Music Trade Review

OCTOBER 27, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
15
REV1EW
The Dealer's Collection Department
The Basis of All Good Collections Is Proper Selling in the First Place--Methods Dealers Use to Prevent
Customers Receiving False Impressions of the Sales Contracts Which They Sign The Less
Work the Collection Department Has the Better It Is for the Dealer
The term collection department in a reLlil
lection ma n Illu s t of necessit y s ti ck to hi s co n­
music store or any other bu s ine ss is somew hat
tract t prm s a nd r ep udiate the vc rb a l assurances
o f a misnomer, for th e m atte r of co ll ec ting is
of the sales rep rese ntati ve If he do es no t do
rea ll y a part of the functi o n o i the sa les de­
thi s, h e is go in g to have do ze n s of past-due
a cco unt s o n hi s books for no other rea,o n t han
partment. For a sale is reall y not comp leted
that the custo mer dop, not fe el li ke rneetin(!
ulltil th e a m ou nt of mon ey invol ve d has been
paid in full by the pur chaser, and that fact
Iii, obligations.
Th e danger co mes in offendin g th e cu<; tom c r
r em a in s des pite contracts Or a ny other docu­
mentary material desi gned to make the trans­
who has been persuaded by the salesman to
action a binding one.
make lar ger monthly payments than his in come
vVhcre a sale is made on an in sta lment basis,
or his reso ur ces will allow, on th e assurance
th e matter of collections is still more directly
that h e wi ll not be troubled if h e le ts a payment
o ne for the sales departm ent to w or ry about,
or two lapse. When the customer ta k es a
io r gett in g the payments r egul a rl y as per sched­
chance of hi s own vo lition on n eglecting t o
m ee t hi s in s talm e nt s he ca n ge n era ll y be
ule rests in no small mea sure up on the system
used in clos in g the sa le. One authority ha s brou g ht to terms, pro vided th e co ll ection m an
i, not too len ie nt and does not let him get away
a nd proper ly, that s uccess ful co ll ec ting d e pends
to th e ex te nt o f 75 per cent a t least on success­
with it in the fir st place. \Vhen a sa lesman
intim ates, howevpr, that the contract i, not to
fu l se llin o;, and that s ums up th e matter.
Passing the Contracts
be accepted as iron clad in its term s, a nd th e
To p ut the collec tions on a sound bas is and
collection dep art ment brings pressure to b ea r to
keep them there it is absolut ely ne cessa ry that
prove that th e con tract is binding, then th e cus­
th e dealer, his manager, or some one with
tomer feel s th at he h as been imposed upon and
prop e r a uthority paC's personally upon every
docs not hesitate to tell his friend s ju s t wh at
sort of a hou se he has been d ea lin g w ith.
contract brought into the store. D es pite al l the
coaching in the world, it is impo ssibl e for the
One Merchant's Metho~s
he ad of the sa les department to co ntrol in d eta'il
O ne prolllinent piano hou se in the Eas t has
every s ta tem ent made by his sa les m e n while in
c hecked bad sr llin g throug h the li abi lit y of th e
th e hom e of the customer, and it is therefor e
salesma n bein g overgenero us in his promises to
essential th at the w ritten contract w hi ch is bind­
the custom er by hav in g the contract signed in
ing up o n th e dealer be carefnll y scrutin ized to
the presence of th e credit man or the man age r,
prevent th e in sert ion of term s or qualifications
who listens to the t erms as they arc explained
th at may prove embarras sin .,' later on.
to the cust omer by the sa lesman and by hi s
There is no questi on but that the g rea t ma­
a,greement bind s t il e hou se . This rule app lies
jority of sa les m en are honest and s in cere in 'when sales are made by membe rs of th e floor
their effo rt s a nd likewise loyal to th e inte r es ts
staff. When the con tr act is sign ed in the cus­
of th e ho us e they represent. But the outside
tomer's hom e by a member of the outside s t aff
sa lesman particular ly is stru gg lin g w ith two
the salesman him self is held strictl y re spon s ibl e
opposit e forces. In the fir s t plac e, he is ex­
for its terms.
pected to mak e sa les and plent y o f th em if he
Under this arra n ge m e nt, w h en the cu s tom er
expects to co ntinue to get his sa la ry a nd, p e r­
mi sses the fir s t payment and does not r espond
haps, a fa t co mmi ss ion c heck. On th e other
to the first or secon d follow-up lettel' sent on
hand , he i< expec ted to observ e d~finit e rulings
th e chance that h e has forgotten the matter or
re ga rding th e ex ten sio n of credit and k eep w ell
for some unu sual reason delaye d it temporaril y,
within the maximum terms allowed by his co m­
the collector goes to the customer's hom e ac­
pany.
companied by the salesman, and in the prc.'ence
of the latter find s out what it is all about. By
V';h en th e pinch comes it is more or less
human nature for the salesman to consider th e
this method the customer is discouraged from
attributing to the sa lesman promises of lenienc y
sale fir st a nd if a ny chances are to b e taken
tha t were n ever made, On the other hand,
to take th em with the instalment contract in
the hope th a t special privilege s allowed t o th e sho uld the sa lesman ha ve bee n o ye ranxious to
cu s tom er w ill work out all right in the end.
pl ease in c los in g th e d eal, he is on hand to hear
The merchant can save much trouble by seei n g w hat the customer h as to say and to off\:[ COrt­
to it th at any su ch pri v ile ges are not record ed
tradi ction s if th ey a re in order.
