Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1922 Vol. 75 N. 12

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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL. LXXV. No. 12
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Are., New York.
Sept. 16, 1922
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A Salesmanship Never as Necessary as Now
D
ESPITE the declarations of certain piano wareroom managers and other trade members to the con-
trary, ample proof has been afforded on numerous occasions recently of the fact that real salesman-
ship in the retail piano trade is not a forgotten art. Reports come from practically every section
of the country of the excellent results obtained by those who have gone out into the field and carried
on their selling campaigns in the sound, old-fashioned way, getting after the prospect and staying with him
until the order was signed.
It may be that all men who depend for their livelihood upon the selling of pianos are not salesmen in
the full sense of the word, and that some of them lack those qualities that make for successful selling, but
the fact remains that there are a great many men, and for that matter women, with experience and ability,
who are placing pianos in homes in very substantial numbers.
There are good and bad salesmen in every line of business and it is very likely that the piano trade,
although it may not be possessed of a sufficient number of skilled salesmen to produce a maximum amount of
business, nevertheless has its full share of those who can put the goods in the hands of the consumer in the
proper way. Because two salesmen pursue different methods in developing prospects and closing deals does
not of necessity indicate that either one of them is wrong, for it is the cultivation of an individual style that
frequently wins success for the salesman.
There are those who specialize with good effect on certain classes of industrial workers, others who
find their field with people in a higher strata of society, and still others who get their business, frequently in
record-breaking volume, exclusively from the farming population.
Those retail concerns that are backing up their salesmen with live publicity campaigns and in other
ways, and who stimulate their sales organizations to increased efforts through the medium of sales contests
or through special commendation when a particularly good deal warrants it, are rinding that the gift of bare-
handed selling is not dead in the trade. Business may not be as good as it has been in previous years, but
good salesmanship has proven, and is proving, that there is more piano business than the average business man
realizes when it is gone after energetically.
The piano salesmanship school started in New York under the auspices of the New York Piano Mer-
chants' Association is a move in the right direction, for it is calculated to give to the untrained or partially
trained salesman information and the benefit of experience within the space of a few days that he would
otherwise be forced to acquire through long and more or less painful apprenticeship in the none too easy trade
of piano selling.
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The school is calculated to increase in the metropolitan district at least the number of salesmen who are
properly equipped to get the maximum results, provided, of course, that the men themselves have sufficient
energy to make proper use of the equipment. There are, however, some thousands of piano salesmen right now
who have graduated from the school of hard knocks and are getting surprising results.
We are constantly hearing of individual salesmen in various sections who, even during the "dull"
months of July and August, have rolled up sales totals in excess of those of preceding years—years regarded
as prosperous ones. Sometimes the totals have been built up as a result of the stimulus provided by a contest,
and sometimes because the salesman knew his game, knew where to find and handle prospects and found enough
incentive in the results themselves to put forth his best efforts.
The art of selling is not dead in the piano trade by any means, although perhaps there is not enough
of it just now. Anything that will strengthen that art should be welcomed and heartily supported as
weii.
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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
(Registered in the U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
President and Treasurer. C. L. Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Vice-President,
T. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
Fourth Ave., New York; Secretary, Edward Lyman Bill, 373 Fourth Ave., New York;
Assistant Treasurer, Wm. A. Low.
J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
RAY BILL, B. B. WILSON, BRAID WHITE, Associate Editors
WILSON D. BLSH, Managing Editor
CARLETON CHACE, Business Manager
• ; .
L. E. BOWERS, Circulation Manager
.j"''
Executive and Reportorial Staff
EDWARD VAN HARLINGEN, V. D. WALSH, E. B. MUNCH, LEE ROBINSON, C. R. TIGHE,
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, SCOTT KINGWILL, THOS. W. BBESNAHAN, A. J. NICKLIN
WESTERN DIVISION:
BOSTON OFFICE:
Republic Bldg., 209 So. State St., Chicago.
JOHN H. WILSON, 324 Washington St.
Telephone, Wabash 5242-5243.
Telephone, Main 6950.
LONDON, ENGLAND: 1 Gresham Buildings, Basinghall St., D. C.
NEWS SERVICE IS SUPPLIED WEEKLY BY OUR CORRESPONDENTS
LOCATED IN THE LEADING CITIES THROUGHOUT AMERICA.
Published Every Saturday at 373 Fourth Avenue, New York
Entered as second-class matter September 10, 1892, at the post office at New York, N. Y'.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879.
SUBSCRIPTION (including postage), United States and Mexico, $2.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50; all other countries, $5.00.
ADVERTISEMENTS, $6.00 per inch, single column, per insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount is allowed. Advertising pages, $150.
REMITTANCES, in other than currency forms, should be made payable to Edward
Lyman Bill, Inc.
onH
Departments conducted by an expert wherein all ques-
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
IW>nartniPnte regulating and repairing of pianos and player-pianos
V c p d l UllcUIS are dealt with, will be found in another section of
this paper. We also publish a number of reliable technical works, information concerning
which will be cheerfully given upon request.
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
Grand Prix
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal
Charleston Exposition, 1902
Diploma
Pan-American Exposition, 1901 Gold Medal
St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Gold Medal—Lewis-Clark Exposition, 1905
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES—NUMBERS 6982—5983 MADISON SQ.
