29
PRESTO
June 5, 1920.
NOTED AUTHOR TELLS
SALESMANSHIP SECRETS
Truth Is First Requisite, with Imagination
and Courage Almost Equally Essential
to Success in Getting Ahead.
While in some of its details the business of selling
pianos is not precisely like selling other things, the
fundamental principles are identical. Piano sales-
men will find much of advice and encouragement in
the remarks of Dr. Frank Crane, writer and busi-
ness philosopher, who addressed the Chicago Asso-
ciation of Commerce one day last week. His sub-
ject was "The Ten Commandments of Salesman-
ship." The speaker introduced himself with the
remark that he was not a salesman, but that he had
during his life managed to buy more things that he
didn't want than any man his size.
"From my experience as a persistent buyer," said
Dr. Crane, "I have derived my philosophy of sales-
manship. I have observed, as carefully as I could
what kind of salesmen sell me things and why they
sell them to me and have evolved ten command-
ments of salesmanship as a result.
"Here they are:
"1. Be agreeable. Disagreeable people never sell
me anything.
"2. Know your business. Salesmen who know
their business usually can sell. Too many business
men don't study their own business, don't read
about it and use the library for reference on it.
About every business there are details of the pic-
turesque and interesting. If a salesman knows them
and can communicate his knowledge or enthusiasm
to the buyer he is a success.
"3. Tell the truth. Not necessarily for moral
reasons, but as a gamble. None of us is smart
enough to lie. It's a clean business gamble—telling
the truth—and sells more than telling a lie will. I
have found that out as a buyer.
"4. Don't argue. Buyers don't like to be argued
with. They like to have things suggested to them,
and if it is necessary to win an argument to sell
something the .buyer, in a defeated mood, is more or
less disinclined to buy.
"5. Make it plain. Business men must know ex-
actly what they're talking about and tell it exactly.
"6. Use your imagination. This is the secret ot
all successful dealing. People who use their imagi-
nation don't hurt others. The cat plays with the
mouse because it has no imagination and doesn't
realize that the mouse is being hurt.
"7. Should remember names. Remember names
and faces. Keep a little book if necessary.
"8. Beware of egotism. Egotism makes enemies
more than anything else.
"9. Think success. Don't be a piker in your
thought. Reality is only the flowering of thought,
Don't think in terms of 50 cents. It's just as cheap
to think in terms of millions. Seeming successful
is four-fifths of the game.
"10. Be human. Many business men are not.
They conduct themselves like catalogues. If cata-
logues were the thing through which to sell, then
catalogues should be sent. It's cheaper to mail a
catalogue than employ a salesman.''
QUALITY FIRST
AND
FIRST QUALITY
Jesse French & Sons Piano Co.
FACTORIES at New Castle, Ind.
AUSTRALIAN OFFICE:
94 Pitt St., Sydney, N. S. W.
"A Name Well Known Since 1875"
NEW INCORPORATIONS
IN MUSIC GOODS TRADE
6 7 Years of Improved Effort Are
Behind Every Piano Turned Out by
CABLE&SONS
THE OLD RELIABLE
ESTABLISHED 1852
Factory and Offices:
550-552 West 38th Street
NEW YORK
EVERY MAN. WHETHER
Directly or Indirectly Interested in
P'ianos, Phonographs or the General
Music Trade
Should have the three booklets compris-
PRESTO TRADE LISTS
No. 1—Directory of the Music Trades—
the Dealers List.
No. 2—The Phonograph Directory—the
Talking Machine List.
No. 3—Directory of the Music Industries
(Manufacturers, Supplies, etc., of
all kinds).
Price, each book, 25 cents.
The three books combined contain the
only complete addresses and classified
lists of all the various depart-
ments of the music indus-
tries and trades.
Choice of these books and also a copy of
the indispensable "Presto Buyer's Guide,"
will be sent free of charge to new sub-
scribers to Presto, the American Music
Trade Weekly, at $2 a year.
You want Presto; you want the Presto
Trade Lists. They cost little and return
much. Why not have them?
Published by
Presto Publishing Co.
407 So. Dearborn St.,
CHICAGO, ILL.
New and Old Concerns Secure Charters in Various
Places.
Floyd Piano Co., Shelby County, Tenri.; capital
stock, $125,000; incorporators, L. H. Floyd, O. R.
Bowman, W. H. Dilathus, Myrtle Davis and John R.
Poston.
Walters Piano Co., Manhattan, has increased its
capital stock from $30,000 to $50,000.
Victory Phonograph Co., Worthington, Ind., filed
preliminary certificate of dissolution.
R. W. Olsen & Co., Brooklyn, phonographs, $75,-
000; A. E. Aitken, W. A. Campbell, R. W. Olsen, 32
Fifth ave., Brooklyn.
Alch Silverman, Inc., Dover, Del., music pub-
lishing, capital stock $100,000.
Sound Products, Inc., Newark, N. J., to manufac-
ture musical instruments, $200,000.
DUPLICATE EXPRESS RECEIPTS.
On and after July* 1, the American Railway Ex-
press Co. will keep a duplicate copy of every receipt
it issues when receiving business from shippers.
The duplicates will be retained by the express com-
pany for the purposes of record and reference, and
will be held at the shipping office. Shippers who
have been accustomed to prepare their own receipts
or who have their own forms have been requested
to make provision for supplying duplicates of such
receipts to the express driver or receiving clerk who
signs them. As a matter of convenience to shippers,
the regular receipt forms of the express carrier will
be revised to permit their use in duplicate form. In
cases where prepaid receipts are now being issued
in duplicate, the extra copy being used as a record
of charges paid, a third copy will be required under
the new system, and in such instances prepaid re-
ceipts will be issued in triplicate. One of the ob-
jects of the new system is to bring about better pro-
tection for and methods of recording the movement
of express packages in transit.
DO IT NOW.
Hutchinson Brothers, Baton Rouge, La., print
a column of "thrift advice" to the prospective piano
or playerpiano buyer. Buy it now and buy at home
are two principal points in the printed wisdom:
''Every day the prices of pianos are advancing.
If you will place your order without delay we can
save you a neat sum. Buy at home. Our prices are
as reasonable as any in the United States. Our
terms arc made to suit your income. We are here
to look after the piano after it is sold. Let us give
you many other reasons why you should buy at
home."
STIMULATING GRAND SALES.
The interest in grand pianos in Cleveland, O., is
continuously augmented by the strong publicity
methods of the B. Dreher's Sons Co., which points to
results in an important grand piano business. The
advertising of the house arouses interest in the in-
struments. The fine range of grand pianos in the
warerooms is an alluring one for the piano prospect.
STEGER
Steger & Sons
Leads
Others Follow
STEGER BUILDING
Jackson and Wabash
The Piano Center of America
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
AMERICAN
PIANO SUPPLY
COMPANY
Felts, Cloths, Hammers,
Punchings, Music Wire, Tun-
ing Pins, Player Parts, Hinges,
Casters.
A Full Line of Materials for Pianos and
Organs
When in Need of Supplies
Communicate with Us.
American Piano Supply Co.
110-112 E. 13th St.
New York
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