Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
14
(Salesmanship)
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
is it essential that the salesman study his customer from the moment
the latter enters the door in order to learn how best to approach
him. Attention can be called to a high-priced instrument without
reflecting upon the desirability of a cheaper piano by the salesman
who desires to play safe in the transaction and thus open the way
for making the best sale possible under the conditions. In this con-
nection the Scriptural text "Know thyself" may be paraphrased to
read, for the benefit of the piano salesman, "Know thy customer."
That is the primary law.
In handling the average customer it will soon be discovered
that for every prospect who is inquisitive regarding the manufac-
ture of the piano, the materials that enter into its making and how
they are put together, there are ten who place their confidence in
the reputation of the piano and of the dealer who is selling it, and
demand only that the instrument have a good tone and that the price
be right. At this time comes the question of demonstrating the
instrument, and despite all claims to the contrary the salesman who
is unable to play a simple air on the piano labors under a handicap.
It is well enough to demonstrate for the expert the volume and
richness of the bass notes and the clarity in the extreme treble, and
such a demonstration sometimes impresses the uninitiated, but for
actually convincing the customer of the tonal qualities of the instru-
ment a light piece by one of the great composers, a popular ballad,
maybe a bit of ragtime for variety or even such simple pieces as
"Home, Sweet Home" will be found more effective than any tech-
nical or semi-technical demonstration of tone values that the sales-
man can possibly make. Play something the prospective purchaser
FEBRUARY 8,
1919
is familiar with, no matter how simple it happens to be. He knows
how that ought to sound, hears how it does sound as played on that
particular piano and thus reaches his conclusions.
Next to playing something which appeals to the customer the
best trick of the salesman is in knowing when to stop. More than
one sale has been lost because the salesman kept on playing one
piece after another until the customer's appetite for music had been
satisfied temporarily and his keenness to have the instrument in his
home had been lost. When such a prospect leaves the store without
buying he may come back later, but likewise he may, in the mean-
time, see the piano he wants in some other store and do his pur-
chasing there. In selling pianos, as in selling anything else, it is
always to be remembered that the safest plan is to follow the line
of least resistance by learning the customer's desires, so far as pos-
sible, and catering to those desires. "Know thy customer" is the
secret.
One last word. When the purchaser leaves the warerooms, the
sale has not been completed; it has just begun. The salesman
should keep on friendly terms with the customer, call on him
occasionally to see if the instrument is giving satisfaction and thus
not only win his confidence in the salesmen's business honesty but
also afford the latter an opportunity to meet the purchaser's friends
under the most favorable conditions. It is thus that a successful
and permanent piano business is built up, for the pleasant friends
of to-day are the purchasers of to-morrow, and when the time comes
they will know of only one place at which to buy a piano that they
are confident will give satisfaction.
Why " Sales Talk No. 22 " Does Not Produce Results
Frank T. Nutze, Vice-President of Stephenson, Inc., Points Out the Ineffective-
ness of Sales Arguments Which Are Cut and Dried, and Have No Real Appeal
AST night I had nothing to do. Usually of an evening I go out
for a joy ride in the old boat or I have a meeting with some of
L
the factory people, for there are always many matters for us to
talk over. Many days when I leave the office I pack some letters
or reports in my portfolio and I look these over in the evening.
But last night there was just simply nothing to do. The old
boat was out of commission (I've had trouble with a leaky piston
ring lately), there was no meeting scheduled with anyone and I
had failed to bring my portfolio from the office.
After dinner I sat around the lobby of the hotel for a bit, but
a hotel lobby is a lonesome sort of place for a fellow with nothing
to do. I looked over a magazine but threw it into the discard. And
then I put on my hat with the idea of taking a walk and possibly
dropping in on some show.
As I walked up Broad street I heard a band. Nowadays a band
seldom attracts my attention, because, goodness knows, we've had
enough of them in New York, with the Liberty Loan appeals and
the United War Drive appeals and the Peace Celebrations. But last
night I had nothing to do, and besides this was not an ordinary
everyday band but more of the bass drum-tambourine variety. So
I turned the corner to investigate and there right off the main street
was a group of Salvation Army workers. The band was playing to
attract attention, to collect a crowd. Now under ordinary condi-
tions I would pass by a Salvation Army meeting. I might safely
say that under ordinary conditions such a meeting wouldn't appeal
to me at all. But last night I had nothing to do, so I stopped and
looked and listened.
When the band ceased playing the captain mounted a small
stool and started his talk. And I looked over the crowd just to
see, out of idle curiosity, what kind of people made up a Salvation
Army meeting. There were all kinds. Rich, well dressed, rubbed
elbows with poor, poorly dressed. There were men and women of
all ages and from all walks of life. And there were a considerable
number of soldiers in the crowd, too. .
I listened to the captain's talk. It was a regular Salvation Army
talk and one which might be delivered to any crowd in any street
in any town at any time. It sounded like a standardized talk and
I imagined that it was printed in the captain's manual and possibly
headed, "Talk No. 22. For street meetings in cities."
Just a week or so before the world had been thrilled by the
wonderful news of peace. Yet not a word of it from the captain.
The soldiers in the crowd and the civilians, too, knew of the won-
derful work done by the Salvation Army for the boys in the service,
but not a word of this from the captain, either. No word about peace
and no word about the work the Salvation Army had done. Just
simply talk number twenty-two.
'
And when the collection was taken up, when the lassie passed
around the tambourine, most of the crowd faded away and the few
that remained dropped in pennies with an occasional nickel—pennies
and an occasional nickel where there might just as well have been
quarters and dimes and an occasional bill. Just because the captain
stuck to standardized talk number twenty-two, when he might have
made the subject more interesting to his audience and more profit-
able to his organization.
As I walked on up the street I couldn't help but think about
that standardized talk and, if you'll pardon the expression, how the
captain missed the ball. He was sent out by his organization to get
converts to the Salvation Army and to get cash with which to pay
expenses. And he missed both.
And a whole lot of salesmen are sent out by their organizations
to get orders and they meet with no better success than the captain
and for the same reason—they stick to sales talk number twenty-
two when it is of no particular interest to the prospect. Like the
captain, they fail to size up the situation and when they pass the hat
they get only a few pennies and an occasional nickel.
It doesn't make any difference, brother, whether you are selling
phonographs or baby grands or tin horns or locomotives—size up
the prospect and size up the situation. You have certain sales argu-
ments, certain sales talks number twenty-two which may be all right.
If they are, then use them. But at the same time your boss doesn't
expect you to use them all the time regardless of the prospect and
regardless of the situation. If he did he could make a record of
that talk and have a phonograph repeat it to the prospect.
The captain might have said something about peace and the
wonderful work done by the Salvation Army overseas. If he had
I am sure that he would have made a sale—would have made a few
converts and a good collection.
And you and I in our selling effort can say something, can make
some sales argument which will bring the bacon home.
What is in the sales manual is all right. But it is talk number
twenty-two from the manual and then something plus which gets
the order.
And it's the "plus" which makes us more than just simply order-
takers—makes us real honest-to-goodness salesmen.