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PLAYER SECTION
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 25, 1922
How to Sell the Reproducing Piano
A Practical Knowledge of Music and the Musical Properties of the Reproducing Piano Is the Basic Essential
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Salesman Who Desires to Achieve Success in This Particular Field—Individual
Interpretation
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of the Works of the Great Masters a Fundamental Selling Argument
At the present time sales managers in the
music industries are looking for men who can
sell reproducing pianos. To sell an instrument
of thrs kind, which costs a great deal of money
(as much as a fine motor car), is not the sort of
job wi^jch one commonly hands over to second-
rate iT^gn. There is a very great need for expert
salesmen in this field. "In fa£t, tfefe needus i'
good deal greater thap, has yet bjeen supplied,
or sej^ms likely to be supplied, for spme^ time
to come. What, then, are the essential features
of the equipment which
must possess if he is to* be successful; in fact"
if he is to measure up_~to the standard which
the sales managers have-in mind when they go,
seeking: the right man?
Obviously, of course, the successful salesman
in the reproducing piano field must have>what
may be; called a "practical" knowledge of ttmsic.
Wheri we use the word "practical," we-.use it
for precisely what it really raeanSs munely^as
comprising a knowledge which can be put to
some! definite use. Everything, of course, will
depend upon what is the exact use to which it
is to be put. In the present case that may be
taken to be the sale of musical performance
through the medium of a reproducing piano.
' Selling Musical Performance
In orxler to sell musical performance we must
keep i in mind the fact that music exists in
written, form before it is performed. The lite-ra-
ture of music is, of course, very vast in quan-
tity, and of every sort of quality. It differs
in soi-'-.iJSriany kinds of ways, and there arc so •
many varieties even of the piano music with
which we have to deal, that it is necessary to
have some general familiarity with the speci-
mens; di it available for the reproducing piano
if one is to talk intelligently about the subject.
For it is hardly a matter for argument that the
salesman of reproducing pianos ought to know
both what his instrument does and how it docs
it—at least in the artistic sense. He ought
certainly to know not only what the inspired
advertising writer says about the music, but
also how that music actually sounds, and how,
if at all, its performance differs from the per-
formance of the same music on any other re-
producing piano.
It will not do to rest on the naive supposition
that if it is really a superior instrument the
hearers will in some vague way be conquered'
by its beauty and so will not require any argu-
ments. For precisely similar effects will prob-
ably be produced by all the rival instruments,
at least so far as the listeners are concerned.
It is unfortunately true 1 that all . reproducing
pianos are, at best, producers of a compromise
with the-; original data of performance. Some
mav be better than others, but it is only the
truth to say that no one is so conspicuously
superior to all others as to carry conviction in
the mere hearing of it.
Staging Demonstration Correctly
Just for this reason the question of sales
success rests to a vast extent upon the sales-
man's knowledge of how to stage the demon-
stration, which is the principal feature or ele-
ment of the selling process. And this knowl-
edge is primarily a "practical" knowledge of
the musical properties of the instrument and
o-f the particular kinds of music which this in-
strument, undertakes to- reproduce" in personal
interpretations. Hence it is evident that, since
the^., instruments itself manifests only_ a given
number of properties or virtues, or points, in
respect of which it is able to show attractive
and salable musical qualities, the first requisite
of salesmanship lies in an understanding of the
- kind -of Tnusic best suited to the peculiarities
.^which haye their arigin irt the playing mechan-
ism. It is a familiar fact that each reproducing
piano has certain peculiarities of its own which
make it especially attractive when playing cer-
tain kinds of music. Some mechanisms are
the best in sharp contrasts of accent, others
in quality of tone, others in fine pianissimi, and
so on. Manifestly it is necessary to know all
about these facts and how to take due advan-
tage of them.
Knowledge vs. Bluff
Nor is this all. There is not the least pos-
sibility of selling successfully any article, espe-
cially any article of true aesthetic luxury like
the reproducing piano, unless one believes in
its virtues oneself. One of the peculiar things
about selling music is that there is virtually no
chance at all of bluffing successfully if one's
knowledge of the subject is too small to com-
pass the needs of the moment. It is quite im-
possible to feign breathless interest in a musical
composition of which one knows nothing and
cares less, save where the hearers are even more
ignorant. But it is not safe to gamble on the
still greater ignorance of the hearers. There
is always the chance that one will say some-
thing wrong and not get away with it.
The Fountain Head
The reproducing piano is itself the very best
teacher of its own properties. It demonstrates
itself, and the salesman who wants to know
just what it does best, and just in what con-
dition its virtues are mostly attractively mani-
fested, needs no other teacher. No man or
woman should be permitted to have anything
to do with the sale of reproducing pianos till
he* or she has, become: thoroughly familiar with
the "musical peculiarities' of the instrument
through the process of persistently and care-
fully listening to exactly what it does.
for the
This persistent and careful listening will soon
produce a familiarity which will enable the
salesman to speak as one having authority. No
other method has the slightest value. The
salesman is selling the instrument's musical
powers, and he must understand what he is
selling.
To listen to all the new music as it comes
out, to make oneself familiar with a large num-
ber of the best recordings in the library and
to know something interesting about the per-
sonality, methods, reputation and style of each
artist on the staff; all this is to acquire the
proper equipment for-successful salesmanship in
the most exacting field known within the music
industries.
The Most Powerful Argument
One of the most important points for the
salesman's careful attention is presented in con-
sidering the question of individuality of inter-
pretation. In each reproducing library will be
found some numbers at least which have been
played by two or more artists. Many a well-
known Chopin nocturne, study, prelude and
waltz has been played over and over again for
recording, by numerous pianists, and a most
instructive lesson in the true sales value of
the reproducing piano can be had by listening
to many of these until one has obtained some
insight into the methods of various individuals
and has seen that behind all their individual
temperaments stands the eternal beauty of the
compositions they interpret. Comparison work
of this kind is really far more important for
salesmanship than any ordinary comparison
concert of the instrument-artist-alternating
kind, which always is capable of lending itself
to the suspicion of human accommodation to
mechanical limitation; or, to put it bluntly, to
the suspicion that the human pianist accom-
modates his effects to the effects which repre-
sent the mechanical reproduction of his re-
cording. The suspicion is doubtless unjust; but
it is inevitable. On the other hand, comparison
of the interpretations of several artists playing
the same piece of music performs the double
object of effectively teaching the power of musi-
cal discrimination to the salesman and of
demonstrating the claims made by him for the
instrument to the prospect.
In a word, reproducing piano salesmanship is
based on music. Salesmen who do not see
this, and prepare themselves accordingly, can-
not succeed in the reproducing field.
Dealers who measure their success according
to the volume of sales often fail to take into
consideration the percentage of collections.
Slow collections have often resulted in embar-
rassment.