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THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
APRIL 25, 1925
Equipping the Player-Piano Salesman
W i t h the Advent of the R e p r o d u c i n g Piano in the I n d u s t r y , the Information Which the Properly
Equipped Player Salesman Must Have Becomes Vastly Greater and More Important—The
B a s e s of Selling the Player-Piano and the Reproducing Piano at Retail
listening sound like the playing of the person
HAT there is distinctively a revival of
whose playing it is said to be?" for in most
serious trade interest in questions relat-
ing to the personal equipment of the piano cases probably the prospect has not the knowl-
edge to pronounce judgment on such a ques-
salesman cannot be doubted. Generally speak-
tion. On the other hand, the prospect does
ing, those who deal in pianos, and still more in
think "Is this instrument giving me the sort of
player-pianos, on a large scale, are aware that
musical result which, to my mind, an instru-
the old methods no longer fill the bill. There
ment of its kind and at its price ought to give?"
is much demand for salesmen who can sell
player-pianos of all kinds, reproducers and ped- Or else, still more simply, the prospect is ask'
ing: "Is this music to which 1 am listening
al-players alike, and the standard of personal
worth the price 1 am asked to pay?" Such are
equipment is becoming steadily higher.
the thoughts likely to be present in the pros-
It will be worth considering just what this
means for salesmen to-day. Competition has pect's mind, and such are the matters to which
vastly grown in keenness and volume since the the salesman must address himself.
The Selling Ground
early days, and what was once an interesting
To put it in the clearest manner, then, it ap-
novelty has become something like a staple.
The reproducing piano has added to the com- pears that the salesman for the reproducing
plexity of the matter because it introduces the piano must think in terms of music first and
foremost, that he must know the repertory of
elements of personal interpretation. Salesmen
the. instrument, the names of the recording art-
can no longer sell just on the strength of a few
talking-point phrases and a few pleasant smiles. i>ts and something of their work, and must be
The personal equipment of the salesman, men- able to suggest wisely such music for the pros-
tal, physical and technical, has become vastly_ pect's hearing as will suggest to that prospect
the satisfaction of the ideas previously formed
important.
about the possibilities of the instrument. Thus,
An Eternal Controversy
in the case of the reproducing piano, salesman-
The controversy over the question of how
much a salesman ought to know about the ship is a matter of selling the music-library or
such parts of it as are likely to appeal to the
goods he sells has never ended. It has been
going on ever since salesmanship became a rec- prospect. The personal equipment of the sales-
ognized activity of society. The side a man man must therefore be grounded upon this mu-
sical basis. Nothing is more absurd than to
takes in this controversy depends largely upon
what his own personal experience has been. A . hear a salesman mouthing some parrot phrases
man who has sold goods successfully in the about "selections" and "numbers," and talking
past, even if he is not so successful to-day, will about "artistry," and calling playing "delightful,"
naturally argue that the method which has stood and so on ad nauseam. A man gives himself
away utterly when he does that sort of thing.
him in such good stead in days gone by is still
The prospect may be ignorant, but the most
the best of methods. The younger man can
ignorant prospect spots at once the salesman
hardly be expected to agree with him, but the
who is equally ignorant. That is a point to
younger man also is likely to be vague when it
which a great many salesmen seem to give less
comes to thinking out methods for his own case.
attention than they ought to give.
Yet there must be some principles upon which
The reproducing piano, therefore, calls for
he can build, or else salesmanship becomes
naught save the merest matter of chance. That, salesmen grounded thoroughly in that which
the reproducing piano they sell is advertised to
every man knows, it is not.
There are principles. Let us consider some do and does do. The equipment must be con-
structed from that principle and upon that
of them. The reproducing piano is a reproducer
basis.
