PRESTO
JUST AMONG US
GOOD PIANO MEN
A Series of Articles Drawn from Practical
Experience in Store and on the Road
Selling the Goods and Noting
How Others Do It.
By MARSHALL BREEDON.
SAND PAPER.
You tell me that there are many unpleasant things
troubling you in the piano store in which you work.
If you can answer without betraying a secret, would
you mind telling me if you ever knew of velvet being
used successfully as a substitute for sand paper? The
unpleasant, the hard, the trying, the temper-testing
things, arc the sand-papery aids that smooth you off,
that train you, that fit you to shoulder bigger re-
sponsibilities and to resist more trying troubles
later on. So be thankful for sand paper.
Piano men frequently encounter things that trouble
us in our task of selling pianos at wholesale. Not
the least of these are the whines and complaints of
salesmen who work on the dealer's floor. So many
retail salesmen seem to think that theirs is a dog's
life, beyond all hope of recall. They never even
consider the romance or the high ethical preponder-
ance of selling pianos. What a shame that is, for
there can be no more romantic business in the world
than this same old piano business. It is prosaic only
because we make it so, whereas, as a matter of fact,
it is filled with the spice of life.
These complaining clerks—for that is all they are
—are laboring under the impression that velvet is
better than sand-paper. They like to feel the soft
rub of it against their skin, whereas the sharp, rasp-
ing twinge of sand-paper hurts them and makes
them condemn their jobs.
There are also many piano travelers who prefer
to abide only with the velvet side of life. This kind
calls only upon the bigger and more pleasant dealers,
and do not get out into the harder places. But there
is compensation, because eventually the piano busi-
ness loses both these kinds, because there are piano
men who much prefer the rasp rather than the
smooth.
TRAVELER ETHICS.
Anyone can be a boor. That is very simple. All
one need do it to "but-in" when some other piano
traveler has the attention of the dealer. This is a
condition occasionally encountered on the road, and
wise indeed is the traveler who handles it with gloves.
Not so very long ago a piano traveler called, for
the first time, upon a dealer. This particular dealer
has a reputation among the traveling fraternity of
being a regular, sure enough bear-cat. Travelers are
his meat, arid he takes eagerly to the dish. One day
while this traveler was making the acquaintance of
this "rough and wooly" dealer, another traveler en-
tered the office. He had known this dealer for many
moons, and was more or less the same general type
of man—a sort of amateur bully.
He paid absolutely no attention to the first traveler,
but butted right into the office and actually sat
down, after drawing up a chair which placed him
between the two other men. Once firmly fixed in
his seat he commenced his jolly. It was intended
for a sales talk, but there was scarcely an element
of sales strategy in it. The original interviewer did
nothing; he merely sat there placidly and listened.
. By and by the boor sensed the superiority in the
ethics of the other, and began to flounder in his
step. This was the merchant's dish. He asked the
other if he would vouch that his factory would do
certain impossible things. The poor fellow, now that
his moral of bluff was shaken, could do nothing but
agree with the fighting merchant and promise him
price concessions which were way out of all reason.
Then the original man spoke up, and gently sug-
gested that, in-as-much as he was there first, it
might be best for the other to get out. He did get
out, and so far as we know has never returned to
get the order which, in the depths of his boorish
heart, he knew he could not deliver.
THE GOLFING DEALER.
Piano travelers have rather an abundance of
leisure. If, for instance, we are making Oregon by
train, we usually, after completing our business, have
the greater portion of the day to kill. Here is where
the golfing dealer comes in handy. In Portland there
is one piano retailer who will occasionally run away
from business for a round of golf. In San Diego
there is another one, and in Fresno another. But
why specify more, because nearly every town on
our list has one such dealer, and they are mighty
welcome to a "tired," jaded piano traveler.
Take, for instance, this Portland dealer. The
traveler who cannot play a reasonably good game of
golf is out of luck. This dealer, (and he is a good
dealer) will gladly tend to his business in the morn-
ing of the day of the visit, but he will-not talk buy-
ing of pianos. When two o'clock comes he appears,
with his cap and his sack, and invites the traveler
to go along. If the traveler goes along, he is rea-
sonably sure of an order. If the traveler cannot play
golf, he is very much out of luck.
In Portland it rains once in a while, to say the
least. It is a fact that the weather will- be nice
and sun-shiny on one side of Washington street,
and raining on the other side! Because of this pecu-
liarity of Portland, golf is a sort of water sp6rt.
