Music Trade Review
Issue: 1913 Vol. 57 N. 2 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE LESSON OF GETTYSBURG.
(Continued from page 3.)
of the condition of their forces and they do not know always the condition of their competitors, so
if a man fights the battle as best he can from his viewpoint, although he does not follow up a great
victory with another and more sweeping accomplishment, he, like Meade, has won in a great battle.
Frequently you will hear, when men gather together, expressions to the effect that Mr. So-and-
So, a big trade general, should have followed up the victory which he had won; that he then could
have placed himself in an impregnable position by inflicting a crushing defeat upon the enemy.
Ah, yes! That is the criticism of hindsight, and it is the mouthings of the men who have not
ll
been on the firing line.
•
In other words, the men who stood up under fire and who won victories, even though they
have not startled the world, should be accorded full credit for what they have done.
The world is always generous with its criticism, but is somewhat niggardly in its praise, and
General Meade, the victor of Gettysburg, never received full credit for what he accomplished. The
guerdon for which he sought went to Sherman, then to Sheridan, and he died broken-hearted.
And so, in civil life, there are thousands of men who have exhibited splendid qualities of gen-
eralship yet who never have received from the world the full measure of credit to which their
devotion and their energy entitled them.
But the great lesson of the reunion at Gettysburg shows that, after all, no matter how bitter
the strife, the nation to-day has not merely a name, but is bound together by sympathetic bonds
which have united forever the warring sections of our common country.
"Oh, bitter waste of war!
Oh, bitter, hateful strife!
Oh, cruel lesson of the Nations life!
Oh, not in vain, for in thy red rebirth
Peace dwells with us and shines for all of earth!
VKA* (n /v\^Lrv\
The Personal Equation in Salesmanship.
O the man whose problem is the selling of goods, one of the
main questions that confronts him, is just what factors enter
most into the closing of a sale—to just what degree the advertising,
the quality of the goods and the personality of the salesman enter
into the final results. Advertising by itself, unaided, will not bring
to a fitting climax a selling campaign, whether or not the adver-
tising bill runs into thousands of dollars. It will arouse the neces-
sary interest and create a demand, but the goods themselves repre-
sent the final test, the culmination of the deal. The salesman is the
connecting link between the advertising and the goods, the link
that brings the goods before the buyer and presents them attrac-
tively. He sidetracks the doubts of the unbelieving, centers the
attention of the busy man and offers his personality in the final
balance—the personality that is a factor in business despite the talk
of cold-blooded business efficiency, etc. The advertising is the
motive power, the goods are the train and the salesman is the
coupling that holds together the motive power and that which is to
be moved.
With the recognition of personality as a real factor in present
day business as it has always been, the question of the salesman
and his contribution to the selling campaign becomes the live topic.
There is no question but that the quality and extent of the adver-
tising and the quality of the goods being equal the personality of
the salesman is a deciding factor that cannot be ignored. The
buyer likes to do business with a human being, someone with whom
he can discuss the features of the goods and with whom he can
T
argue.
There is the salesman who is dignified to a degree, has su-
preme confidence in his line, and presents that to the buyer without
comment as though the inspection of the goods should be sufficient
argument in their favor. His self-assurance generally irritates the
buyer and at least causes him to lose interest in the proposition.
Such a salesman puts goods before personality and the results are
doubtful.
Next comes the salesman who is hail fellow well met
with everyone. He slaps the buyer on the back, refers to him at
the first meeting as "old man," and, ten chances to one, makes such
a nuisance of himself in the endeavor to be agreeable that he talks
himself out of a large amount of business that should, by rights,
go to his house. Then there is the salesman who displays confi-
dence in his line without mixing with it an over-abundance of self-
satisfaction, who is pleasant without being frivolous and takes the
trouble to call to the attention of the buyer, in a suggestive manner,
the meritorious features of the goods under inspection. Of the
three the latter class of salesman stands the best chance for busi-
ness. He keeps the buyer good-natured, holds his attention by his
comments on the goods, apparently relies on the buyer's knowledge
of values to give him the decision and knows at which point to curb
his selling talk.
With all other factors being equal, the personality of the sales-
man is an important factor in accomplishing the results. As a
matter of fact good advertising and good salesmanship can sell
goods of mediocre quality, for a time at least, in cases where good
advertising, combined with poor salesmanship, cannot sell goods of
first grade. The importance of the personal element in business
cannot be ignored.
employ as apprentices the burden will not be serious. He points
to instances both here and abroad to prove that "firms employing
bona fide apprentices to-day find that their apprenticeship system
pays."
Revival of apprenticeship alone will not solve the problem,
however. "What we should strive for," declares Dr. Beckwith,
"is such broadening industrial training as will supplement the
narrower range of skill and knowledge and give the specialized
workers greater resource. Specialization is probably more wide-
spread in the United States than in Germany, and this consti-
tutes an added need which we have for industrial education
greater than that in Germany.
"Industrial schools, then, we must have, and in far greater
numbers, to meet the needs of far more workers than at present.
Otherwise we can make little claim to really popular education
of the sort closest to the worker's activities."
