PRESTO
BRINGS STORE TO CUSTOMER
March 24, 1923
JUST AMONG US
GOODJMANO 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.
THE ITINERANT DEALER.
THREE VIE.WS OF "STORE AT YOUR DOOR."
The Bush &' Gerts Piano Company, Dallas, Tex., has
introduced an innovation to the trade that for a nov-
elty, combined with utility, surpasses anything of the
kind that has been attempted, the Bush & Gerts Bun-
galow Shop. This is a beautifully designed and
substantial bungalow, possessing architectural beauty,
and firmly anchored upon a 2-ton Federal truck.
The Bungalow Shop will be utilized for the ex-
ploitation, demonstration and quick delivery of talk-
ing machines, records and music rolls direct to the
homes of patrons, in the selection of monthly re-
leases of records and music rolls. It also gives an
opportunity to enjoy the inspection and complete
demonstration of the latest models in machines, for
which ample space has been provided in this unique
shop on wheels.
The accompanying cut is made from a photograph
and gives a good idea of the construction and appear-
ance of the Bungalow Shop. It marks another mile-
stone in the progress of the Bush & Gerts Piano
Company in its selling methods, and establishes a
means of service that has heretofore never been at-
tempted by any music merchant in the country.
Intelligent, courteous salesmen will be in charge of
this Bungalow Shop, which will be devoted largely
to the service of people who are located in the sub-
urbs and outlying districts of a city that is growing
faster proportionately than any city of the United
States.
The first trip of this new vehicle will be made to
the Oak Cliff district of Dallas, Texas, and its loca-
tion from day to day will be advertised in all the
regular advertisements of the Bush & Gerts Piano
Company, and any orders received by mail or tele-
phone for the delivery of records, music rolls, and
other musical requirements will be promptly attended
to. The installation of a complete radio set is also
contemplated, as within a limited time the Bush &
Gerts Piano Company propose to decide upon the
representation of some perfectly well established,
practical, useful and dependable radio equipment, of
which several different lines are now being thoroughly
tested day and night.
SAVE ONE=FOURTH ON
CAR FARE TO CHICAGO
which when validated will enable the holder to, pur-
chase a return ticket at half price. The certificates
may be validated at the office of the Trade Com-
missioner of the Chicago Association of Commerce,
10 S. La Salle street, at any time from April 9 to 16,
except Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
These rates afford the retailer an ideal opportunity
to visit the Chicago market at a time when the whole-
salers and manufacturers are at their best in. all lines.
The first Spring Merchants' Week was so successful
that the Chicago Association of Commerce decided to
make it annual. It is hoped that music merchants
will be prominent among those who make the visit
to the manufacturers next month.
Spring Merchants Week Provides Opportunity
For Trip to Chicago at Reduced Rate
During One April Week.
Dealers who plan a trip to Chicayo this spring will
be able to save one-fourth of the carfare necessary
if they come during the second annual Spring Mer-
chants' Week, from April 9 to April 14, according to
a recent announcement of the Chicago Association
of Commerce, which has been able to secure these
rates from the Western Passenger Association lines.
The rates apply only to points west and in the upper
peninsula of Michigan.
The actual territory in which merchants may take
advantage of the rate is Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, upper peninsula of Michigan, North Da-
kota, South Dakota (east of the Missouri river), and
Wisconsin. The rates are also effective from Omaha,
Nebr., Atchison, Kans., and Leavenworth, Kans. The
roads offering the special rates are members of the
Western Passenger Association, which limits the of-
fer in that Indiana and other parts of the Chicago
trade territory which lie east are excluded from
receiving the benefit of the Spring Merchants' Week
at the smaller carfare price.
The tickets will be on sale at the local ticket offices
from April 7 to 14, and will be good for return limit
until April 17. The ticket will be paid for at full
one-way fare, and will be accompanied by a certificate
TEACHERS ADMIRE MEISSNER.
A striking display of Meissner pianos was recently
made during the National Educational Association
convention and exposition, held at Public Hall. The
small instruments, over which the teacher can look
while instructing the pupil, keenly interested con-
ventioners. These instruments are featured in
Cleveland by the B. Dreher Sons Co. The exhibit and
work of demonstrating the Meissners were under the
personal supervision of Otto W. Meissner, head of
the Meissner Piano Co.
