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APRIL 14,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1923
2AN0
49
TMENT
DEMONSTRATION IN SELLING THE PLAYER-PIANO RIGHT
AMPICO SELECTED BY POPE PIUS XI
A Salesman Outlines the Method of Getting the Prospect Seated at the Instrument and Talks
of the Way in Which This Leads Directly to Closing the Sale
Knabe Grand With the Ampico Placed in Pri-
vate Apartments of His Holiness at the Vati-
can—Fact Announced in Rich Window Dis-
play by Knabe Warerooms, New York
"I have found that my greatest success in
selling the player-piano," said an old-time player
salesman the other day, "has come from get-
ting the prospect to put his feet on the treadles
of the instrument. You can talk to doomsday,
but you won't get as far by words as you will
just by getting the prospect to perform this
simple little act. Almost invariably it is a thing
which brings home the bacon.
"Anyhow, there are too many salesmen who
talk themselves out of a player sale. The in-
strument itself can talk better than any sales-
man who ever lived. The whole selling point
in a player deal, in my mind, is the fact that it
permits a prospect to play the piano who has
never had any technical training, to whom the
keyboard is a mystery. You would think that
every salesman would realize this from the
start, but it is surprising how many of them
there are who never seem to take this simple
point into consideration.
"I think I am a pretty fair demonstrator at
the player. I ought to be, for I have been dem-
onstrating it twenty-five years. But my dem-
onstration isn't the thing that sells them. The
prospect, when he or she hears it, is likely to
get the idea that they are going to get the same
result immediately, and you know as well as I
do that that is something which takes time. I
always tell them that the old slogan, 'Anyone
can play the player,' is only the part of the
truth; they need a little practice before they
can play it well. And I find, because I do that,
my sales stay sold, and that is a whole lot in
the player business.
"The foot-power player can be sold to-day as
well as it ever was. In fact, there are a greater
number of people interested in creating music
for themselves, at the present time than there
ever has been in the history of the industry.
But, unfortunately, this interest doesn't seem
to me to be capitalized properly, especially so
far as the player is concerned. Too many deal-
ers and too many salesmen have forgotten that
part of the story, and as a result their sales
of foot-power players have not been what they
ought to be.
"Five years ago I sold a player to a certain
customer who purchased the instrument because
he was a regular attendant at orchestral con-
WHITE, SON CO.
Manufacturer* of
ORGAN AND PLAYER-PIANO
LEATHERS
530-540 Atlantic Ave., BOSTON, MASS.
VBSSLBSS
certs and wanted the instrument to study the
compositions he heard played there. It was a
new angle on the entire proposition to me, but
since that time I have found quite a few people
who were in the same position and who re-
sponded to a selling talk and demonstration
from that angle. Then there are the old folks
who have been left at home and who want mu-
sic which the player alone could give them. I
could go on almost indefinitely outlining classes
of prospects of this type, every one of which
can be reached with the straight musical ap-
peal and for whom the foot-power player fills
a long-felt want.
"But, above all, when you are trying to sell a
player-piano get the prospect seated before the
instrument. The first results he or she gets
from it won't be much, but they, at least, feel
that they are making music themselves and that
is the most direct appeal I know of in creating
and holding their interest.
"Those who say the day of the foot-power
player is done make a big mistake. The trouble
with them is that they do not realize that the
quality of the salesmanship put behind this
instrument is not as good to-day as it used to
be and the appeal to the possible buyer is not
nearly as strong. The salesman or the dealer
who sells players properly to-day will find the
instrument as popular as it ever was and its
sales as easy to make as when the instrument
was a novelty to the average prospect."
469-485 E.it 133rd Street
New York
FOOT=POWER PLAYERS STRONG
Reports from every section of the country
show that the foot-power player piano is in
steady demand from the public. In fact, some
dealers state that a preponderating proportion
of their sales is in this form of instrument and
that the demand shows no sign of abatement.
This is a striking refutation to those in the
trade who predicted only a short time ago that
the day of the foot player was done so far as
big sales were concerned and that the future
rested with other instruments.
AMPICO RECITAL IN WASHINGTON
Arthur Jordan Piano Co. Sponsors Excellent
Comparison Concert at National Capital
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 10.—Special musicalcs
conducted by the Arthur Jordan Piano Co.,
Thirteenth and G streets, Northwest, are at-
tracting large numbers of music lovers. The
events are proving especially interesting in view
of the fact that the music season in Washing-
ton is practically at an end, and there will be
few artists visit the Capital before next Fall.
At one of these "hours of music," held in the
company's concert rooms on April IS, two "first
appearances" of world-famous pianists were
staged, the works of Luba d'Alexandrowska and
Benno Moiseiwitsch being reproduced on the
Chickering with the Ampico. Marian Reed, in
a lecture preliminary to the recital, gave some
highly illuminating touches to the music, dwell-
ing also on some of the mysteries that have
evolved the pianoforte.
In person, Gertrude Henneman, pianist of
Washington and an Ampico artist, gave an in-
teresting part of the program, with a recital
including Brahms and McDowell, and also gave
a selection that was afterward reproduced by
her Ampico recording.
Songs by Frances
Scherer, soprano, were also given, the Ampico
being used as accompanist.
So excellent was the program and so interest-
ing the event that it was given in the local news-
papers the same sort of a review which is ac-
corded visiting artists of national fame.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
A Single Valve Action
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PEERLESS PNEUMATIC ACTION CO
Much attention was attracted to the window
of the Wm. Knabe & Co. warerooms on Fifth
avenue this week by the announcement that
Pope Pius XI had selected an Ampico for in-
stallation in his private apartments at the Vati-
can. A particularly interesting feature of the
window was a showing of a duplicate of the in-
strument selected by the Pope, a handsome
Knabe small grand with the Ampico, together
with a large picture of His Holiness and a re-
production of his order for the installation of
the Ampico.
The piano, the photograph and the warrant
were all arranged against a very attractive back-
ground and the whole effect was distinctly im-
posing.
I Worcester Wind Motor Co.
M
§§
WORCESTER. M A S S .
Makers of Absolutely Satisfactory
1
WIND MOTORS for PLAYER-PIANOS
Alao all kind* of Pneumatics and Supplies
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$1.25 Value at
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50% Dealer
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PLAZA MUSIC CO