Presto

MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1884
Established
1881
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL
10 Cents a
1 Tear
Copy
$1.25
10 Months... $1.00
6 Months. .75 cents
CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST, 1930
THE PIANO BUSINESS IS
"STAGING A C0ME=BACK"
By A. G. QULBRANSEN,
President, Gulbransen Company, Chicago
That the piano business is staging a "come-back"
is very evident to those who are following the activi-
ties of the industry. The come-back, however, is
making its appearance in an entirely new form—so
different from the accepted manner that many of us
will not recognize it unless we look carefully and do
some real clear thinking.
I know that nearly every piano dealer has the feel-
ing that some day—eventually—the piano business
will come back. Just how, when and where, nobody
has been able to predict. Undoubtedly a belief has
developed in the minds of many that some fine morn-
ing we are to awaken, go down to our place of busi-
ness and find, much to our surprise, that the piano
business has come back. I believe too many of us
have been waiting for a miracle to happen.
It is high time that those of us who have devoted
a life-time to the industry should quit crystal-gazing
and face the real facts. It is time we should quit
building our future hopes on false premises and dig
deep into the causes. We should quit assuming that
our business will revive itself automatically some fine
day in the future, and then sit complacently by await-
ing the millennium. You know, it is possible to be-
come so self-satisfied and so in sympathy with our-
selves that the piano business could come back and
we would never know that it happened.
Potentially Piano Business Has Come Back.
Frankly and honestly. I'm afraid that it has hap-
pened already—that potentially the piano business
has come back—but we don't know it.
Let's quit feeling sorry for ourselves, and put our-
selves under observation. Let's make a study of our-
selves and for once look directly for weaknesses. It
easily can be possible that as merchandisers we are
not in tune with this modern day of salesmanship.
Maybe we're trying to meet 1930 selling problems
with 1920 methods.
Let's check our activities against those of successful
merchandisers in other industries. For example, let's
take the electrical refrigeration field and see what
they're doing. The best merchandisers in this field
approach their problem from this angle:
1. First, they make a close study of their indi-
vidual territory. They break it down into fine bits—
they cross-section it—they gather facts. When they
are through with this survey they have all this infor-
mation on index cards. They classify their prospects
as to their requirements and ability to buy a refrig-
erator. Then they start to work.
2. They next organize a sales force and they drill
and school this force until each man becomes an
authority on refrigeration. They arm these salesmen
with interesting facts and figures on food preservation.
They learn all kinds of sales talks. They know how
to appeal to the mother through selling talks on the
value of perfect refrigeration in relation to the health
of the children. They have facts and figures to offer
as to comparative costs of electric refrigeration over
using ice. In other words, they are armed with "air
tight" sales talks which enables them to meet and
overcome every conceivable objection on the part of
the prospect.
Work Territory Thoroughly.
3. Next they divide their territory among their
salesmen and hold each salesman responsible for every
prospect in his territory. His work is checked once
a day. A non-producer cannot, under this system,
waste very much of the dealer's money. He soon
knows within a few days' time whether or not a
salesman is going to produce. He doesn't take into
consideration the fact that a salesman might be a
"nice fellow"—all he is interested in is whether or
not he makes sales. He looks upon his sales force
; a "sales machine," and if any one individual is
out of gear, he is simply replaced. "Cold blooded,"
you ask? No—absolutely no! Just because a man
happens to have a nice family, or he is a "good fel-
low"—it has nothing to do with the sale of refrigera-
tors. If a man is unable to "click" as a refrigerator
salesman, it is only treating him fair to let him know
it quickly, so he can be on his way to find a niche
in the scheme of things in another line of work.
Slackness of Piano Dealers.
Now, let's check the above procedure against the
methods used by the average piano dealer. Chances
are you won't find 1 per cent of the piano dealers
going after their job as intensively as this. Wher-
ever you can point out one dealer who is using these.
A. G. GULBRANSEN.
methods, I'll point to him also as one piano dealer
who will tell you definitely the piano business has
COME RACK!
Let's ask ourselves a few questions—let's give our-
selves a "third degree." How many piano dealers
have a complete card index of every possible pros-
pect in their selling areas?
How many dealers have a complete card system
giving the following information on each prospect:
(a) Name of make and age of piano, if any, (b)
number of children in the home—and ages, (c) finan-
cial condition of the home, (d) are children studying
piano—if so, name of teacher, (e) are any children
taking piano class instruction in schools? (f) a com-
plete record of number of times contacted, (g) a com-
plete record of all direct-mail sent to prospect.