Connecting all Departments
Cable Address: "Elbill, New York"
Vol. LXXV
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 16, 1922
No. 12
THE STANDARD CONTRACT PLAN
,
HE adoption by the Musical Supply Association of a standard
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contract form, together with rules and regulations governing
the buying and selling of piano supplies, represents a very interest-
• ing development in trade circles, for it is the first serious attempt
to regulate the business activities in any one group of the trade,
even though that regulation is designed to, and probably will, benefit
members of the association very materially.
i
The move has been discussed for some months, and despite the
failure of the National Piano Manufacturers' Association to endorse
the plan officially the supply men have gone ahead and prepared for
distribution the new standard acceptance of order.
i
The purpose is primarily to stabilize credits in the piano manu-
facturing and supply trades for the protection not only of the supply
houses themselves, but of those piano manufacturers who, meeting
their obligations regularly and promptly, are penalized to a certain
degree to make up deficiencies created by concerns which have
secured an overallowance of credit and have then gone to the wall.
i
Theoretically the idea is sound and should prove of general
:
advantage to the industry even though the thought of regulation may
prove irksome to certain individuals. With the standard form in
use we shall have an opportunity to observe the practical working
out of the scheme.
THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET
HE declaration that American piano manufacturers are threat-
ened with a loss of their hold on Australian trade, as made by
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a prominent Australian piano man and published in The Review
last week, has naturally caused some comment among those who
have been, and are, interested in the exporting of pianos.
Were the statement made by someone not interested in Ameri-
can pianos there might be reasons to discount it, but as a matter of
fact the Australian writer has for years strongly favored American
instruments and has sold hundreds of them in the Australian mar-
KJiVlKW
SEPTEMBER 16,
1922
ket. He cites his experiences primarily for the purpose of showing
the way for American manufacturers to retain their grip on the
Australian field in the face of European competition.
Perhaps the indictment applies only to one or two manufac-
turers, but it is at least a gx)d warning to all those engaged in for-
eign trade, for the actions of one exporter reflect in no small meas-
ure upon all the exporters of his particular country. If proper busi-
ness methods will save the day let close attention be given to the
elimination of any evils that are calculated to prove detrimental.
It seems particularly fitting and proper that American-made
pianos should hold a strong place in the Australian market for prac-
tical as well as sentimental reasons. The Australians as a rule have
many of the characteristics of Americans and have a distinctly
friendly feeling for this country, even as compared to England.
Having many interests in common, it seems that an unusual effort
should be made to hold the Australian market and hold it strongly.
THE SILVER LINING IS SHOWING
FTER some months of discussion and promises of early settle-
A
ment the coal strike has now come to an end and there re-
mains only the railroad strike to prove a thorn in the side of busi-
ness. In this matter, too, there have been many promises of settle-
ment that have proven unfounded, but there are at this writing
indications that the railroads themselves will reach an agreement
with their men without Government interference and get the trans-
portation lines of the country in full operation within a reasonable
time.
With both strikes settled it is not to be expected that the situa-
tion will return to normal overnight, for there is much ground to
be regained and many reserves in fuel and transportation equipment
to be replenished before things can move along again on a basis that
approaches normal.
Fortunately, the effects of coal and rail disturbances have not
been felt by the public at large as much as might be expected, ex-
cept in those sections where the livelihood of the majority of the
inhabitants depends upon the incomes of coal and railroad workers.
The attitude of the bulk of the public appeared to be that the strikes
were more the matter of newspaper comment than of actual fact
and it is fortunate for business in general that such an attitude has
prevailed.
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It is not likely that any material or permanent harm will be
done to the music trade through these national disturbances inas-
much as the bulk of the selling in musical instruments is done to
people out of the class of minor shopmen. The sense of having
things more or less normal again, however, should prove really stim-
ulating to all business, which means that the music trade will benefit
accordingly.
• CURBING FAKE PUBLISHERS
HE campaign being carried on by the National Association of
T
Sheet Music Dealers in co-operation with the Music Industries
Chamber of Commerce to stamp out as far as possible the activities
of the fake music publishers who have operated with more or less
success for many, many years is at least interesting and it is hoped
will meet with a measure of success.
Several organized attempts have been made in the past to curb
the activities of fake publishers and, although some few of them
have been put out of business at one time or another, others start
up and take their places and the game goes along merrily. The
answer seems to be that fifty per cent of the population at least
have at one time or another felt the urge to write popular songs
and, failing to interest legitimate publishers, have fallen easy vic-
tims to those who advertise to help the amateur songwriter win
his "fortune." It simply follows out the Barnum idea of a fool
being born every minute with two to grab him.
Publicity and plenty of it appears to be the best and only
method of counteracting the efforts of publishing sharks. Legal
prosecutions have been tried, but in most cases this type of pub-
lisher is so very careful in his operations and in his contracts that
only in rare cases can the law reach him effectively.
If the Better Business Bureau of the Music Industries Chamber
of Commerce, in co-operation with the National Association of
Sheet Music Dealers, can put even a partial check on fake publishers
through publicity methods the results will be well worth while.

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