First you slam the ball in the sun and, by the time
you reach it, you are playing in a rain storm, and
then out again into the sun, and so on for the entire
18 holes.
It is best for the traveler to bust the dealer for
an order during the sun-shine periods of the game,
for he seems to feel a little bewildered during that
illumination. He has lived in Portland for so many
years he is a genuine web-foot, and feels more at
home in the rain.
Next Week: "Public and Buyer," "Anticipation"
and "A Proud Boast."
LEM KLINE FACTORY CLOSES.
With the end of this month the factory of the Lem
Kline Piano Mfg. Co., which failed last fall, will be
closed permanently. The factory building on Lar-
rabee street, Chicago,' is owned by a bank and the
process of completing the unfinished instruments is
about over. J. Swanson, who has been superintend-
ing the work of cleaning up at the factory, is about
through and has made a good job of it. All of the
instruments have been, delivered as fast as completed.
The machinery in the factory will be sold, but there
is not much of it. It is expected that by February
first the Lem Kline Piano Co. will become wholly
extinct.
WAREROOM WARBLES
(A New One Every Week.)!
By The Presto Poick.
ON COMMISSION.
He works on commission and holds his position
By saying not awfully much,
But when he's not talking he's sure to be stalking
The prospects he knows he can touch;
He knows what he's saying, and never starts playing
Till sure that he knows the appeal,
And then he can razzle the keys to a frazzle,
And pull out the price with his spiel.
NOVEL GREETING CARD.
He never will meddle with Wagner, nor peddle
The "classics" when selling a boob,
Nor yet will he hammer some jazzy wind-jammer
When selling some know-it-all rube;
He picks out his buyers, knows ground-hogs from
flyers,
And never lets go till it's sold,
Believing it's better to be a sure-getter
Than one of the near-getter mold.
It is not yet too late to mention some of the most
attractive features in Christmas and New Year's
grerting cards. The very handsome Christmas card
of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Story, from their home in
Pasadena, Calif., carries the photograph of the six
grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Story, with an in-
scription of greeting- from Mr. and Mrs. Story as well
as from the children. Mr. Story is president of the
Story & Clark Piano Co.
That's why his condition of one big commission
Is better than working for wage,
For what is the gaining if hand-fed, remaining
Shut in like a bird in a cage?
He's still his own master, and profits the faster
By stepping right up to the fore,
Untagged or encumbered, his prospects unnumbered,
It's better than owning the store.
AMPICO BROADCASTING SERIES
The Ampico Series of Distinguished Artist Con-
certs was inaugurated recently at WJZ, the Newark,
N. J., radio broadcasting station of the Westing-
house Electric and Manufacturing Company. These
concerts are given by courtesy of William Knabe &
Company, in a weekly rotation of well-known vocal-
ists and instrumentalists. The accompanying photo-
graphs show the artists of the first concert, Erwin
Nyiregyhazi, the young genius of the piano, and
Clara Deeks, the noted soprano, performing for the
hundreds of thousands of WJZ hearers. The news-
papers, not only of New York City, but all over the
country, have given extended publicity to this new
Ampico Series and its famous interpreters.
The second concert was given December 28th.
The artist was Miss Daisy Jean, the young Belgian,
who, beside playing 'cello to the accompaniment of
Miss Jean Wiswell at the piano and to accompani-
ment on the Ampico, sang with her own beautiful
playing on the harp. Miss Jean has been declared
the greatest woman 'cellist of her time. The other
artist of the evening was Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, the
noted lecturer and musical authority, who spoke
on "Old Tunes for New," who drew a distinction be-
tween "popular" music and "classical music," show-
ing that the real strength of the classical music lies
in its ability to live.
The third radio concert was given January 4 by
Hans Barth, the American pianist, who has won a
prominent position among the greatest pianists of
today. Mr. Barth has attained a lasting name for
himself in his many appearances in New York and
throughout the East. At the same concert 1 were
Roderick White, the eminent violinist and, John
Tasker Howard, the well-known lecturer and com-
poser, whose songs and piano pieces are rapidly be-
coming widely known. Mr. Howard gave a talk en-
titled, "A Plea for Musical Chestnuts." in which he
praised the beauties of some of the lovely old songs,
those which are easily understood and appreciated
by the great mass of music-loving public.
'.
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