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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
OCTOBER 31,
1925
Player-Piano Is in Dominant Demand in Foreign Colonies—(Continued from page 3)
"Usually a-great deal of demonstrating has We also use the direct personal letter appeal
to be done. What I mean by this is that yon as well as foreign newspapers and have six
have to demonstrate the instrument, perhaps salesmen at work on the outside. This is a
first to the wife, then to the husband, and, in shopping district and we also receive a good
many instances, to the children, who have much share of transient trade. We have a few sales-
to say in purchasing an instrument. While you men who can speak foreign languages but it is
do not have to give a long selling talk on the not necessary to employ foreign-speaking sales-
various features of the instrument, the greatest men. What the trade is interested in is price
amount of time is taken up in trying to impress and terms, and if the sale is handled carefully it
the customer with the value by the tone, which can be made without the aid of an interpreter.
he is usually unable to judge himself, and the Occasionally we find that it comes in handy
excellent veneer and finish of the wood.
to have one of our men help us out when we
"I can recall a sale made a few days ago when get in a pinch. But I should say not one sale
a widow came in to purchase a player. After in thirty needs the aid of our foreign salesmen.
"There is one point though which we all
going over the details with her she promised
me to bring in her two daughters the next day, adhere to in catering to the different classes,
which she did, and again the demonstration was and that is to play the foreigner's own music.
made. However, there was some disagreement If it is a-n Italian, play one of the Italian favor-
among the family in regard to the size of the ites, and so on.
piano and two more children were brought into
"I believe the peculiarities of the foreign cus-
the store for consultation and further argument. tomer are innumerable. Where we are dealing
It so happened that there were six children with the younger Americanized element, though
altogether and the others had to see the instru- these are not so evident, it seems one always
ment before the purchase was made. As they has to be on guard for fear of losing a prospect
had to work during the day they came in the through the incorrect treatment. One of the
next evening. The sale was closed after a happy outstanding characteristics of our trade is the
medium between the bulky size and the smaller great demand for large instruments. But they
design was struck. The older people, or the for- must necessarily have quality as well as quan-
eign-born, cling to massiveness, while the tity so far as case work and tone are concerned.
younger children desire the smaller style.
"A number of oddities enter into the terms.
"On account of necessary sanction by the For instance, invariably the foreigner insists in
whole family of a purchase we have to keep getting the smallest terms for the first year, but
our store open three evenings a week, Tuesdays, doubles the terms the second year and will often
Thursdays and Saturdays. This is customary pay out quickly after he assures himself that
with the other merchants along the street and his dealings have been satisfactory, although
we give a guarantee with every instrument and
brings some very good business.
"This is especially noticeable in the roll continually point to this fact which he always
department. On account of the different na- likes.
tionalities it is necessary that all foreign rolls
Delinquent Accounts
be carried, as well as a good stock of American
"Of course, we have the usual trouble with
and popular numbers. Included with each sale delinquent accounts, but they do not run over
we give $10 worth of rolls and have several several months, although it usually takes a good
clerks who can speak foreign languages and can deal of strategy to get them up to date at times.
promote the department by appealing to the mu- But, as a whole, we have few accounts that are
sical tastes of the various nationalities."
long overdue. As long as the people are work-
Dealings of Werner Piano Co.
ing they usually pay regularly, but as soon as
Alex Stinson, head of the Werner Piano Co., the mill or factory is closed down the payments
has been doing business for sixteen years at immediately stop, although they might have
1325 Milwaukee avenue and in that time has plenty of money in the bank. It seems to be a
gained a real knowledge of the fourteen differ- fear or custom, at least it is a real peculiarity,
ent nationalities found in this locality, with the because as soon as the work opens up again
greater percentage of Polish trade. Mr. Stinson they will go and draw the money out of the
has made a thorough study of these people and bank and make up the back payments.
his daily experience gives him a good knowl-
"In instances like this threats of lawsuits
edge of the best methods of doing business with mean nothing, and a hard-boiled letter or a form
this class of trade.
