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MARCH
1,
THE
1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
The Demonstration Store Selling Plan
A Unique Method of Selling the Player-Piano Used by the Maresh Piano Co., Cleveland, Ohio, Which Has
Proven an Excellent Method of Creating Prospects—Other Novel Advertising Methods Which
Are Being Used Successfully by This House in Reaching Its Buying Public
UESTIONS of clean advertising by the
piano and musical merchandise dealer
appear to have become the paramount
issue with members of the trade in many parts
of the country. Probably no factor, with the
possible exception of the trade-in situation, oc-
cupies more attention at trade association meet-
ings or conventions than does the matter of
advertising.
Whether the individual in the music industry
advertises cleanly or not, it is significant, from
a brief survey made in one locality by a repre-
sentative of The Review, how little advertising
really is being done by the music merchant.
It is true that much paid advertising of
pianos, talking machines, small goods and the
like finds its way into the daily newspapers,
but it also appears to be true that having done
that much most retailers are content. Yet, for
the sometimes great sums they pay for this
form of advertising they continue to expect re-
turns that never come.
A Different Way
In citing the results of at least one merchant
in a large city who has taken the question of
advertising seriously, and gone at it in an en-
tirely different manner, it is not the object of
this article to consider the merits of advertising
as to whether it is "clean" or otherwise. Rather,
if in telling what this one merchant is doing
other piano dealers can apply similar principles
and benefit thereby, something may have been
done to help them toward solving one of their
problems.
The dealer who is advertising in a different
way and getting different results than the aver-
age piano merchant is A. L. Maresh, head of
the Maresh Piano Co., Cleveland, O. Inci-
dentally, the company was incorporated, though
under the active management of Mr. Maresh
it is known, in that part of Cleveland where it
does most of its business, for many years.
Probably the one factor that makes the
Maresh firm stand out not only as an institu-
tion among its own clientele, but as a prof-
itable business in the local music trade, is that
its pianos are sold, not merely bought, by the
people who may want them.
Thus it is that the advertising moves planned
by Mr. Maresh himself are different than most
of the advertising done by most of the Cleve-
land, or other, dealers. In fact, in every effort
put forth to this end there is never a hint that
pianos sold at the Maresh store can be had
for insignificant down payments and for equally
trifling monthly payments thereafter. Never is
the hint offered that this particular dealer is in
crying need of money and consequently is will-
ing to almost give his pianos away if the people
will only come in and take them off his hands.
Of course, the Maresh Piano Co. does employ
basic principles, the foremost of which must
be a wide variety of quality, so that there will
be an equal variety of price to meet the varying
purses of its clientele. Value for value is the
policy employed in this factor, so that those
with less money may' have a piano at lower
quality, but at the same time get their money's
worth.
Language Makes No Difference
"We found out long ago that the people we
would do the most business with, the foreign-
language element, are no different than any
other people," says Mr. Maresh. "When it
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comes to pianos they have to be sold just like
anybody else. We found out early in our busi-
ness that we would have to make them inter-
ested in what we have to sell and make them
want the pianos. Once that interest was
aroused, and the desire created, the rest was
easy."
Hence some of the timely effort now being
put forth by Mr. Maresh to keep alive that
interest.
Here is one of the things that the Maresh
Piano Co. has done that no other merchant, in
Cleveland, at least, has attempted.- A demon-
stration branch that will be a permanent fix-
ture, if the results as first obtained continue
as beneficial, has been established. Incidentally,
with the coming of the player-piano, and all
through its development, the Maresh firm has
concentrated largely upon that business.
So in opening this branch demonstration loca-
tion the player and its intricate parts are fea-
tured. This branch has been established in the
Broadway-East Fifty-fifth Street Market House.
The actual floor space is small, as window
space was the essential sought after. Here
on both the street and on the arcade side forty
feet of window space is available. In this space
have been installed one model each of half a
dozen makes of player-pianos. Separate actions
are shown. Here are displayed the Standard,
the Amphion, the Pratt-Read and others. At
all times one player-piano and at least one
action are in operation. Of course, the player
roll or record comes in for its share of this
demonstration.
