Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
OWEN OF PASADENA
THINKS PIANOS
AND SELLS THEM
LIVER P. OWEN moved his Crown
Music Co. into a larger home early
this year for the simple reason that
he needed more space for his grow-
ing piano business!
"Pianos are still selling, and selling well, in
spite of all arguments to the contrary," says
Mr. Owen, "and I am not prepared to say
that the radio, the automobile, and the danc-
ing school have put the good old ivory key-
board out of the picture. We are selling pianos
with as much enthusiasm as ever, and, when
we are persistent in our sales effort, and use
the correct appeal, we always pet results.
Getting the Leads
"I assume that the first thing to discuss when
discussing modern methods of selling pianos i 1 -
the securing of the leads. No grown person
ever enters our store for any kind of a pur-
chase or service without our seeking for leads
through inquiry. No one escapes. The con-
versation is brought around to it in a diplo-
matic way. If we know the customer has chil-
dren we are apt to ask how the children are
getting along in music. We ask if the piano
needs tuning, and, finally, if she (or lie) in
her list of personal friends dors not know of
one or more contemplating the purchase of a
piano in order to start a child in on music.
"This system supplies us with a great many
leads. A large number arc also secured from
other business men. 1 am always thinking of
leads when making purchases in other stores.
The other day in a clothing store I tactfully
brought up the matter when talking with a
salesman. 'Well,' said he, '1 know of no better
prospect than myself; 1 have a little daughter
whom I wish to start in on piano lessons soon!'
I sold that man a piano the following day and
a radio set as well.
"We conduct the largest piano rental busi-
ness in Pasadena, I feel sure of that, and
every third rental results in a sale! I regard
every person seeking a rental as a prospect for
a sale, and let me remark that a very large
percentage of those coming to the store to
inquire about rentals conclude their visit by
buying rather than renting. We have scores
of pianos rented at all times, and, while the
rental business will stand on its own feet, nev-
ertheless, I must say that our chief interest
in it is that it furnishes us with an immense
number of prospects for sales. We have pianos
to rent at reasonable rentals, and yet, if when
the prospective renter comes to the store, we
conclude that buying is a better proposition
for that person, w r e present the facts to him,
or her, and, in a great many cases, the person
sees the light.
Other Leads From Rental Customers
"The rental plan brings a great many people
to the office window once each month to pay
rentals. We never fail to lead the conversa-
tion around and ask for leads. Ninety-nine
times out of a hundred a prospective buyer is
suggested! Seldom does anyone pay a month's
rent on a. piano without suggesting to us a
prospective buyer.
"I wish'also to add to the above the thought
that the rentals are serving to keep people
'piano minded' in Pasadena,!
O
"So much for the securing of leads, now for
the methods of selling.
Appeal Through the Children Still Effective
"The appeal that indicates interest in chil-
dren still works! It is today as formerly the
strongest appeal that can be made to the par-
ent. The real conscientious piano salesman
Oliver P. Owen
must show the parent that the child will bene-
fit from the purchase of a piano. Bear that
in mind.
"Our leads are followed up religiously. I
try my best to go to all homes suggested my-
self. I never try to enter a home in a brusque
manner, for that shows too keen a, desire to
sell and not sufficient desire to render service
for service's sake. Of course in the matter
of the approach circumstances must always gov-
ern methods, but ordinarily I begin the con-
versation with the statement that I have heard
that the little daughter is interested in music,
and the mother is led into conversation before
the fact that I am a piano salesman is made
known. I must say that diplomacy must be
used right here. It is in most cases a mistake
to blurt out immediately that you are a sales-
man, and, on the other hand, a noticeable effort
to conceal that information for any length of
time is also apt to be fatal. Common sense
must dictate the proper balance here.
A Telling Argument
"A long time ago, I read that most suc-
cessful professional men have musical tenden-
cies, nearly everyone of them being able to
play some instrument. I have made a study
of that situation in Pasadena, and I have found
that practically every successful professional
man entering my store is musical and can play
an instrument of some kind. I have the fig-
ures on this, and they ma,ke a telling argu-
ment. I also have at my fingers' end state-
ments of educators that pupils who are tak-
ing or have taken some musical instruction
are more amenable to discipline, more com-
panionable, more alert mentally than those who
have taken no music. I stress without over-
doing it the value of musical instruction in
the building of human character as well as the
social value of it.
Concerning the Radio
"I do not wish to be understood as knock-
ing radio sales, for our store is decidedly in
the radio business, but I must emphasize the
fact that it is part of my business to urge the
buying of pianos first and radios second. Of
course I meet on every hand this argument,
'Our next purchase will be a radio, not a piano.
We wish something that everyone in the house
can enjoy!' What am I to say in such a case?
1 must resort to the age-old argument that
the latent talents of the daughter must not
be neglected. 'A piano,' I tell the customer,
'will bring out your child's talent. It is ed-
ucational. If you get a radio first, ten chances
to one your daughter's own musical talent will
never find expression. Do not deny your fam-
ily the pleasures and educational advantages of
radio, but let the piano and your daughter's
musical education come first. Do you not
realize that if every family in the land should
buy a radio and never buy a piano twenty years
from now there would be no musicians to
furnish music for radio broadcast?' The ap-
peal is always for the education and the de-
velopment of the child. Always! It was in the
old day when pianos were easy to sell, and it
must be today.
"The fond father and mother interested in
Margaret's musical education are not relics of
the past. They still exist in numbers just as
great as ever. It is folly to think parents have
lost interest in such matters. From the stand-
point of the piano salesman, however, here is
one big difference. There was a time when
the piano salesman could do all the directing
of the customer's mind. He could in the old
days show the way and all the way, tell the
customer how to finance the proposition, and
assume the initiative nearly one hundred per
cent. In the new day with the present re-
sistance and with the present competition the
salesman must let his mind run along with the
customer's mind to a greater extent. He needs
more diplomacy, more tact, more personal con-
sideration. He must advance his front line
trenches with a, little more caution.
"The great law of averages has never been
taken from the statute books of salesmanship,
however, and the fact remains that the sales-
man who makes a large number of contacts
today, as in the old day, must sell a large
number of pianos. He has to in the very na-
ture of things if he is a salesman at all and
meets modern conditions as they fa,ce him.
Using the Music Teacher
"Of course in securing leads we use the
teacher of piano. We have a number who
are loyal to us. I know that these must be
picked cautiously for many of them are not
loyal to any one dealer. In securing their
co-operation I lay down the law very firmly at
the beginning. I tell them that we cannot put
in our time in following up leads unless we are
being furnished with those leads exclusively.
Starting correctly in such a matter is half of
the success of it.
(Please turn to page 21)
. '