Music Trade Review

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PUBLIC RELATIONS
(Continued from Page 0)
Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Most of
Mr. Yager's friends thought he was
committing financial suicide bv inviting
wholesale returns, and for ptifchases
made over a five year periou.
Results Were Satisfactory
The results must have been satisfac-
tory because one year later, on January
1, 1948, Jack Yager repeated the. ad,
offering adjustments on the same basis
for any purchases made during the pre-
ceding twelve months. I am not sug-
gesting that Mr. Yager's ideas should
be adopted by anyone else. What I do
want to point out is that here was a suc-
cessful merchant who set so terrifically
high a valuation on his relations with
his customer-public that he was willing
to go to extreme lengths to make sure
they would continue to be favorable.
He no doubt ran similar ads at the
beginning of 1949 and 1950.
All in all. the store's customer-public
is one that the store owner should most
assuredly be anxious to impress favor-
ably. But does he really think about it?
Does he give consideration to all the
different phases of customer contact?
It is perfectly obvious that if good
relations are to be maintained with the
customer-public it must usually be done
through the store's employees. This re-
quires training and supervision. Em-
ployees must be told exactly what is
expected of them. They must be given
a course of instruction if necessary and
it must be followed with constant check-
ing up. But we all know that this is not
enough, that it won't work unless the
employees are thoroughly "sold" on the
store and on what it stands for. This
requires a lot more than just training
and supervision. It requires a lot more
than a fair wage, a summer vacation
with pay, and a clean locker room. I
once knew the head of a fairly large
store who did everything he thought was
right for his employees. He was really
very paternalistic and it amazed him
out of all reason when one of his im-
portant operating departments joined a
union and went on strike. He couldn't
understand what he termed "such in-
gratitude after all he had done for
them." He was overlooking the fact that
along with his paternalism he was also
very despotic and never let anyone for-
get that he was the boss. He was for-
getting, if, indeed, he had ever realized
it, that everyone likes to feel important,
likes to feel that he is a valued member
8
of the team, that he is free to voice his
opinion, and that his opinion will be
listened to.
Building Employee Morale
This is not the time for a discussion
on how to build employee morale. Let
me point out, however, that the em-
ployee must be treated as a respected
individual and as an important mem-
ber of the organization, and he must be
made to feel that the organization is a
good one, and that its aims are worthy,
or else it is futile, and perhaps even
fata], to trust him with the store's cus-
tomer contacts. In other words, if the
store would have good relations with
its customer-public it must, perforce,
have good relations with its employee
public.
It is easy to see how our pattern of
good public relations should be ex-
tended to include the store's vendors.
They, too, play their part in the main-
tenance of the store's customer good-
will.
In the 1930's the buyers of many
stores took advantage of the economic
situation and sandbagged the manufac-
turers out of Lower prices, unwarranted
terms and discounts, unfair shipping
terms, advertising allowances, immedi-
ate and frequent shipments, etc. They
deliberately overbought and then can-
celled orders at the last minute without
consideration or scruple. There was
much muttering among manufacturers
about "when the day comes."
In the 1940s the shoe was on the other
foot. Demand was greater than supply
and many manufacturers took advan-
tage of it. Buyers had to bribe them
with lavish entertainment or gifts;
stores had to advertise the manufactur-
ers' products in magazines, etc. Once
again it was a rat race. •
A few of the more intelligent stores
and manufacturers gave thought to this
situation and began to publicize the
idea that since manufacturers and stores
are interdependent, they should be able
to get along with each other. It had
literally taken about two decades of ups
and downs for that simple truth to sink
in. But do the representatives of all
stores do their share to establish friend-
ly contacts with the representatives of
manufacturers? In all too many stores,
for instance, vendors' salesmen are
made to wait in anterooms only to be
told after an hour or so that Mr. Buyer
won't be able to see them. If only the
representatives of both stores and man-
ufacturers would apply the Golden Rule
in their treatment of one another and
would recognize that they aiv all mem-
bers of the same manufacturing and
distributing team, they would help one
another do a better job during both the
ups and down of business cycles. A
store would have greater assurance of
an uninterrupted flow of the merchan-
dise it needs and that its customers want.
Community Welfare
No one will seriously question the
fact that retailers^should be interested
in the general welfare of their commu-
nities, but how many of them take their
proper place in the many activities
that promote that welfare? Aside from
any question of moral responsibility, it's
just good business sense for a store
owner to be interested in such things as
community development, in the general
adoption of community standards, in
competitive practices, and in anything
else that promotes better business in his
town or city.
Everyone who can afford it is glad
to support a worthy charity. The store-
owner is no exception but beyond that
he is expected to take an active part in
various drives and to be a member of
various boards. His position as a re-
tailer, with his great public contact,
makes it almost inevitable that he be
expected to take a leading role in any-
thing that affects people. That is all to
ness, every speech he makes, every bit
of community work he doe- adds to the
sion of him. Sooner or late<", a reputa-
the good. Even though such activities
have no immediate bearing on his busi-
sum total of his community's impres-
tion as a good, stolid civic leader \v!io
can be counted on to support the rlyiit
things in the right way cannot help but
benefit the retailer's business. The gen-
eral community is very definitely a part
of his public.
There remains one more portion of
the retailer's public that is becoming
more important to him all the time and
presents him with a somewhat different
type of problem. I am referring to gov-
ernment. It is manifestly impossible for
the average retailer to maintain per-
sonal contact with the law-makers or
with government bureaus, either federal
or state. And yet it is important that
some such contact be maintained. It
could happen that some hastily pre-
pared statute were so harmful as to
pretty nearly legislate him out of busi-
ness, or that some desirable restrictions
be made needlessly harsh. Here, the
retailer's best bet is to work with and
through whatever retail associations he
belongs to.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, JANUARY, 1951