Music Trade Review
Issue: 1912 Vol. 55 N. 21 - Page 10
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10
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
NEED OF SALES TRAINING IN THE MUSIC TRADE INDUSTRY.
much in the nature of a real, life-size grievance to
each customer.
Writer Says That Every Customer to Whom an Instrument Is Sold Should Be and Can Be Made
But if you were to suggest to any of these
an Actual Assistant to the Sales Department of Any Business.
salesmen I have mentioned that he is in need of
sales training he would, in high dudgeon, assure
By FREDERICK E. PIERCE, New York Sales Manager of the Aeolian Co.
you
that he is "not an apprentice."
The intangible asset of good-will can be made If the salesman would misrepresent a competitor's
And that is the sad part of it. He isn't an
goods, why not his own?
worth more in the piano business than in almost
Still another asserts that he was promised some apprentice. He is an experienced salesman, well
any other mercantile industry. Yet I venture to
accessory which he didn't get. The manager ex- versed in showing goods and with decided ability
say few capitalists would value the good-will of
the average music house as proportionately any- plains that the salesman had no authority to prom- as a "closer," but he has never been given either
the suggestion or the incentive that would have
ise any such thing. But somehow the customer
thing like that of—for instance—a well-established
isn't interested in the question of authority. He made him a merchandiser as well as a salesman.
department store.
The net result is that both he and the house em-
wants what was promised him.
Superficially, the answer is that they do not offer
a fair comparison, since the customer of a depart-
Another customer has purchased a player-piano ploying him are realizing only about 50 per cent,
ment store is a steady and frequent trade, while and complains that the salesman "hasn't even of his possible efficiency.
the buyer of a piano is in the market but two or called up to find out how I am getting along in
Every customer to whom an instrument is sold
three times in a lifetime. Hence, superficially, the learning to play it." The salesman asserts that he should be, and can be, made an actual assistant
argument would be that in the case of the piano "sent out an instructor," and seems to think that to the sales department. This is not a Eutopian
was amply sufficient.
theory, but a simple fact of good business. Ninety
And so it goes—one small complaint after an- per cent, of the grievances which prevent this
other. "Small," did I say? Yes, small in the condition can be avoided and eliminated by ade-
eyes of the complaint-hardened veteran, but very quate sales training.
DEATH OF W. N. HOBART.
Director and Member of Executive Committee
of John Church Co. Passes Away.
(Special to The Review.)
Frederick E. Pierce.
buyer there can be no such thing as an estab-
lished habit of going to a certain store.
But neither habit nor precedent are the impor-
tant elements in the good-will of a music house.
Every purchaser of a piano, player-piano, or, in-
deed, any other musical instrument, should be so
handled and so served that he or she becomes an
actual business-getting asset.
Which leads directly to the subject of trained
salesmanship, for one of the functions of proper
sales training is to promote this good-will.
There are thousands of salesmen in the business
who are prepossessing in appearance, neat as to
their clothes, able to speak passable English, and
equipped with a tolerable tonnage of gray mat-
ter; they are closing a good volume of business;
yet the houses employing them would be, in the
long run, much better off without them.
They are good greeters, receive customers
suavely, and at the end of the month the sales
manager has a nice little handful of contracts as a
result of their efforts.
But he also has something else—likewise as a
result of their efforts. In fact, he has a long,
steadily-flowing stream of "something elses." One
customer has been sold an instrument that is too
expensive and the payments are a burden. He is
unhappy. The salesman "lifted" him to the high-
priced instrument—more than he could afford—
and really thinks he deserves a medal for putting
it over. And indeed he does deserve one—a large
one, twelve inches in diameter and made of genu-
ine oak-tanned leather.
Another customer has discovered that the sales-
man told him a constructive falsehood about a
competing instrument, and he has already begun to
look with suspicion on the one he has bought.
was its head for many years. The deceased was
identified in substantial financial ways with vari-
ous companies in this city. In honor of his death
the offices of the two corporations were closed
yesterday morning during the hours of the
funeral.
Cincinnati, O., Nov. 19, 1912.
W. N. Hobart, director and a member of the
executive committee of the John Church Co., OPENS BRANCH STORE IN CHICAGO.
whose critical illness was noted in this column
The Wulschner-Stewart Music Co., of Indian-
some weeks ago, was laid to rest yesterday morn-
apolis, has opened a retail branch store at 432 East
ing in beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery, the serv-
61st street, Chicago, under the management of T.
ices being attended by the officials of the cor-
R. O'Connor. The Jewett piano will be featured
poration which he helped to make a success, as
as the leader.
well as those of the Church-Beinkamp Co.