Two persons always are on hand, one to demon-
strate and explain the merits of the actions and the
player-pianos, the other to act in sales capacity.
Yet no attempt to sell the interested spectator
is made here. The name and address are ob-
tained casually and a suggestion offered to have
the spectator either visit the store or be visited
at home for further consideration of buying.
People Like It
This kind of advertising is different, and the
people like it. This has been proved on more
than one occasion, especially on busy market
days, when the crowd on the street side became
so dense at times that it blocked traffic and
policemen had to investigate. This idea has
been operating only a few weeks, but the num-
ber of sales traced to it seems to warrant the
large expense involved in this location and
its operation.
The big asset appears to be that the Maresh
name is out on the main street of its particular
business district. Its name is constantly before
everybody who passes this busy street inter-
section, so that when the people even think of
pianos they are also thinking of Maresh.
Motion Picture Houses
Another angle that is being used successfully
through this Winter season by Mr. Maresh is
the motion picture house. Though this idea
is not new, it is being used in a new way by
the Maresh firm. Instead of the slides used
being finished with some stereotyped phrase
about buying pianos at Maresh's, these slides
are prepared with care weeks in advance of
their use. Photographs are provided ahead of
time. These show either Mr. Maresh himself,
the Maresh store, a close-up of a piano with the
name plain enough to see, or some catchy scene
that links the thought of Maresh and pianos.
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These slides are used in all the theatres on the
South Side of Cleveland and concentrate upon
reaching the particular clientele that the Maresh
establishment caters to.
Then there is the personal appeal. Out of
all this broadcast advertising many sales arc-
made. Yet there are many sales, too, that
are not made as quickly as the interest would
seem to warrant. But the prospect appears
to be alive, and the interest must be sus-
tained for a reasonable period. To these a per-
sonal gift, properly advertising Maresh and
pianos, has proved of great value in closing a
deal later.
Novelties Used
Two novelties now are being distributed to
that end. One is a key, of silver-like metal,
eight inches long. It looks like the key to the
city, massive and heavy. And deeply imprinted
on both sides' is the name and address of the
Maresh Piano Co. These keys are cast from
a mold, the mold alone costing $120, according
to Mr. Maresh, and the individual keys a small
fraction of that amount. These keys find a
prominent place in the homes that receive them.
The children are given them by their elders
to keep them quiet. The key is a constant re-
minder of the Maresh piano store.
And now another personal novelty soon
makes its appearance. Most of the growing
boys in the neighborhood belong to the Boy
Scouts, some gym, or similar organization where
athletics predominate. Like every other neigh-
borhood, most families own automobiles. And
like most people, many of them go camping or
touring at one time or another during the year
Some one dropped the hint to Mr. Maresh that
when he was out on the road, far from habita-
tion, he obtained a decidedly dirty face after
fixing his car and could not get all the dirt
off because he had no mirror.
The hint was sufficient for Mr. Maresh. He
negotiated with a novelty manufacturer, found
a steel mirror, in a neat chamois case, at a
reasonable figure, and ordered a quantity made
up at once. These have been engraved with
the Maresh Piano Co. upon them, so that every
time one looks in the mirror, the name Maresh
and the piano will be seen as well. Here also
mirrors will be distributed judiciously, always
with the thought that whoever gets one will
have a definite use for it, and that such a person
belongs to a family that is in the market for a
piano and is a live prospect.
Concentrates in Foreign Press
The Maresh Piano Co. is one of the few piano
houses in Cleveland that does not advertise in
the local English language daily press. The
reason for this is that it concentrates its activi-
ties, as stated before, in a district that is peopled
largely by those of foreign tongue, mostly of
Bohemian extraction. Many of these people
like to keep up with their native languages and,
of course, are regular subscribers to the foreign
language papers that cater to this need, and
it is in these papers that a Maresh Piano Co.
advertisement is seen frequently.
Finally, Mr. Maresh and Mrs. Maresh also
are walking advertisements for the business.
Both being musicians of professional ability,
they naturally fill an important place in things
musical among their business and social friends.
Mrs. Maresh was noted on the concert stage in
New York and the East not so long ago.
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