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MARCH 17,
1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
Making Reproducing Piano Prospects
Means by Which Dealers Are Creating a Market for This Instrument in Their Territories—No Instrument
in Their Lines Has So Many Avenues of Approach as the Reproducer—Formal and Informal
Recitals, Utilizing the Moving Picture Houses, and Recitals in the Home
The advent of the reproducing piano in pop-
ularity has given the alert dealer who handles
it a wide opportunity to develop new methods
of approach to the prospective customer. There
is probably no instrument among those which
he sells that possesses so many avenues of ap-
peal nor any which responds more readily to
proper salesmanship. It is an instrument which
is sold on demonstration above all things, for
the claims which are made for it are so beyond
the ordinary person's fund of faith that it is
natural they should be considered with a certain
amount of skepticism until the evidence of his
own ears convinces him of the truth.
Furthermore, the reproducing piano has made
music an even more essential factor in sales-
manship and retail piano merchandising than it
has ever been before. For it has been marketed
entirely upon this basis by its manufacturers,
and the most successful dealers in selling it
have been those who never lost sight of this
fact and who have used it consistently in their
selling work.
Winning the Musicians' Favor
A Western dealer who has made wide use of
this idea is selling the musicians of his city on
the reproducing piano and at the same time re-
moving the natural prejudice which they might
feel towards it as an economic competitor. He
has made available one of the studios in his
warerooms for the local piano teachers, whom
he invites to bring their pupils there at certain
stated times, for the purpose of studying style
and interpretation. For instance, a teacher may
have several pupils who are studying the same
composition. By means of the reproducing pi-
ano and the dealer's invitation she is able to
bring them to the warerooms and there allow
them to hear the interpretations of such a com-
position by a number of the leading pianists
before the public, giving them within, a short
time an opportunity for study and comprehen-
sion that, before the reproducing piano was
developed, could only be had by attending a
series of concerts, if by chance these artists
happened to appear in that city.
A variation of this idea, which the same house
uses with excellent results, is to invite local
pianists who announce their own recitals to
use this studio for the purpose of studying
interpretation of the numbers they have pro-
grammed. According to the head of this firm,
many musicians take advantage of this oppor-
tunity and, while the number of direct sales
made by this means is small, the indirect in-
fluence has resulted in a considerable amount of
business. One of the most valuable selling
assets any piano dealer can have within his
territory is to have the local musicians and
teachers disposed toward him favorably and to
have the same attitude toward the instruments
which he sells.
Opportunities for Local Concerts
The reproducing piano gives the dealer in-
numerable opportunities to arrange local con-
certs and to come into immediate contact with
large numbers of prospects who can hardly be
reached by any other means. Some time ago
a manufacturer of such an instrument opened
a local branch in a section of a large city. The
manager, who was placed in charge, gave be-
tween twenty and thirty concerts with the re-
producing piano he sold before local organiza-
tions within the first three months. Every-
where they were arranged the instrument made
a most favorable impression, with most of the
people who heard it entirely new to it.. Be-
sides this a series of weekly warcroom recitals
was given which became a feature of the local
social life of that section of the city. For large
cities have distinctly sectional social lives, and
there is no more direct way for the dealer to
take a considerable part in these than by means
of the concert with the reproducing piano,
either with or without artists.
A Middle Western dealer has found consid-
erable value in arranging private musicales in
the homes of women who are prominent so-
cially in his territory. At first he found diffi-
culty arranging such affairs, but after the first
two or three he met more difficulty in allotting
them than in persuading the women to permit
him to hold them. For these he used the re-
producing piano with local artists who were
available at comparatively low charges. Each
time the reproducing piano appears a salesman
is sent with it to explain the mechanism, and
almost invariably he makes connections which
later develop into sales. This dealer has used
the same idea in connection with informal eve-
ning dances in homes and has found the results
as good.
In the Moving Picture House
The large formal comparison recital is beyond
the scope -of this article. What is considered
here is the recital which the dealer can give on
his own resources. Considerable work of this
type has been done by dealers in connection
with local moving picture houses. Almost in-
variably a manager of such a house is glad of
a musical attraction that expands his program
with no cost to him. All classes to-day attend
the moving pictures and among them are many
possible buyers of the reproducing piano. To
hear it for the first time under such conditions
creates a remarkably favorable impression.
