Music Trade Review

Issue: 1953 Vol. 112 N. 12

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Established 1879
Vol. 112-No. 12
The (jM
REVIEW
December, 1953
2,885th Issue
THE PIONEER PUBLICATION OF THE MUSIC
INDUSTRY
Some Suggestions Based on Experience on
What To Do When Your Buyer Stalls on Price
By VAUGHN VAN CLEVE
I '
said the sales manager
W ELL,"
of a fine and large Eastern
piano house, "I see that you have just
sold a grand piano." "No," said the
salesman, I did not." "Unless I am
badly mistaken, the sale is laying on
my desk now waiting for my OK," said
the sales manager. "I don't consider
that a sale," said the salesman, "sell-
ing a little cripple at $295. is not a
sale to me," said the salesman. "Mr.
Dykes." said the manager, "you have
the same disease that so many piano
salesmen have. You have been quoting
prices on pianos in the hundreds of dol-
lars, even in thousands, so that you have
lost the appreciation for the customers
pocket book. I'll bet if you and your
Wife were about to spend $295, for a
new refrigerator or gas range, it would
assume enormous proportions and that
you would consider it most carefully
before you spent the money. It is only
because you have been dealing in pianos
and their expensive costs so long that
you fail to consider, first that the cost
of any piano is a very large purchase
for the average customer, that he con-
siders it for months, before he finally
makes the purchase, that it usually
mean? the sacrificing of other things
that his family needs and wants, so he
can buy a piano, sometimes even the
cutting down of the food bill and giv-
ing up of needed clothing.
I have known families where the
father had to give up smoking for three
years and the wife made over old
dresses for a like period, because they
were buying a piano for their home.
You also are overlooking completely
the fact, that what is a small amount of
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1953
money to one buyer is a prohibitive
amount to another buyer. It probably
will be harder for this buyer of the
$295 grand to pay for it, than it is for
the buyer of a $2,000 instrument, fur-
thermore because it is not your own
money that is being spent. In other
words you have little consideration for
your buyers pocket book."
A Pointed Example
Here is a short example: Into the
salesroom of a magnificent new auto-
mobile sales room stepped the vice
president of an auto financing company.
He was a young man about thirty-two
years of age. He then had a salary of
around some $10,000 a year and later
became the President of a very large
corp'n. He asked for the owner of this
new business, and was informed that
the owner had not arrived as yet but
would in about an hour or so. The
young executive had just been recently
married, and had been furnishing a new
home, at considerable expense, never-
the-less he wanted a new car and fig-
ured that he might spend as much as
$2000 for it. While waiting for the
owner, he spied a brand new roadster
and walked over to it and was admir-
ing it, when a salesman approached him
and said, "Do you like i t ? " "Yes,"
said the executive, I think it is beauti-
ful, how much does it cost?" "$3,650,"
replied the salesman. "PHEW," said
the young executive, "that's a lot of
money." "That isn't any money for an
automobile." replied the salesman.
"No," said the young executive, What
car do you drive?" The salesman looked
rather sheepish as he replied, "I just
have a little Ford roadster that I run
around in." "Well, it seems that the
question as to what is a lot of money
then is whether it is your money or my
money," said the young executive. He
shortly bought a new car, but not from
that salesman, who had so little respect
for his pocket book.
You as a piano salesman get so used
to saying that one is $1250 and that
one is $975, that you do not realize
that you are dealing in an article of
such expense that it assumes enormous
proportions to your buyer. Stop just a
minute and figure it is your own money
that is being spent and maybe you will
then have a little more respect for your
buyers feelings and his pocket book.
A Sound Talk on Price
But. are we not so far, handling this
matter of price all wrong? That great
maker of salesmen, John H. Patterson,
the founder of the National Cash Reg-
ister Co. and recognized "Daddy" of
modern selling methods, can help us.
He'd proceed in this fashion; .
"Let's See;" This $1000 piano will
with reasonable care render real service
for some forty years. Even then you
will trade it in for $200. That means
that your outlay is only $800—$20.00
a year.—$1.66 per week or less than 24
cents a day. Now isn't it worth that
small amount to have the beauty of a
piano in your home, an education for
your children, it's entertainment culture
and eharm? One thousand dollars
seems a lot of money, but 24 cents a
day seems very little so from that angle
let's approach the price question, it no
longer becomes such a booge boo. Like-
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
wise, if your buyer is making his pur-
chase on terms let us say of 36 months,
then doni talk about spending a thou-
sand dollars but about an investment
of around 28 dollars a month. Talk
always about an investment in a piano,
an investment that pays dividends con-
stantly in the pleasure, the pride of
ownership, its educational values, it's
cultural values. It's not an expense but
an investment that pays big dividends.
We do not spend $25,000 for a home
but we invest the money over a life
time of living and contentment. Dont
let your buyer start talking about a
thousand dollar purchase, keep talking
about an investment of 24 cents a day
it sounds much smaller and it is true.
Three years ago, a couple slightly
beyond middle age wanted to sell their
home. As most of their entire savings
were tied up in this home and the hus-
band was shortly to retire, it was vital
that they obtain it's full value. Two
real estate men, (more interested in
making a quick and easy sale, than
