Music Trade Review
Issue: 1923 Vol. 76 N. 9 - Page 11
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
MARCH 3, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
11
Where Is the Canvasser of Yesterday
The "Door-bell Puller" No Longer Seems to Hold the Position He Once Held in Retail Piano Selling, Yet
He Is One of the Most Important Factors in Selling Wide Classes oi Prospects—Has the
Plea for Dignity in Retail Selling Curtailed His Important Activities
What has happened to the old-time canvassing
piano salesman? There was a time, and it is.
not so long ago either, when he was a familiar
figure in every section of the country. To-day
the art of door-bell ringing seems to be passing
out. It was a fertile source of sales and it still
would be if it were practiced as in days gone by.
Of course; the canvasser is not gone entirely.
The piano trade still has him in numbers, but
his numbers are not as great as they used to
be. The name itself has a lingering disrepute
about it—why, no one knows, for surely it is
a legitimate selling means. The salesman to-day
wants leads, and leads, of course, are good
things, too, but unfortunately hard to get. There
are few of the old school left who went down
a street and rang every doorbell on the old
theory of averages that, if nineteen people
slammed the doors in their faces, the twentieth
was a prospect. And it was just this twentieth
person who built up the American piano in-
dustry.
Change in Title, Change in Methods
The way in which the piano canvasser has
merged his cognomen in the more dignified
title of piano salesman, with the consequent
change in his methods, was well shown re-
cently in New York City. A new apartment
section had just been opened. Probably three
hundred families moved into it within a radius
of three blocks. And canvassers came. They
came to sell vacuum cleaners; they came to sell
electrical devices; they came to sell even such
small things as brushes—all these, to say
nothing of the butcher, the baker, the milkman,
and dozens of others. But among them all the
piano canvasser was conspicuously lacking, yet
these families were paying a standard of rents
which showed they could easily afford either
a piano or a player. (The name of this section
will be furnished to any dealer upon request.)
As a matter of fact, the canvassing salesman is
too important an element in retail piano selling
to be neglected. There are thousands of people
who are not reached by newspaper advertising,
which is evidently expected to do all his work;
there are thousands of others who, while they
see the dealers' publicity, do not respond to it,
the type that needs the direct and personal im-
pulse. These can only be reached by the can-
vasser. And they are too Important an element
in the piano business to be neglected.
Docs not canvassing pay? Properly con-
ducted, there is no question but that it does.
It pays to canvass the poorer sections of a city.
Few dealers will dispute this. But it also pays
to canvass the better sections. This was well
shown a year or so ago, when a certain auto-
mobile dealer in New York canvassed the entire
city and sold cars by that means, the price of
which ranged about $1,000 each, in a period
when there was no business in that line at all.
If an automobile can be sold through consistent
"door-bell pulling," there is no question that a
piano can be. And the piano canvasser has the
decided advantage over the automobile man that
he solicits the person who makes the purchase
—the woman of the house, as was shown in a
recent issue of The Review—while the auto-
mobile canvasser has to work with the man of
the house, a much more difficult proposition
in this means of selling.
Too Much Dignity in Business
There can be too much dignity in a business.
And that, perhaps, is one of the reasons why
the piano canvasser is not as popular as he
used to be. Bringing music into the home by
personal contact is as dignified, however, as is
bringing it in by newspaper advertising. And
it never lowered the dignity of any piano house
yet to have one of its men make an unsolicited
"call.
The low-priced instruments are the volume
business ol the industry. And they are going
to be sold by canvassing, whether the dealer is
located in city or country. The people who buy
them are the type that respond most readily to
this sales method. They are accustomed to it.
They buy a good many of the things they use
from salesmen of this type. And they will
buy pianos and player-pianos.
.Nearly every dealer to-day is confronted with
the problem of how to sell the trade-in pianos
which he has on his floors. It is a question
whether the usual used-piano sale, backed by
strong newspaper publicity, is accomplishing
that. Some of the largest houses in the retail
trade have found this method is not bringing
m the returns it should. Here again the answer
is intensive canvassing. Trade-ins can be moved
by this method. They are within the means
of the average person who is worked in this
way and these people are as good prospects as
any other.
Canvassing, perhaps, will not sell a repro-
ducing grand piano. But the piano business
consists of more than reproducing grands. It
has a grade to meet every purse. And the
lower the price goes, the greater the number of
purses. Of course, the margin of profit in such
a sale is much greater and the commission the
salesman obtains is much more satisfactory, but
nevertheless the cheaper instruments have to
be sold. Canvassing is the thing that will do it.
Easier Problem To-day
The canvasser, to-day, has a much easier time
of it than did the canvasser of thirty years ago.
In those days the idea of playing the piano
had to be sold before the instrument itself could
be placed in the prospect's home with the pay-
ments starting. The player-piano changed all
that. Where there is no desire to play, there
is a desire to have music just the same. The
result is that every door-bell means a potential
prospect and no blanks are drawn.
