Classic Mode

Presto

Issue: 1924 1981

Page 10 Text:

10
PR E S T O
SUPPLYING GOODS
NOT IN THE STORE
How Does the Average Music Merchant Han-
dle the Calls for Things "We Are Out
Of," or Never Had in
Stock.
THE "PROMISE DEPARTMENT"
Manager of a Big Boston House Tells How Carefully
He Has Clerks Follow Up Every Customer's
Wants, However Small.
The average music store is not just like the great
general stores. But all business is alike in the es-
sentials. In the music store it is a daily happening
that a customer calls for something that is not in
stock. This applies especially to -the smaller things,
like a sheet of music, a special make of mouth harp,
a fiddle string—anything, and everything, that musi-
cal people want. It sometimes, in fact frequently,
applies even to pianos, and especially to piano tuning
and repairs.
How do the music merchants respond to such
calls? Most of them just say, "We haven't got it,"
and let it go at that. And that is a mighty poor
plan. The following story of how a big Boston
house handles the matter may help in the music
trade, where such systems are usually very lax:
How Sales Are Lost.
It is a fairly common experience for a customer
to come into a retail store of any kind, to get an
article that is either not in stock or has never been
carried. In the opinion of Merrill W. Osgood of the
Jordan-Marsh Company, Boston, expressed in an
article he prepared this is a situation that has within
it the dangerous possibility of lost sales through fail-
ure to carry merchandise which the customers expect
the store to supply.
He goes on to explain the policy of the Jordan-
Marsh Company in the matter. "Our policy," he
says, "is not, if possible, to allow any customer to be
disappointed in her expectations of the store or its
service. In order, therefore, to carry out our self-
imposed obligation we have created a 'promise de-
partment' to function in such cases.
"This' service is working successfully and prevents
the loss of many sales, which would occur were we
not equipped to supply efficiently those things which
are not in stock when they are wanted.
The Promise Department.
"The 'promise department' really comprises two
classes of service—the wants and the promises. Every
merchant is familiar with the meaning of 'wants,' but
'promises' as we handle them, are more or less of a
new departure. The underlying principle of our
method is an organized and carefully followed-up
machinery to secure and deliver to the customer the
items not in our stock.
"The system is operated in this way. The cus-
tomer asks for certain merchandise we are not able
to supply from stock. The clerk suggests that we
will be very willing to get it. After impressing our
ability to make good on this offer the clerk takes
the customer's name and address on a special form
July 12, 1924.
provided for the purpose. This form, the 'promise
book,' is part of the regular sales book. This is a
very important thing to remember.
How It Works.
"Two copies of the 'promise' slip are made. One
bears the date on which delivery will be made. The
other copy is filed, bearing the date of the day after
delivery was promised by the buyer.
The customers are kept well informed of the situ-
ation. The system has increased the business con-
siderably. But it is not so much that. It has in-
creased our service to the customer and, of course,
enhanced our good-will. We are very particular
about that. It was not so much the extra business
we wanted but to insure satisfying our customers'
expectations of our ability to serve them—to make it
unnecessary for them to go elsewhere.
"This plan is being extended now wherever pos-
sible to our repair department, our manufacturing
departments, which also make promises to customers
that require follow-up. We are trying to centralize
in our 'Promise Department' all promise follow-up
work with our customers.
Still More Details.
"In addition to the foregoing details our 'Promise
Department' is charged with the duty of keeping a
record of the number of promises turned in, and this
proves very interesting.
"Our clerks in entering promise orders have a de-
cided advantage where the customer has a charge
account, for then the customer gives immediate per-
mission to charge. If it is a cash sa-le, the entry is
made accordingly in the promise book. If there is
any way to make a sale on the spot, it is done. If
the customer is certain she wants something differ-
ent, we avoid forcing a substitution and then the
promise book comes into action. The customer, I
may say, is impressed and convinced by seeing the
clerk make a formal entry of the promise on the
spot.
"We fill more than ninety per cent of all our prom-
ise orders eventually. We have found that it is im-
possible to fill about forty per cent of them on the
date of the original promise, but, by explaining to the
customer we almost invariably get back instructions
to go ahead and 'get it for me.' "
SHIRLEY WALKER NOW HEADS
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSN.
Other Changes Made Necessary by Death of Former
President George R. Hughes.
Shirley Walker, of Sherman, Clay & Co., San Fran-
cisco, was named president of the Music Trades As-
sociation of Northern California at a meeting of the
board of directors held last week. Mr. Walker's
appointment was to fill the vacancy in the office oc-
casioned by the death of the association's first presi-
dent, George R. Hughes. Mr. Walker was 1st vice-
president, and his election as president resulted in
other changes in the offices.
Frank Anrys, of the Wiley B. Allen Co., formerly
second vice-president, was made first vice-president.
M. P. Thompson, of the Baldwin Piano Co., is the
new second vice-president.
The Flanner-Hafsoos Music Co., Milwaukee, is
featuring a new "Style A" Kurtzmann grand, made
in the period style, and the company is very enthu-
siastic about it.
ARTIST'S OPINION OF BALDWIN
The Baldwin piano
as the choice of
prominent
pianists
and teachers, enjoys
a high
position.
Apart from its un-
doubted artistic qual-
ities, it has the char-
acter of durability,
which renders it par-
ticularly desirable to
professionals.
The
accompanying
cut
shows the portrait of
Charles
Norman
Granville, a Chicago
artist and a repro-
duced letter tells of
his attitude towards
the Baldwin. Like a
great many artists,
Mr. Granville finds
the Baldwin highly
suitable for use in
concert and in the
studio.
THE BALDWIN PIANO COMPANY
The Baldwin Piano Company,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
is the B a l d ^ f o T ' o n c e n " ^ T Y
America's greateat lnotrumant
Pl "- . B ^ un4 Preference to-day
°ul>tedly
For QUALITY, SATISFACTION and PROFIT
NEWMAN BROTHERS PIANOS
NEWMAN BROS. CO.
Established 1870
Grand, Upright and Player Pianos
New Haven and New York
Mathushek Piano Manufacturing Co.
132nd St. and Alexander A vs..
NEW YORK CITY
A QUALITY PRODUCT
FOR OVER
QUARTER OF A CENTURY
piUTs t. 1893
Factories, 816 DIX ST., Chicago, III.
Kinder & Collins
Pianos
520-524 W. 48*1S
NEWYOKK
Place That Want Ad in The Presto
POOLE
•^BOSTON
GRAND ANO UPRIGHT PIANOS
ANO
PLAYER PIANOS
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
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Page 11 Text:

