Music Trade Review

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THE
REVIEW
flUJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXXVI. No. 24. Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. June 16,1923
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Studying the Question of Retail Selling
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NE of the most important moves made at the Chicago convention was the authorization given to the
president of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce to appoint a committee of that body for
the purpose of dealing with the subject of retail salesmanship.
There are room and a vital need for more efficient retail salesmen in selling musical instruments,
and especially in merchandising pianos and player-pianos at retail. It is not too much to attribute to this
shortage of competent men the fact that the United States has not increased its purchases of these instruments
in a direct ratio with its advance in both wealth and population.
The retail salesman is the point of contact between the industry and the great purchasing public. Upon
his attitude, generally speaking, depends the good will with which that master of all industry regards the
makers and distributors of musical instruments.
Upon the salesman's ability depends the selling methods
which must be used. It is idle to advocate and endeavor to adopt modern merchandising methods, it is foolish
to stress the value of music as a selling appeal, unless the retail salesman is competent to utilize such methods
in his work. For his competency is fundamental in the entire question of distribution.
The necessity of more numerous and better salesmen is widely felt in the trade at the present time, and
the move on the part of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce is the tangible form which this has taken.
The experiment of a salesmanship school undertaken by the New York Music Merchants' Association last Fall
is another sign of the seriousness with which the situation is regarded. But it is a problem the scope of which
exceeds the ability of organized effort to solve; it is one that must be solved by each individual dealer acting
for himself.
What the associations in the industries, including the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, can do
is to make a study of training methods already used by successful retail houses and obtain the advice and
assistance of men who have reputations as developers of retail salesmen. There are many such men among
the retail section of the trade and the information which could be gathered from them would be invaluable.
To place this information at the service of the dealers would be a difficult task, but one that would be
worth all the difficulty involved. If the associations should succeed in doing that, it would do much to in-
crease the efficiency of the average dealer in dealing with his sales force.
The old idea that a salesman is born and not made is a fallacy. A man must have some natural selling"
instinct, of course, but the average man has that. What he lacks generally is competent instruction, sym-
pathetic aid during his first struggles in selling, and a living example in the head of the selling organization of
which he is a part. Given these factors, it would not be long before the average dealer would find himself at
the head of a competent selling force.
Another side to this question is that of compensation. A good man is worth good money since he
makes good money for the house he represents. Methods of compensation in retail piano selling vary almost
with every retail house. Many of them err in favor of the dealer; many in favor of the salesmen. Most are
susceptible of improvement. This is another factor to which this committee could well devote part of its at-
tention.
The piano industry to-day, in fact all of the music industries, are confronted primarily with problems
of distribution rather than with problems of production. There is greater factory capacity in the industry than
the normal demand of the country can absorb. This idle capacity is a drain on the industry's resources, for
the overhead involved in carrying it must be paid some way. At the present time it makes its appearance in
increased production costs. More efficient distributive methods would eliminate it and the beneficial effects
would be felt by every factor in the industry, from the supply house right down to the individual salesmen.
But better distribution cannot be achieved without better salesmen. They are its foundation.