Music Trade Review

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SALESMANSHIP
A Complete Section Devoted to Piano Salesmanship Published Each Month
The Question of Time Saving in Closing Piano Sales
Every Unnecessary Call Made Upon a Prospect Before Selling Takes Just So Much Time From
Other Prospects — Efficiency in Handling of Prospects — No To-morrow in Good Salesmanship
S he starts out from the wareroom each morning to begin
A
his day's labor, the outside salesman is generally supplied
with a list of prospects to be worked up on that particular day
or for such a fixed period as the manager may decide, and from
that list the outside man, if he is good or has some luck, may
close a satisfactory number of sales. In closing those sales,
however, there is still another factor and that is, what about
the people that were not closed?
There are. of course, a large number of prospects on the
list of every house who never buy a piano, who are anxious to
own one, and perhaps have actually made known their desires,
but who, for financial or other reasons, are not in a position to
become purchasers. There is also, of course, the usual pro-
portion of loss to a competing house, maybe through superior
salesmanship on the part of the competitor, through some feature
of his line that makes a special appeal, or for other reasons
that cannot be so readily explained. The real question, however,
is that of the prospect who ultimately purchases from the house
first securing the name. What about that prospect? Why the
delay in selling him? If it takes twelve calls to convince a pros-
pect that he should become a customer, why could it not have
been done in six, or, if it takes six, why could it not have been
done in three? A call made by a salesman without direct results
costs the house he is working for money. He may be drawing a
salary based upon a certain quota of sales and may exceed that
quota regularly and make a commission on the additional busi-
ness, but the calls he makes without results are still to be checked
up against him. Probably it is not his direct fault that results
have not been obtained, but it is his prospect and he is
responsible.
In the brilliant articles on salesmanship, there has been
frequent mention made of the man who likes a hard nut to crack,
who passes by the easy sales with scorn and dives right into a
doubtful proposition. As a matter of fact it is human nature to
take the easiest way. If an outside man has twenty prospects
to call upon, and actually knows that five are practically ready
to buy and that the five at the other end of the list have not
yet been convinced that the piano is of any use to them, he i^
going after those who are ready to buy. The supersalesman
we sometimes read about would abandon them to some of the
weaker sisters of the sales-force and spend his time convincing
the hard ones, but the average man, the salesman with the quota
in front of him, is going to pluck the easiest ones first every time.
When it comes down to the more difficult ones, however, and
becomes a question of what can be said or done that will con-
vince them to make a quick decision, that is where the sales-
man can either save or spend money for his house.
There may be a legitimate reason for putting off buying
that can be so recorded on the card and the minimum of calls
arranged to keep the prospect in line until he is ready to capitu-
late. Then there are cases where there is no real reason for
holding off buying. The prospect is simply "stalling" and prob-
ably shopping around. Every visit the salesman pays to that
prospect without selling means just one visit taken away from
some other prospect. It means just so much time taken from
the work of the house. It means just so much lost opportunity
for him to increase his sales total, and sales and time undoubted-
ly represent money, whether the salesman is working on salary
or commission.
There is no "manana" in piano selling. The salesman who
has the assurance or feels that the sale can be closed on the next
call should pound just that much harder to close the deal at once.
He should be less willing to accept "no" for an answer, for that
next call if given to another prospect may mean still another
sale. There always is the question of lost interest. When pros-
pects take the trouble to inquire about the details of a piano or
player-piano, or to visit the warerooms and inspect the line,
they are interested. That's certain, although they may not be
interested sufficiently to buy on the spur of the moment. The
fact remains, however, that if a prospect is ignored or is not.
followed up closely, that interest, in most cases, lags with the
passing of time.
When the piano is^ first seen it is much admired. The pros-
pect feels that he must have it. The next call—it is a very fine
instrument and he would like to have it. The third call—he
wishes he could spare the money to buy it. The fourth call—
he can't see how he will be able to finance it, and so on.
There is an old undertaker's slogan to this effect: "Get the
money while the tears are in the eyes," which, although rather
gruesome, can be applied in some degree to piano selling. In
other words, get the contract signed while the glamor of the in-
strument is still in the eyes of the prospect.
Some Pointers on Selling Rolls for
I
N a recent interview with O. R. Bowman, of the Chicago branch
of Bennett & White, Inc., he gave some valuable pointers to the
salesman who is interested in the selling of music rolls. Speaking
of the value of personality in salesmanship, he said:
"Your greatest asset is your individuality. Your traits set you
off, distinguishing you from others. Proper use of your individu-
ality is your great key to success. Neglect of it or misuse of it will
be your greatest obstacle. With these two points in mind you can
Player-Pianos
probably find a source from which you can draw enormous power.
"If you do not wish to make personal applications in your study
of these you can make them solve for you many of the puzzling
cases of success and failure among the player roll departments of
your acquaintance.
"In short, this one principle applies to every phase of the busi-
ness and goes far towards unraveling the whole story of the roll
(Continued on page 12)