Presto

PRESTO
SALES MANAGERS'
ROUND TABLE TALKS
Three Heads of Retail Departments Discuss
Phase of the Selling Problem Which
Largely Involves the Piano Salesman
Himself and His Methods.
POST=ARMISTICE KINDS
One Manager Presents Gloomy Portrait of the Appli-
cant for a "Job" Which He Frankly Concedes
Will Not Anchor Him.
March 22, 1924.
that selling is advertising in its best form. I am
careful to explain to them that our pianos do not
'speak for themselves.' They have not the asset of
a really great name. Nevertheless we sell them on
their merits and the new salesman is told how to talk
for them, representing them as they really are. The Famous Piano Again a Prominent Feature at Inter-
goods are sold along these lines and the thought inti-
esting Function in the East Room.
mated is that between the house and the customer
The Lenten matinee musicales for this season were
privileges are mutual.
inaugurated at the White House last week by Mrs.
The Trade Fallacies.
Coolidge. The first of the series was given in the
"In meeting applicants for jobs in the retail sales East Room before upwards of 500 guests. The
Steinway piano was used and a program arranged by
staff it is amazing to learn how many fallacies exist
Henry Jiuige, of Steinway & Sons, was carried out.
in the minds about the piano business. One is that
Another program was prepared by Mr. Junge for the
there are two seasons in the piano business when
second of the series held on Monday of this week.
sales are pretty lively and intervening periods when
the jolly old dolce far niente obtains. The idea is The third will be on Monday of next week at which
Miss Greta Torpadie, soprano, and Carlos Salzcdo,
fixed that an obligation, rigid as a federal law, pre-
harpist, will be the soloists.
vents piano prospects from piano prospecting and
Diplomatic and musical circles have always been
piano salesmen irom alluring the customer. I believe
interested in the White House musicales made fea-
the off season intrigues the job hunters. A thinking
tures of the social life of the capital during successive
part with pay for long periods of the year sounds
administrations. The Steinway piano has always been
good.
used at the functions and a prominent official of the
"But a different kind of young man in the post-
armistice applicants comes in looking for a 'position.' art division of Steinway & Sons has invariably ar-
ranged the programs.
The choice of the word is to me an indication of
character and suggests solidity, stability and self-
The annex store of Klein Bros, 20th and Canal
reliance and a true conception of his abilities, the
streets, Chicago, is having record sales of a big line
ambition to arrive at a permanent place in a sales
of pianos. Among the big sellers are Cable-Nelson,
organization. That kind develops into a professional
Kreiter and Kimball players. They are the featuring
salesman, the kind that forms the competent and per-
lines.
manent sales staff that we poor sales managers strive
to organize."
STEINWAY & SONS AT
WHITE HOUSE MUSICALES
At luncheon one day this week three retail piano
department sales managers discussed the evergreen
topic of salesmen and salesmanship. They were con-
cerned of course only in piano salesmen and piano
salesmanship. Each had his viewpoints and it was
the difference between one and the others that made
the debatable questions.
The personality of the salesman was the biggest
factor in his selling successes, one manager contended.
He said that since the great war the young men are
less adaptable to conditions in the retail piano trade
than they were before the beginning of the great
conflict. They usua iy consider the chance to begin
at retail piano selling as a temporary job instead of
an opportunity. They have an "I'm willing to try
anything once," attitude that does not make for per-
manence in the new position.
How Propcrtions of Little Piano with the Big Tone
Another View.
Preserves Power of Personality.
While one of his luncheon companions agreed in
The power of personality in the school teacher is
the estimate of the salesman recruit common since the
close of the war, he voiced a kick against the views a topic well treated in a new booklet issued by the
and methods picked up by the young salesman in his Miessner Piano Co., Milwaukee. The booklet is par-
earlier experiences in piano stores. "For instance," ticularly directed to school superintendents and school
complained the second sales manager, "the new boards and the suitability of the Miessner piano, "The
youngster cannot realize that the character of per- Little Piano with the Big Tone," in schools is made
manence of a firmly established house should influ- dear. In showing how the use of the Miessner piano
preserves to the full the power of personality in the
ence his manner of making a sale. He is out to sell
teacher
this is said:
the customer without any regard to the best interests
"Every superintendent knows that the music teach-
of the house, but with considerable thought for his
er's greatest asset is the power of personality. This
own interests.
teaching force fails to function if the teacher's back
Advices Ignored.
is turned to the class while she attempts to direct the
"Notwithstanding tie fact that 1 impressed upon music. To sit at a full size piano and turn the head
constantly to watch the class is a mere makeshift that
one of the new kind of young men who was with me
for a brief period recently, that the character of the is both inconvenient and inefficient.
