J ULY 14, In3
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
35
MAKING INCREASED RECORD SALES BY THE GROUP PLAN
J.
W. Jenkins & Sons Music Co. Makes Up Albums of Records in Related Classifications and
Finds It a Direct Means of Increasing the Sales Made to the Average Purchaser
Every good record sa lesman or woman, when
serving a customer in the record line, makes
th e effort to se ll more than merely the one or
perhaps two records asked for. By suggestion,
dClllOnstration and sheer sales ab ility an at
tClll pt is made to swell the sa les volume to in
clude as. man y records as pos sib le to eachcus
tom er, and this must be done with out giving
otfense or creati ng antagonism. The salesper
son Jllust here exercise the greatest restraint on
his eagerness to make as large a sa le as pos
sib le. C u stomers have a habit of going e lse
whe re if the dealer whom th ey patroni ze be
comes too in sisten t and urge s purc ha ses until
his methods become obnoxious to cu stomers.
However, in order to turn over his rec ord
s tock with sufficie nt rapidity to Illake a profit
and at th e sa me titlle eliminate d ead s to ck as
much as poss ible the mCl" c hant who ea ch lIlonth
order s a fairly large number of th e variou·s
record s he handl es lIlust be on the j ob ev ery
minute and he lllust strive, with the gTea tes t
ta ct,' of cou r se, to nlake as lliany and as lar ge
sales as po ssible to each individual. A direct
sal es attack is illlp ossible for variou s reas ons.
Th e c ust omers will not stand for it a nd, there
fore, th e desire for records mu s t be created
through sugg esti on, w heth er this b e throu g h ad
\"crli,in!;, canvassin g, \vindow (\i"piays or any
other wa y, but the fact remains th a t only in thi s
lIIan ner will the record s Illove wit h the desired
s p c("(\ a lit! th e at titud e of the c ustomers r e main
unchangcd toward til e Lstabli s lllll cnl.
Albums Filled With Records Boost Sales
Sa les I)I" Olllo tion el l,bot! y i n~.' this principle is
known to all dealers. Gen era ll y, tlt e sa llt e Ill~t lt
cds are a l ways ll se d and t ha t m erc hant who can
thi nk up a llew ang le of putti n g this s u gges tive
force to wo rk fo r hi m is b ound to realize a
hand so illc profit. 1\ plan put in effect by th e
r ecord department of the J. \N. Jenkin s & Sons
i'vIusic Co., \tVic hit a, Kan., tlHotlgh tI,e efforts
of iVI i5s Harriet V. Coleman, manager, utili zes
thi s prin c iple in a n e w way. Since the obj ec t is
t o se ll as llla llY r ec ords as possibl e to each pa
tron lviis5 Lolema n h as hit upon the plan of
selling al bum s fi ll ed with re co"ds, killing two
birds with one stone in the sale of th es e r ec
ord s and th e a lbum at th e sam e time. The
n;cOt"ds with whic h the album s a re filled ar e, of
course, sekctcd w ith great ca re. Fo r example,
one set of al bums was filled with recordin gs by
\' a rious famoll s art ist, who had appea red in co n
cc rt in that city a nd \vit h whom local music
lo ve rs \Ve re fallliliar. Ot her a lbums were fill ed
Ilith re co rd s ma de by we ll -know n artis ts ex
clusively, i. e. , on ly reco rds by one artist in an
aibulll. Other album s are fill ed with records of
the v arioll s ope ra s , orc h estra music, band 1l1\1
s ic, voc al nu mb ers, dance selections. violin. etc.
Consisten t Publicity Es se ntial
Thi s method of mal; ing sales of gro llp " of
record s s h ould receive the ,e rious att ention of
a ll dea le rs. Th e r e is no dou bt bllt that the ,'r
"u lt s, if the plan is properly ca rri ed out. wil l
b e we ll wo rth whil e. At any rate nothing' ("a ll
b e lost by taking a chan ce on the plan. but
t h e r e is ever ythin g t o gain. Mer e lv to arrange
t h esr re co rds in the manner set forth w ill not
be su fficien t to put th e stunt across with the
record-buying public.
The dea ler must do
Illor e. He m ust see to it that ad equate pub
lici ty is given to the group sa les plan. In th e
r"· ,, t p lace th ere is th at littl e matt er of window
d 's plavs.
After the albums hav e been filled
with cctrdu ll v selected records and som e plan
of mar kinr:- th e vari on s alb um s j,as h er n ("on
cc ivrd ther e is a sp lendi d opp ort unit \· nf ;1 "
""llQil1 Q' s omething out o f the ordin;n v in win
dow disp la vs. IVrerelya s ug gest ion: Pl a'c c an at
tractive in strume nt in t he window. a ft er suitable
fl oori n g and back gro und have been a rran ged.
T h en . al s c>. place a numb er of the filled albulll s
i n the sa me window. on small pede!'!als. It
.poss ibl e. Beneath the albu m shou ld be neatly
print e d pl acar ds anno un c in g the type of rec
ords in the album, tog ethe r with some ve r y
bri efly worded sloga n or message design ed to
create d es ire. That old plan of ribbons from
various ob jects in a window to the centr al unit
of the displ ay may be used to advantage by
funning ribbons from albums to an in strument.
