PRESTO
presto
practical and witty, books ever written on the
subject of salesmanship:
"The salesman is not the patient, smiling
personality who believes in himself and never
hears the word 'No.'" And the late Fra
Elbertus, of East Aurora, tells how he sold
the goods—presumably Larkin soap—in the
long ago. Hear him again:
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE WEEKLY.
"I did not merely lay cornerstones and get
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn
things into shape. I did not secure a promise
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
of an order the next time, and then brag about
Editors
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT -
it. I got the man's name on the bottom of the
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
order sheet."
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com-
mercial Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
That's practical salesmanship. It is being
done
in the piano business every day. But it
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the
Post Office, Chicago, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
is also not being done by some of the boys
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, ft. who start out filled with fictitious confidence
Payable in advance. No extra charge in United States
possessions, Cuba and Mexico, Rates for advertising on and wilt as soon as the hot sun of opposition
application.
or disapopintment strikes them. And, finally,
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if these aphorisms by Hubbard:
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen
"The successful salesman never knocks."
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
"Nail the business; promises do not meet
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
the
pay roll."
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon
preceding publication day. Want advs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than
Wednesday noon.
Address all communications for the editorial or business
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
Dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1925.
HOW TO SELL
There is an illuminating' article in this
week's Presto on the subject of the men who
sell the goods in the piano trade. And the
essence of the article is in the common-sense
assurance that, to be of any real value, sales-
manship that is theoretical, rather than practi-
cal, belong-s with the things, usually psychic
or "moral," vulgarly and senselessly classified
as "applesauce."
It might be interesting to know just how it
happens that deliciously flavored and succu-
lently refreshing" fruit, both stewed and fresh
from the tree, should have been given the
place in our vernacular so long held by
"slanguage," or the suggested slang for which
Americans are famous in all languages. In
any event, most of the theoretical systems of
salesmanship, and most of the books published
to tell precisely what salesmen should say, and
in what particular key they should say it, come
under the fruity head of the vodville stoige.
What the Presto writer says—and it is a
Presto writer exclusively this time—will be
read with interest. And it must prove useful
to most of the young men who aspire to win
fortunes in the "game" of selling pianos and
other fine things of music. The very first rule
set down, in this week's article, is as sound
as the older ones pertaining to hunting hares.
"First find your hare"—that's it.
First find your prospect, and then proceed.
To proceed before discovering the prospect,
further than the act of finding, would be a
waste of ammunition. Might as well go out
into the woods and talk piano to the trees.
But the advice is sound, and the logic by which
it is followed is not only good but should be
productive of results to any piano salesman,
young or old.
And, by the way, of all the things ever
written on the subject, the following, by the
late Elbert Hubbard, shines with a good deal
of the effulgence that made the lamented Roy-
crofter's "Message to Garcia" immortal. And
it is an extract from one of the best, because
PIANOS EVERYWHERE
There may be something significant, pos-
sibly valuable, to the piano industry in the
full-page advertising "display" of a popular
ladies' magazine. It is a publication which
lays claim to a circulation of two million copies
monthly. And the item of special interest,
so far as pianos are concerned, is in the list
of products advertised in the widely circulated
magazine. While there are twelve classifica-
tions of advertisers, including that of "musi-
cal," there is no mention of pianos. Phono-
graphs, radio and records are there, but no
reference to the king of all musical instru-
ments.
Has the time arrived when pianos no longer
need advertising? Is the chief of all music
makers to be permitted to step back, and see
the newer, if lesser, things of edification, edu-
cation and intellectual enlightenment take the
piano's place in human interest. The piano
needs advertising now more than ever. Not
music, but pianos. The plan of advertising
music in the abstract, to which attention was
frantically drawn a few years ago, could not
produce the right results. It was too vague
and, to the vast majority, meant as much for
mouth-harps and cheap fiddles as for the in-
struments of power and value.
It is Presto's idea that if the piano manu-
facturers were to create a fund for the pur-
pose of keeping alive the desire for the in-
struments of their manufacture, sticking to
the advantages of the piano and stimulating
the desire on the part of the homes to own
pianos, and to play pianos—and this means
equally playerpianos—the result would prove
adequate. Advertising "music" is too vague;
to produce results the appeal must be more
concrete. Not that any special names need
be employed. It is pianos—just pianos that
must be kept before the mind's eye and the
desire for which must be kept alive. The rest
will be attende'd to by the piano dealers and
their salesmen.
