Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJIC TFADE
VOL. LIX. N o . 23 Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Dec. 5, 1914
S
SING
$i E oo C( ra S viSiS ltNTS
ALES baiting—that is what I term the plan adopted by some houses offering free music rolls,
free stools, free scarfs and pretty blamed near free pianos. It is a kind of sales baiting which
to my mind is exceedingly unprofitable and mighty expensive for the houses which adopt it.
This free trade lunch counter may look attractive to some, but it is fooling the authors.
I know some of my good friends in the trade will not agree with me in this statement. I know also
that others will, but I contend that the free offerings constitute the kind of baiting that cuts the profits
direcLy from under the men who offer them. I am pleased to see that some of the largest houses in
the country agree with me in this statement, and that they are uncompromisingly opposed to the
sales baiting plan.
There are some who have carried the gift offering plan to such a point that, aside from free music
lessons, they even offer $25 worth of music. Where is the advantage of this baiting?
Is the salesman selling music or is he selling a player-piano? It would be better if he concentrated
his energies upon the sale of that instrument, and when he has concluded a regular sale he has opened
up other accessory trade possibilities.
Why he should offer at the start to give away valuable related merchandise which should afford
him a substantial profit is beyond my comprehension.
I believe that salesmen should give more attention to the player. They should acquaint them-
selves in a greater degree with its possibilities and then concentrate their energies upon the instrument
itself; but when it gets back to the question of what they are going to throw in they are cheapening
their own business, and they must lose to a degree the respect of their prospective customer—respect
for the house, respect for the instrument and respect for the salesman.
A business cannot be successfully maintained on the basis of throwing in valuable accessories.
And, by the way, there comes to my mind a new designation for this particular line of traffic. When
referring to this special business, I am going to call them the "throw-ins."
My readers will recall how quickly the entire trade took up with my word-coinage of trade-ins as
applied to traded-in stock. The term has now become standardized. Now, I am going to give a new
one and say the throw-ins.
Now, trade-ins and throw-ins are of most vital importance to any retail business enterprise. Throw-
ins, which include music rolls, stools, scarfs, button hooks, etc., will all be included in the sweeping
title of throw-ins.
Now, I contend that the throw-ins to a large extent have a demoralizing influence upon the trade.
One man offers to throw in a few simple little items like stools and scarfs and the next man goes him
one better. And so on.
I saw an advertisement the other day where one manufacturer offered the varied contents of a
jewelry store. Are men who have pianos interested in selling junk first and pianos as a side line, or
what?
I believe that the throw-in plan is fundamentally wrong. No business can be maintained perma-
nently on any other basis than that of right. If the price of a piano or a player-piano is right, then
why the throw-ins? Why not sell a piano for what it is rather than for what you will throw in with
the sale?
I claim it reflects upon the house and reflects upon the mental activity of salesmen to try and
close a sale by leading up to the throw-ins.
(Continued on page 5.)