NEW GRAND BIG SELLER.
One of the big favorites this spring with dealers
handling the line of the Chase-Hackley Piano Co.,
Muskegon, Mich., is the small grand, Style 5, which
was recently introduced by the company. The de-
mands for this style are big and continuous and
shows the recognition of musical people of an instru-
ment of high character and the proper requirements
in form.
Occasionally, in our journeys up and down our ter-
ritory, Us Piano Men encounter an itinerant dealer.
That is to say, a dealer who is here today and some-
where else tomorrow. In the army everyone seemed
to want always to be where they were not, and that
is the way it is with this kind of piano dealer.
Us travelers learn how to handle this kind of
dealer, and find that it is not well to sell him at all.
Occasionally, of course, we slip up a peg or two and
accept his cash, but as a rule a traveler who has the
interest of the business at heart, gives the itinerant
dealer the merry ha! ha! Still all rules go by the
contrary, and I know of one of this kind of dealer
who buys as many pianos as he wants, and buys
them on time as well.
He has his habitat in Utah, and journeys from
town to town. He sells only for cash, or some sort
of trade, so that he gets full value for his instru-
ments. His method is to solicit and to offer very
high trade in value for the old instrument, then he
sells the customer thus obtained a very inferior piano
at a price a little more than three times what it cost
him. He maintains a credit rating with the commer-
cial agencies, and blithely refers factories to them.
He is, perhaps, entitled to some credit, but the wise
piano man will not sell him.
There are no two ways about it. A dealer who
does not have an established place of business is
worse than no dealer at all. He is sure to come into
direct contact with a regular dealer, and then, when
the piano traveler approaches the regular dealer for
business—great is the wrath of him. And rightly so.
POISE.
What is poise? Especially what is it in relation to
the piano business? Just this. The piano man,
wholesaler or retailer, who has poise is the man to
bet your "Jack" on. He it is who will not become
confused in an emergency; who will seem, always, to
be calm and collected, and who will help the dealers,
or the customers, regain their poise once they have
lost it.
Poise, according to Webster, is, among- jother
things: "Equilibrium; that which balances, a regu-
lating power."
"Regulating power" is, perhaps, the best definition.
Assuredly, a piano traveler who can smooth out the
rough spots caused, let us say, by the factory's blun-
der in packing, is a man of true poise. And, by the
same token, the dealer who can pacify an irate cus-
tomer, and make of that customer a friend, is also
possessed of the regulating power.
This attribute of poise is, unfortunately, seldom
met with, especially among Us travelers. Lots of
Us (and I am one of them), seem to think that
poise is mere laziness. A traveler will sit around the
store and be verbosely congenial, and agree with
everything the merchant says, and consider himself
a well-poised man. This certainly is not poise. It
is, on the other hand, downright slothfulness.
The traveler with poise will state his business to
the dealer and then hop it elsewhere, leaving the
dealer to attend to his business. Further, he will not
always agree with everything the dealer says; doing
that is sometimes disastrous to the factory pocket-
book.
PIANOS AND HOMES.
Pianos and talking machine dealers are invited to
exhibit models of their lines at the "Own Your
Home" exposition to be held at the Coliseum, Chi-
cago, from March 24 to March 31. The exposition
will be held under the auspices of the Chicago Real
Estate Board. Proclamations similar to the one is-
sued by Mayor Thompson, of Chicago, in favor of
the "Own Your Home" movement, will be made by
mayors and village authorities through Cook and Du
Page counties.
A WEEK WITH THE DEALERS.
C. E. Jackson, sales manager of The Cable Com-
pany, Chicago, is spending a week or ten days visit-
ing the eastern trade, expecting to return sometime
late next week. Mr. Jackson has made it a policy to
keep in close touch with the dealers who handle the
product of the mammoth Cable factories, and be-
lieves that the personal call will help sustain the
good relations between the Cable dealers and the
sales office, and at the same time will reveal what
can be done by The Cable Company for the dealers in
the section through which he is passing.
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