"The tall upright obviously was not designed for
house was based on the thought that the public is
not 'sold' by our salesmen, but that the public spends schools; it was built to stand with its back to the wall
its money with us, he did not properly apply the of a home. But conditions in the schoolroom are dif-
ferent. Here the teacher's personality is a valuable
thought.
asset. Forty children are looking forward to the in-
"'The leader in our piano line is made for the best
spiration that the music teacher can give them. Class
people, musically speaking, and in dealing with them
singing needs a leader imbued with enthusiasm. The
we wish to have our salesmen present our old attitude
songs need piano accompaniments to support their
that we provide a very desirable privilege to the most
changing rhythms.
appreciative class of piano customers. Without ex-
"With a Miessner the teacher can face the pupils
pressing it in so many words, we consistently convey
directly across the top of the instrument while play-
the thought to the piano prospect.
"When he encountered a very desirable prospect for ing. The teacher's personality has full play. The
children are inspired by her enthusiasm. The music
a grand l.e truculently voiced the thought in plain
lesson goes with a lilt and a swing. Tired minds and
words like a slogan, actually crowed it like a young
bodies are refreshed. New vitality is carried over to
gamecock and then wasted fully half an hour trying
the other subjects. The school routine is embued
to interest the prospect in a used grand, which, al-
though of honorable name, is not of our line. Any- with new life and new spirit."
way the customer was not the kind we would have
our salesmen try to interest in used pianos.
EMPLOYES ORGANIZE ORCHESTRA.
The Darrow Music Co., Denver, Colo., is among the
That Kind Hopeless. •
most active forces working to make a success of the
"'Later on he proved to be one who could not con-
forthcoming Music Week, which all the musical or-
ceive an ideal for a piano business. Xo matter how ganizations of the city are seriously backing. The
long he stayed all pianos would look alike to him.
music house has organized a ten-piece orchestra from
Pianos were 'sold' and the more profitable you made
among its own employes and the earnest performers
each incident, regardless of consequences, the greater
are preparing to take an active part in the interesting
the glory. Sales to him would always be occasions events of the Music Week. Under the baton of E.
for expediency not incidents in an opportunity. That
R. Mitchell, the Darrow Orchestra is showing won-
kind come to the sales manager without an ambitions u'erful results.
purpose and when one is quick'y let go he departs
without feeling any disappointment, lle'd get an-
BRANCH STORE OCCUPIED.
other job at something else."
Nace's
Music Stores, Inc., with music stores in
"That's all right for you, my friend, but with me,
Hanover, Pa, Gettysburg, Pa.; Hampstead, Md., and
whose piano does not 'sell itself,' the piano sales
Westminster, Mr., recently occupied new quarters on
methods and the requirements of the salesmen are
Baltimore street, Hanover, Pa. This store is com-
different," said the third sales manager, who had been
pletely equipped with new fixtures and new booths.
an interested listener to his companions. "My house,
Pianos and playerpianos, Edison and Victor phono-
as you know, is a great advertiser, but we realize that
graphs, a"nd a full and complete line of band and
the best advertisement is the satisfied customer.
stringed instruments are handled.
While newspaper advertising creates prospects, the
proper treatment of the prospects creates prestige.
KARL E. PHARES, MANAGER.
The Come-and-Go Kind.
Karl E. Phares, well known in music circles in
"I have a lot of experience with the come-and-go
Dayton, O., has been made the sa'es manager of the
young man who drifts in casually or in response to Anderson Piano Co. Mr. Phares has spent consider-
an ad to find a job. But 1 have been fortunate in
able time in New York at the laboratories and studios
finding some of the right material among the young- of the Aeolian Co., as well as at its factories, and is
sters. They are the kind that realize from the first
well qualified for his new position.
MIESSNER PIANO AS AID
TO THE SCHOOL TEACHER
WESER
Pianos and Players
Sell readily—Stay sold
Great profit possibilities
Style E (shown below) our latest 4'6"
Order a sample to-day.
Liberal advertising and
cooperative arrangements
Write for catalogue
and price list
Weser Bros., Inc.
Manufacturers
520 to 528 West 43rd St.
New York
The Lyon & Healy
Reproducing Piano
A moderate priced reproducing piano,
beautiful in design and rich in tone.
Write for our new explanatory Chart,
the most complete and simple treat-
ment of the reproducing action.
Wabash at Jackson - - - Chicago
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