Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
JUNE 30, 1923
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
What Is Your Trade Paper's Worth ?
Systems by Which Merchants Classiiy and Preserve the Value From Each Issue oi the Trade Papers Which
They Read—A Simple Filing System by Which These Articles Are Always Ready for Reference
and Use—How This Filing System Is Used by Those Who Maintain It
"I don't have much time for reading," said
E. E. Peck, an Iowa wholesaler, recently, "but
there are two or three trade papers coming to
my desk which I always make it a point to read.
I do this even if I have to stick them in my
pocket and take them home with me.
"If I see anything in them that looks like an
idea or a suggestion that ought to fit in with
our business I make a note of the article on
the cover page, and when I take it back to the
office with me in the morning it is passed among
the executives or salesmen responsible for the
particular phase of our business to which it
applies."
Mr. Peck is a very busy man. He must read
to a purpose and to a point. Hence he selects
his trade papers as being the most valuable for
the time he has to spare. He has a very good
reason for doing this, and that reason is because
he has found that it pays.
Another Iowa business man whom I used to
know was a very careful and systematic reader
of his trade papers. His name was W. A. Spur-
rier, Jr., and he conducted something like four-
teen separate and distinct businesses with the
same organization, all of which were more or
less closely related.
"There are dozens of workable ideas pre-
sented in your trade paper every year," he said
to me in telling about it, "but, for the most
part, the average man doesn't take affirmative
steps to preserve such ideas and such informa-
tion.
"We used to pile the trade papers on top
of the desk here and let them go. If anything
came up we ran through the pile and hunted
up the tip or the article we had read on the
subject. Sometimes we found what we wanted
and sometimes we didn't. You know how it is
when you are hunting for the thing that you
want.
"Then, about twice a year we'd get tired of
that dusty pile of periodicals on top of the
desk and chuck them into the janitor's waste
basket; maybe some gne in the office would
'borrow' the periodical and not bring it back.
From one cause to another we didn't seem able
to put our fingers on the thing we wanted.
"That's poor business—any one knows that.
I came face to face with the proposition a few
weeks ago, when an important article was lost
and I spent $1.50 in telegrams and two hours'
time trying to get another copy, and I decided
that it was time to call a halt.
Simple Filing System
"We arranged a simple system, at slight ex-
pense, which will make it possible for us to lay
our hands on the vital points of interest to us
brought out in each issue of our trade periodi-
cals. It is working to excellent advantage be-
cause we are finding it possible to use a great
deal more of the ideas presented than we
thought possible, simply because they are now
available at a moment's notice."
Then lie went ahead and outlined the system.
It is so simple that any business man can make -
use of it, no matter what business he may be
engaged in, or where his business may be
located.
Mr. Spurrier liked to take his trade papers
home with him to glance through in his hours
of relaxation. He marked on the cover of the
periodical the numbers of the pages on which
matter pertinent to his business was to be found,
and opposite each notation the initials of his
executive who was to read the same. As soon
as he returned to the office the following morn-
ing the trade paper was sent the rounds of
the executives. When they had read the par-
ticular matter called to their attention the peri-
odical was returned to the stenographer, whose
duty it was to make up a card index of the
article listed on the cover page.
This index is alphabetical and arranged under
general headings like Advertising, Prices, Mar-
kets, Selling, Office Plans, etc., so that the par-
ticular plan, tip or article may be easily called
up when needed.
The card index is placed in a simple little
box cabinet such as can be purchased from any
office appliance house and is placed on a corner
of the stenographer's desk, says Chesla C. Sher-
lock in the Retail Ledger, Philadelphia. She
keeps the index and the file and is personally
responsible to have it up to date all the time.
The trade papers are filed away in a large,
legal-sized cabinet wide enough to take all sizes
of periodicals in plain alphabetical classification,
according to trade or branch of the trade and
the date of their publication. They are ordi-
narily kept in this file for six months, after
which they are destroyed as havifig lost their
timeliness, unless they are of such importance
as to cause them to be placed in the "Year"
file, where they are kept for a full year. All
periodicals taken from the year file have the
remaining important matter, which is quite likely
to be permanently important, clipped and filed
away in a scrap book.
This plan makes it possible for the business
man to have at his fingertips a constant source
of new and vital ideas applicable to his busi-
ness operations. The idea is at once practical
and inexpensive. The file is never cluttered up
with useless material for the unimportant has
been sorted out at the first reading of the trade
paper. If certain issues contain nothing of im-
portance, they need not be filed and so the file
can be kept free of material that is not vital and
worth while.
Suppose a problem in merchandising came
up in the Spurrier office in the course of the
day's work. The girl was called in and some-
thing like this took place:
"Miss Smith, we are confronted with a prob-
lem in merchandising. Will you bring me the
periodical file index card on that subject?"
It was the work of but a few seconds for
Mr. Spurrier to run over the list on that sub-
ject and determine whether or not suggestions
covering the point were on the file. If anything
was located, it was the work of a few more
seconds to have it laid before him.
The advantage of this plan is that it is "lift-
able," it may be used by any one who does
business, whether he be operating a crossroads
store or managing a mammoth manufacturing
concern. And it is just such liftable ideas as
this, applied by business men everywhere, that
are raising the standard of business the country
over and making the day's work easier. If it is
worth while to take your business papers, it
certainly will be worth several times their cost
to you in the course of the year to be able to
put your hands on the information they offer
that is vital to your business.
Examples of Use
An example of how business men have
used ideas taken from their trade papers to
marked advantage may be cited here as a basis
for the foregoing contention:
The very first one that comes to mind is
one which arose in the experience of W. A.
Spurrier, Jr., himself. Through reading build-
ing trade papers the idea grew in Mr. Spurrier's
mind that home builders are often handicapped
because they don't know just how their hard-
ware would look on the finished building or
were doubtful as to its serviceability. So Mr.
Spurrier spent some weeks trying to figure a
way in which to demonstrate his wares. At
last he built telephone booths in his store for
the accommodation of his customers which were
miniature bungalows, and in which he had put
the lines of hardware he wanted most to push.
These booths, each wall having a different finish,
each window and door having different hard-
ware, attracted a great deal of credit to him
and caused local builders to flock to his store.
This is the
GEO. B. NORRIS "400"
Holland dealers are hav-
ing such unqualified suc-
cess with this exquisite
little player that we know
dealers in unoccupied ter-
ritory will be interested
in obtaining full informa-
tion.
Address
Holland Piano Mfg. Co
Factory, Menomonie, Wii.
Metropolitan Bank Bldg.
Minneapolis, Minn.