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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 19U
200 Attend
N. Y. Clinic
Dealers Surrounding Metropolis
Spend
Interesting Day
The much heralded Retail Piano Sales
Clinic scheduled for New York took place
at the Hotel New Yorker on March 24th.
This was the next to the last of the 1941
series which took place in Boston on
March 31st. Although the latter offered
New England dealers an opportunity to
come and learn in their own territory many
dealers from New England also attended
the New York meetings.
The chairman of the New York meet-
ings was Clarence S. Hammond, treasurer
of the National Association of Music Mer-
chants and manager of the piano depart-
Mr. Selz's remarks were based on a sur-
vey which had been made of forty lead-
ing dealers throughout the country. He
read excerpts from letters which had been
received from some of these dealers. He
urged that all dealers employ a certified
public accountant which he stated could
be done at a reasonable figure and which
would save the dealer many dollars in
the long run. On publicity expense he
stated that the average was 4.8% and
that some advertising expense ran as
high as 7%. On allowances and trade-in
he urged dealers not to forget that every
9
by saving social security and other taxes.
He cited one instance where 1545 tuning
contracts averaged $2.8 each per year
and stated that the proper schedule of
tuning fees should be $4.00 for one tun-
ing, of which the tuner gets $2.25, $7.00
for two tunings per year, $10.00 for three
tunings and $12.00 for four tunings. On
contract work the tuner should get $2.00
for each tuning, he said.
The program followed in other clinics
which were held in St. Louis, Mo.. Fort
Worth, Texas, Los Angeles. Cal., San Fran-
cisco, Portland, O., Washington D. C.
Chicago, HI., Cincinnati, O., Atlanta, Ga.
and Boston, Mass, was adhered to in New
York. R. M. Severa of R. H. Macy & Co.
spoke on "The Right Way to Make Col-
lections" and the "The Ideal Piano Ad"
was the subject of A. H. Motley, vice pres-
ident of the Crowell, Collier, Pub Co., W.
C. Roux, promotion manager of the
National Broadcast Co., spoke on "Air
Waves Can Move Pianos" and W. S. Wil-
cox of the Libby-Owens-Ford Glass Co..
read the address on "Good Windows."
"Stopping Traffic" was the given title of
the address of Dana O'Clare, display
Banquet Held During the New York Piano Sales Clinic at Hotel New Yorker, March 24th
ment of Frederick Loesser & Co., Brooklyn.
Lawrence H. Selz, publicity counsel for
the National Piano Manufacturers Associa-
tion, under whose auspices the clinics
were held, was the first to address the
guests his subjects being "A Good Ac-
counting System," "Trade-ins" and "The
Service Department." In each of the
clinics these subjects were dscussed at
length much to the advantage of those
present and Mr. Selz revealed many in-
teresting facts from a recent research
which was made throughout the country.
Mr. Hammond dwelt at length on the
importance of training young men in the
sales division of the business and said
that he hoped that dealers would make
a point of interesting small groups of
young men and taking time to train them
properly. This he felt would be one of
the most progressive moves that dealers
could make for the retail business.
item of overhead which is figured in on
the sale of new pianos should be added
to the cost of a trade in after renovating
expenses had been determined. He found
that many dealers had not considered
many items which should be in the ex-
penses before the price was put on the
traded in piano for resale and therefor
he was not making a ligitimate profit.
As to the service department he cited
many interesting facts from the survey
showing that with the proper manage-
ment a service department could be made
to pay big dividends. He said that con-
trol of salesmen's promises to customers
is important in this respect, that free ser-
vice should be not more than ninety days
and should not include polishing, that
tuners should receive a commission on
a new tuning or repair job, and that the
best plan of operating was for the dealer
to employ tuners as subcontractors there-
manager of Lord & Taylor and H. R. Wilson
of the Consolidated Edison Co. talked on
"The Light that Leads to Sales." The topic
of "Prospecting" was treated in an address
by W. E. Barton of the Union Central Life
Ins. Co. and "Selling by Mail" by L. Rohe
Walter, advertising manager of the Flint-
kote Co. The last talk on the program
was "Selling by Telephone" by Lewis C.
Elliott Jr., of the New York Telephone Co.
At the Boston Clinic held on March 31st
the same procedure was followed. Jerome
F. Murphy was the Chairman of this Clinic.
The speakers included Harry Hailford,
Paine Furniture Co., Clifford R. Davis,
Boston "Post," R. F. Harlow, vice presi-
dent of the Yankee Networks, G. E. Hill,
Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co., P. A.
O'Connell, President, E. T. Slattery Co.,
R. B. Brown, Jr., Boston Edison Co., J. M.
Woodhouse, Union Central Life Ins. Co.
and John H. Sweet, Dickie-Raymond Co.