THE
4
MUSIC
TRADE
THE
tfUJlC~t
•
(Re:.;istered in th e U. S. Patent Office)
PUBLISHED BY EDW ARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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J. B. SPILLANE, Editor
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Vol. LXXVII
I.
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 20, 1923
No. 16
NOTHING UNCANNY ABOUT MAIL ORDERS
P IANO
dealers in varou s sec tions of the country who regard
the mail order house as a genuine bugbear are quite frequently
impressed with that idea because they have learned little or nothing
o f the method of operation followed by mail order concerns and
judge entirely by r esul ts as they see them.
As a matter of fact there is nothing particularly uncanny abo ut
mail order meth ods as has been shown in the course of seve ral
articles regarding such method s that have appeared in The R ev iew
recen tly. The s trength of the mail order campaign s lies in a
sys t(:matic folJowup not a lone of new prospects but of new cus
tome r s, and it is quite possible for the local dealer to fo llow the
same procedure with the advantage in hi s favor that h e can make
Or ha ve many of the followups in person.
The main thought is tha t if a man sitting at a desk in ~ew
Yo rk or Chicago can talk so convincingly to a prospect a hundred
or a thou sand miles awa y that he can sell him a piano or player
sigh t unseen, then there is evidently som ething lax in the methods
of the loca l merch an t who cannot accomplish the same result by
pe'rsonal so li citation a nd a di splay o f the goods themse lves.
The mail order bugbear rests la rgely in the imagination of
the dealer who wo rries over the res ults of th e mail order campaign
rather than st ud yi ng how h e can adapt same or simil a r methods
to handle hi s own particular trade.
FORMULATING THE PLATFORM OF BUSINESS
T
HE recen t move of the National Association of Manufacturers
ill brin g ing into conference a la rge group of financial, indus
trial and commercial lead ers, with a view to formulating a n in
du stria l platfo rm to be recommended to both the Democra tic and
E.epublica n parties in the forthcoming Presidentia l campaign,
sh ou ld be of di ~t in ct interest to the business world generally. For
it is calculated to pr(:sent be fore the party leade rs the desires of
the business intelTsh of the country sufficiently in advance to hav e
those desires given earnest a ttention in th e fr aming of the parties'
progra m s by those who really seek victory at the polls.
The work has been rapid and successful, with th e result that
REVIEW
OCTOBER
20, 1923
the platform of the Inclu s try Com mittee h as recei ved and in
dorsed a repo r t presentin g fiv e fundamental p rin ciples to be incor
porated in five' definite plan k s, dealing with transporta ti on, water
ways and highwa ys, taxation, immi gra ti on an d the judic ia ry.
There is rea l nee d for orgrtni zed effort on the part of th e
business intere-ts to develop fiv e programs for the guidance o f
tho se who fee l it incumbent on the m to p la n and carry out th e
policies of th e 1\ ational Government along party lin e's. Ii a busi
nesslike program can be incorporated defll1itely in the plat forms of
the principal parti es and sufficient pressure exerted to in s ure the
adherence to those platfo rms, much of the trouble that grows out of
adverse legislati on will come tu an end an d the P reside ntiar election s
w ould not have the us ual bad effect on busin ess fo r various limited
period s. The National Association of M an ufac turers h as con
sidered thi s matter seri ou sly and has arranged to give attention to
other m atte rs beyond those five set fo rth as party pla nks, among
them being the soldi e r bonus, the merchant marine, employment re
lations, banking and finance , army and navy, agric ulture, public
utilities and the r elation of government to indu stry.
FULL ADDRESSES IN YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS
T HE
P ostmas ter of New York, in company with postmasters
of other large cities, has presented the timely and reasonable
suggestion that advertisers carry th eir full street addresses in all
advertisements in order to insure the accurate and prompt delivery
uf mail matter addressed to them . The postmas ter calls attenti on to
the fact that a pproxima tely 50 per cent of the advertisements in
newspapers and magazines include only th(: name of the city in
which the a dverti ser is located and g ive no str(:et number, which
mean s that those responding to the advertising appeal a r e unable to
g iv e accurate delive ry direction s.
It is pointed out tha t the incornplete addresses on letters and
other mail ma tter not only impede the work of the postoffi ce, but
delay deli ve ry, by from eight to twenty-four hours, even in cases
where th e companies to whom the mail is addressed are well known.
Not only does the practice prevent the so rting of out-of-town mail
in the railway postoffices that makes possible distribution as soon
as the mail arrives at its destina tion, but it takes up the time of
searchers where the ordinary clerk is not familiar offhand with the
Exact address o f the addressee . In New York, alone, approximately
20,000 pieces of mail must pass through the hands of the sea rchers
dail y a nd frequently as ma ny as 10,000 letters a day r emain unde
livered.
The bu sin ess man is not onl y helping th e postoffice but is pro
tecting him sel f by inserting st r eet addresses in his advertising, fo r
by that means he is assured of receiving all mail that develops
from su ch a dve rtising.
THE LOYAL AND PROFITABLE SALES FORCE
P ROFOCND
disillusionment is likely to come to the musi c
merchant who , in hi s sea rch for a better sa les organiz ation ,
believes that he can go to compe ting d(:alers and by making better
propositi on s to their sta r sa lesmen in crease his own se llin g s trength.
II is a p ec uliar condition and one for which no ad equate explan
ation ha s been found, that makes a sa lesman a striking su ccess with
one house and equ all y as striking a failure wi th 'ano ther to which
he tr-ansf ers hi s allegianc e. The reason may be in the' diffe re nt
direction un der which he works, or with the vary ing policies to
which h e must conform.
That is where the r etail merch an t w ho trains his own sales
force in his O\,iIl method s and in conformity with the policies which
h e has found to I)r ing ~ u ccess has a di stinct adva ntage. Kot only
are the men who do his ,;elling likely to be mu ch more permanent
in his empl oy, but thc} arc imbued w ith a loya lty which is funda
mental in crea ting that sp irit w hi ch makes the successful sales
organization. The sa lesman who can be bought fr om one organi
zation can be boug ht from another; there is nothing permanent in
hi s connection with th-.: hou se that h e represents, and much o f hi s
time muq be spent in break ing dow' n amon g hi s clientele the ve ry
conditions which he h.2 '; createel through hi s own effort s in his
former conn ecti on.
The selling organization which represents a perm an ent body and
which is constituted o f men trained by the dealer him se lf is in nine
cases out of ten the organi zati on which rolls up an imposing volume
o f sales togeth er \\·ith an imposing volume of profits.