In the pushing and crowding of other things,
there is possibility of the piano being in a
measure neglected. The enthusiasm without
which business in any line languishes may be
lacking. The mere mention of the word
"piano" in every magazine and newspaper in
the land must have an effect upon the sale
of pianos. An impersonal reminder that pianos
are needed in thousands of homes, with a few
March 7, 1925.
words telling why, would stir sales every-
where. And the cost of that kind of stimu-
lation, while considerable in the aggregate,
would be very small to the individual manu-
facturers. Is it worth consideration? If
not, why not?
This is a year in which the piano industry
is on trial. It will be a test of courage and
progrcssiveness. The manufacturers who in-
ject energy and invest in trade publicity are
the ones that will win. The others must, at
best, stand still.
* * *
A correspondent writes that he has discov-
ered a square piano which bears the date of
1582.
It must be one of the old squares
burned at the Atlantic City convention a good
many years ago. And probably, too, it is the
only one left.
From latest reports we conclude that radio
isn't really killing the piano business any worse
than the old bicycle did, or even the auto-
mobile and phonograph of later years.
* * *
Who is the richest man" in the piano business
today? This question is asked by a subscriber.
We will try to answer it very soon. This
week we are not sure.
30 YEARS AGO IN THE TRADE
From the Files of Presto
(March 7, 1895.)
Mr. Henry Detmer, the Randolph street, Chicago,
music dealer and agent of the "Boardman & Gray" and
"Starr" pianos, was made secretary of the Balatka semi-
centennial, last Saturday.
The course taken by the late Congress in voting to
allow exhibitors to make use of their World's Fair
medals for advertising purposes causes no great surprise
in Chicago. It was an expected event.
Who has ever thought of a neater catch-line than
Geo. P. Bent's "Who is Playing the Harp that I hear?"
The reply follows that it is the harp attachment on the
"Crown" piano. Tt is very bright, poetic and attractive.
I desire to call the attention of the trade to the fact
that I am making paper piano covers, under right of
patent granted March 15, 1892. Any person making,
buying, selling or using such cover, infringes on my
rights, and is liable under the law.—ROB'T M. WEBB.
"Bob Howard is said to be interested in a silver
mining property," says the American Art Journal. "Bob"
is just as he was when he traveled with a sample trunk
of small goods for the old Root & Sons Co., little
dreaming that some day he would own a big slice of the
earth filled with precious ore. But prosperity is in-
clined to inflate the best of them.—-
And now "Bob" owns a silver mine—•
So thick is fortune showered—•
Alas, how long ere "Bob" will sign
It "I'obert Sigmund Howard!"
20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
(From Presto, March 9, 1905.)
P. J. Healy, president of Lyon & Healy, has been in
quite feeble health lately. He has not been at the office
more than two or three times since New Year's. His
condition at times has bordered on critical, but he was
reported to be somewhat stronger within the last two
days.
Thomas F. Delaney, of the sheet music department of
Lyon & Healy's ; Andy Keefe and E. E. Cramblitt, also
of the Lyon & Healy store, have returned to Chicago
from their Mexican trip, rather sunburned, but in good
health. Mr. Cramblitt brought back with him two
Mexican parrots whose profanity in Spanish is unsur-
passed.
Moss-covered mausoleums are no more suggestive of
a dead past than some of the old square pianos that are
being hawked out into front windows of modern stores
as the pivots for spring bargain sales. These old pianos
may not be actually for sale but as dry-bone rattlers
they seem to serve a purpose.
Charles F. Goepel is one man who gave the derisive
ha! ha! to Prof. Osier of sixty-year-chloriform noto-
riety. One day last week, instead of obeying the sug-
gestion of the wise man of cap and gown and tranquilly
quaffing his little potion of drug and shuffling off into
eternal quiescence, Mr. Goepel brazenly celebrated the
sixtieth anniversary of his birth and by his demeanor
actually expressed a determination to continue living.
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