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE LESSON OF GETTYSBURG.
(Continued from page 3.)
of the condition of their forces and they do not know always the condition of their competitors, so
if a man fights the battle as best he can from his viewpoint, although he does not follow up a great
victory with another and more sweeping accomplishment, he, like Meade, has won in a great battle.
Frequently you will hear, when men gather together, expressions to the effect that Mr. So-and-
So, a big trade general, should have followed up the victory which he had won; that he then could
have placed himself in an impregnable position by inflicting a crushing defeat upon the enemy.
Ah, yes! That is the criticism of hindsight, and it is the mouthings of the men who have not
ll
been on the firing line.
•
In other words, the men who stood up under fire and who won victories, even though they
have not startled the world, should be accorded full credit for what they have done.
The world is always generous with its criticism, but is somewhat niggardly in its praise, and
General Meade, the victor of Gettysburg, never received full credit for what he accomplished. The
guerdon for which he sought went to Sherman, then to Sheridan, and he died broken-hearted.
And so, in civil life, there are thousands of men who have exhibited splendid qualities of gen-
eralship yet who never have received from the world the full measure of credit to which their
devotion and their energy entitled them.
But the great lesson of the reunion at Gettysburg shows that, after all, no matter how bitter
the strife, the nation to-day has not merely a name, but is bound together by sympathetic bonds
which have united forever the warring sections of our common country.
"Oh, bitter waste of war!
Oh, bitter, hateful strife!
Oh, cruel lesson of the Nations life!
Oh, not in vain, for in thy red rebirth
Peace dwells with us and shines for all of earth!
VKA* (n /v\^Lrv\
The Personal Equation in Salesmanship.
O the man whose problem is the selling of goods, one of the
main questions that confronts him, is just what factors enter
most into the closing of a sale—to just what degree the advertising,
the quality of the goods and the personality of the salesman enter
into the final results. Advertising by itself, unaided, will not bring
to a fitting climax a selling campaign, whether or not the adver-
tising bill runs into thousands of dollars. It will arouse the neces-
sary interest and create a demand, but the goods themselves repre-
sent the final test, the culmination of the deal. The salesman is the
connecting link between the advertising and the goods, the link
that brings the goods before the buyer and presents them attrac-
tively. He sidetracks the doubts of the unbelieving, centers the
attention of the busy man and offers his personality in the final
balance—the personality that is a factor in business despite the talk
of cold-blooded business efficiency, etc. The advertising is the
motive power, the goods are the train and the salesman is the
coupling that holds together the motive power and that which is to
be moved.
With the recognition of personality as a real factor in present
day business as it has always been, the question of the salesman
and his contribution to the selling campaign becomes the live topic.
There is no question but that the quality and extent of the adver-
tising and the quality of the goods being equal the personality of
the salesman is a deciding factor that cannot be ignored. The
buyer likes to do business with a human being, someone with whom
he can discuss the features of the goods and with whom he can
T
argue.
There is the salesman who is dignified to a degree, has su-
preme confidence in his line, and presents that to the buyer without
comment as though the inspection of the goods should be sufficient
argument in their favor. His self-assurance generally irritates the
buyer and at least causes him to lose interest in the proposition.
Such a salesman puts goods before personality and the results are
doubtful.
Next comes the salesman who is hail fellow well met
with everyone. He slaps the buyer on the back, refers to him at
the first meeting as "old man," and, ten chances to one, makes such
a nuisance of himself in the endeavor to be agreeable that he talks
himself out of a large amount of business that should, by rights,
go to his house. Then there is the salesman who displays confi-
dence in his line without mixing with it an over-abundance of self-
satisfaction, who is pleasant without being frivolous and takes the
trouble to call to the attention of the buyer, in a suggestive manner,
the meritorious features of the goods under inspection. Of the
three the latter class of salesman stands the best chance for busi-
ness. He keeps the buyer good-natured, holds his attention by his
comments on the goods, apparently relies on the buyer's knowledge
of values to give him the decision and knows at which point to curb
his selling talk.
With all other factors being equal, the personality of the sales-
man is an important factor in accomplishing the results. As a
matter of fact good advertising and good salesmanship can sell
goods of mediocre quality, for a time at least, in cases where good
advertising, combined with poor salesmanship, cannot sell goods of
first grade. The importance of the personal element in business
cannot be ignored.
employ as apprentices the burden will not be serious. He points
to instances both here and abroad to prove that "firms employing
bona fide apprentices to-day find that their apprenticeship system
pays."
Revival of apprenticeship alone will not solve the problem,
however. "What we should strive for," declares Dr. Beckwith,
"is such broadening industrial training as will supplement the
narrower range of skill and knowledge and give the specialized
workers greater resource. Specialization is probably more wide-
spread in the United States than in Germany, and this consti-
tutes an added need which we have for industrial education
greater than that in Germany.
"Industrial schools, then, we must have, and in far greater
numbers, to meet the needs of far more workers than at present.
Otherwise we can make little claim to really popular education
of the sort closest to the worker's activities."
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