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Musical Merchandise Section of The Music Trade Review
Big Unit Radio Sales
Mean a Greater Profit
(Continued from page 5)
if the product was properly presented and they
had a chance to appreciate not only its musical
qualities and possibilities, but its decorative
features as well. That particular dealer, and I
know of a number of others like him, has seen
the light and is going after the big unit sale
in radio. He is getting results because the time
is ripe to get that return.
"To many members of the music trade radio
has been more or less of a mystery. Some of
them have had rather sad experiences, either
because the merchandise did not stand up ac-
cording to promises, or frequent changes in
styles and designs made necessary th-e liquida-
tion of valuable stocks on hand at a consider-
able loss. Now, however, the situation may be
regarded as quite settled, especially with the
perfection of the AC receivers. There may be
improvements—in fact, there are bound to be—
but it is very doubtful that they will be so
radical as to affect seriously the desirability or
salability of the instruments that are being
placed on the market this year. In short, the
public can make substantial investments in
radio apparatus without fearing that next sea-
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son or the season after it will have become
antiquated—and the public apparently knows it.
"Let us view the situation calmly from the
selling and servicing angle. Admittedly, a sale
is a sale, and it costs just about as much to
sell and install a $200 radio as it does one list-
ing at from $500 to $1,000. I am not juggling
figures when I say that a great deal of the
dealer's profit lies in whether he makes two
sales to amount to $1,000, or whether he must
make five or six to realize that total. In the
first place, when home demonstrations are
given, the cost of sending out the instrument,
and the salesman to demonstrate it, is just as
much in the case of a low-priced receiver as it
is in the case of a high-priced one and if the
prospects are properly selected, the possibilities
of a sale are about equal. We will assume, for
the sake of argument, that the dealer has a
discount of forty per cent from list to play
with, which means $400 on a $1,000 instrument,
and the same amount on a half dozen cheaper
outfits totaling $1,000 list. When he sells the
big unit he has one demonstrating and selling
charge, and only one servicing problem. When
he has to sell half a dozen machines to equal
the same volume, he multiplies his demonstrat-
ing, selling and servicing costs by six. It does
not require a university education to figure out
the difference in the net profits resulting from
the two classes of sales, and it is not necessary
to point out that servicing charges on higher 1 -
priced models are likely to be less than on the
lower-priced ones, because the manufacturer
can afford to use better materials, insist on bet-
ter workmanship, and spend more for final in-
spection and testing.
"Let me say that this field for the high-class
radio receiver and combination does not simply
exist in the mind, for our own experience, as
well as the experience of a number of our deal-
ers, has proven that such instruments can be
sold in surprisingly large numbers when sales
effort is concentrated on them and the proper
class of prospect is approached. Some time
ago, for instance, we introduced a new model
radio-phonograph conbination designed after
the 17th Century Spanish school, and listing at
$930. One of the instruments was placed in
the home of one of our directors in Boston, who
took occasion to play it during the course of
a party held in his home. The result was three
After March 10th
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This move will give us an
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SLINGERLAND
BANJO
MULLER & KAPLAN
Belden Ave. and Ward St.
CHICAGO, ILL.
Strings for Musical Instruments
South Norwalk, Conn.
insistent orders for instruments of that exact
type. Our own president, in fact, Mr. Deutsch,
has had one of these models in his home for
testing purposes and has since been kept busy
explaining to several of his friends that the
instruments will be delivered to them as soon
as available. There are thousands of people
throughout the United States equally approach-
able and equally ready to buy when they arc
made to understand just what is offered.
"The average piano dealer and his salesmen
should not hesitate to talk big figures in selling
radio any more than they hesitate when de-
manding from $1,000 or $3,000 or more for a
piano, particularly when in the modern radio
they have so much to offer in perfected tonal
qualities and distinctive cabinet designs, which
will add to the attractiveness of any home.
The people to whom he has sold high-class
pianos are the very people to whom he can
sell high-class radios, providing, of course, he
lias confidence in the product he is selling and
it has intrinsic worth to justify the price. He
has for years enjoyed exclusive territorial rights
on certain makes of pianos and has been able,
with confidence, to sell the instruments on their
recognized name value, quite as much as upon
his local reputation. The same opportunity
now exists in the radio field, for if he is dis-
cerning he can select a pro-duct of established
reputation, such as that bearing the Sonora
name, for instance, and then receive territorial
protection that will enable him to put forth his
best efforts in the confidence that the business
he is building up will not be taken from him
by other dealers suddenly established in his
community. If he uses discretion in the selec-
tion of the proper lines and thinks in terms ot
high quality and big unit sales, he is going to
do a profitable business. Perhaps the gross fig-
ures may not be as large as though he had a
quantity turnover in low-priced instruments,
but the net figures will tell a different story.
"I do not want to appear in the light of criti-
cizing or condemning the popular-priced makes
of radio receivers, many of which offer excel-
lent value for the price demanded. There is a
field for them and always will be among the
masses, and although the music merchant will
do well to take full advantage of his opportuni-
ties and his contacts to concentrate on higher-
priced units, he can still continue to carry a
line or two that appeals to the popular taste
and pocketbook. This is the sort of business
that will take care of itself more or less, and
if he does not have to depend upon it entirely
for his sales volume, he will not have to enter
into profit-killing competition with a score of
, other dealers similarly situated in his own ter-
ritory. Where low-priced competition exists
it invariably means expensive waste in demon-
strationf increased servicing demands, and fre-
quently the problem of meeting the price cutter,
the man who in his anxiety to move stock and
build up his gross will cut into what should be
a fair discount to an extent where there is no
profit left. With a high-class line in a protected
territory, the dealer can get his price, provid-
ing always, of course, that the sales ability is
there."
Samuel Stevens, proprietor of Stevens Music
House, 217 West Main street, Norristown, Pa.,
recently celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of
the establishment of his business.
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