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Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL.
LXXVIII. No. 15 PiblUhed Every Satirday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. Apr. 12, 1924
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Harmony in the Selling Force Means Sales
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HERE are sales organizations in this trade of ours which live up fully to that term and there are
also many other organizations so-called in this and other trades which make a farce of the term for
the reason that, instead of operating as a harmonious group toward one united goal, the individuals of
the "organization" are operating as so many separate units each for himself and decidedly antagonistic
toward any other individual connected with the same concern who crosses his business path.
Building up a successful sales organization is not so much gathering together men of recognized ability
as salesmen, but bringing these men together as a part of a well-designed, smooth-running piece of sales ma-
chinery, each cog working in conjunction with the other to develop a sales momentum that will bring results
and continue to bring them.
We have instances in this and other trades where managers and sales managers have been criticized,
generally behind their backs, for their lack of individual selling ability on the wareroom floor Yet these same
individuals have been successful in developing the sales of their respective institutions in a measure entirely
satisfactory to the executives and likewise impressive to the trade. It so happens that these individuals possess
the gift of handling men, of organizing their forces to work together harmoniously, and thus they get maxi-
mum results from the men in the field and on the floor. One manager found it almost impossible to come in
personal contact with the visitors to his department without antagonizing the customers through brusqueness
and therefore spent most of his time in his office, but his executive ability enabled him to increase the business
of his department some 2,000 per cent in a period of possibly five years.
The creation of a harmonious and smooth-running sales organization does not mean in any sense the
elimination of the competitive factor between the individual salesmen, but instead it can be made to encourage
competition on a friendly, co-operative basis.- Contests between members of sales organizations can keep
things stirring; so can the setting of quotas with each one striving to put his own business over the top. But
these results can be obtained much more readily through co-operative efforts than by individual effort. For
instance, if it requires two salesmen to close a deal it is better to have them work together on it than to have
the sale lost because the first man insists on playing a lone hand. Likewise, a free interchange of informa-
tion and ideas means giving other members of the sales force material that will mean more business for them
without in any way detracting from the sales ability of the informer.
The practice followed by many of the larger houses of holding conferences of their salesmen at regular
intervals has been encouraged because that practice brings about an interchange of selling information that
aids the individual salesman and at the same time is calculated to increase the general business of the house.
The piano manager with his inside and outside staffs finds much need for tact and executive ability in
handling his crews, for he must devise a system that will give to the members of each division their just re-
wards on a basis that is equitable both to the salesman and to the house. Allocating prospects, stipulations
regarding the period the prospect may be retained by the individual salesman, and other details must all be
handled carefully if the organization is to be successful.
It is not humanly possible for even the best-intentioned salesman to put forth his best efforts if he must
worry regarding the treatment he is going to get from the management or from other salesmen who for one
reason or another will have apparently a better standing with the house. If he has to divide his attention be-
tween selling and the politics of his job the selling is going to suffer.
A harmonious organization does not mean necessarily one that is pampered by an easy-going manager.
On the contrary, the manager can be a tough boss and still keep his men working hard by seeing to it that they
get an even break in handling the business, have nothing to worry about but the selling itself and then have an
opportunity of making money.