Music Trade Review

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THE
REVIEW
JflJSIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXV. No. 2
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
July 8, 1922
Single Copies 10 Cents
$2.00 Per Year
Cumulative
A CANVASS of a number of piano merchants has brought forth the not very surprising, although never -
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theless interesting, fact that in the majority of cases the volume of business handled during the
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% month of December comes close to equaling the business done in any other two months of the year,
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^ a n d in fact exceeds in volume the average business of three Spring or Summer months.
The comparison is worthy of some study because all the facts in connection therewith are not apparent
on the surface. The figures are based on actual sales made, and do not reflect the amount of sales effort put
forth in consummating various sales.
In discussing this phase of the subject, a retail manager of wide experience has collected some informa-
tion of his own regarding the approximate amount of sales effort necessary at various seasons to bring about
the actual delivery of a piano, and has found that the peak of his chart arrives in July and the low point in
December. In other words, a sale closed in July requires more sales effort by nearly one hundred per cent
than one closed in December, and the movement from one extreme to the other is shown to be gradual and
well defined.
. . . . . . .
In every field of merchandising there are recognized periods when selling is found a little easier than
at other times, although the idea that dull periods must be accepted without protest is gradually being over-
come. In computing results, therefore, it is hardly fair to measure June and July sales with those of November
or December as units, but for the purpose of comparison averages should be based upon corresponding annual
or semi-annual totals.
Much of the business that is booked in the Fall, and particularly during December, is the result of sales
effort put forth several months before, and to have any real gauge of business in such a case it is only fair
to combine the totals of the last six months of the year and strike an average.
The fact that the volume of business placed on the books in December is frequently double that of any
other month in the year and four or five times the volume of certain Summer months is not to be accepted as
an indication that earnest sales effort should only be confined to those months that are most conducive to
results. As a matter of fact, the steady increase in sales from the Summer season to the peak at the holidays
is the strongest argument in the world for steady persistence in sales effort during the year, with a view to
the cumulative results that will accrue.
It is a recognized fact that many piano buyers are by nature procrastinators. They have a definite idea
that they are going to buy a piano, but hesitate from month to month for this or that reason. It is the sales
effort put forth in the dull months and apparently without effect that brings these individuals up to the buying
stage in the Fall and Winter.
It probably will never be possible for retailers to develop their trade to a point where it is fairly well
balanced throughout the year, but there is no question but that the business usually concentrated in December
can be spread out over several other months when some buying appeal is found beyond that of pleasing the
family at Christmas.
There are so many occasions that can be used as an excuse for bringing the hesitating buyer to the
signing point that only a few should be allowed to linger for the urge of the holiday spirit. Wedding anni-
versaries and other events are sufficiently frequent and sufficiently important to provide sound arguments for
the wide-awake salesman.
The bulking of sales in certain months does not rest entirely with the weather or general conditions.
Piano merchants who have clung to traditions have been responsible in a large measure for the situation that
exists all too generally, but that can be changed if sound business judgment and real selling effort are used by
progressive piano men.