The deceased passed away at his home on
PIANO MAN DROWNED.
Winslow avenue, Walnut Hills, shortly after mid-
night last Friday morning. Ever since last sum-
While on a fishing trip recently, Richard Eber-
mer, when he complained of the excessive heat,
:
Mr. Hobart, who was 76 years old, was a sick hart, v ce-president of Reichardt & Son & Eber-
hart,
piano
manufacturers of Ludington, Mich.,
man. Death was due to a complication of dis-
eases. Mr. Hobart became interested in the together with J. W. Barry, a Chicago varnish
affairs of the John Church Co. some twenty years salesman, was drowned in Pere Marquette River.
ago, and in all these years, until some months ago,
never failed to attend the weekly meetings of the OCCUPY NEW MUSIC ROLL FACTORY.
executive board, held in the office of President
Frank A. Lee. He took a keen interest in the
The Royal Music Co., manufacturers of music
affairs of the company and his suggestions were
rolls, Buffalo, N. Y., now occupies its new factory
always well received. Some years ago Mr. Ho- at Main street and Hurtle avenue. The new build-
bart broadened his interest in musical affairs ing is two stories high, built of brick and steel and
through the noted May Festival Association and
measures 125 x 160 feet.
Popular In 1854
THE BRADBURY PIANOS
A Continued Favorite in 1912
The Bradbury pianos after more than a half century OF CONTINUED SUCCESS
yet remain the dealer's preference and the musician's choice.
ACTIVE AGENTS WANTED IN UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY
Send fop Catalogues and Prices to
F. G. SMITH,
Manufacturer
Main Offices, 774-6-8 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York
The Satisfactory Grade of the
WEBSTER PIANOS
At their moderate prices, pleasing designs and SUPERIOR construction make them a
VALUABLE agency to any active dealer. ADD to this
THE HENNING AND VVHITTIER PIANOS
We certainly are furnishing a most desirable line OF PROFIT-MAKING PIANOS.
Correspond with the
.
WEBSTER PIANO CO.
Factory, LEOlVflNSTER,
MASS.
Main Office, 774 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York
10
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
NEED OF SALES TRAINING IN THE MUSIC TRADE INDUSTRY.
much in the nature of a real, life-size grievance to
each customer.
Writer Says That Every Customer to Whom an Instrument Is Sold Should Be and Can Be Made
But if you were to suggest to any of these
an Actual Assistant to the Sales Department of Any Business.
salesmen I have mentioned that he is in need of
sales training he would, in high dudgeon, assure
By FREDERICK E. PIERCE, New York Sales Manager of the Aeolian Co.
you
that he is "not an apprentice."
The intangible asset of good-will can be made If the salesman would misrepresent a competitor's
And that is the sad part of it. He isn't an
goods, why not his own?
worth more in the piano business than in almost
Still another asserts that he was promised some apprentice. He is an experienced salesman, well
any other mercantile industry. Yet I venture to
accessory which he didn't get. The manager ex- versed in showing goods and with decided ability
say few capitalists would value the good-will of
the average music house as proportionately any- plains that the salesman had no authority to prom- as a "closer," but he has never been given either
the suggestion or the incentive that would have
ise any such thing. But somehow the customer
thing like that of—for instance—a well-established
isn't interested in the question of authority. He made him a merchandiser as well as a salesman.
department store.
The net result is that both he and the house em-
wants what was promised him.
Superficially, the answer is that they do not offer
a fair comparison, since the customer of a depart-
Another customer has purchased a player-piano ploying him are realizing only about 50 per cent,
ment store is a steady and frequent trade, while and complains that the salesman "hasn't even of his possible efficiency.
the buyer of a piano is in the market but two or called up to find out how I am getting along in
Every customer to whom an instrument is sold
three times in a lifetime. Hence, superficially, the learning to play it." The salesman asserts that he should be, and can be, made an actual assistant
argument would be that in the case of the piano "sent out an instructor," and seems to think that to the sales department. This is not a Eutopian
was amply sufficient.
theory, but a simple fact of good business. Ninety
And so it goes—one small complaint after an- per cent, of the grievances which prevent this
other. "Small," did I say? Yes, small in the condition can be avoided and eliminated by ade-
eyes of the complaint-hardened veteran, but very quate sales training.