credit letter will get you into more trouble than
"We consider this type of trade excellent," if you had not written at all. A kind letter
says Mr. Stinson, "but it has to be handled appealing to his sympathy usually accomplishes
carefully or a permanent business cannot be the work. We will tell them that we do not
built up. Approximately 90 per cent of our for- care to cause any annoyance to them and ask
eign trade knows absolutely nothing about the party to call at the office and talk the
' names or particular features of the instruments, thing over. Here the problem lies in selling
and a line of discussion along these lines means them over, and we know that if they are out
nothing to the foreigner. What he is inter- of work we will get our money the next month,
ested in primarily is price, terms and guarantee. or if they get work the following day the pay-
"Eighty per cent of the business is player- ments usually follow like clockwork.
piano, with the average price around $625. The
"There are a number of cases, however, when
terms are $100 down and the payments run from payments fall behind for some other reason or
a minimum of $15 to a maximum of $40 a carelessness. For example, a lady came in the
month. Our reproducing grand business is in- store yesterday. I knew that she was behind
creasing steadily and this business now amounts in her payments and had already made up my
to 8 per cent, with an' average price of $1,650. mind how I was going to handle her. She
The straight grand is next with an average price greeted me all smiles and asked how my health
of $850, with the straight upright running the was. I looked up from the desk and cordially
lowest per cent in sales as well as average price,' greeted her, but was careful not to smile. She
the latter amounting to about $375. The non- said she had come in to pay $12 on her account,
salability of the straight piano has necessarily and knowing that she owed $12 more for July's
reduced the price and terms and they are now payment, I told her that this would be credited
much lower than they ever have been.
to the August payment.
"Immediately her attitude changed and she
"Having been established so many years in
this neighborhood and sold so many foreign said that she had paid in August, so I then had
customers we work with good results among to point carefully out that this payment went
our previous purchasers for prospective buyers. to the July credit as this was the month she had
Highest
Quality
T
ONKRENCH
missed. She insisted that she couldn't under-
stand our way of figuring, although I knew very
well that she did and was simply feigning igno-
rance to see if she could get by without paying
regularly. I was careful though to convey that
I appreciated her ignorance, but firmly went
to the point and asked her how she paid her
gas bill, telephone bill or bills for other articles
which she had bought on time. I pointed out
that we were not as severe in our dealings as
many other institutions, for we extended her
a month's grace, whereas if she didn't pay her
gas bill it would be shut off and if she neglected
her telephone bill there would be an additional
charge of $2 to have it connected again after it
was disconnected.
The Proper Attitude
"After some more firm reasoning I received
the payment for the three months, and she then
told me that she had a prospect for a player-
piano. Now, you see why I took the attitude
I did in greeting her. If I had smiled back
pleasantly she would have probably expected
me to let her payments continue to lag, whereas
she respected our policy of fair dealing and be-
came a good friend. In fact, if I had smiled
and then told her the payment was for the other
month she would probably have walked out of
the store and mailed me a money order instead
of coming in and paying it as we like to have
them do.
"Before she left I asked her to go and pick
out a music roll. They all like to receive a
little present if they do anything unusual in
making up payments, etc., even though it is a
bottle of polish or a pencil, and as we are
always up on our toes in handling them we
apply this rule very often, as well as others too
numerous to enumerate."
Crown Samples Bring
Reorders From Dealers
Louisville Piano Manufacturer Reports Good
Return From First Orders Placed With the
House
LOUISVILLE, KY., October 25.—Many dealers are
visiting the Crown piano plant here, and orders
already on hand are highly satisfactory to the
management. The significant feature is the
large percentage of reorders from dealers who
have had samples of the new line of Crown
pianos and players, showing general appreciation
of the merit of these instruments. H. McKim,
of Winchester, Ky., has taken on the entire
Crown piano line and Adler-Royal phonographs
as well. Phil Lehmann, of St. Louis, was one of
last week's visitors.
One of the Crown travelers, R. J. McCloy,
came back after a successful trip in North Caro-
lina, and Dan Pagenta, Chicago representative,
who exhibited the line at the Rockford conven-
tion, has since made a short journey through
part of his territory with good results. Presi-
dent N. P. Bloom and Sales Manager McCon-
ville are particularly pleased with the comments
of the dealers who have had Crown samples, as
they show that the new styles have hit the
mark.
Suffer Damage by Fire
COLUMBIA, MO., October 26.—A fire, confined to
the basement of the Taylor Music Co. store, at
Ninth and Cherry streets, recently damaged
part of this establishment's stock of talking
machines, radio and sheet music. It is thought
that'the blaze was started by a short circuit in
the wiring in the basement. A good share of
the stock was insured.
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