Music Trade Review

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NEW VIGOR for the
PIANO BUSINESS?
V
w
HERE S ONE ANSWER
H A T
juvenate the p i a n o
By W. S. BOND
will give
business.
President Weaver Piano Co., York, Pa.
the piano
This also involves a
business
higher regard for the
new vigor again? Not
value of the piano on
Mr. Bond doesn't offer a theory on what to do. He tells
the part of collectors.
new models. This has
what his company has done, successfully, to develop retail
No collection policy is
been tried \v i t h o u t
successful t h a t does
brilliant success.
piano sales. A plan within the reach of every dealer.
not include a fair num-
Not excessive low-
b e r of repossessions
ering of manufactur-
er's and retail prices, although prices will gradually work under present conditions after making every possible effort
lower. But lower prices are not a successful selling argu- to save the sale in each case by collecting on the account to
ment. There is no present standard of manufacturer's prices avoid the necessity of repossessing. To assume the attitude
to dealers. Dealers can buy pianos at any price. They can not to repossess pianos from delinquent customers because the
pick up pianos for a very few dollars from private homes pianos are not worth it is a defeatist attitude that not only
where the people do not know how to sell a piano and where reduces the returns from delinquent accounts but also en-
they are in financial distress or where they do not have the courages the public in its failure to appreciate the value of
intelligence to appreciate the real value of the piano with the piano as a basic musical instrument and to appreciate the
the family. Dealers can buy pianos from bankrupt stocks value of piano instruction for children. Actual experience
at much less than half what they would cost to produce if has taught us that a certain number of accounts will yield
the dealers are willing to take their chances on pianos that more money in collections with a repossessing policy than the
are made up of odds and. ends of material that are left over same accounts previously yielded without repossessing a cer-
in a plant and sometimes are misfits and cause trouble even tain proportion of the pianos.
though the material and supplies are actually of good qual-
We have developed a plan in what we term our Retail
ity. Dealers can buy pianos for less than they are worth from Selling Laboratory by which we can successfully interest par-
other manufacturers who are not bankrupt but are liquidat- ents in piano instruction for their children and can sell pianos
ing their business, provided they feel they can sell pianos to them.
profitably which come from those sources. Dealers who wish
HERE IS THE PLAN
to do the most constructive kind of business can buy pianos
from established manufacturers who sell their pianos at a
We select the homes where there are children from five
narrow margin above the present cost of
to fifteen years of age- and no piano. We
producing them under the most eco-
locate these homes by taking a musical
nomical circumstances. Some established
census. After we had developed the
manufacturers also have an excess num-
plan, we found that one man or woman
ber of certain styles of pianos which
could take the census of 150 homes a
were in stock when the slump in piano
day on the average. Next, we persuade
sales first occurred; some of theme were
the parents to let their children come in
also in process of construction at that
for free test lessons, but before doing this
time.
we have our solicitors recite a manual to
both parents in the home showing the
From the above it will be seen that
importance of piano training for children.
there is no real standard of manufac-
This story requires about twenty-five min-
turers' prices at this time so that a reduc-
utes in the telling. When the children
tion of prices by established manufac-
come in, we teach them to sing and play
turers would not have any very material
their own accompaniment to the old song
effect on the market.
"Long, Long Ago," in the first lesson.
Constructive work on the value of
We then teach them to sing and play
piano training for children and a higher
"Jingle Bells" and other songs, and then
regard for the importance of the value of
give
a group recital with parents present.
the piano on the part of manufacturers,
{Please turn to page 17)
dealers and salesmen everywhere will re-
\y. S. BOND
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW,
February, 1932