-
of personal piano playing. It is an instrument
"Typically Personal"
which gives its owner the music of pianists, of
When we come to the pedal-played, or per-
men and women who have brought to a fine art
the playing of the piano. When one buys a re- sonal-playing player-piano, we have a totally
producing piano it is this which one buys, this different set of principles to consider. The or-
. key to the personal interpretations of many dinary standard player-piano is an instrument
men and women who know, practice, love and which enables a person to produce piano music
. . . and more than piano music, in fact, all
have perfected the art of musical executancy.
music, through the piano . . . although that
Not the Piano Itself
It is not the piano itself which mainly counts person be unable to play upon the keyboard.
in any such a sale, though of course there are It can be played so extremely well as to deceive
those who will buy a high-class expensive re- the very elect so artistically as to make of it an
producing grand merely because it is high-class instrument with a voice and an individuality of
and expensive, and who will then, unless they its own, a piano indeed, but a piano plus a great
are handled by a very skilful salesman, have no deal which the piano does not and cannot pos-
idea what to do next- and what, especially, to sess? It can be "operated" by anybody after two
get in the way of music. Putting these few minutes' practice, and when so operated plays
any and all music, with perfect correctness as
aside, however, the fact remains that those who
to the notes and at whatever speed it is set to
want reproducing pianos want them usually be-
play, fast or slow, without regard to what would
cause they understand that through them they
otherwise be its technical difficulty. Thus the
may get music, the music they want. It may
player-piano is typically a personal instrument,
be the music of a syncopating artist or it may
and its real appeal lies in its lending itself so
be the music of Rachmaninoff . . . the prin- well to that urge to create music which is pres-
ciple remains the same.
ent more or less in every person and which
Obviously, in selling to a man or woman a such person possesses usually in greater de-
reproducing piano, then, it is the music of the gree than is commonly supposed. Because only
recording artists which one is really selling. the few study music in a formal manner, it is
The salesman, therefore, has to work upon the often supposed that only the few are musical;
principle of demonstrating to the prospect that whereas, of course, the reverse is true. All nor-
the instrument does what it is said to do. The mal persons 'are latently musical.
question in the prospect's mind may not always
The whole basis of salesmanship, in the case
specifically be "Does this music to which I am
T
of the straight player-piano, is therefore per-
sonal. The salesman has simply to demonstrate
to the prospect the simple fact that the player-
piano gives every one music, as desired, when
desired and how desired; music just as good (or
as bad) as the user is able to produce: which
in turn is a matter of how much the user cares
to practice the simple trick of pedal control
and the somewhat more subtle trick of tempo-
lever manipulation. The good salesman will
therefore devote himself to showing the pros-
pect just enough about this art to make it at-
tractive, and to stimulate a desire to practice it.
The salesman will not show how well the
player-piano can be played, as by himself, for
instance, until he has shown the prospect the
difference between the results of a hard and a
gentle pedal-pressure, respectively; that is, until
he has disclosed the master-key of the whole art,
the fact of tone-control through pedal-control.
Once this primary fact has been grasped by the
prospect through personal experience of pro-
ducing both loud and soft tones at the player-
piano, the salesman can go as far as he likes.
The personal equipment of the player-piano
salesman, therefore, must be founded on a pro-
found knowledge of the player mechanism, its
possibilities, and its limits, and upon such mas-
tery of it as will enable him to put the master-
key of its playing into the possession of any
intelligent normal person.
Personal equipment of salesmen in the player
business is, therefore, a matter of deep musical
and mechanical understanding; and since the
same man often sells both reproducing and or-
dinary player-pianos, it is evident that he should
have both at his fingers' ends. It is equally ob-
vious that he must learn not to get them mixed
up in his own mind.
Weaver Piano Go. Offers
Excellent Selling Ideas
In April General Letter There Is Offered
Much Information of Value to Dealers in
Handling Retail Trade
In the April general letter of the Weaver
Piano Co., Inc., York, Pa., addressed to its
many dealers, this company stresses the two
principal ideas considered in piano selling, the
first and perhaps the least that of an occupa^
tion and the second the opportunity of serving
society. A careful analysis of buying motives
is also given, which will no doubt be of serv-
ice to the dealer in his sales.
Percy G. Mundorf, local manager of the
Weaver Piano Co. retail warerooms, in York,
Pa., makes the interesting report that over
half of the retail sales each month in the store
are made to prospects not on the book thirty
days before. Mr. Mundorf points out further
that the problem is to get new live prospects
constantly.
The Weaver trade promotion department,
under the direction of W. L. Rupp, is again
brought before the attention of the dealer as
an aid towards sales development. The com-
munication is closed with a number of interest-
ing testimonials from pleased Weaver and York
users.
Joseph Loader has purchased the Yingling
Music Shop, of Coshocton, O., situated in the
new Oxford Bank Building, and has already
taken possession of the business. Plans for ex-
tension are under wav,