Music Trade Review

DECEMBER
I, 1923
s
.THE MUSIC TRAbE REVIEW
Overcoming Price Obstacles.ill;-Sales
Methods by Which the Salesman Can Meet the Objections of the Prospects Who Raise the Price ObstacJe­
"OverseIling" the Prospect Means a Loss Both in Money and Prestige to the House-
What the Prospect Actually Buys and What the Salesman Really Sells
vVith the establishment of the one-price sys­
if the salesman is to do this he must have
confidence in what he says, and put every ounce
tem in a great many retail music stores and
of sincerity he has in presenting his facts .
with the steady growth of nationally priced mu­
Cannot Afford It
sical instruments, the element of price in the
The second type of prospects, those who can..
ayerage retail sale tends to· lose the importance
not really afford the instrument which the sales­
. which it once possessed. The average prospec­
man is trying to sell, is the more difficult to
tive piano customer, at the present day, no
handle. A great many of them will not admit
longer automatically reacts to a quoted price
that they cannot afford to pay the price and
with a lower bid on the instrument. This may
will allege every other reason there is instead
be attributed in part to the steady education
he has received in the one-price system in other
of the real one. But here the piano salesman
lines of ret~.il merchandising, but also in a great
has an advantage over the usual run of men sell­
ing at retail. He goes into the average pros­
extent to the steady fight for this distinctively
American m e thod of retail selling, which has pect's home and can obtain a very shrewd idea
of the family's financial status if he will but
been fought for by the leaders among retail
music merchants for many years .. Tho~e manu­
keep his eyes open. In fact, every salesman
facturers who have adopted the nationally should do this, for not only does it give him a
line on what he can offer the family, but it is
priced system must a lso be ,,6 ven a great deal
information he should supply the house for the
of credit for the establishment of this state of
latter to judge the prospect's credit properly
mind on the part of the ultimate piano or other
musical instrument purchaser.
.
and see that the down payment and the terms
in the sale are properly adjusted to it.
Price As a Sales Factor
Overselling the Prospect
Price, however, while it no longer occupies
When a salesman is convinced that the instru·
the dominating position which it once did in
ment which he is trying to sell the prospect is
the average sale, is still an element of consid­
held at a high er figure than the latter can
erable importan ce and presents obstacles which
afford to pay the thing to do is to switch him
the alert salesman must meet and overcome be­
to a lower-priced instrument. Thi s must be
fore he obtains the signature of the prospect
done ta ctfully, for there are many people who
upon the dotted line. How great an obstacl~
would resent such tactics, considering th ey were
it may be depends upon the attitude of the
a reflection upon themselve s and who would
salesman himself and the way in which he meet>
rather buy elsewhere than permit the salesman
the difficulties which may arise from it. In
fact, it may be definitely stated that the attitude .to know the facts A sale of an instrument for
which the prospect can afford to pay is a much
of the individual salesman makes or breaks that
better sale, even though the amount be lower,
obstacle so far as price is concerned, provided
than a forced sale, made by high pressure sales­
always that the instrument which he is offering
manship, involving a strain on the family's re­
is a fair value for the price at which it is held.
sources. The salesman SllOUld always remember
This individual attitude depends on the sales­
man's own confidence in his goods. If he is that there is much more to a sale than obtaining
convinced that the instrument is a fair value, he a signature and a down payment-the collection
department has to get the monthly payments
is usually able to convey that confidence to his
until the paper is paid out.
prospect without much difficulty. For a man
This evil 0.£ overselling is rampant in retail
who has confidence in his goods has them half
sold every time, and a man who lacks it must piano merchandising. The greater the amount
of the sale, the greater the salesman's commis­
be the "super-salesman" we hear' so· much about
sion, aild, 'as a matter of fact, it rarely takes
and rarely see, to put his 'proposition over. The
over-priced musical instrument is no "blue sky" more time and effort to make a large sale than
proposition nor has it the lure of great promises it does a small one. Yet the house itself never
profits from such business. It involves the col­
in the future, such as the latter is always
lection deI>artment in a constant fight with the
accompanied with.
customer and in many cases leads to a reposses­
The Two Objecti'Ons
sion in the long run. The man who has spent
When a customer objects to a sale on the
money against his better judgment finds the
score of price there are just two reasons for it.