This is one form of publicity and ther e arc
many oth ers w hi ch the d ealer h as at his dis
posa l and which wi ll , undoubtedl y, help alon g
the good wor k of creati n g sales. T here s hould
be no h es itation in utilizing newspaper ad
vertising to fea ture the grou p record sal es
plan and to bring the dealer's message to the
publi c. Then, too, there is the dir ect-by -mail
form of publicity and right here is where the
d ea le r wlto has a ca refully com pil ed mailing list
ha s the adva ntag e. 13y mailing list is not lll ea nt
mere ly a nUlllb e r of nam es and addr ess es, but
t hi s and, a lso what is of mo rc importance, data
which e nable the d ealer to tell at a g lance
just wha t type o f mu sic th e c ustomer has fa
vored most in t h e pa st. The merchant w ho has
this information is, indeed, rortunate becau se
he can plan al bu111 s for individual patrons of
exact ly the type of music they lik e best, and
if hi s re co rds ,how the numbers of the records
a lready ill the possession of th e custom e r h e
ca n thu s be in s ured against duplicating any of
tlte records in the patron's pos ses sion.
A s has be e n eli1ph asized, this plan is an inn o
vati on which s hould prove popular wit h many
customers a nd whi c h should prove an im por
tant factor in incr eas ing sa les. Like all suc h
things, h owever, the idea cannot be put into
use exc ept by doing more than thinking abo u t
it . 111 s hort, a cO lls id crable am ount of wor k is
involv e d, but nothing has ever be en accom
plish e d without work an d certainly those mer
chants who are d oing a littl e more busin ess
each month than the previolls one are not get ·
ting it by sitti n g back in their office chai r s
twiddling their thumb s. So, ge t bu sy and move
those r ecor ds.
GENERAL VACATION FOR VICTOR CO.
and the propOSItion could be proved
sound from every angle, you wouldn't
hesitate, would you? Of course not,
but do you realize that a talking machine
department can be made to provide
sufficient revenue to take care of the
overhead on your entire establishment?
Thousands of other retail music mer,
chants have proved the above made
statement true and thousands of retail
music merchants have looked to The
Talking Machine World for guidance
in the matter of selecting the make of
talking machines they would handle, the
way they would map out their talking
machine department, etc.
Entire Plant to Be Shut Down for Two Weeks
From July 28 to August 13 in Order to Give
All Employes Regular Vacation With Pay
The e ntir e plant of the Vidor Talkin g Ma
c hine Co. , Camd e n, -:\' . }., including manufac
tur in g, offi ce and saks division s, wi ll be shut
down on Jul y 28, t o reo pen two w ee ks lat er,
'\ugust 13 for t he purpose of g iving t he en tire
personnel of the compa ny a full t wo weeks' va
catio n . Out of thou s and s of empl oyes on ly it
scorc or so in the a dverti s in g anc! sa les c1 epa rt
lllent s, to L,ke cha r g e of pressing cur rent mat
ter s, will be on cicek durin.t< th e two weeks, and
thes e w ill get their va cat ions at a lat e r date.
For the last couple of year s tlt e Vict or Co.
It as tri e d th e pl;ln of le tting the main part of the
org a nizatioll .~o at o ll e liln e 0 11 va ca tion, and
th e experime nt proved so successful that it was
d ecid ed this year to solve the "ae a tion qu est ion
\.v it h a gene ral shut -down . All employes of the
c ompan y w h o have b een in service fo r a year
or mor e will r ece ive full pay for the tw o weck s
and those of s hor te r se rvic e will be lTC QIl1
]len sed in proportion .
It is stated th at thc gen era l shut-d own ha s
pro ve n a direct means for tn
c ie nc )' of the or gan izat ion throughout the Sum
Illcr lll ont h5. "\'hen small sectio n s were allowcd
to go O il vacation at different per io d s it meant
a n nll se ttled condition fo r a p e riod of from tell
I';e eks to th ree month s. Under the new plan ,
ollly tvvo weeks are lost and th e effic ienc y is
110t illlpair ed.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Re vie w. In it advertisements are inserted
free of c harge for men who desire positions
I
~~~LICING~
~x:~~~
f1iJa":.1- 'A~'CL...D
lrrac9"re.
. . " . ,...,.-~
~
The Talking Machine World is the
oldest and largest trade journal in the
world devoted exclusively to the talking
machine industry.
Some book, eh? Yes, and some encyclo,
pedia of the kind of information that
will positively double your income.
Don' t miss your chance.
coupon now.
Send in the
TALKING MACHINE WORLD,
383
l\Jacti~on
Ave., Nc ·w Yo rk City.
Pl~ase
enter my lublcription for one year . I want t ~
learn how to double my income via a talking machine
department. Bi1l me $2 at your convenience to cover cost
of same.
Name
..... . . .................. . ............... .... .. ..
Firm ... .... •.. .... .. .. ....... .... ..• .... ...... •. ......
Street ... ...•... .•............. ......... ..... . ... •.....
City and State .... .... . . .. . . . . . ... • . . .. .............. ...