Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
A BUSINESS DANGER LIMIT.
(Continued from page 3.)
enter into pianos, it is certain that the man who has pared his costs down to a thin margin will
have to advance, or he will be unable to meet his obligations.
There may be some improvement in manufacturing methods; arranging work in the factory;
scheduling operations; supplying material automatically; paying properly for good work, and
paying a penalty for bad work, but there is a limit, and according to my belief the men who are
basing their business future on a price foundation, without regard to quality, are in a very
unstable position.
They are not building on a secure basis for themselves, or those with whom their interests
are interlocked.
This country has at the present time opportunities which are practically illimitable, and every
industry should share in the prosperous times which are sure to come, and while Wall Street is
going mad over war stocks, it is reassuring to note that the real values are accruing to the country
elsewhere.
We are looking for a confidence campaign to boom prosperity which will start with arguments
drawn from facts and not from the ticker.
It will endure by conducting business on a sound, rational and reasonable basis, by adopting
methods in which the quality standard is kept well to the front by creating a feeling of stability in
the trade and respect for the piano business.
This condition cannot come through the influence of the fly-by-
nighters or the men who have no appreciation of what an obligation
means.
These matters are well worthy the serious consideration of all
branches of the music trade. There is danger in the unwise conduct
of modern business.
Developing Larger Trade in Player-Pianos.
N
OT a few piano merchants complain of a falling off in the
demand for player-pianos during the past six months, and
the question arises, is this due to natural conditions or to the in-
difference or lack of enthusiasm on the part of dealers?
From the head of the house as well as the sales force the
player-piano requires special treatment, not alone as far as its sales
promotion is concerned hut also the necessity of giving the closest
attention to a customer after the sale is made.
The purchaser who is instructed to operate the player intelli-
gently and to use rolls which please instead of offend the suscepti-
bilities of the neighbors, becomes the best kind of missionary, and
the dealer or salesman who keeps in close touch with the purchaser
of a player-piano to the end that the utmost satisfaction prevails, is
doing the kind of work that will result in new customers—ergo, in-
creased business for his house.
The example of some of the talking machine men who have
built up large businesses is well worth observing in this connection.
They make it a point to have customers called upon regularly, not
to instruct them as to the operation of the talking machine, for it
doesn't require it, but rather to find out the needs of the purchasers
in the iratter of records.
If the very same plan were adopted by the player dealer it
would he doubly effective, because it is probable that the player-
piano may develop some minor imperfection that could be remedied
by a visit, while at the same timj the need of the customer for new
music rolls comes to the surface and an order invariably results.
It will be found upon close observation that the majority of
the dealers who report a falling off in the player trade are those
who do not "follow up" the people to whom they have sold players,
and who unwisely consider that a sale once made closes all dealings.
On this subject a traveling man this week remarked to The
Review: "Close contact with the marketing of player-pianos, both
wholesale and retail, convinces me that-the prevailing evils are the
shortage of salesmen who know how players should be sold to the
retail buyer so as to make each sale help toward another, and this
category, too, comes the need of an intelligent 'follow-up' system, so
that every player sold is an investment, so to speak, for the house
in the matter of interesting other prospective customers. This can
only be accomplished where co-operation prevails, where the sales-
man's personality influences the- buyer to operate the player so
artistically as to interest others, and in this way place the trade on
a basis far removed from the hurdy-gurdy effect which is too
common among player users. Tlr;n if the music roll situation is
to be bettered it can only be done through this sort of co-operation
—through making the owners of player-pianos appreciate the value
of high-class, standard music—at least see that it is given a fair
chance. Quality in music rolls will be appreciated if the dealers or
sales force appreciate the merits and value embodied in th se
products and present them to buyers in the proper light—not as
give-aways but as products just as necessary to the production of
good music on the player-piano as the high-class record is to the
talking machine."
KALERS who have investigated the business-building merits
of coin-operated musical instruments have been more than
pleased with the money-making results obtained threfrom, for the
possibilities afford rich opportunities for piano merchants in every
part of the country.
An element which is widening business possibilities in this
particular line is the moving picture business, for, go where we
w jU— eV en in the smaller towns—there are a number of photo-
play or moving picture houses. Thee require entertaining equip-
ment, and, of course, tlr.re is nothing that fits in so admirably as
automatic musical instruments. In fact th y are indispensible to
the house that wants to be up-to-date.
The field is constantly growing, and piano merchants are real-
izing more than ever before the advantage of handling these in-
struments.
D
T
HE life of every business is salesmanship. Every business
depends on its selling for existence. Stagnation at the selling
end produces heart disease in that business. The greatest handicap
a business can have is a poor selling