Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
APRIL 20,
1918
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
(Salesmanship)
15
How a Player-Piano Customer Can Best Be Handled
Some Very Practical Pointers for the Player Salesman, Written by T. LaM.
Couch, and Reprinted from a Recent Issue of the Standard Player Monthly
T
HE most essential qualification if not the most valuable asset
which a modern piano salesman should possess is his ability
to intelligently and acceptably demonstrate a player-piano,
coupled with a general working knowledge of its construction
and the functions it has to perform.
His next best asset is knowing "what not to do." This is
seemingly paradoxical, nevertheless a painful and self-evident fact
conspicuous by its absence if the reports of a great many promi-
nent piano merchants are authentic, their continual lament being
"our salesmen lose so many sales by doing the wrong thing."
We understand that the expression of any opinion on the
best method of demonstrating is purely a personal one, also that
conditions often alter cases; but from personal experience, obser-
vation and contact with fine demonstrators we have been led to
believe that a few rules might be considered basic, for instance:
Remember the individuality of the piano constitutes the
foundation of the player.
Having arrived at this conclusion, we should emphasize a
few "don'ts."
Don't let the tail wag the dog; always remember it is a
player-piano and not simply a pneumatic action of a particular
make that you are endeavoring to sell.
Don't endeavor to impress your customer with the fact that
you are the greatest living manipulator of levers, buttons or
bellows.
Don't play too much or too long, and remember overtures,
rhapsodies, etc., were written for orchestras and cannot be accept-
ably rendered on a piano either manually or with the aid of a
player action.
Don't convey the impression that it requires technical skill
and musicianship to operate a player. Exaggerated movements
of the body, stylish digital manipulation of levers, buttons, etc.,
and intense facial expressions may tend to make your customer
believe you are a "wonder," but it makes him think he isn't—net
result: he becomes discouraged and you lose the sale.
Having assimilated the "don'ts" we will emphasize a few of
the things that might be done with advantage:
1st. Become thoroughly conversant with the product your
house is featuring, acquaint yourself with all its functions and
how they are performed; get a good working knowledge of your
business which is primarily to demonstrate and sell player-pianos.
2nd. Learn to manipulate the pedals, levers and buttons
with as close an approach to consummate ease as is humanly
possible. Make playing look like play to your customer, and
remember you are hired not as an artistic demonstrator, but to
produce business. The "Old Man" doesn't care how poor a per-
former you are—if you get the business.
3rd. Thoroughly acquaint yourself with every lever or but-
ton on the keyslip. This enables you to intelligently explain
their varied functions to the customer. Go down to the store
some night when you will not be interrupted, take the front
frame and bottom panel out of the instrument your house is
featuring, then take the pneumatic-action chart, trace the work-
ing of each tube and wire, learn their functions, get an intimate
knowledge of your player. All players are very much alike in
construction; fundamentally they are all alike and perform the
same function ; it is that degree of perfection with which they
perform these functions that marks the radical difference in
players ; learn the strong points of your player, and the weak
points of your competitors'.
One argument commonly used against the player-piano is
;
that it sounds automatic, and does not possess the tone produced
by human touch. This, like many common arguments, is a fal-
lacy, as the investigation and research of that eminent scientist,
Prof. Clarence Miller, irrefutably proves when he says: "Having
investigated this question with ample facilities, we are compelled
by the definite results to say that, if tones of the same loudness
are produced by striking a single key of a piano with a variety of
touches, the tones are always and necessarily of identical quality;
from this principle it follows that any tone quality which can
be produced by hand playing, can be identically reproduced by
machine playing."
Taking this principle into consideration, and having thor-
oughly equipped yourself with the necessary knowledge of the
construction and functions of your players, and a large amount
of enthusiasm for and confidence in same, your next step is to
learn to demonstrate this instrument in a capable manner.
You do not have to be a musician of high order; just select
a few standard and melodious rolls, study them carefully, learn
to play them with the best effects possible; work hard on achiev-
ing the soft effects; get the right tempos as the piece is written,
not as the roll-maker arbitrarily designates; throw some tempera-
ment into your playing and you are ready for the customer! If
possible, ascertain what particular kind of music he admires;
whether classical, operatic, popular or rag, and having learned
the preference, take one of your own studied rolls, sit down and
play it; make no remarks; get all you can out of the roll, and
you will get "in" your first impression on the customer.
Then select a roll which the customer admires, play it as well
as you know how, and when you get through, have the customer
sit down and try the roll; explain the pedaling, but forget to tell
him about shading with the tempo-lever, obtaining a crash with
the bellows, dynamics, nuances, etc. Just show him how easy it
is for him to make the player render his favorite piece or song
acceptably; enlarge on the possibilities of the player, "keeping
the children at home," "making your own dance music," "accom-
panying the voice," ad libitum. Imbue him with enthusiasm for
your player—after that sell him.
Your work is now about half completed; you must keep up
his interest, you must make him a roll customer for the house;
you must make him an enthusiastic booster for your pianos.
Help him to select music rolls, and unless musically inclined,
keep him away from heavy overtures and the impossible things
that composers never meant to be deleted into piano solos. After
he has had his player a few weeks and while the interest is still
keen, drop around some night with the last new roll under your
arm; play it for the family and gradually show them how some
of the best effects can be produced, particularly the soft effects;
pretty soon you will find they will drop in on you and want to
hear some of the later rolls. Keep them posted and you keep
them paying.
A talking machine dealer sells one machine, but creates a
customer who if handled properly becomes a steady source of
revenue. The average piano dealer sells a player-piano, and
never thinks about the customer until his payments begin to fall
in arrears, then finds the customer has lost interest in his piano,
regrets its purchase, and advises his friends against buying.
To create enthusiasm you must possess enthusiasm. Therer
fore, school yourself to learn that you sell the best player in the
world, that your house is the most reliable in the city and gives
the best service. This will become a habit; like begets like; you
create your customer, and of necessity can educate him to think
along the line that will produce the greatest benefit to himself
and incidentally to your house.
For over 25 years Specialists
in high grade Piano Cases
Paterson Piano
Case Co.
PATERSON, N. J.