Music Trade Review

SEPTEMBER
1, 1923
THE
5
REVIEW
TRADE
MUSIC
Giving Salesmen the Selling Points
William E. Clevey, Sales Manager of the Bush & Lane Piano Co., Tells How His Firm Conducts a Consistent
Direct-by-Mail Campaign to Educate the Retail Salesmen in Its Dealers' Organizations­
Strengthening the Most Important Link in Retail Distribution Brings Results
What is the most importa nt link in the chain
which extends from th e r a w materials and the
manufacturers down to the customer? Proba­
bl y 90 per cent of the answ ers to this question
would be the retail sale sman who gets the nam e
o n the dotted line. This ans wer would be cor­
rect. Let us go ahead, th en, on the basis that
the retail salesman is the most important link
in the chain of sellin g and marketing pianos.
Naturally, one would conclude, taking the
a bov'e statement as a pr emise, that the strongest
and most energetic efforts in selling pianos
would be directed tow a rd th e better training and
education of the r e tail sale sman. But this, un­
fortunately, is not th e case. The manufa c turer
takes great pa in s to s ell the dealer or the man
who does the r e ta il buyin g, and the proprie tor
of the retail store t a kes g r eat pains in ad ver­
tising, etc., to inform th e customer of the merit s
of the lines handl ed, but the men who actu a ll y
clo the work and get the aforesaid name on th e'
dotted line are not g iv en this same amount of
attention. This is 'p robably the ,veakest link in
the chain whi ch ex tends from the manufactur er
to the ultimate cus tom er, and it is toward th e
s tren g thenin g of thi s link that we have direc ted
our effort s in ord e r t o h elp our dealers s ell m o r e
pia nos.
Individual Sales Arguments
There are ce rt a in definite sales ar g um e nts
which every pi a no m a nufacturer consid e rs t o be
peculiarly his own and which he firmly im ­
presses upon the r eta il buyer. That is all th a t
is necessary to se ll th a t one individual. But why
s top there? Wh y no t make equally en e r ge ti c
effort s to impress th ese same truths, the se sa me
sellin g ar g ulll ent s whi c h belong to that parti cu­
lar instrum e nt, upon th e sale s man in th e e mplo y
of the propri etor as we ll as the propri etor him­
self? Every retail sales man has his own m ethod
of selling, just a s every person has a temp era­
ment peculiarly individual. If an attempt wer e
made to chan ge th e method of selling of the
salesman a mi s tak e would probably be mad e,
but there a re v e ry few retail salesmen so w ell
versed in th e ta lkin g points of th e in s trum ent
the y ar e se lling a s to preclude th e possibilit y
of any furth er improv ement.
There a r e two methods of accompli shing thi s.
One is by th e trav eling representati ves of th e
manufactur er coming into direct contact with
the retail sa lesmen, talking to th em, holding
sales m ee tin gs, etc. The other is by printed
propa ganda. Some manufacturers feel this re­
sponsibility m ore seriously than oth e rs. The
ideal m ethod is the use of both th e pr int ed and
the spoke n word. Regarding th e part' w hi ch the
tra ve lin g r e prese ntati ves pla y in thi s wo rk of
educating the d eal e r, not a g r eat d eal can be
said, a s it is a lto gether up to the man him se lf.
But as to the literature which can be se nt out
to aid th e d eal e r in educatin g his sa les persons
Illuch ca n be accomplished alon g this line. Of
cours.e, all of the literature which is des ig n ed to
go to th e ultimate customer is good material
r or t he r etail salesman to study, but, as ide from
th is , th ere is a more forceful way of thoroughly
imbuing him with the ad vantage s whi ch he pos­
sesses over competitors, and th a t is by sales
promotion al literature directly writt e n for him.
Bush & Lane's Campaign
L et us draw some examples from th e Bu sh &
l.ane deal e r promotional servic e. Th e re ar e two
thin gs that can be accomplish ed a lo n g this .line.
Th e first is, as we have said, to set forth the
peculiar a dvantages of the parti cul a r instrument
b ein g sold. The second is to in spire th e sales­
man 'to greater efforts. In pr ese ntin g the spe­
cia l ad vanta ge s of the Bu sh & L a ne line we
have prepared a number of leafl ets on the Ce­
cili a n all-metal action, illu s tr a tions of which are
sh ow n h ere. In lieu of a p e rs onal visit to the
i ac tor y and a personal ex pl a na tion by our ex­
pe rt s we ha ve, as nearly as po s sible, by illustra­
tion a nd by the print ed word, d escribed the
Cecili a n ac tion in d e ta il. The r e tail salesman
w ho studie s these ' leafl ets con sc ientiously and
spends enough time t o m a ke them part of his
se llin g equipment then can ex plain the action to
,
ticul a r in s trument over other s. We try to bring
out in a forc eful manner the things that can be
said a bout our particular piano that cannot be
s a id a b o u t. oth er pianos. For instance: The
Cec ili a n a ll-m etal action is m e ntion ed in the
li g ht o f its a ppeal to the p ro sp ec t and the sales­
111 a n is s o thoroughly schooled in the advan­
tages o f thi s pa rticular t y pe of a ction that he is
abl e to impress this firml y upon pro s pe c ts with
t h(' leas t po ssible effort.
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Cecilian Actions
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Examples of the Bush & Lane Salesmen's Liter ature
custom e rs w ith a s m u ch spontaneit y as w e o ur­
But thi s is no t e ll o u g h. The sa les m a n mu s t
selves just wln t th ey are being solei. S po ntaneity
be inspir ed a s we ll as inform ed. He mu s t not
is the bi g I-hin g a nd spontaneity comes o nly with
"cralJl" hilll sclf w ith th e above argum e nt s sim­
complete m as te ry of one's selling argum e nts.
ply from a se nse of duty, as the school-boy r e­
The sal esm a n Ill us t be able to talk t o th e cus­
luctantly "cram s" for an examination. H e mu s t
tomer as eas il y a nd naturally about th e sp ecial
learn his sal es a r g uments with enthusia sm in
talkin g po ints o f an instrument as h e would
order that h e m ay b e able to impart th em to
about s uch it em s a s case, fini s h, ton e, et c.
others with enthu sias m. To this end w e s ene!
In addition tu th e descripti ve illu s tr a tions out from tim e to tim e special letters dir ect to
above m ention ed we al so get out from time to
the retail sa lesma n. W e do not s end jus t on e to
time s p ec ia l sa les blilletins in whi ch our piano ;w ins t itution, but to as man y as there are sales ­
is mor e pa rti cul a rly distinguished from competi­
m e n in th a t in s titution. Each indi vidua l sal es­
tors, bea rin g s uch titles as: "Here IS th e sales
man is indi vidu a ll y communicated with by
key! Will y ou use it?", "Getting th e persp ective
means of wlt a t m ig ht be called inspir a ti o n fo rm
on Cec ili a n ac tions," "The differ ent construction
letters. For in s ta nce, here is one, entitl ed " Ag­
of th e Cecili a n- a nd its price." In th es e a rticles
gressive Sales G en eralship." vVe beli ev e th a t it
w e se t fort h clearly the advantages of our par-
(C on tinued on /)age 6)