The first of these is that he does' not think the. constant demands for that money a source of
irritation, and the instrument itself in his own
instrument offered is worth the money asked
home serves as nothing but a daily reminder of
for it. The second is that the price it is held
that fad. The expen se involved in collecting
at is more than he can afford to pay. The
the sale is heavy, and in many cases eats up
salesman's first duty in handling such an atti­
the real profit. Overselling does no good to
tude is to discover the reason for it, for with­
the house, the salesman or the customer and
out knowing why the prospect objects it is
should be severely discouraged by the head of
almo·s t impossible to overcome his objections.
the organization or by his sales manager.
A prospect who thinks that an instrument is
What the Prospect Buys
.
not a fair value is not usually backward in giv­
There is, of course, a certain percentage of
ing his reasons. In the first place he is rather
people who are sold on a basis of price. But
proud of himself to be able to argue the point
these are no.[ the majority who to-day look for
with some degree of reason. When he is will­
quality and what the goods they are buying will
ing to argue the salesman has his own innings.
give them in ultimate profit. The purchase of
He knows or should know the instrument much
a .piano, a player-piano or a reproducing piano
better than the prospect, knows its grade and
is an investment on the par! of the buyer in
standing and can tell how it is generally a~­
ultimate entertainment and education. Each of
eepted. He should have at his fingers' ends
facts such as will show it is a true value-who' these elements has its appeal to a greater or
less degree, as the case may be. I t is the part
has used the instrument, who has endorsed it,
of the. salesman to present both of them in
how old the factory that makes it is, the stand­
comparison to the price of the instrument he is
ing of the \louse he represents in its territory,
offering for sale. Few piano buyers to-day buy
its reputation for fair dealing, etc. All these,
a mechanical combination of wood and metal­
properly marshaled, make an impressive dis­
they buy music, an intangibility, but what the
play to the prospect, and in nine cases out of
salesman really sells. The price they ate pay­
ten succeed in overcoming his objection. But
ing for it can only be judged fairly as against
that intangibility. And the salesman who re­
members this has little difficulty in meeting the
price arguments, provided always that before
making his sale he has been s'hrewd enough to
judge what the prospect he is trying to sell can
afford to pay.
As for the high price of pianos-well, ten
years ago a salesman who made a sale involv­
ing $1,000 talked about it for a year and was
given a certain amount of respectful admiration
from his fellow salesmen and from the mer­
chant who employed him. To-day a $1,000 sale
is nothing to comment upon, and there are
warerooms, and not a few, where a $4,500 sale
is all in the day's work. Times do change and
generally for the better.
FORMAL OPENING IN WARREN, O.
Stewart Music House Invites Public to InsI>ect
Enlarged Quarters in That City
WAPJl.EN, 0., November 27.-Formal opening of
Stewart's Music House, formerly De Foreest's,'
held Thursday night, attracted several hundred
people to the new store, located at 111-113
North Park avenue. In the showrooms was
presented a very attractive display of .pianos,
players and grands, in addition to two standard
makes of talking machines.
This concern will feature the complete Bush
& Lane line of pianos and other lines also will
be carried. Victor and Edison talking machine
lines are handled, together witn the records for
both makes of machines. Ten record booths
have been installed.
The store also has a complete line of radio
sets, built by the Radio Corp. of America, and
during the opening a speeial demonstration was
given by a factory representative.
Favors were given the ladies who visited the
store the opening night and a twelve-piece man­
dolin club fro'm Youngstown furnished music
throughout the evening.
FEATURES FEDERAL SET NO. 59
Attractive Advertising for New Federal Re­
ceiving Set-Has Several Important Features
The Federal Tel. & Tel. Co., manufacturer
of Federal radio receiving sets, carried a very
attractive half-page advertisement in the No­
vember lO issue of the Saturday Evening Post,
featuring the new Federal receiving set No. 59.
The advertising showed an excellent photo­
graph of tD:e new set, and' called attention to
its various merits, among which are an unu­
sual distance range and a high degree of selec­
tivity which enables the user to hear distant
,tations through local broadcasting without in­
terference. The advertisement also called atten­
tion to the fact that all of the parts in the new
59 are manufactured by the Federal Tel. & Tel.
Co. and may be purchased separately.
WINS PRIZE FOR RADIO DISPLAY
CANTON, 0., November 27.-The music house of
the George C. Wille Co. has been notified that
its window display at its store here recently
won sixth prize in the national competition for
displaying Cunningham radio tubes. The win~.·
dow display was arranged by W. R. Ellis, man­
ager of the radio d epartment of the store. The
~tore was recipient of a check for $lOO from
the Cunningham Co.