signed up with a rush
whenever they happen to be at liberty.
Just why such a condition exists merits attention.
One piano man claims that the fear of losing sales through in-
experienced salesmen often prompts dealers to refuse to give such
men a chance, no matter how promising they appear to be. Then
oftentimes the new man is placed out in the field at what is colloqui-
ally called "doorbell ringing," where he cannot receive the benefit of
advice from his employer or more experienced salesmen.
The result is that the young man often becomes discouraged
by the problems offered in the field with which he is as yet un-
familiar and enters another line of business.
The progress from doorbell ringing to star salesmanship does
not take the form of a sudden jump. The new man in the piano
sales field must naturally expect to begin at the bottom, but the
dealer who puts him there and leaves him to his own devices, is not
only making a mistake, but naturally is not making money.
It is safe to say that many more sales, in the making, are lost
by the inexperienced doorbell ringer through lack of knowledge of
how to impress prospects favorably, than are lost by the same class
of man on the wareroom floor where he can have the assistance of
the manager or salesman in closing a sale.
The dealer who really wants to build his own sales force should
give the newcomer a chance to develop in all departments both in-
side and outside. His education may cost money—may mean the
loss of a few sales—for it must be considered that the education
that doesn't cost anything, either in money or effort, is generally
worth about what is paid for it. In the case of the piano salesman,
properly trained, the dealer is in a position to secure ample returns
on his investment.
The successful piano salesman is not the result of accident. He
must receive special training in several departments, especially under
the present system of selling pianos, and particularly now that the
player-piano with its new problems is proving such a strong factor.
The piano merchant who complains about the lack of experi-