During the past year the trade has come to
a realization that all is not as it should be with
its selling methods. Attention has been con-
centrated on the salesman. Discussion has per-
sisted on the best means of training him. Deal-
ers in New York even established a lecture
course, which lasted two weeks, and met with
some measure o'f success. In all this, however,
little was heard of the canvasser. The dealers
and others interested seem to have left him out
in the cold, just as so often he is left by the
family lie is trying to interest. Yet, probably
the be^t training a salesman can have is can-
vassing. The big men of to-day were the can-
vassers of yesterday. And the canvassers of
to-day are the men who are going to have the
big commission checks in the near future.
Finally, canvassing seems to be going ahead
more and more in other industries. Things are
sold by this method to-day which ten years ago
it was considered impossible to sell by this
means. What is the reason? It has been found
to be profitable. The results have been good.
The outlet has been worth while cultivating.
Meanwhile the piano trade, where canvassing
has been firmly established since pianos were
first sold, is allowing the canvasser to disappear.
Through this it is cutting off a valuable means
of contact and is losing business. It can not
afford to do it.
"Pulling door-bells" may not be the finest
job in the world, but it is one that should be
encouraged. The industry has not yet reached
a stage where it can do away with it. Nor is
it beneath its dignity to keep right on doing it
so long as it pays.
SALT LAKE CITY MERCHANTS HAVE A GOOD TWO MONTHS
All Departments Report Heavy and Steady Demand—S. S. Eccles Heads Thatcher Music Co., of
Logan—Col. J. J. Daynes Returns From California—Nathan Wood With Southern California Co.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, February 23.—Without
exception local music houses report a business
for the first two months of the year that is far
more satisfactory than that for the same period
of 1922. Not only are pianos and players go-
ing well, but a heavy demand is reported for
talking machines, especially in the console mod-
els, as well as for musical merchandise, sheet
music, etc.
The Thatcher Music Co., Logan, Utah, has
changed one of the articles of its incorporation
papers to provide that S. S. Eccles shall act as
president and F. L. Monson as secretary of the
company, and that a majority vote of all the
outstanding stock shall be necessary to elect of-
ficers and conduct business.
The Consolidated Music Co. recently dis-
played in its window an Ampico used by Rach-
maninoff, the noted Russian pianist and com-
poser, who records exclusively for that instru-
ment. The display was timely, inasmuch as
Rachmaninoff gave, a recital here last week.
Sam Palmer, an official of the Glenn Bros.-
Roberts Piano Co., gave a very successful con-
cert in Beaver City last Sunday.
George Teasdale, a well-known local trom-
bone player, has been placed in charge of the
small goods and band instrument department of
the Glenn Bros.-Roberts Piano Co.
Col. J. J. Daynes, president and general man-
ager of the Daynes-Beebe Music Co., and Mrs.
Daynes have just returned from their trip to
California, where the firm recently opened a
branch at Hollywood. Mr. Daynes reports that
this branch is making fine progress and giving
satisfaction in every way.
Miss Johanna Gobel, for fourteen years head
bookkeeper of the Daynes-Beebe Music Co.,
whose engagement was announced recently, will
be asked to attend a social in her honor before
these lines appear in print. At this affair the
employes will present the lady with a nice set
of silverware. A gift will also be made by the
management. Miss Gobel will accompany her
husband to Europe soon after the wedding.
Nathan Wood, formerly branch manager in
this section for the Daynes-Beebe Music Co.,
has accepted a position as traveling salesman
with the Southern California Music Co., River-
side, Cal. Mr. Wood's family, still in this city,
will join him at an early date.
The Daynes-Beebe Music Co. had an exhibi-
tion in its window showing the mechanical
workings of the Ampico. It was arranged by
Tod Taylor and Bert Anderson. They arranged
a water gauge showing different variations in
the pressures, which range from five in water
pressure to thirty while the artist is playing.
It attracted a lot of attention.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions
of any kind.
MARCH 3, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
11
Where Is the Canvasser of Yesterday
The "Door-bell Puller" No Longer Seems to Hold the Position He Once Held in Retail Piano Selling, Yet
He Is One of the Most Important Factors in Selling Wide Classes oi Prospects—Has the
Plea for Dignity in Retail Selling Curtailed His Important Activities
What has happened to the old-time canvassing
piano salesman? There was a time, and it is.
not so long ago either, when he was a familiar
figure in every section of the country. To-day
the art of door-bell ringing seems to be passing
out. It was a fertile source of sales and it still
would be if it were practiced as in days gone by.
Of course; the canvasser is not gone entirely.
The piano trade still has him in numbers, but
his numbers are not as great as they used to
be. The name itself has a lingering disrepute
about it—why, no one knows, for surely it is
a legitimate selling means. The salesman to-day
wants leads, and leads, of course, are good
things, too, but unfortunately hard to get. There
are few of the old school left who went down
a street and rang every doorbell on the old
theory of averages that, if nineteen people
slammed the doors in their faces, the twentieth
was a prospect. And it was just this twentieth
person who built up the American piano in-
dustry.