That an audience is usually interested goes
without saying. Some time ago the writer heard
such a demonstration in a medium-class moving
picture house. Directly behind him sat a middle-
aged couple, evidently man and wife. The key-
board of the instrument was somewhat in
shadow. Immediately after the first number
the instrument played a quick discussion arose
between the two, one arguing that no instru-
ment could play in such a fashion and the other
maintaining that it was a player. No settlement
was reached until the two approached the man-
ager and assured themselves of the truth. Is it
not likely that these two were good prospects
for a reproducing piano, for surely no more
receptive mood for the salesman could be con-
ceived?
Let the Instrument Speak
To-day there is one great fault in reproducing
piano salesmanship. Too many salesmen will
not permit the instrument to speak for itself.
Time and time again such a salesman will bring
a prospect into the warerooms, put a roll in the
instrument, press the button which starts it
and then, after the first few measures of the
composition, begin his selling talk. The best
salesman that ever lived cannot talk as well for
the reproducing piano as the instrument can
for itself. If the prospect is to realize that he
is hearing the playing of a great artist, the
same atmosphere must be created as if the artist
himself were there in person. No salesman
vvould think of talking if he had a great pianist
demonstrating a grand piano he was endeavor-
ing to sell. No more should he talk while the
roll made by such an artist is playing, for, after
all, it is the playing of the artist in person.
These are but a few of the methods by which
successful dealers are creating prospects for
the reproducing pianos they carry. They re-
quire no great ingenuity nor thought; they are
the natural means of approach. The appeal of
the reproducing piano is only limited by its
price, and to-day there are models which fit
the pocketbooks of wide circles of prospects. It
is an instrument that emphatically will not react
save to the highest class selling methods, and
these are essential in the policies of the dealers
who handle it successfully.
NEW PEASE MANAGER IN BROOKLYN
H. F. Bieling Now in Charge of Flatbush Ave-
nue Warerooms—Exhibit at Food Show
H. F. Bieling is now manager of the ware-
rooms of the Pease Piano Co. at 34 Flatbush
avenue, Brooklyn. Mr. Bieling has been con-
nected with the Pease sales organization for
the past seven years. B. B. Brooks, the former
manager of the Pease Co., is now connected
with the sales organization of Wissner & Sons,
Inc., of Brooklyn.
Mr. Bieling, with the co-operation of G. Hoff-
mann, manager of the New York Pease ware-
100ms, is conducting an exhibition of the Pease
instruments and talking machines at the Brook-
lyn Food Show at the Thirteenth Regiment
Armory, which opened on March 5 and will
close on March 17. LJp to March 14 a very
satisfactory amount of business was accom-
plished through this exhibition. Mr. Bieling
slates that, if the present conditions are any in-
dication of what can be expected in the piano
business during the Spring and Summer, every-
body will be more than satisfied. The adver-
tising campaign which has been carried on
through the New York and Brooklyn newspa-
pers during the past two weeks by the Pease
Co. has brought better results than had been
expected.
JACOB BROS. IMPROVEMENTS
Wilmington Warerooms to Occupy Entire
Three-story Building in Near Future
WILMINGTON,
DKI..,
March
12.—Alterations
which, when completed, are expected to make
the store the biggest of its kind in this city
are under way at the Jacob Bros. Co. music
store, at 416 Market street, dealers in Victrolas,
Victor records, pianos and player-pianos. G.
H. Horner is manager of the store.
The store, which formerly occupied part of
ihe first floor of the building, now takes in the
whole structure, which is three stories high.
The first floor will be occupied by the Victrola
and Victor record department. The second
floor will be devoted to pianos, with a large
music room. At the present time the rear of
the second floor is being occupied as a repair
shop, but, with the completion of the altera-
tions on the third floor and the removal of the
repair shop to that floor, it will be turned over
to the player-piano department. This store, it
is said, is running the largest record department
in the State.
HOCKETT CO. INCORPORATED
BKU.KI-ONTAINE, O., March 12.—Incorporation pa-
pers have been received by the Hockctt Music
Store Co., in this city. The incorporators are:
President, E. Fink; first vice-president, E. T.
Kelley t second vice-president, A. Fink; secretary,
B. Rice, and manager-treasurer, H. R. Brewley.
The company is incorporated for $15,000.