Music Trade Review

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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
KLVHW
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Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, MAY 26, 1923
No. 21
MAKING PIANO SELLING WORTH WHILE
T
H E R E is still to be heard in a number of sections the cry that
there is a serious shortage of piano salesmen to take care of the
business that is already presenting itself to the dealers, but investi-
gation proves that in many of the sections from which such com-
plaints come there are piano houses that are operating well-organ-
ized sales staffs with considerable success.
The answer seems to be in handling the sales organization, not
simply getting men trained in piano selling or in taking them from
other fields, but in making the piano selling proposition sufficiently
interesting from a monetary standpoint to keep the men satisfied
and energetic. To accomplish this requires competent sales man-
agement and the ability on the part of the manager to co-operate
with the salesman not alone in giving him the goods to sell and
backing him up with advertising, but in paving the way for him so
far as possible in making his approach to the prospect.
The greatest factor in keeping salesmen satisfied is the ability
of the house to offer them a proposition that will enable them to
make money and to put forth the proper effort. Neither large com-
missions nor yet substantial salaries will accomplish that result
unless there is real co-operation from the management.
OVERCOMING TRADITIONAL SUMMER SLUMPS
F
ROM time immemorial piano dealers located in the city have
explained the Summer lull in part by pointing to the large pro-
portion of the piano-buying population that goes away to Summer
resorts for the heated period. They have accepted the condition
as a natural one and not to be remedied. There are dealers, how-
ever, who even in Summer stick to the policy of going after the
trade where it is in a strictly literal sense.
Among the latter class, for instance, is to be included Hahne
& Co., Newark, N. J., who operate a very successful piano depart-
ment in that city. The Hahne department for several years has
offset the Summer slump in piano and talking machine sales by
opening branch stores for the season in various resorts in con-
tiguous territory and has found that the venture is decidedly
successful.
There is no question but that the same plan can be worked in
REVIEW
M A Y 26, 1923
maiiv other sections ot the country, particularly in view ol the
growing number of people who own Summer homes in mountain
and seashore resorts and furnish them themselves. It is hardly fair
to expect that these individuals are going to buy the finest of repro-
ducing pianos for Summer cottages, for such instruments have been
sold for the more elaborate homes, but there is a big field for the
medium-grade piano, for the talking machine and, particularly, for
used instruments.
In most cases the normal population of resort towns is hardly
large enough to support a very active piano and music store,
although even in cases where local stores are operated there is
found to be a sufficient overplus of Summer business to make a
temporary venture prove profitable, particularly where an appeal is
made to the transient residents coming from the city in which the
main store is located.
Even where dealers do not feel free to go to the trouble and
expense of operating a branch store in a Summer resort it has
been found profitable where the distance is not loo great to keep
sales crews in such towns for several weeks during the Summer.
In fact, this practice is followed by a great number of houses in the
East and is particularly in evidence in the shore sections of Long
Island. It simply means carrying out the general idea of going
after the business where it is to be found.
ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS CONDITIONS HEALTHY
B
USINESS reports from various sections of the country indi-
cate that, although retail trade in certain sections has shown a
slight lull during the past few weeks, the situation as a whole is
healthy and sales, taken on an average, continue to be better than
for the corresponding period last year. In certain of the larger
cities, particularly in the East, the increased wage demands in the
building trades have served to put a check on new construction, and
although as a result business is likely to be hurt, in a certain
measure, the probabilities are that the difficulties will be smoothed
out within a reasonable time and building activity resumed.
In most sections the farming element is more than holding its
own, with an anticipated acreage as large as that of last year and
with an increase in the demand for foodstuffs at substantial prices.
This fact in itself is likely to keep the situation stabilized.
In manufacturing industries activity continues at a high level
and the consumption of raw materials still taxes available supplies.
Judging from unfilled orders on hand and the volume of orders that
continues to come in, there is not likely to be any curtailment of
industry for some time. To a large degree this fact holds true in
the piano trade, as well as in other industries.
National business surveys made by qualified agencies seem to
indicate that where there is a slump in business it is generally to be
credited to local conditions and may be expected to be only tem-
porary in character. That simply means that the piano man must
work a little harder to get maximum results.
THE BETTER HOMES DEMONSTRATION WEEK
I
T is an interesting and pleasing coincidence that the Better Homes
in America Demonstration Week will be celebrated in something
over a thousand cities and towns in the country during the same
week that the Prosperity Convention of the allied music trades will
be held in Chicago. The possibilities of an effective tie-up between
the two movements this year at least are almost limitless.
The music industry has been fortunate within the last few
years in tying up with a number of movements which, through
increasing music appreciation or appreciation of musical instruments
themselves, have been calculated to help business directly. None of
these movements, however, has any greater possibilities for good than
that for better homes, for that is non-commercial in character and
presents musical instruments, not simply as something to be sold,
but as a very necessary part of home equipment.
In arranging for a home music contest in connection with the
Demonstration Week the Trade Service Bureau of the Chamber
of Commerce has accomplished something that is worthy of earnest
consideration by trade members. The tie-up with the contest and
with the Demonstration Week itself can be accomplished by the
individual dealer so easily and so cheaply that it is difficult to see
how music merchants in cities where better homes displays have
been arranged can fail to realize upon the opportunity and use
it as a stimulus to business.