11
P R E S T O
July 12, 1924.
THE
W. P. HAINES & COMPANY
PIANOS
THE PIANOS OF QUALITY
Three Generations of Piano Makers
AH Styles—Ready Sellers
Attractive Prices
GRANDS
REPRODUCING GRANDS
UPRIGHTS and PLAYERS
AVAILABLE TERRITORY OPEN
W. P. HAINES & CO., Inc.
138th St. and Walton Ave.
New York City
The LEADING LINE
WEAVER PIANOS
Qrands, Uprights and Players
Finest and most artistic
piano in design, tone and
construction that can be
made.
YORK PIANOS
Uprights and Player Pianos
A high grade piano of great
value and with charming tone quality.
Livingston Pianos— Uprights and Player Piano*
A popular piano at a popular price.
Over 70,000 instruments made by this company are sing-
ing their own praises in all parts of the civilized world.
Write for catalogues and state on what terms you would
like to deal, and we will make you a proposition if yea are
located in op*n territory.
WEAVER PIANO CO., Inc.
Factory: YORK, PA.
Established 1870
E. Leins Piano Co.
Makers of Pianos and
Player Pianos That Are
Established L e a d e r s .
Correspondence from Reliable
• Dealers Invited
Factory and Offices, 304 W. 42nd St.
NEW YORK
resonance will last, that my full, rich, singing tone
and responsive action will delight those who possess
me as long as materials shall cling together. So after
six yars of such patient fashioning, I left the Long
Island factory and came West. I was unloaded
from my long cruise and carefully gone over in the
Sherman, Clay & Co. shops. And now I stand on
the floor at Sherman, Clay & Co. among other pianos,
How the Years Bear Witness to the Unchang- waiting for the purchaser who shall come to
claim me.
ing Character and Qualities of the
The Old Days.
"Instrument of the Im-
Sometimes I talk over the old days in our original
home with the other Steinway pianos here at Sher-
mortals."
man, Clay & Co. We miss the cheery companion-
ship of the old square grand, with its rosewood case
—the piano that Henry Steinway built. It used to
preside over us like a proud little old great-grand-
mother. But usually we discuss the future. We
Advertisement That Is Literature in Which Is Told discuss the homes that each of us, in the days to
come, will be carried away to like brides.
the Career of a Great Industry from Its
Some of us are eager to preside over great man-
sions, with servants to dust us off, and drawing
Beginning.
rooms to inhabit. Some of us are ambitious to have
There is a style of advertising just now employed
careers on the concert stage. But I have a different
by some of the old and distinguished industries which ambition."
A Home Piano, Also.
leaves the dry statements of industry and trade and
enters the realms of literature in the poetic and
I want to be the piano near the fireside, where a
anecdotal sense. A recent advertisement of a big San modest family gathers about me and plays familiar
melodies* I want to be the companion, from the
I'rancisco house recently repeated an advertisement
of that kind which originally appeared in the New very first, to little children as they learn to touch my
York Times sepia section. The story concerns the keys. 1 want to be the discreet—and the only—
third person present between lovers.
Steinway piano and it follows in full:
I want to spend my days in a little happy home.
Surely, if some family knew how eager I am to make
The Years Bear Witness.
their love for me worthwhile, they would come and
In a position of honor, standing among the famous claim me without delay.
portrait paintings of great musicians in Steinway
Doesn't some couple with a modest home and
Hall, New York, you will find it today. It is the purse want to come in and discover how it can claim
piano that Henry Steinway, seventy years ago, built its Steinway piano?
as a labor of love. He built it as a present to his
bride.
Now I, who am also a Steinway piano, stand
among the other Steinway pianos at Sherman, Clay
& Co., here on the western coast. The years that
lie between me and that original Steinway piano have
seen many changes. But two changes they have not
seen. They have not seen Steinway pianos made in Writer in Music Trade Journal of Fatherland Treats
