Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 24, 1921
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
RIGHT MERCHANDISING
world situation and the decreased purchasing
power of the public and the disturbed circula-
(Continued from page 3)
tion of world trade, and having done this, hav-
ing made all allowances, we should turn our
it, save the one important thing. We have sold
it on every conceivable excuse and for every attention to cultivating our own garden and to
conceivable ostensible reason, save the only seeing what we can do with these realized
reason which has any validity. We offered to conditions by improving our methods and grasp-
the people a music-maker of unsurpassed capac- ing clearly the true principle of our business.
ity, bringing to every normal man and woman, That principle may be thus finally set forth:
The Principle Denned
and child, too, the power to produce music per-
sonally, and then we have forgotten to tell
1. The player business is a music business, not
them how to use it, what to get out of it and, a furniture business.
in fact, what it is all about!
2. The player-piano is a music means which
Now it is time to get back to common-sense ought to be sold as such, and not as a piece
based on right thinking and to carry out the of furniture obtainable on long-time payment.
logical conclusions of that right thinking in
3. The whole selling emphasis should be on
right action.
what the instrument will do.
4. No sale can be considered as really closed,
World Situation Is Our Situation
We cannot forget the world situation entirely, whether money has passed or not, until the pur-
but, for the purp.oses of our own immediate chaser or prospective purchaser knows, at least,
selling, we ought to forget it during business dimly what the player-piano is going to mean in
hours. Or, to put it more accurately, we ought the future to him or her and how it may be
clearly to grasp and realize all that has been used to give his or her home circle the music
said so summarily in this article about the that circle needs.
5
5. Terms are incidents, when once real sym-
pathy and desire have been aroused. Arouse
the desire and the demand will be for instru-
ments that "do things"; that is, for quality at
the right price, not merely for the best quality
that can be had at the lowest price.
This is the way toward ridding ourselves of
our basic error. Once a man has done this
he will not be content with the old ways. He
will reform his business because he will have
reformed his thinking about his business. And
the improvement he will make in his own busi-
ness will enable him to forget the world situa-
tion.
NATIONAL PIANO CO.'S "OPENING"
MISSOULA, MONT., September 19.—The National
Piano Co. was formally opened to the public here
recently with a full line of Baldwin pianos. Cut
Mowers were given to lady callers as souvenirs
of the event and a song book entitled "The Tunes
Dad Whistled" was given away to the children.
Ralph L. Pettit is the manager.
ACTIVITY AT LAFFARGUE PLANT
Carload Orders Help Swell Output—Laffargue
Players for New Denver High Schools—Drew
Seminary Also Gets Three Uprights—M. J.
de Rochemont Optimistic Over Outlook
Further evidences of the return to normalcy
were manifested last week and this week at the
f a c t o r y of the
Laffargue
Co.,
134th street and
Cypress avenue,
New York. Not
only have several
small orders been
received, but car-
load lots helped
swell the volume
of business dur-
ing this period.
O n e of t h e
most interesting
features in con-
nection with the
M. J. de Rochemont
business was an
order for three Style 20 Laffargue player-pianos
for use in three new high schools opened this
Fall in Denver, Col.
This order was secured by the Darrow Music
Co., who wrote a very interesting letter to
Max J. de Rochemont, vice-president of the
Laffargue Co., stating that the player-pianos
were selected after various other lines had been
inspected by the committee. These instruments
are special expression players and it is interest-
ing to note that they are to be used in educa-
tional institutions where thousands of students
of the most impressionable age will come in
daily contact with them.
Another order was secured by C. L. Wooley,
New England representative of the company, for
three Style 17 Laffargue upright pianos for the
Drew Seminary, Mt. Carmel, N. Y.
In commenting upon the greater activities of
the Laffargue Co., Mr. de Rochemont said to a
Review representative this week: "We are now
receiving orders from various sections of the
country which show that business is picking up
in several localities. In addition to the domestic
increase in business we are making steady export
shipments and, on the whole, our plant is un-
doubtedly one of the busiest in the Bronx. We
received 1 this week a carload order, the sixth to
be received from this dealer during the last few
months, which manifests beyond a doubt the
satisfaction which Laffargue instruments are now
giving. We certainly feel that conditions are
continually changing for the better and that
within a short time we will be running on a
larger scale than we have for months."
A new music store has been opened in Lock-
port, N. Y., by George Haney. Gulbransen and
Apollo player-pianos are handled. They are be-
ing admirably displayed.
fifty-three inches of quality—
the latest Henry G. Johnson Player
To build a player-piano small enough in size to har-
monize with the furnishings of the usual American home
without creating the impression that it is either too large
or too small; to make this instrument so much a part
of the home that one will be moved to say, "It appears to
have been built especially for this room."
To do these things, yet still to retain that beauty and
volume of tone for which all Henry G. Johnson pianos
are noted, is the latest Henry G. Johnson achievement—
the "fifty-three-inch" player.
DEALERS WILL FIND THE EXCEPTIONAL QUALITIES AND VERY MODERATE
PRICE OF THIS POPULAR, SMALL-SIZED INSTRUMENT A PROFITABLE
ADDITION TO THEIR LINE. WRITE FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION."
HENRY G. JOHNSON PIANO MFG. CO.
BELLEVUE, IOWA