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The Music Trade Review
that case his interests are unevenly divided and
he cannot concentrate properly."
From twenty-five to thirty solicitors are em-
ployed at the Kesselman-O'Driscoll store at all
times, according to Mr. Steussy, and frequently
the crews are even larger.
The time element in canvassing is important
At the Kesselman-O'Driscoll store it has been
found that the most successful method is to
have the solicitors canvass steadily from 9 to
12:30 and then to start out again after lunch
and canvass until 3:30. The period from 3:30
to 5:30 is designated as a "rest period" for the
canvassers. "Call backs" and appointments
are made until it is late enough so that people
are not willing to see or interview the can-
vasser and salesman.
"I find it difficult to understand," said Mr.
Steussy, "how any store that does not operate
on this basis can be profitable. The consumer
dollar is there and it is up to the music mer-
chant to sell his wares like everyone else in
the sales promotion game, regardless of its
character. About 65 per cent of our business
comes as a result of canvassing, as nearly as our
records show.
University Music Store of Ann Arbor
Takes Musical Census of Entire Section
P \ OES a canvass of a retail piano mer-
^^
chant's entire territory, or in other
words, a musical census, pay? There have been
a number of retail music houses which have
found such a plan well worth the time, trouble
and expense of it, and here is another example
along the same lines.
Herbert G. Pulfrey, manager of the Uni-
versity Music Store, Ann Arbor, Mich., dealer
in pianos, talking machines and sheet music,
used the following plan this spring, and with
good results thus far.
Women of fairly mature age were employed
by this house to canvass every home in Ann
Arbor and Wasthnew County in which it is lo-
cated. As a result it was found that in this
territory there were 500 families without pianos
that had children of an age to take instruction
on that instrument. Immediately after this in-
formation was compiled, the firm began a direct
campaign upon these people, a mail drive being
carried on to acquaint them with the standing
of the house, the pianos that it handled, and
the advantages of a musical education for their
children. The names of the prospects were also
sent to the manufacturers of the various pianos
which the firm handles, the standing and pros-
perity of the prospects being taken into con-
sideration when this distribution was made.
The store then offered to give the children
in these homes a period of ten weeks' piano
training free, providing piano, teacher and the
studio where the children could study, followed
up by the offer of a number of valuable prizes
in a piano-playing contest, which will be held
some time in September. A condition of those
who are enrolled in the course is that the par-
ents themselves must take an interest in their
children's work and see that they attend regu-
larly. Early results indicated, according to Mr.
Pulfrey, that the plan is sure to sell these
families a good number of pianos.
Here is the example of the canvasser being
used to develop the information on which a
logical and direct-selling campaign for the
piano may be worked out, a campaign which
is based directly upon facts, and one that has
every chance of developing a sales volume
which will more than compensate for the finan-
cial investment which it represents. The can-
vasser, properly used, is not only the means
of direct sales; he can be made, and profitably,
the basis of the retail piano merchant's entire
selling campaigns.
H. C. Wildermuth States Canvasser
Receives Better Welcome Than Before
IT
is widely claimed in selling circles that
there are too many canvassers in the field
and that, as a result, that type of salesman is
finding it more and more difficult to obtain a
hearing from whoever answers the ring of his
doorbell. Few business men, however, ever
stop to think that the development of direct
selling has also had the effect of accustoming
people to this type of salesmanship, with the
result that the canvasser in many cases finds
it easier than ever to obtain the interview and
a respectful hearing for his selling talk.
Henry C. Wildermuth, treasurer of the Whit-
ney-Blaine-Wildermuth Co., Toledo; O., is one
of those who find that the average person
solicited is far more charitable to the piano
canvasser than was the case only a few years
ago. On the whole, he states, the average
person to-day is more intelligent and eager for
information regarding musical instruments than
was the case in the past, and as a result there
is little of the old slamming of the door in the
face of the solicitor. All this operates, of
course, to decrease the overhead expense in-
volved in this type of selling.
Mr. Wildermuth pointed out that at times
canvassing is done in city territory with can-
vassing crews, but that he has found that this
method is costly and not always productive of
results. The most reliable and least expensive
way, in his opinion, is for the salesman to do
the canvassing directly, for then he is more
familiar with every angle of each possible sale.