DEATH OF W. N. HOBART.
Director and Member of Executive Committee
of John Church Co. Passes Away.
(Special to The Review.)
Frederick E. Pierce.
buyer there can be no such thing as an estab-
lished habit of going to a certain store.
But neither habit nor precedent are the impor-
tant elements in the good-will of a music house.
Every purchaser of a piano, player-piano, or, in-
deed, any other musical instrument, should be so
handled and so served that he or she becomes an
actual business-getting asset.
Which leads directly to the subject of trained
salesmanship, for one of the functions of proper
sales training is to promote this good-will.
There are thousands of salesmen in the business
who are prepossessing in appearance, neat as to
their clothes, able to speak passable English, and
equipped with a tolerable tonnage of gray mat-
ter; they are closing a good volume of business;
yet the houses employing them would be, in the
long run, much better off without them.
They are good greeters, receive customers
suavely, and at the end of the month the sales
manager has a nice little handful of contracts as a
result of their efforts.
But he also has something else—likewise as a
result of their efforts. In fact, he has a long,
steadily-flowing stream of "something elses." One
customer has been sold an instrument that is too
expensive and the payments are a burden. He is
unhappy. The salesman "lifted" him to the high-
priced instrument—more than he could afford—
and really thinks he deserves a medal for putting
it over. And indeed he does deserve one—a large
one, twelve inches in diameter and made of genu-
ine oak-tanned leather.
Another customer has discovered that the sales-
man told him a constructive falsehood about a
competing instrument, and he has already begun to
look with suspicion on the one he has bought.
was its head for many years. The deceased was
identified in substantial financial ways with vari-
ous companies in this city. In honor of his death
the offices of the two corporations were closed
yesterday morning during the hours of the
funeral.
Cincinnati, O., Nov. 19, 1912.
W. N. Hobart, director and a member of the
executive committee of the John Church Co., OPENS BRANCH STORE IN CHICAGO.
whose critical illness was noted in this column
The Wulschner-Stewart Music Co., of Indian-
some weeks ago, was laid to rest yesterday morn-
apolis, has opened a retail branch store at 432 East
ing in beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery, the serv-
61st street, Chicago, under the management of T.
ices being attended by the officials of the cor-
R. O'Connor. The Jewett piano will be featured
poration which he helped to make a success, as
as the leader.
well as those of the Church-Beinkamp Co.
The deceased passed away at his home on
PIANO MAN DROWNED.
Winslow avenue, Walnut Hills, shortly after mid-
night last Friday morning. Ever since last sum-
While on a fishing trip recently, Richard Eber-
mer, when he complained of the excessive heat,
:
Mr. Hobart, who was 76 years old, was a sick hart, v ce-president of Reichardt & Son & Eber-
hart,
piano
manufacturers of Ludington, Mich.,
man. Death was due to a complication of dis-
eases. Mr. Hobart became interested in the together with J. W. Barry, a Chicago varnish
affairs of the John Church Co. some twenty years salesman, was drowned in Pere Marquette River.
ago, and in all these years, until some months ago,
never failed to attend the weekly meetings of the OCCUPY NEW MUSIC ROLL FACTORY.
executive board, held in the office of President
Frank A. Lee. He took a keen interest in the
The Royal Music Co., manufacturers of music
affairs of the company and his suggestions were
rolls, Buffalo, N. Y., now occupies its new factory
always well received. Some years ago Mr. Ho- at Main street and Hurtle avenue. The new build-
bart broadened his interest in musical affairs ing is two stories high, built of brick and steel and
through the noted May Festival Association and
measures 125 x 160 feet.
Popular In 1854
THE BRADBURY PIANOS
A Continued Favorite in 1912
The Bradbury pianos after more than a half century OF CONTINUED SUCCESS
yet remain the dealer's preference and the musician's choice.
ACTIVE AGENTS WANTED IN UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY
Send fop Catalogues and Prices to
F. G. SMITH,
Manufacturer
Main Offices, 774-6-8 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York
The Satisfactory Grade of the
WEBSTER PIANOS
At their moderate prices, pleasing designs and SUPERIOR construction make them a
VALUABLE agency to any active dealer. ADD to this
THE HENNING AND VVHITTIER PIANOS
We certainly are furnishing a most desirable line OF PROFIT-MAKING PIANOS.
Correspond with the
.
WEBSTER PIANO CO.
Factory, LEOlVflNSTER,
MASS.
Main Office, 774 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York
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