any other spirit than a spirit of .love; and they have
Topic Reminiscently.
not seen them under any other supervision than
Steinway supervision.
The harmonium has been of growing interest in
Germany for forty years, says a contributor writing
Story Told of the Steinway.
reminiscently in Leitschrift fur Instrumentenbau,
When I left the Steinway factory on Long Island who says:
and began my long journey to the Coast I had been
"Forty years ago pressure wind harmoniums almost
six years in the seasoning and making. The control
alone were known in Germany; mostly as organ sub-
and management of the business was in the hands of
stitutes. Then came the North American suction
the tbird and fourth generations of the household of
Steinway. Eight members of the Steinway family wind system, with which the struggle was long; but,
had directed my evolution, from the raw wood, steel finally, German constancy and quality triumphed as-
and glue, into the completed piano.
sisted by skillful propaganda. It grew in such favor
Nearly all the skilled workmen in those great that it rivalled with the piano as a wedding gift; or
shops had been in those shops for many years. I
at least was frequently considered the thing to give
was wood and steel and glue until they shaped me. with it.
Now, I am as much of the spirit of Steinway as the
"The war naturally gave a set-back to the industry,
first piano Henry Steinway built.
What does this mean in my own career as a Stein- after which, however, the market extended and new
factories were erected. But with mass production
way piano?
quality suffered, to the disrepute of the German musi-
What It Means.
cal instrument industry. However the Americans,
It means that I have been built with an individual
so long masters in the world market, with such firms
interest, ^a conscientiousness, a deep determination
as Mason & Hamlin, Estey, etc., have gone over to
that I should be worthy of my name.
piano-making."
It means that the mountain spruce of my sounding-
board, for example, is the finest procurable. After
The Louis Bernstein Furniture Co., Cumberland,
careful inspection and purchase it was dried for six
Md., is enlarging its'store front. The concern is lo-
months at the sawmill, then dried for another year in
the Steinway yards, then seasoned for two or three cated at 9-11-13 North Center street. It operates a
years in special sheds, then kiln-dried and re-dried in
large music department and plans to increase its
strip and board—in all, a seasoning and drying proc- stock.
ess of five full years.
It means that, following the seasoning of this and
my other wood, nine months were spent shaping and
fashioning me in the factory. In that one general
factory every part of me was made, including plate,
rim, hammers, brass castings, action, and all special
hardware. Nothing was let out on contract. Noth-
Noted fmr Their Musical Beauty
ing was left to outside influence.
Tt means that I am, in fact, a Steinway piano—that
of Tone and Artistic Style
my charm will endure for years to come, that my
STORY THAT IS TOLD
BY THE STEINWAY
THE PIANO'S OWN RECITAL
WANE OF THE GERMAN
HARMONIUM EXPLAINED
WEBSTER PIANOS
ATTRACTIVE PRICES
The True Test
Factory
Leominster,
Mass.
Executive Offices
138th St. and Walton Ave.
New York
Division W. P. HAINES & CO., Inc.
Compare the new Jesse French & Sons Piano
Jesse French & Sons Style BB
with any other strictly high grade piano in tone,
touch and general construction, and you will be
convinced at once that t h e y offer the most
exceptional v a l u e s to be found anywhere.
Write today for catalog and prices
"They are the one best buy on the market"
JESSE FRENCH & SONS PIANO CO
NEW CASTLE,
INDIANA
WILLIAMS
PIANOS
The policy of the Williams House is and always
has been to depend upon excellence of product
instead of alluring price. Such a policy does not
attract bargain hunters. It does, however, win the
hearty approval and support of a very desirable
and substantial patronage.
WILLIAMS
Epworth Pianos and
CHICAGO
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

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