Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
VOL. LXXXI. No. 22
REVIfW
Piblished Every Saturday. Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 383 Madison Ave., New York, N. Y. Nov. 28,1925
8lB
« ( g. < S°R PB i 0 ^/**
Basis of Reproducer Service Rests
Upon Trained Personnel
Work of Manufacturers' Traveling Schools Rapidly Building Up a Large Number of Trained Experts to
Fill the Most Vital Need in the Merchandising of the Reproducing Piano — Minority of
Retail Merchants Still Refuse to Lend Full Co-operation to This Important Work
ERVICE of a satisfactory sort to owners
of pianos and reproducing pianos does not
simply mean a name or a promise, and can-
not be handled haphazardly or by incompetents.
If the retailer is satisfied to offer a service that
simply represents a compromise he has only
himself to blame for dissatisfied patrons and
for the losses incident thereto.
Within the past few years the trade generally
has developed a new conception of what service
really means, and the wiser ones have come to
understand it, not as a necessary evil and
expense, but as a highly important factor in the
maintenance of patronage and the development
of future business. As has already been stated
in the course of this series of articles, one
prominent manufacturer has gathered statistics
indicating that 86 per cent of sales of reproduc-
ing pianos of their make were made to those
who had heard the instruments in the homes
of friends, and as a result had their interest
aroused to the buying point.
Basis of Proper Service
Proper service, however, is not to be regarded
as an impersonal matter for it depends in chief
measure upon the intelligence and competence
of the service man and the manner in which he
has been trained to take care of those instru-
ments he is called upon to service. This train-
ing of the repairman is a matter of great
moment to the dealer, and it cannot be done
half-heartedly or in between times. Nor can
books be depended upon to give to the me-
chanic the practical knowledge that is necessary
to enable him to do his work well.
For some seasons past there have been op-
erated in practically all sections of the country
traveling schools for the training of servicemen,
particularly in the care of the reproducing
piano. That the servicemen themselves have
realized the value of such instruction is indi-
cated by the fact that in every case the enroll-
ment in the schools has been most satisfying,
particularly where independent mechanics were
concerned. Dealers employing men have also
learned to appreciate the fact that the time
given by the repairman to the school, whether
it is two weeks or a month, is more than worth
the expense and inconvenience that may be un-
dergone temporarily.
The Objecting Minority
As has been said, the majority of retailers
S
have taken this view. Yet there are still indi-
viduals in the trade who refuse to allow their
repairmen to take the time necessary to attend
the schools, and one case was recorded only a
month ago where, when it was discovered their
mechanic was attending a service school, he
was requested to resign. However, it must be
OR the past two years the manufac-
turers of reproducing pianos have been
effectually meeting the problem of
service for this instrument through the
maintenance of traveling schools, which
place at the service of the tuner and repair-
man expert instruction in the reproducing
action. Despite the fact that this work has
been highly successful, there still remains a
minority of retail merchants who refuse to
lend their full co-operation to this work.
It is time that these merchants realized the
mistake they are making.—Editor.
F
granted that the greater knowledge the me-
chanic has concerning all types of instruments
the better fitted he is to service the types which
are handled by any particular dealer. It is
such narrow mindedness on the part of the
retailers that does more to cut down the annual
turnover of pianos than any lack of selling
ability.
As has been mentioned numerous times in
The Review, there appears to be a feeling
among certain retailers that in handling the
reproducing piano they are conferring a favor
upon the manufacturer and that it is up to that
manufacturer to do the necessary servicing, be-
yond plain tuning and regulating. As a matter
of fact, however, it is a problem that rests dis-
tinctly with the dealers. Those dealers who
have persisted in depending on manufacturers
for service have simply built up difficulty for
themselves. It is logical for the owner of a
reproducing piano to become dissatisfied if he
must wait a month or more for a factory serv-
iceman to come and make a minor adjustment
that could and should be taken care of by the
dealer himself. Such a dissatisfied customer
kills more sales than can be encouraged by ten
enthusiastic owners, for friends do not care to
invest several thousand dollars in a product that
must remain useless for a considerable period
because of the fact that there is no one at hand
to properly service same.
A Proper Requirement
Gradually the manufacturers are impressing
upon retailers the absolute necessity of render-
ing competent service on pianos and particularly
reproducers, and at least one concern insists
upon the dealer agreeing to employ and main-
tain a competent service man, or men, accord-
ing to the size of his business, before giving
him the representation for its products.
This all leads up to the question of proper
training of servicemen and the time necessary
to insure such training. The manufacturers
realized some time ago that, although the local
serviceman was an earnest student and pe-
riodical service visits were made on the various
dealers for the purpose of instructing their me-
chanic, the limited time which could be spent
with him on the occasion of these visits was
not sufficient to provide proper training for the
local repairman to insure the best results.
Neither was it feasible for a great majority of
retailers to send their repairmen to the factory
shops for extended periods to gain first-hand
knowledge of repair practice.
This emergency therefore has been met most
acceptably by the series of traveling schools
that, during the past few years, have visited
a great many of the cities of the country from
coast to coast and which have provided inten-
sive and thorough courses in the proper care
of the reproducing instrument for some hun-
dreds of mechanics. This work has been carried
on at considerable cost to manufacturers, but
the results have been worth the expenditure,
despite the fact that certain dealers did not see
fit to lend proper co-operation.
A Striking Example
The manner in which manufacturers are en-
deavoring to assist dealers in handling their
repair problems through the medium of their
own staffs is well exemplified in the case of
the Ampico Corp., which has, for nearly three
years, maintained two traveling service schools
under carefully trained and competent in-
structors. In these schools the work is taken
seriously and the instruction is of the practical
sort.
(Continued on page 4)