serving the seller), depreciated the
value of their home and tried to con-
vince the Wife that it was worth but a
fraction of the price they wanted and
expected to obtain. The Wife was very
much depressed by this information as
it almost wrecked their future plans.
She was so much disturbed that she
wrote "Unity" in whom she had a great
belief about the question. That replied
with the following, "The Rightful Own-
er of the Property, Claims His Own
Under Divine Law and It's Full Equiva-
lent in the Exchange of Values, Is Now
Ours."
A Forceful Message
What a great selling message that is
for any of us who are in the selling
end of things, whether it be a real
estate deal or a piano sale, the message
is still the same. "Well," in this case
it so worked out, for only a little while
thereafter a couple came to look at the
house and the first remark that the Wife
made was, "Let's buy it Jim, and to
think that here is just what we have
been looking for at a price far less than
we had expected to pay." The sale was
closed at once and the new owners
moved into the property soon and have
never gotten over how fortunate they
were. What a great selling message
again, "The Rightful Owner Of The
Property Claims His Own Under Divine
Law."
Now to get back to our theme, "What
To Do When The Buyer Stalls On
Price." It may be one of several rea-
sons that he is continuously stalling.
Some Reasons
1. He may be thinking in terms of
$1000 or spending that much instead of
investing a savings of $28 a month, if
so. here is where you must convince
him that it is a wise investment, paying
constant dividends. Why not buy a fine
piano exactly as he invests in a home.
He is not spending $1000 but saving
$28 a month. All the worth while things
of life we accumulate by months, even
years, so why not a fine piano?
2. He may not be the rightful owner
of the piano in question. He may have
little or no use for it and therefore his
desire to own it is very weak. Here
then our clue is to bear down again on
the buying motive and stimulate the
desire of ownership.
3. It also may be that you do not
have the right priced piano for him,
and if you have shot off all your big
selling guns on this one particular
piano, then you do have a real problem
and you must backtrack and get on the
right track again. The best thing to do
to my mind would be to have a very
frank talk with your buyer and ask him
just what he can afford to spend and
without backing down on what you have
told him about the piano you have been
trying to sell him, explaining your own
high regard for it. tell him of your
further desire to serve him and then
try to get him back on something that
he can afford and will buy. This is not
always easy and you may even loose
the sale as you made the great mistake
in the beginning, of not finding the
right piano, before you "shot your
wad," so to speak. If, however you do
loose the sale, don't let it get you down
as the sale that is lost is more often
than not more valuable than the one we
sell if we learn a good lesson by it. We
can make twenty sales in the future by
not doing the same thing again.
A Few Rules
In summing up this little article, I
would say that the following rules are
of great importance.
First of all be sure that you have
chosen the right piano as to price wood
size design and that you have been help-
ful with your buyer in the proper selec-
tion of the right piano. Secondly al-
ways have the deepest regards and re-
spect for your buyers pocket book, re-
membering that what to you may seem
a very low price for a fine piano, may
also seem an insurmountable amount
to your customer, and that it is his
money that is being spent, not yours.
Thirdly, always speak of 24c a day and
not the item of $1000, of an investment
of $20 per year. his. piano account is
really a savings account by which he
is accumulating a worth while invest-
ment, an investment from which he will
draw dividends for a life time, in the
form of musical enjoyment, pride of
ownership, an education for his chil-
dren, the beauty of his home. etc.
Fourthly, if the desire of buying is not
strong enough, then make sure that you
stimulate it as people do buy—what
they most want and will buy it and
lastly if you have made the fatal mis-
take of trying to sell the wrong piano,
go back and try to remedy it by switch-
ing to the right one, always remember-
ing that if these things are all in order,
there can be no stalling on price and
that,
"The Rightful Owner Of The Property,
Claims His Own Under Divine Law,"
then there can be no stalling and yours
is "It's Full Equivalent In The Ex-
change Of Values. ' The sales is yours
and you have helped turn the great
wheels of commerce and the profession
of selling is made more worth while.
Music Lovers Attend Concert
At Brodwin Hall, New York
Two hundred music lovers recently
gathered at the hall of the Brodwin
Piano Co. in West 23rd St., New York
to hear a recital by Jimi Beni, bari-
tone, assisted by Erica Bard in a pro-
gram of songs by Mana-Zucca.
Among those who attended were
many 'well-known personalities on the
concert and legitimate stage. The pro-
gram comprised 14 numbers by Jimi
Beni, 9 by Erica Bard as well as one
duet, and the accompanist throughout
the program was Miss Manna-Zucca
composer of the numbers that were
J. E. Lindsey Now Manager
Of E. E. Forbes Gadsden Store
E. E. Forbes, Sr., President of the
E. E. Forbes Piano Co. of Birming-
ham .Ala., has announced the appoint-
ment of J. E. Lindsey as manager of
the Gadsden store. Mr. Lindsey. for
some time has been an outside sales-
man at Gadsden, and has been con-
nected with the E. E. Forbes Co. for
many years.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was manager
of the Gadsden store, has returned to
Anniston, which is his old home town,
and is now acting as an assistant to
the manager. Mr. Miller.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, DECEMBER, 1953

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