Music Trade Review
Issue: 1920 Vol. 70 N. 14 - Page 3
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TIRADE
VOL LXX. No. 14
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
April 3, 1920
8lnBl e
o
f 2 .£> p«
Real Salesmanship Must Be Revived
H
AS the general prevalence of the seller's market and the great excess of demand over supplies of
musical instruments of all sorts, particularly pianos, served to make the average piano dealer lax in
his selling methods? This is a question that is receiving much attention from some of those mem-
bers of the trade who have had the opportunity and the inclination to study retail conditions in
the industry in various sections of the country at close range.
It is claimed by some trade travelers who have been touring the country recently that there are a sur-
prising number of retail selling organizations which are seriously disrupted, and in a condition where a sudden
demand for real salesmanship would leave them high and dry. During the past two or three years many
retailers have reveled in the joy of easy sales and have taken advantage of the situation with more haste than
caution. On the theory that a strong selling organization was not immediately necessary and might not be
necessary for a long time to come they started to shave their sales staff at every opportunity. Outside men
were frequently dismissed without hesitation, and the places' of salesmen who went into service or went into
other lines of business where salesmanship was necessary were left unfilled for the saving thus effected.
The condition was, and has been, simply this: Too many retailers have forgotten to look into the future
and have contented themselves with dealing only with the present. They have found business plentiful and
easy to handle, and have, in a sense, adopted the easiest course and allowed their business to handle itself.
Savings on salesmen's salaries and selling expense meant more profits, as did every cut in the overhead gen-
erally, including the saving in advertising. This practice of drifting along—getting everything in sight with the
least effort, and letting the future take care of itself—has reached the point, experienced trade men say, where
it has become a habit, and a dangerous habit to boot.
The time is coming when salesmanship will again be at a premium, and the retail houses that have
allowed their sales organizations to disintegrate are going to find hard sledding to keep up with competitors
who have at least had the sense to maintain some sort of selling organization, even though it appeared to be a
long-term investment. We are beginning to hear from certain sections that the buying of musical instruments
is slowing down. By some retailers this is ascribed to the beginning of a lessening demand on the part of the
public. Others claim that it is due to the constantly increasing prices asked for pianos and other instruments.
Even under such conditions the demand is so far above normal that the trade has not really begun to feel
the pinch.
The answer to a lessened demand or to the deterrent effect of high prices is not to sit down and write
to the manufacturer or the trade paper, but rather to revive the dormant art of selling and go out after business
in the good old-fashioned way.
There is no one in the trade with a grain of sense who does not know that the situation with respect to
supply and demand has been and is abnormal, and that a readjustment of this condition must come eventually.
Business men have been advised by industrial experts and bankers to conserve their resources and to build up
a reserve to meet any exigencies a period of readjustment may bring, and to enable them to weather any
sudden storm until the situation gets back to normal. This building up of a reserve applies just as strongly to
the sales organization as it does to the bank balance, for the retailer must depend upon the energies of his sales
staff to get out after business and to overcome any hesitancy on the part of the public to purchase.
It is just as well to get out of the easy-cbme-easy-go habit before a sudden costly change is made
necessary. With the demand slowing down somewhat, and a certain element complaining against higher prices,
there is offered an opportunity for the selling organization to begin training for the work that is to come,
when the problem is again one of selling rather than of getting goods to sell.
THE
MUSIC TIRADE
VOL LXX. No. 14
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman BUI, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York.
April 3, 1920
8lnBl e
o
f 2 .£> p«
Real Salesmanship Must Be Revived
H
AS the general prevalence of the seller's market and the great excess of demand over supplies of
musical instruments of all sorts, particularly pianos, served to make the average piano dealer lax in
his selling methods? This is a question that is receiving much attention from some of those mem-
bers of the trade who have had the opportunity and the inclination to study retail conditions in
the industry in various sections of the country at close range.
It is claimed by some trade travelers who have been touring the country recently that there are a sur-
prising number of retail selling organizations which are seriously disrupted, and in a condition where a sudden
demand for real salesmanship would leave them high and dry. During the past two or three years many
retailers have reveled in the joy of easy sales and have taken advantage of the situation with more haste than
caution. On the theory that a strong selling organization was not immediately necessary and might not be
necessary for a long time to come they started to shave their sales staff at every opportunity. Outside men
were frequently dismissed without hesitation, and the places' of salesmen who went into service or went into
other lines of business where salesmanship was necessary were left unfilled for the saving thus effected.
The condition was, and has been, simply this: Too many retailers have forgotten to look into the future
and have contented themselves with dealing only with the present. They have found business plentiful and
easy to handle, and have, in a sense, adopted the easiest course and allowed their business to handle itself.
Savings on salesmen's salaries and selling expense meant more profits, as did every cut in the overhead gen-
erally, including the saving in advertising. This practice of drifting along—getting everything in sight with the
least effort, and letting the future take care of itself—has reached the point, experienced trade men say, where
it has become a habit, and a dangerous habit to boot.
The time is coming when salesmanship will again be at a premium, and the retail houses that have
allowed their sales organizations to disintegrate are going to find hard sledding to keep up with competitors
who have at least had the sense to maintain some sort of selling organization, even though it appeared to be a
long-term investment. We are beginning to hear from certain sections that the buying of musical instruments
is slowing down. By some retailers this is ascribed to the beginning of a lessening demand on the part of the
public. Others claim that it is due to the constantly increasing prices asked for pianos and other instruments.
Even under such conditions the demand is so far above normal that the trade has not really begun to feel
the pinch.
The answer to a lessened demand or to the deterrent effect of high prices is not to sit down and write
to the manufacturer or the trade paper, but rather to revive the dormant art of selling and go out after business
in the good old-fashioned way.
There is no one in the trade with a grain of sense who does not know that the situation with respect to
supply and demand has been and is abnormal, and that a readjustment of this condition must come eventually.
Business men have been advised by industrial experts and bankers to conserve their resources and to build up
a reserve to meet any exigencies a period of readjustment may bring, and to enable them to weather any
sudden storm until the situation gets back to normal. This building up of a reserve applies just as strongly to
the sales organization as it does to the bank balance, for the retailer must depend upon the energies of his sales
staff to get out after business and to overcome any hesitancy on the part of the public to purchase.
It is just as well to get out of the easy-cbme-easy-go habit before a sudden costly change is made
necessary. With the demand slowing down somewhat, and a certain element complaining against higher prices,
there is offered an opportunity for the selling organization to begin training for the work that is to come,
when the problem is again one of selling rather than of getting goods to sell.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).