JUNE
THE
21, 1919
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
7
~1I111111:1!1I1I1I1I1I1I11I1I1I1II1I11I1I1I1I1i11l1l1l1ll11ll1l1l~lI lIllIlIli:11I1I111111I1I 1I 1il1i 1i1l 1l1l1 1l111l!lll lllllllllllllll llllllllllnl!1I1I1I1I1!11I1I11I1II11I11I11I1I1I1I1I11I11I1I 1IIill lllllllllllllllllllll lllll lllllllllllllllllllll llll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllil1II1111111111111111111111111!! lIIl!llJllllllllllllllllllllll lillllllllllll lllllllllllll l!l1ll 1!1I1I1I11I1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIill!lllI lIlIlIlIlIlIlIlIllIlI lIlIlIill llllllllllll!IIIIIIIII~
SOME FURTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR
SOLVING THE "TRADE-IN" PROBLEM
I IJIUJllIIII III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIIHlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIJ:11 1I 1111111111111111111111111111111111 1 1 1 1glIlJll~
;;;
~ Tlu~
v;"''''s of John A. Turner,
There should be no doubt in the minds of
anyone that the piano tak en in exchange offers
many possibilities to b uild business rightly.
Taken from the standpoint of a prospect get
ter, the very foundation of your husiness is the
friends it has, and the customer with a piano
not in keeping with the balance of his home is
already sold the idea of the new piano.
Styles change in every thing- -the \-vorld moves,
piano, but it also gives assurance that your
price is right on the piano you are selling.
The treatment of each sale il.dividually, and
not as a part of a system, will aid in getting
the business and not allowing too much for the
trade-in.
One large concern I consulted has a
way of putting a damper on their salesmen's
allowance enthusiasm by allowing them 1 per
cent. bonus up to $200 a1ld 2 per cen t. over
that upon used piano sales which they have
taken in, but chargin g them with the difference
between the al1o v:;~ ~ ce and sales price if it. is
10weL
E. Paul Hamilton, the popular piano man,
when president of theN ew York Merchants' As
sociation, w o rkerl out a trade-in valuation list
that sholild act as a valuable guide to everyone.
It is subscribed to by the New York Association
and w as receiver,! .\" ith enthusiasm by the Na
tional Association 'at the convention last year.
Copies of this are obtainable from our secre
tary. Our valuation is not only the means of
clltting prices, it is an ekment that tends to dis
credit the valuation on new pianos and player
pianos, and leaves the customer ~ith the idea
that no matter what the price, it was not the
right price.
Now is the time to have the piano prices re
spected because of correct valuation being placed
upon them. Now is the time to have the piano
merchan t looked up to because of the service
he is rendering his community in musical uplift.
in musical education, by correct business prac
tices and correct manners of merchandising.
The trade-in is a great business getter and
should be made a great aid to establishing one
price 011 new goods-an aid to fixing in the
minds of the buying public that pianos are
worth just as much in dollars and cents and no
more.
1£ every merchant will make a practice of mak
ing a reasonable profit, figured on a percentage
basis, from his annual budget, on every trans
action, he will not go far astray on his placin g
of correct valuations on all exchanges. It will
be found the correct policy.
~11II1I1I1I1tI 1!
was only two years old, and we found out
it was twelve,' or else he will say, 'I made a
mistake on the numbeL I thought it was N o.
112,000 when it should be 12,000,' and so on. But
don't you see if there is $500 involved he is
g oing to find out whether it was represented
correctly or not. He is going to tell his sales-
The Views of P. E. Conroy
John A. Turner, Jr.
and so player-pianos and grand pianos are tak
ing the place of regular pianos.
The list of
old satisfied customers is the best list of pros
pects any store has.
'\ census ot pianos in
your town is a valuable aid to your selling de
partments because of the trade-in value of the
old piano. Just how to arrive at the just value
of a used piano is a problem that I have con
sulted many retailers upon and hav, found the
details differ but the fundamentals are about this
way:
.'\rrive at what would be considered a fa i r r e
sale price and allow one-half of that for the
lradein. The difference will have to cover th e
cartage, repairs and tuning, polishing and sell
ing expense
N ow, a splendid manner of keeping the cus
tomer from playing one dealer against the other
is to offer to buy for cash, the old piano at the
price offered in exchange. You can readily see
the standing given to your valuation OD the used
Krell
Duchess, Mervyn
Royal
The Auto Grand
The Krell Auto Grand
,The Krell Player
Quality products that will enable the dealer to close
a quality business at a substantial profit.
Write for Catalog
THE WERNER INDUSTRIES CO.
9th and Harriet Sts.,
CINCINNATI, O.
P. E. Conroy, president of the National Asso
ciation of Music Merchants, has some very in
teresting vi ews to offer as to ways and means
for solving the trade-in question to the advan
tage and profit of piano merchants.
After a
number of the piano merchants had presenteri
their views on the trade-in question at the con
vention session, Mr. Conroy declared that he
had an idea that he thought would meet the
situation. He explained it as follows:
"In each one of your towns have a local as
sociation.
Get everybody that sells pianos in
this local organization, regardless of who they
may be as long as they sell pianos. Then talk
o\'er the subject of tracie-ins, and I believe that
if the subject is properly presented to them
you will have solved the trade-in proposition
on used pianos. It will cost everyone in the
association $30 a year.
"You may say,J 'Wcll, what do you mean by
this $30 a year?' I have seen local associations
that agreerl on certain prices to allow for cer
tain grades of trade-in pianos, but remember
these were all gen tlemen's agreemell ts.
A
fellow will stand up and say, a man's word is
as good as his bond.
Fine.
No doubt he
means just what he says, but if you will take a
local organization, talk to each one separately
and get them close to you you may have put it
over the first time. We tried to put It over in
5t. Louis, and \-ve came very near doing so, and
when I go back there I think we will put it
oyer.
'·The proposition is simple, and is as follows:
Let every member of the organization depOSit
with the treasurer $500; $500 at 6 per cent. in
terest is :1:30 a year
Money is worth jusl
about 6 per cent. to-day. Now let them appoint
a committee of that organization to be judges
when an affair of this kind comes up. The rea
son I say $500 is that there are very few sales
on which the profit is $500, outside of some of
those expensive reproducing grand pianos.
Therdorc we will put it high enough to make
it $500. Let this association agree among them
sclves that whoever violates the schedule as
decided upon am 9 ng themselves will forfeit his
$500. And that decision is to be left to the
committee appointed for the association.
"Tt looks to me as if the thing can be worked
out for this reason.
A man will say, 'My
word is as good as my bond.' and all that sort
of thing, but when it comes up to classifica
tion, he will say, 'That woman said that piano
P. E. Conroy, President
man, 'Here are tbe rules and regulations; don't
violate any of those, because if you do our
committee is going to exact that forfeit and it
mea ns $500.' "
WEAVER PIANO CO. EXPANSION
Prominent York, Pa., Piano House to Act as
Jobbers of Pathephones and Pathe Records
YORK, PA., June 16.-The Weaver Piano Co.,
Inc., has purchased four dwelling houses ad
joining their factory property. and will convert
the buildings into showrooms and storage space
for Pathephones and records, the Weaver Co.
having recently signed up as jobbers of Pathe
llJachines and records.
The retail business at
the Weaver Co. warerooms, this city, is re
ported as excellent, and plans are being for
mulated for taking care of a still larger volume
of sales.
,\rrangements llave been made for
adding 3,000 square £\-et to the warerooms.
1