THE
VOL. LXXVII. No. 20 Published Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Nov. 17, 1923
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Creating a One Hundred Per Cent Sales Organization
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HE average piano merchant is coming to perceive that in reality he has two sales forces in his ware
rooms . The first of these is, of course, the men who do the actual work of selling; the second consists
of every other employe from the porter up to the head of a department not directly concerned with
the selling end .
Some time ago The Review described in detail the organization of what Lyon & Healy, Inc., of Chicago,
calls its inner-sales force. In this article it was stated that a total of 31400,000 gross busin ess had been traced
to this source within a period of over a year. This, of course, is a striking example of the efficiency with
which such a force can be organized and made to function successfull y. But it is by no means an isolated case.
Such \vell -known houses as Sherman, Clay & Co., in San Francisco; the Knight-Camphell Music Co., in
Denver, and many others maintain similar forces and find them relatively as profitabl e in increasing the gross
volume of business. Only last week The Revi ew carried an account of the meth ods which th e Baldwin Piano
Co., of Cincinnati, is using- to develop a similar organization among its entire factor y production force in that
city.
The importance of having all the piano merchants' employes constantly securing prospects for the actual
selling organization to handle should not be minimized, nor IS there any merchant, whether hi s organization be
large or small, who can afford to neglect availing himself of this method to keep in touch with his clientele.
There is no employe who cannot be a source of prospects. Each of them is the center of his own little
world ' and is in daily contact \<\lith a comparatively large number of people. \,yhat is most advantageous of all
is that in most cases he knows such people well , knows their desires and peculiarities, knows th eir financial re
sources and their ability to purchase, and thus is able to give the house a much more intelligent report upon
them than can be obtained by any of the ordinary means of creating prospects. Furthermore, the prospect
which comes from the employe is in nine cases out of ten prejudiced in fa vo r of the house to begin with, for
here the elements of good-will and friendship have a wider scope to playa large part in ultimately closing the
sale.
It depends strictly upon the piano merchant himself whether or not he can build up such an organization
among his employes. The first factor in doing this is to satisfy the average employe thoroughly that he will
be properly rewarded for every sale that comes to the house by his means. The second is to make sure that
such prospect cards are handled in the fashion that strict justice will be done and that every employe will be
protected in his rights upon every prospect he turns in. There is nothing- which "vill do more to disturb such
relations behveen house and employes than a dispute over the commission in such a sale and nothing that will
more quickly break down the enthusiasm and the desire to help than grudgingly to give a commission after such
a quarrel.
The expense involved in this method is comparatively small. It is much less expensive to pay an em
ploye a commission upon a sale which comes through him than it is to pay the ordinary amount of· overhead
involved in the average prospect created by ordinary means. Of course, it is not meant by this that creating
prospects through employes' personal contacts can take the place of ordinary advertising or whatever means
the house may use in its sales methods . But such a system can most adequately supplement this work and cre
ate a much wider range of contact than is ordinarily the case, a condition which must ultimately be reflected
in an increased volume of sales.
One of the greatest factors in preventing a music merchant from intensively working the territory in
which he does business is neglect of obvious opportuniti es to maintain contact with the purchasing pu~lic
therein. The merchant who does not imbue all of his employes with sellillg- enthusiasm is showing a most
patent neglect and is suffering continuously in lost sales because of it.
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