With the Whitney-Blaine-Wildermuth house,
canvassing salesmen are usually assigned to
territory with which they are fully familiar,
and, if in a foreign-speaking section, they can
speak the language of the majority of the in-
habitants. In other words, this firm knows
that if a canvasser is to be successful in the
full sense of the word he should fit the ter-
ritory which he "canvasses. Those who work
outside the city proper use the automobile.
Here prospects are more scattered and it is a
difficult task to get them to come to the store,
so the firm only works them for a period of
six months and then ceases to consider them as
possible buyers.
The greater qualification which a canvasser
can have, thinks this firm, is the ability to dis-
tinguish between real buyers and those who
display slight interest but which can be placed
in this category. Hence they are instructed to
use every effort to secure an interview with an
adult member of the family, in order to elimi-
nate what in many cases turns out to be weeks
of profitless work. This sense of discrimina-
tion is what keeps the selling expense from
mounting to unprofitable heights.
Hopper-Kelly Canvassers
Must Close Their Sales
' T P H E Hopper-Kelly Co., of Seattle, keeps two
•*• canvassers out all the time, for the benefit
of its phonograph department, using men who
select their own territory at will and who must
be salesmen enough to close their own sales
with their prospects. No salesmen direct from
the store follow up on these people. If the
canvasser cannot close his own sales he is fired
for someone who can. Mr. Murdoch, manager
of the department, feels that canvassing is a
JUNE 4, 1927
large part of the success of any phonograph
department and states that at least a good per-
cent of their business is brought in this way.
He does not find that it is necessary for
the canvassers to have any particular musical
knowledge. With the modern line of repro-
ducers to use as an opening wedge, it is usually
a simple matter to find an entrance, either by
asking to demonstrate the immense difference
to be found by putting one of them on an old
phonograph, or by giving a good sales talk
on the new machines, if no instrument is found.
Many reproducer sales turn out to be prospects
for one of the new machines later on. It is
always the earnest endeavor of the canvasser
lo arrange for a home demonstration as these
nearly always result in sales.
Finds 80 Per Cent of
Sales From Canvassers
" 1 1 7 A. BYE, manager of the Chickering
* ' * Warerooms, Milwaukee, states that 80
per cent of the business done at that store is
the result of canvassing the trade. The ter-
ritory, according to Mr. Bye, is divided into
crews of four or five men, who are expected
to cover a given district once every four
months. A man is given a territory and he
is responsible for a certain amount of business
from that territory. If the business does not
come in another man is put in the place. "I
certainly believe in the canvassing system,"
said Mr. Bye. "If it were not for canvassing
there would be very little business."
(Continued next week)
New Diminutive Grand
Introduced by Schumann
Schumann Piano Co. Announces New Four-
Foot-One Grand of Six Octave Range and a
New Small Upright—To Be Shown At Con-
vention
Two new and very interesting additions to the
line of the Schumann Piano Co., of Rockford,
111., have been announced, and will be shown
to the trade at the conventions in Chicago next
week.
The first of these is a new grand only 49
inches long, 46 inches wide, and 35 inches from
the floor to the top. The instrument, known as
the Schumann Parlorette Grand, has a keyboard
of 72 notes, or six octaves, has been designed
to meet the demands of the increasing number
of small apartment dwellers who have wel-
comed the recent reduction in the size of up-
rights and are inclined to favor the grand type
of instrument.
As a companion to the new grand, Schumann
is also building a tiny upright only 44 inches
high, 56 inches wide and 44 inches deep, but
with the standard 88-note keyboard.
Both the new instruments are finished in the
Schumann "Smooth-As-Satin" lacquer that has
been widely admired since its introduction in
connection with the company's new line of
period models.
The Schumann exhibit will be in Rooms 412
and 413 of the New Stevens Hotel, where deal-
ers may inspect the new instruments, as well as
the regular and period types of pianos in the
company's line. Visitors will be welcomed by
W. N. Van Matre, Jr., president of the com-
pany; Charles B. Mclntosh, vice-president; J.
B. Hurst, secretary and plant supervisor; V. V.
Hrdlicka, O. W. Christian and G. L. Kessler.
Opens New Department
PITTSBURGH, PA V May 28. Chas. M. Stieff, Inc.,
the well-known piano merchants of 819 Liberty
avenue, have formally opened a new department
devoted to the demonstration and sale of Ortho-
phonic Victrolas. T. B. Newberne, manager of
the store, is enthusiastic regarding the manner
in which business in the new section is starting.