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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
(Chicago Section)
9
REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD-TIME CHICAGO SALESMAN—(Continued from page 7.)
years I have been engaged in the piano business
in Chicago and during thirty years of that time I
have been associated with my present partner, Mr.
Lapham, we having been partners for the past six-
teen years continuously, exploiting the A. B. Chase
pianos. In those thirty-four years you might say
that 1 have seen the growth of the Chicago piano
business from small beginnings to its present pre-
eminence, and not only has business grown greatly
in volume and importance, but I am sure that a
higher standard exists to-day than ever before. Our
own business is devoted chiefly to the sale of the
highest grade pianos, and the A. B. Chase methods
are necessarily very different from those of some
large factories which turn out a very great num-
ber of good pianos in the course of a year, but
which they could not and do not claim are equal
to the finest grades.
There is one thing which 1 have noticed part cu-
larly and which is especially gratifying to me, not
merely because it shows me that we are moving
along the right lines in this wonderful Western
city of ours, but because of the pledge it gives for
future trade development as well as progress along
artistic and, we might almost say, ethical lines.
Advance of Musical Appreciation.
A few Sundays ago I found it necessary to
spend an afternoon downtown—something I had
not done for several years. There were a num-
Geo. B. Grosvenor.
ber of first-class recitals on that afternoon and,
walking along Michigan avenue, I was surprised
to see the immense number of people who were
recital bound, even though the weather was quite
inclement. It opened my eyes to the fact that mu-
sical appreciation had made wonderful strides in
Chicago notwithstanding the fact that our sup-
posedly excessive commercialism is still a by-word
the country over.
What I saw that Sunday afternoon formed such
a contrast with the crude beginnings of Chicago
as a musical center, which I can well remember,
notwithstanding the fact that I strenuously deny
any intimation that I am at all venerable. The re-
sult of my observations tells me why Chicago has
been continually growing in the consumption, if I
may be allowed the word, of high-grade pianos
and, as I said before, it furnishes rich promise
for the future.
Personally, my life work has been devoted to
the piano business. I believe that a man or firm
that can make a legitimate success in it can claim
to have succeeded in a difficult line. We have
never permitted our business to take the pleasure
from our lives, but, on the contrary, it has always
been a pleasure to us to do business in the piano
trade—and the piano trade of Chicago.
Impression of the Chicago Music Trade
As Gleaned by an Outsider—The Piano Sale from the Buyer's Point of
View—Trusting to Luck with the Faith of Youth—How Misleading Adver-
tisements Serve to Confuse and Discourage the Prospective Purchaser.
When the writer was asked to contribute to the
Chicago edition of The Music Trade Review he
did not feel half so much honored as embarrassed
that he should have to confess his ignorance of
your great industry. It was kindly but forcibly
explained that it was because he knew nothing of
the workings of the trade that he had been selected
to say his little say. He was not even expected to
do the "foreign visitor" stunt of seeing New York,
Boston and Niagara Falls before writing his im-
pressions of the United States, so to speak, but
out of his general knowledge was to try and sift
the impressions, however vague they might be, of
the music trade of Chicago.
One of the first commercial ventures that the
writer made was to buy an upright piano, the
family musical requirements having been met by
an old-fashioned square. That was some time ago,
as you may guess. After much deliberation and
testing a deal was finally closed with a firm for
a Chicago-made piano. That piano was so satis-
factory that I have the highest regard for the
makers and the impression of the Chicago piano
trade has always been the most pleasant.
Having started with such a good impression of
the trade, it has been still further improved by a
number of splendid acquaintances that I have been
so fortunate to make in it. I am very sure that
the impression that the Chicago music trade in-
cludes in its ranks as fine men as any line of
business can boast of is a correct one. Keen busi-
ness men, lovers of art, liberal in their dealings
and pushers for business, they have in a single
generation forced Chicago to the front in this in-
dustry. There is also a whole-heartedness that
makes them rejoice in the success of their busi-
ness competitors even at their own expense. I
take this as quite a peculiarity of the piano busi-
ness. At least it is lacking in others that I know
about.
