Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 20,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1919
some of his spare time in reading standard literature and thus ^et
acquainted with the better methods of speaking and writing. Auto-
biographies of famous men offer good examples of selling per-
sonality and this may well be used to advantage by anyone, whether
he be a salesman or not. A good vocabulary is a prize and the man
who has the best command of language is the man who can make
anyone see his point of view. Persuasion requires that your ideas
must be explained so clearly to the customer or whoever it may be
that they will become his own and he will be urged on to act as you
would have him. This means making a sale. Reading will in-
crease the vocabulary and thus make it easier for the salesman to
put over his ideas. It will save time, effort and secure better and
more lasting results.
In studying there is a right and a wrong way to go about it.
The common way, which may be called the careless way, where a
mass of matter is simply waded through without any real attention
as to the real meaning, is, on the face of it, a waste of time, and is
not worth mentioning except to call attention to its fallacy. A second
method, studying by rote, trying to follow rules which have long
since proved obsolete, likewise fails to bring results. The third
way, and the only way, is to study intelligently and logically, fol-
lowing the thought expressed on the printed page step by step, not
hurrying through, and going back over the ground again if the
thought is not clear the first time. In the matter of study the motto
that haste makes waste is true to the last degree. It is better to
make haste slowly.
In discussing the social life of salesmen many feel that by so
doing you are taking a slap at their personal liberty. This is the
wrong attitude and comes through a misunderstanding of purposes.
By advocating the best social conditions for the salesman the em-
ployer is doing no more than one man ought to do for someone in
whom he is interested. The employer is not laying down prescribed
rules for his salesmen, but he is offering them a chance to improve
themselves and to be better human beings. This in return makes
(Salesmanship)
15
them better salesmen and increases their personal efficiency without
any regard to the business itself. The employer who takes an inter-
est in his men should receive their gratitude and not their antago-
nism. The cultivation of educated people will add to the good work
done by study and gives a chance to put into actual practice the pre-
cepts gathered from books. It does more than that. It shows how
the. best people live and offers a concrete goal toward which one
may work.
Imagination is necessary for any line of work if it is work that
is constructive and not passive. Cultivate an imagination to the
skyscraper type which rises above the ground and gazes down upon
the world below. This gives perspective and enables the salesman
who has it to look into the future and see what the possibilities are.
The imagination which cannot get beyond certain narrow limits is
no imagination at all. The real imagination makes possible growth
and expansion and the salesman who has it will rise on the ladder
of success. But he must cultivate it himself and no one can do it
for him. Others can show him the way in which they have done
it, but the actual hard work must come from the individual himself.
The self-analysis requires some imagination to begin with and might
well be discussed first instead of last.
After the salesman has analyzed himself according to the above
methods, and has begun to improve himself along the lines laid
down, there is one thing more to do. That is to analyze the cus-
tomers according to their social position, vocations, position in the
community, their possibilities as prospects, and the like. He must
analyze the period of attention and determine just how long it is
wise to press any one point. While much might be said on this
point at another time it can be seen that in order to do all these
things the salesman must be of a high order of intelligence. In
order to be of a high order of intelligence he must first have edu-
cated himself by hard and continued application to work. After
that the desired results will come of themselves, and come in a man-
ner both pleasing and profitable.
Satisfied Customers the Basis of Future Success
The success of a retail piano store depends primarily upon the
caliber of the sales organization even when it may not be found
possible to secure a sufficient number of instruments of the desired
types to meet the natural demand of the public. A knowledge of
the art of business building is the best key to permanent success, and
requires a competent, diplomatic salesman to carry on that business
building in a manner to secure permanent results. Whether the
customer comes into the store unsolicited in search of a particular
instrument, or whether the customer is brought into the store as a
result of persistent canvassing, the fact remains that the sale is not
made properly unless the buyer feels a maximum amount of satis-
faction in his purchase.
The salesman, as a result of his knowledge and experience, can
contribute most materially to the work of placing the customer in
the proper frame of mind. No man likes to think that the purchase
by him of a musical instrument costing several hundred dollars is
a matter of little or no importance to the store from which he makes
the purchase. He likes to be sold to a certain extent at least. He
likes to feel that he is getting his money's worth, and to l>e con-
vinced by the salesman of the fact. It is this satisfaction that means
business for the future from the purchaser's family and his friends,
and the result can best be obtained by the trained salesman who has
had to sell against competition, and knows how. The future is com-
ing, and satisfied customers of to-day will prove most desirable assets.
You Have Made the High Rep-
utation of Your Piano
Wickham Piano Plates, through their quality and per-
fect satisfaction, help you to maintain that reputation.
Wickham United Industries
Wickham Piano Plate Co.
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO
The Wickham Co. of New Jersey
MATAWAN, NEW JERSEY