June 5, 1920.
23
PRESTO
MANAGER'S SYSTEM
NOT INFALLIBLE
Piano Traveler Harry T. Sipe, Contributing
to Conversational Joys of Luncheon Table,
Tells How One Sales Manager's
Methods Were Ignored.
Harry T. Sipe, traveler for Adam Schaaf, Inc.,
Chicago, was in that city a few weeks ago and dur-
ing his stay pleasantly entertained a trio of dealers,
friends and customers of the genial roadman. In
the course of an enjoyable luncheon the dealers
swapped experiences in business and each advanced
his own particular system as the most potent for re-
sults. The methods practiced for achieving the
sales were particularly dwelt upon and each of the
dealer enthusiasts minutely described his manner
of keeping tab of his outside salesmen. Each one
had a smoothly working plan wherein the goings
and comings of the pep-filled salesmen on the out-
side were made like an open book.
"Great," admitted Mr. Sipe, when the last one
had his say, "but when Daniel J. Cupid butts into
the affairs of the retail piano trade and practices
archery with the commercial units as bull's-eyes,
there's always something unusual doing."
The dealers, who were well acquainted with the
narration methods of the Adam Schaaf traveler, au-
tomatically reached into a vest pocket for a fresh
cigar. They felt sure Mr. Sipe's remark was the
preface for a trade yarn certain to be entertaining
and enlightening. It was.
Great System.
Mr. Sipe told of a very alert sales manager of a
certain southwestern piano concern who has a daily
report of his own devising, of which he is very
proud. It is a system which discloses waste in the
expense account. As Mr. Sipe put it: "Every string
on the salesman bustling on the outside is drawn
so beautifully taut that it buzzes at the headquar-
ters' end when the salesman stands up or sits
down." The sales manager with the infallible sys-
tem of daily reports from the boys on the firing
line discovered a lot of interesting things, but one
in particular puzzled him until he unraveled its
meaning.
"Week after week, one of his outside force per-
sisted in ending his week's work in a certain town,"
said Mr. Sipe. "Now the proper string of the sales
manager's system buzzed him the information that
the favored town was usually quite remote from
where the salesman should be. But week after
week that salesman managed to make the favored
town on Saturday.
Now What!
"The sales manager wanted to know, so he asked
the salesman to explain his deviation from the
schedule made and provided. The salesman's
comeback was prompt. The favored town he said
had unusual railroad accommodations. It also had
an excellent hotel where the bed sheets were
thirty-three and a third octaves long, full scale
width and French finished in the modern laundry at-
tached to the hostelry.
"Then again the cook, who was colored, was ca-
pable with a heavenly hand at fried chicken and
corn fritters as well as squash pie and other dietetic
joys that made life there a culinary dream through
Sunday. It was certainly a great sendoff for the
hotel, but while the sales manager admired the
literary style he considered the salesman's letter only
a spur to forther investigation. He as much as told
the salesman that he admitted his letter ranked high
as fiction, but not for a moment to think that he
had put it across.
"Then one day at the public garage where he
put up his machine the sales manager encountered a
sewing machine agent who covered the territory
which included the town so favored by the piano
salesman. Then in a few derisive words the agent
told him the truth about the town, the hotel, the cook
and cookery, the sheets and the train service. Lack
of train facilities made the town almost inaccessible.
"And as for the hotel. That was a jibe and a by-
word for unutterable punkness with travelers who
had ever walked expectantly into the dining room
and walked hungrily and blasphemously out again.
The cook was not a colored kitchen artist, but a
Caucasian potwalloper usually decorated with a
black eye received in brawls.
"Then it was up to the salesman to fess up, and
he did. There was nothing in the mass of informa-
Not An Every Day Proposition
You can liven things up with the enthusiasm of the "Right Goods"
if you sell the high class
STRONG ENDORSEMENT OF
KOHLER & CAMPBELL PIANO
J. W. Greene Company, Toledo, Makes Strong
Statement of Kohler & Campbell Durability.
That the J. W. Greene Company, of Toledo, Ohio,
place confidence in the Kohler & Campbell line of
pianos is well demonstrated in a recent advertise-
ment they inserted in the local newspapers of that
city. The advertisement carries an undeniable as-
Ouer 200.000 Kohler & Campbell Pianos in
^ i
Homes
Ouer 2,500 Kohler u. Campbell Pianos in Toledo
Over 200 in cToledo Public Schools. Churches.
Public Buildings and TTlusic Schools
Kohler & Campbell
Piano
is a beautiful instrument in euenj detail
It proves durable and at all times musical
' Reallu a deliqht to plau on"
Kohler &. Campbell Pianos are not special sale pianos. The price
al luhich me sell them admits o| no "slash in prices'—
not haue lo be slaughtered m order to attract a purchaser 5UT euerq
Kohler & Campbell sold is bouqht because there are literally thousands
in this victnitij qiuinq splendid satisfaction and the purchaser knows of
some of them—or because of the intcqntu, and fair reputalion of The
J ID Qreene Co, and our sincere recommendation and guarantee oj
Kohler fii Campbell Pianos.
Let us show you Kohler &. Campbell Pianos and Plauer Pianos
SO I-805 Jefferson Auenue
Toledo. Ohio
"Cfhe House of Qualitg"
mparison o | puno and plaijer piano values our ptice» prone Ike IOU
surance of durability, through the strong statement
that 2,500 Kohler & Campbell pianos are in use in
Toledo, and over 200 of these same instruments are
receiving daily usage in the public schools of that
city.
These facts carry with them a decided selling
punch and without a doubt the advertisement is
proving- to be a convincing argument of Kohler &
Campbell stable construction and durability. The
advertising appeal used by J. W. Greene Co. in
this advertisement should be a valuable suggestion
to other Kohler & Campbell dealers.
tion the sales manager gathered about the favored
town for week ends that told him why the place
was the most desirable spot in the world on Sun-
day for the salesman. Or any old day in the week
for that matter.
''You've guessed it all along, of course. Yes it
was a case of a girl. And when the sales manager
met her he admitted with warmth that she was one
of the high-grade class impossible to imitate in a
stencil. Anyway that salesman was a crackerjack."
VOSE PIANOS
ESTABLISHED 1851
IQne of the Largest Outputs in the United Statea
The Fastest Selling Piano in the Market
Send for Illustrated Catalogue
VOSE & SONS PIANO CO.,
PIANOS AND PLAYER-PIANOS
If your line is already a strong one you can make it still stronger
by adding the g>traufo. LET US HEAR FROM YOU.
STRAUBE PIANO CO.
General Offices and Factory:
HAMMOND, IND.
THE
of
High
CO,
Orads
PIANO PLATES
SPRINGFIELD
-
GORDON & SON
Pianos and Playerpianos
Nearly 75,000 in U M
O. S. KELLY
Manufacturers
Boston, Mass.
~
OHIO
THE GORDON PIANO COMPANY
Established 1845
7O9-713 Whitlock Avenue
NEW YORK
For quick returns try Presto Want Ads
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/