April 16, 1927.
COMMISSION PLAN
CALLED A CURSE
Article in Recent Issue of Presto-Times
Prompts Another Piano Salesman of Expe-
rience to Respond with Views on
an Important Subject.
FAVORS SALARY SYSTEM
Reformation in Methods that Is Beginning Will Bring
Piano Business Back to Better Success
Than Ever Before.
By ELMON ARMSTRONG.
The lengthy article on the front page of Presto-
Times of March 26, by Mr. E. C. Landon, is more
or less a series of complaints that arise as a result
of the commission plan of employing salesmen.
Fundamentally the commission plan is based on the
financial cost of marketing goods, or should be, and
from that angle it is all right. But it is fraught
PRESTO-TIMES
of the prospects that come to the house in a general
way.
Or Is It a Curse?
One of the curses of the piano business today is
the commission plan, in common parlance the "starva-
tion contracts" that are offered to salesmen. Every
salesman needs to feel the assurance that at the end
of the week, or month, there is a fixed sum of money
that is going to be paid him as a result of his efforts.
It gives the salesman courage. It carries him over
the rough places. It puts his mind at rest. It fits
him psychologically for achieving desirable ends, and
the net results of business show that the salesman
who is supported and co-operated with properly, as a
general rule is much more successful.
One large house told me that they had tried all
the plans and that this one had shown a gain in
their business of 40 per cent, a better class of sales,
more loyalty among their men, less conflict, and had
put every man on his "metal" with a feeling in his
heart that merit on his part would assure him a just
compensation for the service that he rendered, and
the efforts that he gave.
Piano Salesmen Needed
There never was a time in the history of the piano
business when it was in such great need of real sales-
men as now, and there never was a time in the
history of business when so little effort is being made
by the piano merchants and the piano manufacturers
to cooperate with, sustain and enlist the best efforts
of salesmen. More piano institutions today are suf-
fering, through the weakness of sales managers who
are suffering with "manageritis" than there ever were
in the history of the business. Retail salesmen for
years have been driven from the ranks of service in
the sale of pianos, through the commission methods
that are generally employed.
The many evils that result from it are too numer-
ous to mention. The plan itself is so weak that good
salesmen are constantly going from the piano selling
field to other fields that are more profitable and more
inviting. In short, other lines of employment are
"putting it over" the piano merchants while they sit
in their stores and dream away their opportunity. I
have visited the stores of many piano merchants in
years gone by. I have had occasion to observe the
trend of events. I have weighed all sides of the issues
that are involved. I have heard the philosophies
and theories of every grade of piano merchant. I
have heard the stories and complaints of every grade
of piano salesmen.
Result of Observation.
1 have conferred with a number of wholesale trav-
elers who have had the same experiences in these
matters, and have observed the same conditions that
I am mentioning and, without a single exception, the
verdict has been that the present system of commis-
sions, which is employed by many houses, is not only
weak but very wicked. It is unfruitful and it is
doing more to throttle the success of pianodom than
everything else.
There is an institution in the central part of the
United States that has opposed this evil constantly.
It has advertised against it steadily. That institu-
ELMOX ARMSTRONG.
tion is rated, under its reports to the commercial
with a great deal of trouble. It opens the door for agencies, more than six million dollars. It has made
a great deal of conflict and misunderstanding. The the most phenomenal growth in the last three decades
salesman is always at a disadvantage because the of any music institution in the world. This state-
final arbiter has a selfish interest to serve and, there- ment can be verified by facts and figures.
This ought to be evidence to many of the piano
fore, is very often unfair to the salesman.
Rut, this same selfish interest will often cause the merchants that are still hanging on to the old com-
pendulum to swing the other way. The piano mer- mission plan, that it isn't the best way to proceed.
chant is inclined to "hang on" to the salesman on a There is a reformation beginning in the piano field.
commission basis that is profitable. There is no ques- Slowly but surely many of the piano merchants are
tion but what there is occasionally a piano dealer dropping this old troublesome commission evil. They
who is neither liberal nor fair as an employer. But are having to do it in self defense. The piano busi-
•that is an individual matter. There are also sales- ness is "sick" and it has been in ill health for quite
men that are unfair, overly contentious and decep- a while. It is needing the treatment of common sense,
and the doctor is on the way. Let us hope that the
tive and tricky, just as some piano merchants are.
patient will be well and hardy before so very long.
Is Commission Plan Good?