Opposes Bargain Sales.
Another impression that I have of the piano
trade of Chicago is that it is quite a new industry,
for it bears many of the earmarks of youth. There
is an apparent tendency to do things and trust to
fortune that they will come out right. They are
given to bargain sales and to marked-down goods.
Take it from a rank outsider that it does not
create a good impression to see a handsome show-
window filled with a mixed lot of pianos with
large placards stating that the piano is a used
article and can be bought at a low price. The im-
pression on the passer-by is not favorable to the
firm making the display. I do not know enough
about the firms in business to tell the character
of those that do this, but 1 should think that
other means might be found to get rid of these
instruments if it was necessary to take them in.
It is a further impression of the piano trade that
there is a wide margin between the cost of the
piano at the factory and the selling price at which
it is placed on the market, and that a large part
of this margin is absorbed by extensive adver-
tising and selling expenses. I want to say one
thing and that is that if the "spread" is wide the
advertising man is not giving value for money
received in many cases. My impression is that
advertising by the piano manufacturer is not as
carefully considered as to the results to be gained
as it might be. It must be remembered that the
advertising is the telling of a story and that merely
standing on a street corner and bawling out the
fact that a certain make of piano is the best is
not advertising. Neither does the mere reiteration
of the same statement in the pages of a popular
magazine do much good. 1 wonder what a really
aggressive, carefully thought out campaign along
advanced lines of modern advertising would do
for a piano manufacturer? I believe that a cam-
paign could be worked out that would cause an
active desire to buy pianos from that maker and
turn that desire into action.
Selling Possibilities Greater Than Ever.
It is my impression that there are more people
in the country who are able to buy pianos and
who are interested in music than ever before, and
that it is easily possible to get orders from them.
Some of the few men in the trade whom I do
know talk as if they were certain that they had
exhausted every possible means of influencing an
order. A few years ago my wife used to obtain
a large part of her evening amusement by clipping
piano ads and trying to solve the puzzles that they
contained. The answers *were so obvious that even
a poor guesser had no excuse not to make a center.
It was much easier than solitaire.
I think that for a few times she expected to get
a piano, but she soon got tired of sending in her
replies; but she misses the amusement. These
fake ads certainly came under the head of mis-
leading, if not fraudulent, advertising. It never
pays to mislead in advertising. A man of wide
acquaintance in this city recently bought an article
at a sale from a prominent and presumably re-
liable house. The article was about as bad as
could be, but the sellers, on the plea of it being
a special sale, refused to take back the article or
to return his money. It was not a question of
money, for he could have bought the concern out
and never have missed it. It was the principle of
the thing. The result is that he has dictated a
letter to his secretary telling exactly what actually
took place and a letter is being sent to each of his
wide circle of acquaintances. He says that he only
wants them to sue him. If they do he will put
them out of business.
"The Customer Is Always Right."
It is my impression that no dealer in pianos or
musical instruments would ever refuse to make
right anything that was really wrong. Remember
that Sam Allerton used to say that the smartest
thing Marshall Field ever did was to discover that
the customer was always right. It may seem tha f
the customer wants the earth and is imposing upon
the dealer, but the poorest customer that ever
comes into your store has friends who will take
his word for it against all the reputation for
fair dealing that you can accumulate in a thou-
sand years.
It is my candid impression that the Chicago
music trade has sown most of its wild oats, that it
has outgrown many of its youthful follies and that
it is building for a great and splendid future. Chi-
cago was never so strong, so virile, so full of the
elements that make for growth and success as it
is to-day. It is not an old city. Its follies are
still follies of young manhood. The music trades
have from the very first borne their full share in
the upbuilding and the uplifting of the city. Think
of their war-time record, when they were a mere
babe in arms, so to speak, as compared with to-day.
They have had and will have their reward, for one
thing is certain and that is in the long run steady
and persistent effort along lines of truth and right
will win. Good luck to you all!
It takes time and much effort to overcome cer-
tain obstacles; this is done by recognizing them
and figuring with them and not worrying about
them.