O n the surfac e thi s seems somewha t of an
in black and w hit e on the contract.
Distorting the Terms
cxpens ive procedure a nd would be if cases where
such action was nece ssa r y we re numerous. The
There has been endless trouble caused b y
fact of the matter is, however, that the
,a\csmen who, in o rd er to close a sale in the
know led~e that he must go with the collector
face of comp et ition, h a \ e assured the custome r
s h o uld the customer fall down on pa y ments,
tint althou gh the co ntrac t called for the clear­
ing up of the acco un t within a specified tim e,
inclined to talk about len it ncy in co ll ections
by the p" yment of fi xed instalment s, ther e
tl) hi s custome r s. Th e collector's titlle is paid
would be littl e fault found ii a pa ym e nt w(' re
for by the hou se, but th e sa lesman is genera ll y
missed now and then a nd the final pay m e nt ex­
o n commission and during the time he ,pends
tended a fe w months beyo nd th e' contract da t e.
following up delinqu ents without r ecompense
Thi s is the so rt of poor se llin g, we ll inten­
he might be followi ng li ve prospects and clos­
t io ned thou g h it m ay b e, whic h pi les up work
inp: sa les with a resultant increase in income.
for the collection d epar tme nt and likewise mak es
The Less Use the Greater Saving
enemies for the house. The collection mana ge r
There are numerous t r ied a nd success ful col­
or the one in cha r ge of such matters works
lect ion systems applicable to t he handling 01
aeco rel i n f:( to wri tte n con tract. Th e custo m er
piano accou nts, a number of which have been
receives, or should r ece ive , advanc e notice if
set forth in pre vious a rti cles in The Re vie w,
payment is dn e a nd th en, in turn, should the
but the fact remains that the Ies~ use th ere is
pay rnent not be made, he r eceive s the follo w ­
found for suc h systems, th e g rea t e r w ill be the
liP \etters, and perhaps th e perso nal ca ll , that
sav in g to the busine ss, not o nl y in dollar s and
b eco me in c rea si n g ly for ceful a nd ur ge nt. The
ce nts but in reputation and friendships.
cus tomer is quick to r e pea t the sa les man's as­
The most successful collection department is
~ lIraJ1 ce th a t pa y m e nt s mi g ht be delayed when
the one which has the leas t to do and which
it was incon ve nient to meet them, but the col­
d cy otes its efIorts more pa rti cu larl y tl) c heck ­
in g up th a n to po li cin g the customer.
I t i<; found that where the goods have been
sold pr o perly a nd honestly by the salesma n
and the tnl1lS agreed upon those that m eet th e
approval of the house there is little r eason fo r
clr;lstic colle c ti o n service.
Experi ence h as
shown that uncl er such circum stances over 90
per cent of neglected payments arc dir ect ly
t raceable to fO r.t;dfu ln ess on the part of th e
custolller and th e obli ga ti o ns are met promptl y
w hen a courteous rem inde r is sent.
HARDMAN DEALERS' PUBLICITY
New York Manufacturer Furnishes Seven
Newspaper Advert ise ments to Its Represent­
atives for Use in Local Press
In order to assist th e ir out-of-town deal ers
in their local advertising campaigns durin g the
Fall ancl Vlrint er scason, H a rdman , Peck & Co.,
:--Jew York, se nt ou l a la r g<: folder la st week
co nt a inin g seve n r ep re se nt a ti ve adver ti se m enh
t o be u holid ay seaso n.. \ V ith th e fo lde r goes the offer
to s uppl y a ll Hardma n dea lers, f'Ta tis, with th e
sa m e elpctros and eopy that are being used
in th e ad verti scm en t s appea ri ng in the :--Jew
Yo rk papers. Thi s cus tom of s upplying th eir
dealers \-\ith ;Jclvrrti sin g sugges tions is not a
n ew one with Hardman, Peck & Co. and the
p r ese nt mal'erial cons titut es the fifth of the
se ri n , "How to lncrcase Your Piano Sales,"
starte d a numb er of year, ago by the adver­
t isi n g di vi Ea ch separa te advertiseme nt
con tain~ the di s tincti ve H a rdman sea l, "Dura­
bility, th e k eys ton e of H ar dma n su ccess," a nd
space is left at the bottom for th e dealer's name
and address.
BUYS ITS NEW YORK BUILDING
Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. Buys. West Forty-second
Street Structure Which It Occupies at Present
.\ ~ i Qt1 ific~nt. real estate t ransaction was con­
summatr d last week b y th e Rudolph Vlrurlitzer
Co., in ;;Jew Yo rk , whe n th e fi ftee n-s tory build­
in g a t 116-1 8 \ Vcs t l'orty-second str ee t, ,,'herein
its m a in Eastern oliiccs a r e located, was pur­
chased. The buildin g i- ronts fifty fc:et on Forty­
second street and extends throu~h to Forty-first
street with a frontage th e r e of eig hty-five feet.
Th e VI'urlitze r Co. has agreed to purchase
the property from the VVoodbury G. Landon
es tate a nd has obtained a loan of $1,300,000 on
th e str u cture , running for a te rm of years
:THE LEADING LINE
WEAVER PIANOS
Grands, Uprights
and Players
YORK PIANOS
Uprights and Players
LIVINGSTON PIANOS
Uprights and Player-Pianos
If your competitor does not already have this
line
go after it at once
Weaver Piano Co., Inc.
FACTORY
YORK, PA,
E.labli.hed 1870