Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Technical Knowledge a Necessity to Salesmen.
r
I "HAT "knowledge is power" is a maxim recognized wherever
-t- salesmanship obtains, for the salesman who is not perfectly
familiar with every detail of the product he is trying to dispose of
is badly handicapped in handling his trade. Despite the general
recognition of the necessity of knowledge, the fact remains that all
too many player-piano and talking machine salesmen, and even
piano salesmen, are deficient in knowledge of the structural features
of those instruments.
With the general public becoming better educated, more keen
in its desire to know the details of what it is buying, and more
cautious in the matter of business dealings, to be compelled to
acknowledge ignorance regarding any part of the instrument or
its construction, easily kills a sale.
In this connection the recent move of a New York talking
machine jobber is particularly interesting. During the summer
when there was a slight lull in business, he took the opportunity
of spending zn evening in the store of each of several of his deal-
ers and devoted his time in giving the sales staff a practical demon-
stration of the interior construction of the machine^ for which he
was a distributer, ably assisted by his repairman.
The mechanism of each type of machine was dissembled, each
detail explained and its operation demonstrated, and it was clearly
pointed out just when and wherein the values of the different in-
struments in the line varv. The demonstration itself was followed
by an excellent sales talk based on experience, not a pedantic ad-
dress along correspondence school lines, but a real, genuine sales
talk based upon actual experience, in which numerous instances
were cited where special sales ability was required, and how the
matter was handled at such times to secure the best results.
Several manufacturers of player-pianos have already realized
the necessity of acquainting their dealers, and such retail salesmen
as could be reached, with the details of their instruments, but it
has generally been the case that much more time is given to lessons
in the demonstration of the player than to lectures regarding its
structural features.
A number of the player-pianos in the market are increasing
at a great rate and will continue to increase. The styles of mech-
anism have also increased. Under such conditions knowledge on
the part of the player-piano salesman was never more essential than
it is to-day. Player-piano manufacturers cannot do better than to
take a leaf from the book of the talking machine man, have experts
visit the stores of their various dealers and give a practical demon^
stration of the construction of their instruments for the benefit of
the sales force.
It will take time and will cost money, but the investment will
certainly pay dividends, especially in territories where competition
is hot, and where salesmen do not know why one player costs $750
and another $450.
Value of Reputation in the Sales Field.
ERSONAL and business reputation is one of the greatest, if
not the greatest asset, a man can possess to insure business
success. In nine cases out of ten it will prove the principal factor
in starting and closing a sale through the confidence in the mer-
chant's business methods possessed by the customer, and it also
serves to promote satisfaction in the mind of the customer after
the deal is closed and the article delivered for use. Many piano
merchants have expressed surprise at the manner in which the de-
partment store has gaine'd ground in handling pianos, but the mana-
gers of the successful piano departments, as a rule, frankly confess
that much of their success is due primarily to the reputation an
established department store possesses in its own territory, espe-
cially among the women.
When the outside salesman representing a piano department
approaches the housekeeper and announces the name of the house
he represents he gains a fair hearing because the woman has had
dealings with other departments in the same store, has found every
statement made to be truthful, the treatment of customers to be
generous and fair and naturally assumes that the rule applies to the
piano department. When the woman purchases the piano or per-
suades her husband to purchase it, she dees so confident that the
reputation of the house is back of the deal, that the price is right,
the article as represented, and that she will be protected if some-
thing proves wrong.
P
Although the average straight piano merchant does not enjoy
the opportunity to gain the reputation through sales of various
merchandise, still many of the piano merchants, especially the old
established ones, enjoy reputations for fair dealing that make the
good will of the business worth quite as much, if not more, than
the actual stock of pianos and musical goods. Reputation is not
built up in a day or in a year, but only through long and earnest
effort on the part of the merchant. The one-price system, without
any rebate schemes that simply tend to preserve the appearance of
sticking to one price, is the first step. Then comes absolute truth-
fulness in advertising and not just sufficient truth to get by the
advertising laws, and finally the handling of customers and their
complaints.
The merchant or his salesman who is willing to spend a few
moments calling on a customer even long after the sale is closed
and the instrument is in the home, is building reputation through
promoting the friendship of the customer and also showing that
he is not afraid to go out of his way after the deal is closed to find
out if the instrument is satisfactory in every respect.
The merchant with a reputation at stake must watch it jeal-
ously every minute, for the frailest piece of glass is fragile com-
pared with it. One customer with a real or fancied grievance,
slighted or put aside, can counteract the effect of generous treat-
ment accorded a dozen others.
The Automobile Proves an Aid to Piano Business.
ready to repeat the performance in the afternoon of the same day.
ESPITE the cry that was early raised by many piano men
To do the same work with the aid of the horse would require
against the automobile and the damage to the piano business
D
at lerst three double teams and consequently three gangs of piano
caused by the introduction of motor vehicles at moderate prices,
thcacttial fact remains that any cutting into the piano sales by
automobiles is more than offset by the benefits derived by piano
manufacturers and dealers through the use of motor vehicles in
their business. It is safe to say close to fifty per cent, of the
representative dealers of the country deliver their pianos through
the medium of motor trucks or with automobiles with trailer at-
tachments. To the busy piano house in the center of a large country
district the motor truck is almost indispensable and is at the same
time a profitable investment, for it covers a large territory neces-
sitating traveling over fifty miles or more of roads and including
several deliveries, in the course of a morning and then be
movers. For short haul work the motor truck has been found to
keep up with the horse-drawn vehicle in the matter of economy of
operation and in long haul work the motor truck is far in the lead
for twenty miles with a three-ton load of pianos is well within its
capabilities.
The touring car and runabout, the cars for pleasure, have also
found a field of usefulness in the piano trade. They afford ideal
means of transportation for the salesman covering a wide territory
and when he wins over the prospects afford a means for bringing
the prospects direct to the warerooms in private and under ideal
conditions before the enthusiasm has worn off.