Presto

DECKER
FOR PROPER ROLL
DEMONSTRATION
Grand, Upright
An Important Factor in Giving the Enduring
Character to Roll Sales Is the Salesman
Competent to Teach Prospects to
Operate Playerpiano.
mJ
13
PRESTO
March 22, Y)24:
EST. 1856
& SON
and
Welte-Mignon
(Licensee)
Reproducing
(Electric)
Pianos and Players
of Recognized
Artistic Character
Made by a Decker Since 1856
699-703 East 135th Street
New York
Pian-O-Grand
Style 3
With Xylophone or Bells and Banjo
Attachment
With the roll on top it makes it easy
to change roll: Transmission is very
simple and reliable ; Rewind is positive ;
Tempo easy to regulate; a four-way
pump is used which is very effective; Soft
and Loud control can be set at will;
Large coin box and Reliable Magazine
Slot.
Send for Descriptive Circular
NELSON-WIGGEN PIANO CO.
CHICAGO, ILL.
POLKS
\TUNH3E
gigy
The Only
Completely
Equipped
School in the
United States
Twenty-Third Year of Successful
Operation — 20,000 Graduates
Every branch taught, including Repairing,
Regulating and Voicing—All Player Actions,
with Demonstrating Specimens to work with.
Diplomas awarded and positions secured. Pri-
vate and class instructions. Both sexes.
School all year. Catalogs on request
POLK'S TUNING SCHOOL
WIIXARD B. POWELL, President
VALPARAISO, IND.
Refer to Presto Buyers' Guide for informa-
tion about all Pianos, Players and Reproducing
Pianos.
AROUSING AMBITION
Capable Salesman Is Powerful in Evoking the Desire
in the Prospect to Play with Artistic
, Feeling.
The part of the music roll in the selling of player-
pianos has been convincingly pointed out at various
times by Arthur A. Freisted, president of the United
States Music Co., and T. M. Pletcher, president of
the Q R S Music Co. Both gentlemen have proved
that the sales of music rolls are the greatest contribu-
tory causes in the sales of playerpianos. The dealer
who reasons out in his own mind the problems of
selling accepts the views of the two music roll manu-
facturers named as obvious deductions from the under-
stood facts.
The wideawake dealer knows that the average
playerpiano owner does not get tired of his instru-
ment; they grow tired of the music rolls grown stale
in their ears. The wideawake dealer also knows that
the piano merchant who lets his playerpiano cus-
tomers get tired of their playerpianos scores zero in
activity.
Salesman's Part.
But another fact that has not been so prominently
dwelt upon is the great aid in selling playerpianos
in the ability of the salesman to properly demonstrate
the music rolls. The influence of the playerpiano
demonstration on the playerpiano prospect is usually
of a mixed character—musical and what you might
call psychological. Everybody who knows anything
about selling is aware that the prospects will give
more attention to the proposition if they are certain
that the person on the selling end knows his line. It
means that if the salesman shows that he believes in
the merits of the playerpianos and is able to give a
good demonstration of them, his chances for landing
the sale are greater.
Regrettable Facts.
Just as it is admitted that too many playerpiano
owners do not know how to get the best out of their
players, so it is allowed that improperly equipped
salesmen are accountable for a condition so detri-
mental to the player music roll trade. The ambitious
person who begins work in a playerpiano depart-
ment first realizes that there is something more to
the demonstrating of a playerpiano than the pumping.
He or she realizes that players are best sold with the
aid of feeling not merely by the muscular effort of the
legs.
The ability of the salesman to get the best out of
the roll and the playerpiano has a two-fold effect on
the prospect. It evokes his respect in the prospect for
the man who plainly knows what he is talking about;
who has the ability to concentrate another's mind on
a subject and who has the expert's gift of showing
the possibilities for continuous pleasures in the player-
piano. The interest of the intelligent customer is
awakened to the importance of the function of put-
ting on a roll and playing it.
Awakens Interest.
The salesman who feels the artistic quality in the
act of playing can better impart the feeling to the
player prospect. The ambition to use the artistic
sense in evoking the best in the player roll has often
resulted in the quickly closed deal. It is this kind of
customer that makes for an enduring character in the
player roll trade. That kind of ambition, plus an in-
teresting course of short lectures by the salesman, is
accountable for the consistent buyers of player rolls,
who really are most effective advertising aids for the
player and the rolls.
Stimulating Interest.