The fundamental question and the one that should
45 MILESTONES OF PROGRESS.
be decided, in the interest of the general trade, is
Speaking
of Dallas, Texas, the representatives of
whether the commission plan of employing salesmen
is the best plan. The argument may be made that the Meissner piano there—the Will A. Watkin Com-
the commission plan is fair because the salesman pany—have been celebrating their 45th birthday.
gets returns for the service rendered, which is the They have sent out a mighty interesting circular,
most equitable and just manner of compensation. "The Watkin Way of Selling Pianos-" Nationally
But the practical results have not been as satisfac- advertised lines; standard prices, plainly marked; no
tory as other plans. This conclusion has been inflation to permit fictitious trade-in allowances—
reached by some of the best organized and most suc- these are the sound policies that have spelled success
for the Watkin organization.
cessful music institutions of the country.
There are three better ways of employing sales-
A CHICAGO VISITOR.
men than a straight commission basis. The best
plan is found to be the one of paying the salesman
Secretary and Sales Manager Shailer, of Philip W.
a nominal salary each week, and a percentage on the Oetting & Son, Inc.. New York, is in Chicago this
sales made, giving the salesman equal rights with the week, called here by the serious illness of his father.
sales manager and every employee in the institution, Mr. Shailer, Sr., was for many years connected with
with no discrimination of any character against any Comstock, Cheney & Co., at Loyroton, Conn., as
salesman, and a due and just regard for any prospect superintendent of one of the divisions of that great
secured by that salesman, and an equal distribution industry.
FRANCONIA'S QUESTS
ENTERTAINED EN ROUTE
Bergstrom Music Company of Honolulu Ar-
range Special Ampico Concert with
Assisting Artists on Board Ship.
During the stay in Honolulu of the Cunard liner
"Franconia," now on her celebrated World Tour un-
der the direction of Thos. Cook & Son, the ship's
company enjoyed an evening of music arranged by
the Bergstrom Music Company of that city. The
program offered, in addition to several numbers pre-
senting the latest recordings of Ampico artists, the
singing of J. Frederick Stone, the noted Irish tenor,
THE AMPTCO ON BOARD THE "FRANCONIA" NOW
ON u o r x n T H E W O R L D TOI'R.
and the delightful playing of Lucile Randle Stone,
pianist. The Ampico, which was installed in New
York on the "Franconia" for the World Tour, pro-
vided the accompaniments for Mr. Stone, as well
as concert numbers by the principal Ampico artists.
The ship's salon was handsomely decorated for the
occasion, which was notable for the artistic manner
in which it was carried out.
WALTHAM PLAYER PLEASES
PENNSYLVANIA AUDIENCE
Concert Arranged by Windsor Music Co., Tarentum,
Demonstrates Tonal Merits of Instrument.
A large and highly appreciative audience was ex-
ceedingly pleased with a splendid program in .the
Y. M. C. A. auditorium, Tarentum, Pa., featuring
Rego Casey, concert violinist, and Mrs. R. H.
Knowles, of Vaudergrift, a pleasing soprano. The
accompaniment was by the Waltham player-piano,
made by the Waltham Piano Company, Inc., and
the expression interpreted by the operator through
this mechanical instrument astounded the crowd at-
tending.
The concert was arranged by the Windsor Music
Company of that city, as a demonstrative presenta-
tion of the new Waltham piano. This piano was
among the very first makes handled by this pioneer
music house there.
Mr. Casey's program included classical numbers,
with one exception. The audience received the whole
program with keen delight. He has appeared in the
concert stage for a number of years. Mrs. Knowles'
vocal numbers were also classical. She is quite well
known throughout the valley as a soloist. She studied
at New England Conservatory, Boston.
AMPICO AT BON AIR-VANDERBILT.
The fine orchestra of the Bon Air-Vanderbilt Hotel,
at Augusta, was accompanied by the Ampico on Sun-
day evening in a delightful program in which the
recording of several Ampico artists was heard, also
two groups of songs the assisting artist being Miss
Maud Barragan. soprano. For one group the accom-
paniments were supplied by the Ampico. The spec-
tacle of superb accompaniments emanating from a
piano at which no living artist was seated again ex-
cited the amazement and enthusiasm of the large
audience who enjoyed this artistic offering of the
hotel management. Miss Barragan also appeared re-
cently at a similar concert at the Forrest Hills Ricker
Hotel arranged under the auspices of the hotel man-
agement and the J. B. White Co.
DEATH OF EMMA BLUMENBERG.
Miss Emma Blumenberg, sister of the late Marc
A. Blumenberg, long-time editor and proprietor of
the Musical Courier Extra, died April 6 at her resi-
dence, 215 West 92d street, New York, after a long
illness. Miss Blumenberg was a daughter of the late
Julius and Fanny Blumenberg of Baltimore and sis-
ter of the late Mark A., Louis and Ida Blumenberg
and Mrs. Joseph (Caroline) Varga.
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