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rains
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"Does that apply to both popular and
classic?"
"Oh, yes! I have some customers who want
mostly popular music, but I occasionally send
. along with them a pretty, light classic and that
stays, too, and in most cases leads to a reques;
for more of the same kind. I have many cus-
tomers who began with popular music only
who are now buying Chopin, Mendelssohn,
and others of the more tuneful classics. Gold-
berg had a musical cartoon in the paper some
years ago, in which he made one of his char-
acters ask if a certain composition was a sauterne
or a nocturne. There are many people who
don't know the difference but they do know a
good tune when they hear it, and they don't
care whether it was written by Chopin or
Irving Berlin. Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu"
became a best seller when the public learned
about this beautiful melody through its having
been used for 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows.' "
"What is the best seller of all?" I asked.
"There is not one best," said Miss Day, "but
several, Liszt's 'Liebestraum' is one. Rachmani-
noff's 'C sharp Minor Prelude' is another, and
~ so is Mendelssohn's 'Spring Song.' These with
a dozen or more others are at the head of the
list. Every one wants them and there are lots
of others just as good, and I always take pains
to have a customer, especially a new Ampico
owner, hear some of the less well-known pieces
with the same tuneful appeal."
"Then you must know your catalog pretty
well."
"Of course I do," said Miss Day. "How
could I sell recordings without knowing the
merits of what I have to sell? I know every
piece, and once I get a line on a customer's
taste in music, I can tell him of many he has
never heard of that I am sure he will like—
and they do like them. That's how I have
gained their confidence and why they let me
send them any of the new recordings that I
• know will meet their taste."
"But don't you have people dropping in to
hear recordings?"
"Surely we do. Let's go and see."
We went out and found several of the attrac-
tive demonstration rooms occupied with cus-
tomers. "Right there on top of the piano," here
' M i s s Day pointed to the Ampico in each of
the demonstration rooms, "are all the new
recordings—popular on one side, the classics
and light classics and ballads on the other.
Most customers who come in will try over at
least half of them. Sometimes they come here
and spend the whole morning or afternoon.
Other attractive recordings are in those open
cabinets in each room. We believe in being
shrewd stage managers and putting appealing
recordings where the customers will readily find
them. All the chairs in the demonstration
rooms are comfortable; pianos are all in per-
fect condition. Any of the recordings a cus-
tomer selects from the demonstration room
stock are instantly re-
placed as soon as he
leaves. Our
customers
can smoke there, too, if
they like. Matches and
ash trays are in each
room. It all goes to
make it comfortable and
This
easy to hear and enjoy
the music and adds to
our sales. Another thing we have found suc-
cessful is never to give a customer only the
recording he asks to hear. With it we inva-
riably hand him two or three others of similar
appeal saying, 'Try these also; you will like
them.' And they do like them, and the result
is the sale of three or four recordings instead
of one. That comes of our knowing our goods
and sizing up a customer's taste."
"Doesn't it take a long time to acquire that
knowledge?"
"Not at all if one is oneself fond of music
and observant as to a customer's reactions. Our
own enthusiasm helps. We cannot help show-
ing that we love the music and then we go to
concerts, especially those of Ampico artists, and
can talk about the music. The stories of the
pieces in the catalog and bulletins are a great
help to understanding them and making a cus-
tomer understand and want them."
"What do you do if a customer lets a month
or two go by without ordering anything?"
"That's where we get busy on the telephone
or through a personal visit to find out the rea-
son why. Sometimes it is because they have
been away, sometimes because of sickness, but
frequently because of sheer laziness. When it
is the latter, we get permission to bring up a
bunch of the late music and play it over.
That renews their interest in the Ampico and
we keep after them each month. You see, we
regard every Ampico that is used as a fine
advertisement. Many sales are made to people
who have heard the Ampico in the home of an
enthusiastic owner. When we get the name of
such a person, it is handed to our sales depart-
ment and they do the rest. No, we never let
an Ampico owner get out of the habit of using
his instrument. Sometimes, when we find an
Ampico owner has not bought anything for
some time, we send up a couple of new record-
ings with our compliments. That invariably
brings an appreciative letter of thanks and more
often than not, brings them in to buy more."
"Who are the favorite Ampico artists?"
"That is fairly hard to answer," said Miss
Day with a puzzled look. "You see, we have
several thousand owners and their tastes are
widely varied. Some tell me to send them
everything played by this or that favorite
artist. Rachmaninoff is a great favorite. So is
Levitzki. Some want everything .played by
Volavy. One will take any operatic number.
Another will want everything of Chopin, and
so it goes,"
Ampico Studio is Home-Like
"And the popular artists?" I asked.
"They have their following, too. Arden and
Carroll are perhaps the leaders. They have
their radio and theatre audiences which give
them a huge public and they are known from
coast to coast. But after all, it's the popularity
of a number that sells popular music. A big hit
sells well no matter who plays it."
"You don't take care of all those thousands
of owners yourself, do you?"
"Certainly not. I have my own list of cus-
tomers and my several assistants each have
theirs. I have trained them all in the methods
I have described to you and we are all doing
business. Our recording sales this year are far
ahead of last year, and a corresponding increase
in new prospects, handed to the sales depart-
ment is another thing that we are proud of too."
"Do all your assistants know the catalog as
well as you do?"
"Yes, every one of them. When the new
music arrives we go into session to hear it,
study the descriptions in the bulletin and com-
ment on every piece. We know just where we
can sell any number that comes out and, as I
said before, when a customer who has received
the bulletin announcing the new recordings
comes in to hear a certain piece, we are able
to direct his attention to a half dozen or more
others of the same character. Such a customer
never goes out with the one recording he came
to buy, but several others besides—sometimes
as many as a dozen. It all comes through know-
ing the catalog and knowing a customer's taste
and our ability to size up by the character of
the piece he comes to hear what other pieces
we have that he is sure to like."
"Does it pay to give so much space to your
recording department?"
"It certainly does. Our sales of recordings
show a handsome profit and there is its value
as a prospect getter for our sales department.
What we send them in the way of names of
possible Ampico purchasers who have heard the
Ampico in owner's homes is the biggest return
on the investment. I attribute our success to
the fact that we all—myself and my assistants—
know our business, and my advice to anyone
having charge of selling recordings, no matter
how small a number of owners, is to know the
catalog, hear all the new numbers, study your
customers' taste and cater to it, get their con-
fidence and keep up their interest. The results
are surprising in recordings sold and the leads
to new sales is perhaps the best part of all."