Creating and stimulating an interest in the proper
playing of the rolls is the remedy for waning enthu-
siasm wherever it may be found. And the best cre-
ators and stimulators are the salesmen who have
properly developed their artistic feelings and have
learned to play the playerpiano in the manner to im-
part an artistic ambition to others.
One of the arguments used with business men
prospects is that the player piano is something more
than a mere mechanical instrument, but instead de-
mands the exercise of artistic feeling for its proper
enjoyment. Were it a mere matter of starting it, the
simple act of touching a button, the interest of the
intelligent men desiring a recreational means, would
never be evoked. Among the consistent buyers of
player music rolls are the so-called tired business
men. Their daily task is work; their evenings with
the player are filled with art.
The Dealer's Problem.
The dealer keenly observant of the things that in-
fluence business sees the added impetus to the player-
piano trade in the uses of the roll in the hands of the
player owner who knows how to play and loves to do
so. Much depends on the ability of the player sales-
man to evoke the artistic ambition in the owner at the
same time he or she buys the instrument. The
playerpiano owner who understands the wonderful
possibilities of his playerpiano instrument knows that
the proper playing of the roll is the means to the
enjoyment that endures. The playerpiano owner
properly instructed by the salesman able to do so
never grows tired of the player and is always a pros-
pect for new rolls.
WASHINGTON, D. C, FIRM
HAS REMODELING PLANS
The Homer L. Kitt Co., to Convert Building on G
Street Into a Model of Modernity.
The Homer L. Kitt Co., 1330 G street, N. W.,
Washington, D. C, is holding a remodeling sale which
has the drawing character of all the special selling
events staged by the progressive Washington firm.
The attractions for the thrifty musical family in the
widely advertised event of the Homer L. Kitt Co., is
understood when the character of the line of pianos
is considered. Then the reasons for the sale—to
make lower the stocks in preparation for carrying out
the remodeling plans—provide the element of urgency
that gives the excuse for advantageous prices to piano
prospects.
The architect's plans for the extensive remodeling
of the building have been accepted. According to
them the entire interior arrangement of the store is
to be changed. The ambitious object is to make the
store a model of modernity that will rank it among
the finest in the East. A considerable sum of money
has been appropriated for that purpose.
F. RADLE CATALOG.
An interesting frontispiece to a new catalog of F.
Radle, Inc., New York, is the factory at 607-11 West
36th street, which has a caption that adds to its in-
terest with piano men. It is to the effect that the
factory has been occupied by the company for manu-
facturing purposes for thirty-five years. But the be-
ginning of the old industry was further back than
thirty-live years. It was established in 1850 and the
present proprietor, E. J. Radle, is a son of the founder.
The new catalog shows halftone pictures and con-
tains detailed descriptions of the fine line of pianos
and players. All the instruments are the results of
long experience and a consistent ambition to attain
high grade result. The F. Radle Player de Luxe is a
powerful instrument of fine quality and since the F.
Radle Reproducing piano appeared last summer it
has been a means to bigger and better sales for F.
Radle dealers.
EXPANDS IN SPOKANE, WASH.
E. W. Bailey, president of Bailey's, Inc., Spokane,
Wash., who recently purchased the Music Shop, 722
Riverside, from Ray A. Grombacher, is expanding
the musical instrument phase of the business. The
Music Shop was opened four years ago by Mr.
Cirombacher and has enjoyed a large business in
musical instruments and popular sheet music. The
new store gave Bailey's two music stores, their orig-
inal one at W818 Sprague avenue having been opened
six years ago. It has enjoyed a steady growth and
Mr. Bailey reports for the last three years each
month has seen a net increase over the corresponding
month of the year before.
ANNOUNCES CREED.
In announcing its creed recently Martin Bros.
Piano Co., Springfield, Mo., said: "Fair dealings re-
sult in satisfied customers. Price maintenance based
on honest values. Specialization which means you
will know your line. Determination to do our best
(meaning six days work per week). Courtesy, re-
membering that our customers are our friends and
that through our employes our customers gain their
impression of this company. Solicit suggestions that
will ten dto improve the operation of this company.
Make work of employes more interesting and profit-
able. Teach our representatives to be better sales-
men. To protect the future of this business by in-
creasing the efficiency in each department."
Paul C. Fleer, newly elected president of the J. N.
Adam Co., Buffalo, N. Y., has been made a director
on the board of the Retail Merchants' Association of
that city.
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