Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
NOVEMBER 9,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1918
of difficulty, considering- the numerous books and technical cata-
logs which are available to everyone.
A second point is that the kind of player-piano which is to
sell well in the country must, of necessity, be highly durable
and capable of standing hard knocks. It will get them without
doubt, and an instrument which develops weakness under use
is sure to be a trouble maker from the start. It is one thing- to
be able to telephone for a tuner and get him the same day; and
( Salesmanship )
11
quite another thing to have to wait a month. Players that will
not fall down under ordinary circumstances are essential to suc-
cessful country selling.
The player-piano is a fine institution; so is the farmer. The
one has the money and wants the music; the other costs some
of the money and gives all the music. The two should be brought
together, and it is up to the player salesman to bring them
together.
Prospects Who Should Not Be Allowed to Purchase
Changed Conditions in the Musical Instrument Industry Make It Necessary for the
Piano Salesman to Learn When to Turn Down a Prospect Who Otherwise Would Buy
IANO selling has undergone marked changes within the last
P
twelve or fifteen months. Prior to that time the selling of a
piano or player-piano was regarded as being more or less diffi-
cult. The piano salesman was continually striving to dig up a
new prospect, and, having unearthed one, he started forthwith to
bombard said prospect with circulars, telephone calls and in-
terviews, and other forms of selling propaganda. The salesman
was often classed in the same category as the book agent, and
was sometimes made to feel that the "Welcome" on the door mat
was not meant for him.
This situation has changed. From all parts of the country
dealers are unanimous in reporting that the demand for pianos
and players is far greater than the supply. Prospects, instead
of being tracked to their lair, voluntarily walk into the piano
stores and demand immediate deliveries of the instruments which
they select.
This condition, therefore, has relieved the salesman of a
great deal of the tedious and unpleasant, if it may be called such,
detail connected with the selling of musical instruments. It is
not difficult to sell pianos nowadays. Prospects are abundant,
prospects with fat pocketbooks and an inclination to buy. The
real difficulty, or rather the one big point to which the salesman
should pay careful attention, is to know when not to sell. The
prevalent shortage of pianos and players has rendered it little
short of suicidal for the salesman to allow an instrument to go
out of the store except upon his own terms, which, of course, must
be satisfactory to him. The old days of $1.00 down and $1.00 a
week are gone, we hope, forever. Large payments and two-year
contracts are becoming accepted as standard in the piano industry
in this country. Prospects who cannot meet these terms should
not be allowed to sign a contract. If they are sold an instrument
on long terms it simply means that the salesman has taken a
valuable instrument and put it out at a figure which is certainly
not as great or as profit-producing as might be, and which in
turn deliberately lessens the liquid assets of the store.
Many salesmen at the present time are looking over their
sales record for the past year, and are finding that sales which
they were rather jubilant over making then are now proving
themselves to be a cause for regret, for if an instrument which
was sold last year was in the store now the salesman could make
much more profit for his house, and incidentally consummate a
much better sale, by reason of the higher prices which are the
vogue at present.
Therefore, the piano salesman who is really on the job will
size up his prospect carefully before attempting to get the sig-
nature on the contract. Good prospects are sufficiently plentiful
to enable the salesman practically to choose his customers. The
salesman who does not exercise care in selecting his customers,
and who does not make a hard and fast rule of selling only to
those who can and will live up to a short term contract, is not
only an inferior type of salesman, but is really doing himself and
his employer an injustice.
The Value of Enthusiasm in Selling Player-Pianos
There is a certain salesman in one of the biggest New York
HERE is no one single factor of greater value in closing
retail piano stores whose greatest asset is enthusiasm. He is,
T
player sales than enthusiasm, assuming, of course, that the
first of all, a thorough piano man, having served his apprentice-
salesman knows the fine points of his player, for his enthusiasm
should be largely based upon the superiority of the instrument he
is selling.
Likewise he will certainly know the good points of his com-
petitors' players, and be able to prove how his player is the best,
in spite of the competing players' good points, not by knocking,
but by demonstration, by showing an intimate knowledge of
every important player made, and by showing conclusively how
his player excels.
You can't get very enthusiastic over your own player or
anything else if you put in your time knocking the other fellow's
goods. It keeps you pretty busy to do that, and all the time you
are doing it you are keeping your customer's mind on your com-
petitors' goods and your own player in the background. Forget
the other players. Forget everything but your own player. Act
just as you would if your player were the only one in existence.
Turn on the enthusiasm. Surely any player is wonderful. Con-
sider what a musical marvel it really is. Look back a few years,
when there was no such thing as a player, when everyone played
by hand—if they played at all.
This very thought alone, if dwelt upon, will arouse enthusi-
asm in the prospect. The salesman should be chockful of it,
bubbling over with the player idea. Picture the home pleasures
made possible by it—enjoyment that only the player can bring.
That will arouse the customer's enthusiasm—and remember this,
he will associate all these advantages with your player.
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PIANOS
ship at the bench and having studied piano selling in some of
the biggest stores in the world. Many piano men would be
content with this thorough knowledge of the piano business in
all its details, for surely it would seem that a salesman thus
equipped could sell pianos and players, if anyone could.
But this master salesman does not rely on his intimate
knowledge of piano construction and piano values to put sales
across. His "one best bet" is his enthusiasm. He fairly sweeps
his customers off their feet by the very force of his enthusiastic
belief in the quality of the goods he is selling—he convinces
everyone of his sincerity.
Sincerity, after all, is the real basis of enthusiasm, and
the very fact that you are enthusiastic impresses the buyer with
your sincerity, for no one can be honestly enthusiastic over any-
thing unless he is sincere.
Any player salesman who really has his heart in his work
can acquire enthusiasm, not by chair warming in a piano ware-
room, but by studying the player game. And it is such an inter-
esting study that it should prove a pleasure to every player sales-
man. If the player does not interest you that much, you should
get out of the game.
There are so many angles to the player proposition that a
thorough knowledge of them is bound to arouse your enthusiasm,
and the more you study the player and its possibilities the better
you will like it.
ORGANS
E5TEY PIANO COMPANY NEW YORK CITY