Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE! REVIEW
lower the prices upon their instruments and some who urge them
state that if it is impossible to lower the price of pianos they can-
not reasonably 'be expected to pay an advance.
N
O man in business under the present conditions can expect to
lessen the cost of an article without lessening its quality,
and in the piano business the impossible cannot be done. It is abso-
lutely necessary that if a quality standard be upheld a price standard
be maintained as well. It should be understood that there has been
a steady rise in price on everything which enters into the construc-
tion of pianos and when the sum total of the increase, cost of labor
and materials is made out it becomes at once obvious that there can
be no lowering of price and have the present standard maintained.
On the contrary, if manufacturers make a fair profit on their work
they must advance their prices materially.
W
ITH these conditions facing us all around it would seem
that every dealer and every salesman should hammer at
quality rather than price. Of course, there will always be a de-
mand for low price instruments. They have their place just as
much as high price instruments, but the more quality is kept to the
forefront the better it will be for the entire trade. There has been
such a steady and unceasing nagging at the manufacturers on the
price question that some have stated frankly that they must lessen
the quality of their product if the dealers' views are to be consid-
ered for one moment. Now, it does not pay to take an unreason-
able view of this situation. We are facing certain conditions and
there is nothing in sight to suppose that there will be a material
change in the general trade fabric for some months to come.
S
OME time ago a well-known firm of dealers forwarded a
strenuous letter of objection to a piano manufacturer from
whom they had been making large purchases for years because the
latter found it necessary to advance their price to a point fairly
covering the increase cost of labor and materials. The dealers
claimed that the manufacturers should solve the increase cost prob-
lem without increasing the price to the dealers and therefore they
refused to purchase more pianos at the new price schedule. The
sequel of this separation of business interests is interesting. This
concern purchased cheaper pianos, but they found that they did not
give satisfaction. They found they were indeed cheaper in quality
as well as in price, and after a few months' experience they came
back to the old concern and paid the modest advance asked for.
It should be understood that piano manufacturers do not gladly
advance their price to their regular trade. On the contrary, they
have fought against making that advance as long as they could
consistently, but they cannot do business just for the sake of turning
one dollar over for another. There must be some profit in the busi-
ness transaction or else it is not worth while continuing it.
B
USINESS must be profitable to everyone else it is conducted
on a wrong basis. To achieve -general prosperity a manu-
facturer must be able to produce his goods at a price which will
permit him to compete successfully with other establishments en-
gaged in the manufacture of similar products, therefore it must
be conceded, if one studies the papers containing the market re-
ports, that everything which enters into our modern lives has ad-
vanced in cost. Raw materials cost excessively more than formerly.
It isn't a question of whether a man desires to pay more for lumber
or metals. He simply must or go without. Quit if you will. It
isn't a question whether he wishes to pay more for labor. He has
been compelled to in most cases, and if he pays lower wages his
product will be lowered in standard to that scale of wages and will
at once lose standing in the estimation of critical purchasers.
A
LL of these things must be considered and must be considered
rationally, lie it said to the everlasting credit " of piano
manufacturers that there has been no disposition to advance prices
to any figure with the object in view of making more money. On
the contrary, their profits have been less because very few have
advanced the prices in a sufficient degree to cover the actual- cost.
It is pretty difficult to reach the ideal state either in business
or in any other sphere of life, but it pays to use sound practical
common sense at all times. It will be seen that we are simply
creatures of conditions and the quicker we recognize that the more
happiness there will be all around.
He who thinks before he speaks, frequently remains speechless.
Most of our troubles are due to egotism.
The dreamer may enjoy himself, but he doesn't make much of a stir
in the world.
What the peaceful man asks as his right, the strenuous man takes by
his might.
Quality is appreciated long after price is forgotten. Don't forget that,
Mr, Cut Rate Dealer.
Minimize friction and you create harmony. You can get friction for
nothing, but harmony costs courtesy and self-control.
Earnestness triples earning power. There should be no room in the
sales force for a man who does not mean business and who does not earn-
estly try to get all the business that his utmost exertion can secure.
It is stated that the sales of J. W. Sturtevant, of Steinway Hall,
amount into colossal figures—in other words, not approached by any man
in this country in the piano line.
Good value, it is true, is the very best advertisement ever issued, but
there is nothing like printers' ink to let people know where they can get
it. Do the people in your town know you are in the piano business?
Advertising without quoting prices shows your confidence in your sales-
men. Advertising the prices also shows your confidence in your goods
—and prices.
A good many retailers give such liberal window and poster display to
a few of the proprietary articles they handle that all the individuality of
their own store is buried out of sight.
The American people want to know about everything; it's a part of
their intelligence. An advertisement tells them about some one thing—
tells them satisfactorily, if it's right. Then they want that thing.
Ainslee's Magazine offered a $50 prize for the best motto to combat
substitution. A man wrote this—and it won: "No, thank you. I want
what I asked for. Good-bye." This might be read with profit by some
of the dealers who offer as a substitute the just as good piano.
The fact, if it is one, that your competitors misrepresent and even
lambast your piano, is not a good excuse for following in their lead. You
are on the watch for some distinguishing feature peculiar to your own
business, for advertising purposes. If you have discovered their weak
point, misrepresentation, make it your strong one, and don't misrepresent.
When the lecturer inquired dramatically, "Can any one in this room
tell me of a perfect man?" there was a dead silence. "Has any one," he
continued, "heard of a perfect woman?" Then a patient-looking little
woman in a black dress rose up at the back of the auditorium: "There
was one. I've heard of her, but she's dead now. She was my husband's
first wife."
MEETING HIM.—An English piano traveler going to New Zealand
was asked by a friend if he would inquire, while there, as to the where,
abouts of the friend's grandfather, Jeremiah Thompson. "Certainly," said
the piano man, and wherever he went he asked for news of the ancestor,
but without avail. One day he was introduced to a fine old Maori of ad-
vanced age. "Did you ever meet an Englishman named Jeremiah Thomp-
son?" he asked. A smile passed over the Maori's face. "Meet him?" he
repeated. "Why, I ate him!"
DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK.—A rather poor family unexpectedly came
into possession of a fortune. They purchased a large farm with
hens, cows and pigs. One day the little daughter of the family was show-
ing a visitor about the place.
"Do your hens lay many eggs?" he inquired interestedly.
"Oh, they can," was the haughty reply, "but in our new position they
don't have to."
HELP FOR GIOVANNI.—"Help! Help!" cried an Italian laborer near
the mud flats of the Harlem River.
"What's the matter there?" came a voice from the construction shanty.
"Queek! Bringa da shov'! Bringa da peek! Giovanni's stuck in da
mud."
"How far in?"
"Up to hees knees."
"Oh, let him walk out."
•
,
"No, no!
He no canna walk.
He wronga end up!"
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