Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The Jt usk
Established 1879
Vol. 13-Ho. 11
PIONEER
2,896lh Issue
REVIEW
75lh Year
THE
November, 1954
PUBLICATION
75th Year
O F T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
NMPA Promotion Committee Preparing
Material to Stimulate Piano Demand
The Piano Industry Promotion Com-
mittee appointed by John E. Furlong,
President, National Piano Manufactur-
ers Association and composed of James
V. Sill, chairman, W. E. Janssen, Hen-
ry Z. Steinway and Peter H. Comstock
held a meeting last month and discus-
sed promotion plans for increasing pi-
ano sales which according to Mr. Sill
will be announced in the near future.
"Some one occasionally asks," said
Mr. Sill, whether the Industry Promo-
tion Committee has found an answer
to the question "How to Sell More
Pianos."
"The answer to that question was
known to us when the committee was
formed. The way to sell more pianos
is to make more people want them.
The way to make people want pianos
is to show them what a piano will do
for them.
"This is so simple, and so obvious,
that a stranger in our midst would say,
"Hasn't the Industry been doing that?"
Present Advertising Not Creating
Sales
"Our survey of piano advertising and
promotion shows that it has not. It
shows that there has been almost no
creative selling in recent years, that
over 90% of piano advertising by deal-
ers and manufacturers during the past
generation has been aimed at the peo-
ple who had already decided to buy a
piano from someone.
"People do not enter music stores
to become sold on the idea of owning
a piano. Visiting the store is distinctly
a secondary step, which prospects do
not even consider taking until they are
pretty well convinced that the use of
a piano will benefit them. After enter-
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, NOVEMBER. 1954
ing the store they might, for one reason
or another, fail to buy, and the reason
might be that they could not find
a low enough price, but they did not
come in to save money; they came in
to satisfy a desire.
Since most piano advertising is con-
fined to such subjects as "tone", "case
design", "reputation", "price and
terms", etc., the copy does not sell pi-
anos, but deals only with the selection
of them. Such copy is meaningless ex-
cept to those who are already sold on
the idea of getting a piano and are
only in doubt about which one to buy.
"Every retail merchant, and each
manufacturer of pianos, might ask him-
self who sells these people in the first
place. What got them interested enough
to read the ads?
Present Methods Help But
Inadequate
"We know that some are influenced
by the small amount of real "piano-
selling" copy that is being run, and
that others become sold on the advan-
tages of piano study through the Key-
board Experience program of American
Music Conference, and by the publicity
that this organization creates in other
ways, but these sources are hoplessly
inadequate to do the whole job, as prov-
en by the Industry sales figures.
"The sad fact is, that for many years
we have depended on people to sell
themselves. And what a great tribute
it is to the value and to the natural ap-
peal of the piano that, under these cir-
cumstances, people have been so loyal
to it and have brought as many as they
have. Think what the market could be
in the future if we in the Industry, who
know all of the arguments in favor of
piano study, were to effectively present
this evidence to all the people, instead
of leaving it to a few to discover the
truth by accident.
"There is no objection to competing
for the customer who is ready to buy
today, but why not compete for a big
market, instead of a small one like we
have been working on. Why not enlarge
the market, instead of offering more
and more concessions to get a larger
share of the present one.
Increase in Sales Practical
"We know that a great increase in
piano sales is a practical possibility,
because the experiences of dealers who
have been selling house-to-house prove
that. We know that, even when they
have the money, people do not buy ac-
cording to their needs, but according
to their awareness of their needs.
"It would hardly seem possible to ad-
vance a single argument against telling
about the advantages of piano study
in every way we can afford to do it.
The only question is, how it should be
done. We think that a National cam-
paign in magazines or on television
would cost far more than could be
raised in the Industry at this time. We
believe there is a more effective and
practical method. Our program involves
a number of steps, most of which are
to be taken at point of sale. Not all
of our ideas are ready for launching
at this time, but two of the most im-
portant ones will be announced shortly.
One of them concerns a new and differ-
ent way of selling through better use
of music store windows; the other, a
simple and inexpensive means of in-
creasing the selling power of all piano
advertising. Other plans which will fol-
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