How many dealers have a definite year-round direct-
mail program?
How many dealers have divided their prospect?
definitely among their salesmen, holding each sales-
man responsible for his prospects?
How many dealers demand a certain quota of calls
per day—per w r eek—per month?
Tell What Piano Will Do for Home.
How many dealers have a definite set of sales argu-
ments—sales talks they know from experience strike
home and gets results?
How many dealers are selling the things a piano
will do for a home, rather than merely selling so much
wood, felt, strings, duco and metal at a price?
How many dealers are selling the educational ad-
vantages of a piano for children, rather than trying to
sell the mere physical piano at a price?
Issued Monthly—
Fifteenth of Each Month
How many dealers have a system developed wherein
they can judge the worth of a new salesman within
a few days rather than several months?
How many dealers are trying to substitute their
own personality—their own pleasant smile—and the
fact that "I'm Jim Smith"—for a definite selling
program as outlined above?
How many dealers have a selling program of any
kind?
Regardless of which category you belong in, frankly,
which program do you believe will put the most
money in the bank for you—a definite selling program,
or just a sort of a go-easy program, depending upon
your own personal prestige, coupled with the fact
that you have been in business for half a century or
more ?
As I stated before, I believe that the piano business
potentially has come back. It has been proven time
and time again that pianos CAN BE SOLD. It's
our next move—we must simply organize ourselves
as piano dealers to go out and get business like the
refrigerator and automobile dealers are doing. At
first we may have to work just a little harder than
those dealers. We've been lagging behind—we have
lost our momentum, which will have to be regained.
Way to Bring About the Miracle.
There is a way to bring about that miracle we've
all secretly hoped would happen. It could possibly
happen that some fine morning we might go down
to our place of business and find that over night the
piano business has come back!
Let's let our imagination run wild for a moment and
imagine that during the night, while we're sleeping
soundly some one were to go down to your store and
move out completely your entire piano stock and take
all the pianos up the street to the electrical refrigera-
tor store, and in turn move all the refrigerators down
to your store.
And instead of you going down in
the morning to your old place of business you go
up the street to your new location where they sold
refrigerators the day before. Shortly after you open
up, in walks four or five well trained salesmen with
a sales program well grounded in their minds. But
today they're going to sell pianos instead of refrig-
erators, but use refrigerator sales methods. The new
g.rl, as has been her habit in the refrigerator business,
mails out two or three hundred direct mail pieces,
except this time the literature covers pianos instead
of refrigerators. The four or five salesmen, armed
to the gills with piano selling information, snap into
the job of combing their territory—intelligently cov-
ering their prospects one by one. Every night these
men report back and tell of their day's progress.
Let's suppose this goes on for a week! What would
happen? There's only one thing that could happen—
the thing that always happens when you really go
after the piano business—pianos would be sold during
that week.
But wait—let's go back to the old place of business
where they're now trying to sell refrigerators by using
typical piano methods. Wow! No sales this week.
No direct mail efforts! No organized sales force!
Instead of selling the idea that a refrigerator pro-
motes health, saves food, and is more economical than
dirty, messy ice, they've been trying all week long
to sell the occasional prospect who happened in, on
the idea that their refrigerator is the lowest priced in
the field—that they have the best finish—that they
use the best insulating materials available—that the
motor is a genuine "GE"—that the pump doesn't leak,
and that no refrigerator of their make has ever
worn out!
The refrigerator business has gone to the dogs!
The refrigerator dealer, after a few weeks, decides
that he had better take on a few more items and
give up the job of specialty selling, so he takes on
radio, sewing machines, a few ukuleles, an agency for
accident insurance, and becomes a notary public! All
joking aside, this isn't far from what would happen
if the above tale were to come true tonight.
Should Take Themselves to Task.
Isn't it time that those of us in the piano business
should seriously take ourselves to task for the de-
plorable condition that exists today in the piano field!
Here we are, bungling the job of selling the one
piece of merchandise that should be in every Ameri-
can home. Hundreds of thousands of old pianos
have lost their usefulness and need replacing. We
are selling the basic instrument for all musical training
and doing a poor job of it. We are neglecting sell-
ing the great benefits of a musical training. We are
passing up using in our selling arguments the opin-
ions of the world's leading educators and thinkers.
Just think! We are doing a half-hearted job of sell-
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