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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MAKING USE OF ADVERTISING SERVICE
(Continued from page 3)
service offered by manufacturers are the more substantial, successful and progressive houses in the trade. Tt
might be said that, being successful, these houses can afford to take advantage of these helps, but it is more
than likely that the fact that they were progressive enough to take advantage of every help offered in the
past has been the real secret of their present success.
A first-class advertising or selling service is not based upon the experience of one particular dealer in
one particular locality, but it is a concentrated essence of the experiences of many dealers in all sections of
the country.
Tt is natural to assume that no one dealer, no matter how long he has been in the trade or how hard he
has worked, has at his command anything like the business knowledge that is offered to him by this central
service. The successful man, whether merchant, manufacturer, or engaged in a profession, is not the one
who must plod along and find out everything for himself, but is rather the man who has the foresight to profit
by the experiences of others. He thus has at his command a multitude of successful experiences upon which
to base his own work without the mass of failures that would attend such experiences if they were his own.
In using prepared advertising matter the dealer is simply getting, at a nominal expense, material that
would swamp his advertising appropriation in little or no time were he to have it prepared for his exclusive
use. Prepared as it is in a central bureau at one cost for the use of many dealers, the individual proportion
is very small. The fact that an average of only 20 per cent, of dealers utilize such a service is not a re6ection
upon the trade, but rather upon the 80 per cent, of dealers who are letting opportunities slide by. They are
doing business the hard way.
in the making of music rolls, as well as in some branches of the
supply industry. Until the labor market becomes normal again
women may have to be employed to keep things going. The
question was referred to at length in The Review recently, and is
worthy of reiteration and serious consideration.
HETHER it is the fact that they take vacations of a
month that makes them successful, or that, being suc-
cessful men, they can afford to take a month from business
for rest and recreation, may be a question, but the fact remains
that a great majority of the big men of this industry, and for
that matter any line of endeavor, manage to drop the cares of
business for several weeks in the summer and proceed to store
up new energy for the coming campaign. In camps, in the
mountains or at the lakes, or resting up at resorts along the
seashore, business men get a chance not only to build them-
selves up physically, but to enjoy mental rest that enables them
to think up new schemes and redouble their efforts when it
comes time for business again.
The business man who ties himself to his desk year in and
year out and is always "too busy" to get away is a relic of the
past, and from his own confession he has a poor organization.
W
The fact that he feels that he must be on the ground all the time
betrays a lack of confidence in his associates and his employes
and reflects upon his ability to build up and train an organiza-
tion capable of standing by itself.
IANO and music dealers who in the past have been hard
P
put to develop ways and means for combating the inroads
of the mail order houses in their territory will read with interest,
but hardly with favor, of the attitude of the Federal Trade Com-
mission towards the various means adopted by the manufac-
turers and merchants to compete successfully with the mail
order houses, as set forth by the Washington correspondent of
The Review this week.
The Federal Trade Commission rules that mail order inter-
ests cannot be discriminated against in any way by local
merchants, or through a combination of their interests, and in
carrying on its investigations to put a stop to such discrimina-
tion, the Commission has looked into the actions of various
trade associations. The attitude of the Federal Trade Commis-
sion in this particular is worthy of careful study by members
of the music trade and particularly the heads of the various
national and local associations.
GETTING DOWN TO PLAIN PLAYER FACTS
The education of the public along player lines is a necessity for the expansion of the player business.
There is no doubt of that; and education of the piano merchants and salesmen is also a vital necessity,
because through them will come a powerful force in the education of the public; and right here we wish to
remark that we have produced a line of books upon the player-piano which comprehensively covers the
entire player situation.
In this respect this trade newspaper stands alone, for it has been the principal source from which player
information has been available for piano merchants and salesmen for a period of years. Our latest book,
"The Player-Piano Up to Date"
is the best of the series. It contains upwards of 220 pages of matter bearing directly upon the player.
Every piano merchant and piano salesman should have a copy of this book within easy reach. It
gives to readers a fund of information not obtainable elsewhere.
It contains a series of original drawings and a vast amount of instructive and educational matter, as
well as a detailed description of some of the principal player mechanisms.
It costs $1.50 to have this book delivered to any address in the United States, and your money will be
refunded if you are not satisfied with the book after examination. No one yet has availed himself of this
opportunity. Foreign countries, 15c. to cover extra postage, should be added.
Estate of EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
373 Fourth Ave., New York