Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXIII. No. 2 Published Every Saturday by the Estate of Edward Lyman Bill at 373 4th Ave., New York, July 8, 1916
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A
PERUSAL of a large number of advertisements put forth by retail piano establishments in various
sections of the United States, would lead one to believe that there are still many piano merchants
and advertising writers who make the colossal mistake of impressing readers with the slogan of
"cheapness" in piano buying.
Now, is cheapness really a good belief to encourage? Isn't it wise to educate people up instead of down?
Why not emphasize quality instead of price?
Why not tell, in a clear, convincing way, of the beauty, attractiveness and intrinsic values of high-grade
instruments?
The wise merchant—from a purely selfish standpoint, if you will—should continually strive to lead his
clientage toward a better appreciation of musical quality and-style value in pianos and players, and get away
from the blind worship of mere cheapness.
In this way he will constantly educate the people of his community toward a belief in pianos and musical
merchandise of better quality and higher price.
His policy will prove an advantageous one, for It is merchandise of character which yields in the end the
most satisfactory profit.
If a cheap piano is sold at a cheap price, it does not necessarily follow that the dealer has cleaned up the
large profit which may appear at first blush, for subsequent and unlooked for expenses cut down the profit.
Customers can be induced to buy higher priced pianos in place of lower priced, hence it is well to impress
constantly upon salesmen the desirability of sizing up each customer and hammering away day in and day
out, from one month's end to another, on the value of quality.
If this plan is followed, the salesmen themselves, after a while, will become^ enthusiastic supporters of the
quality standard.
Every intelligent man, without exception, knows that a piano or player of national reputation, when
honestly priced, will give general satisfaction, and thus make the customer's trade a permanent one,- because
a man's influence upon his friends is considerable, and the good results from a piano sale to a pleased customer
hardly ever cease. Then there are always small sales in the way of general musical merchandise which lollow
along as a natural sequence, and, to use the old slogan, "the customer will remember the quality long alter
the price has been forgotten."
Progressive merchants appreciate the fact that when they are building on a quality basis, they are
standing on an enduring platform. It should be also remembered by some of the music trade advertisers that
the public has become only too familiar with the old habits, and that, in order to increase buying enthusiasm,
it is essential to have instruments possessing a recognized standard of value, besides the "cheap" priced ones.
With industrial conditions as they are to-day, with employment well distributed, and high wages the
rule and not the exception, this is. just the time to place special emphasis on the high priced, quality piano and
player—the time to get away from the "cheap" argument in piano, advertising.