Change in Title, Change in Methods
The way in which the piano canvasser has
merged his cognomen in the more dignified
title of piano salesman, with the consequent
change in his methods, was well shown re-
cently in New York City. A new apartment
section had just been opened. Probably three
hundred families moved into it within a radius
of three blocks. And canvassers came. They
came to sell vacuum cleaners; they came to sell
electrical devices; they came to sell even such
small things as brushes—all these, to say
nothing of the butcher, the baker, the milkman,
and dozens of others. But among them all the
piano canvasser was conspicuously lacking, yet
these families were paying a standard of rents
which showed they could easily afford either
a piano or a player. (The name of this section
will be furnished to any dealer upon request.)
As a matter of fact, the canvassing salesman is
too important an element in retail piano selling
to be neglected. There are thousands of people
who are not reached by newspaper advertising,
which is evidently expected to do all his work;
there are thousands of others who, while they
see the dealers' publicity, do not respond to it,
the type that needs the direct and personal im-
pulse. These can only be reached by the can-
vasser. And they are too Important an element
in the piano business to be neglected.
Docs not canvassing pay? Properly con-
ducted, there is no question but that it does.
It pays to canvass the poorer sections of a city.
Few dealers will dispute this. But it also pays
to canvass the better sections. This was well
shown a year or so ago, when a certain auto-
mobile dealer in New York canvassed the entire
city and sold cars by that means, the price of
which ranged about $1,000 each, in a period
when there was no business in that line at all.
If an automobile can be sold through consistent
"door-bell pulling," there is no question that a
piano can be. And the piano canvasser has the
decided advantage over the automobile man that
he solicits the person who makes the purchase
—the woman of the house, as was shown in a
recent issue of The Review—while the auto-
mobile canvasser has to work with the man of
the house, a much more difficult proposition
in this means of selling.
Too Much Dignity in Business
There can be too much dignity in a business.
And that, perhaps, is one of the reasons why
the piano canvasser is not as popular as he
used to be. Bringing music into the home by
personal contact is as dignified, however, as is
bringing it in by newspaper advertising. And
it never lowered the dignity of any piano house
yet to have one of its men make an unsolicited
"call.
The low-priced instruments are the volume
business ol the industry. And they are going
to be sold by canvassing, whether the dealer is
located in city or country. The people who buy
them are the type that respond most readily to
this sales method. They are accustomed to it.
They buy a good many of the things they use
from salesmen of this type. And they will
buy pianos and player-pianos.
.Nearly every dealer to-day is confronted with
the problem of how to sell the trade-in pianos
which he has on his floors. It is a question
whether the usual used-piano sale, backed by
strong newspaper publicity, is accomplishing
that. Some of the largest houses in the retail
trade have found this method is not bringing
m the returns it should. Here again the answer
is intensive canvassing. Trade-ins can be moved
by this method. They are within the means
of the average person who is worked in this
way and these people are as good prospects as
any other.
Canvassing, perhaps, will not sell a repro-
ducing grand piano. But the piano business
consists of more than reproducing grands. It
has a grade to meet every purse. And the
lower the price goes, the greater the number of
purses. Of course, the margin of profit in such
a sale is much greater and the commission the
salesman obtains is much more satisfactory, but
nevertheless the cheaper instruments have to
be sold. Canvassing is the thing that will do it.
Easier Problem To-day
The canvasser, to-day, has a much easier time
of it than did the canvasser of thirty years ago.
In those days the idea of playing the piano
had to be sold before the instrument itself could
be placed in the prospect's home with the pay-
ments starting. The player-piano changed all
that. Where there is no desire to play, there
is a desire to have music just the same. The
result is that every door-bell means a potential
prospect and no blanks are drawn.
During the past year the trade has come to
a realization that all is not as it should be with
its selling methods. Attention has been con-
centrated on the salesman. Discussion has per-
sisted on the best means of training him. Deal-
ers in New York even established a lecture
course, which lasted two weeks, and met with
some measure o'f success. In all this, however,
little was heard of the canvasser. The dealers
and others interested seem to have left him out
in the cold, just as so often he is left by the
family lie is trying to interest. Yet, probably
the be^t training a salesman can have is can-
vassing. The big men of to-day were the can-
vassers of yesterday. And the canvassers of
to-day are the men who are going to have the
big commission checks in the near future.
Finally, canvassing seems to be going ahead
more and more in other industries. Things are
sold by this method to-day which ten years ago
it was considered impossible to sell by this
means. What is the reason? It has been found
to be profitable. The results have been good.
The outlet has been worth while cultivating.
Meanwhile the piano trade, where canvassing
has been firmly established since pianos were
first sold, is allowing the canvasser to disappear.
Through this it is cutting off a valuable means
of contact and is losing business. It can not
afford to do it.
"Pulling door-bells" may not be the finest
job in the world, but it is one that should be
encouraged. The industry has not yet reached
a stage where it can do away with it. Nor is
it beneath its dignity to keep right on doing it
so long as it pays.
SALT LAKE CITY MERCHANTS HAVE A GOOD TWO MONTHS
All Departments Report Heavy and Steady Demand—S. S. Eccles Heads Thatcher Music Co., of
Logan—Col. J. J. Daynes Returns From California—Nathan Wood With Southern California Co.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, February 23.—Without
exception local music houses report a business
for the first two months of the year that is far
more satisfactory than that for the same period
of 1922. Not only are pianos and players go-
ing well, but a heavy demand is reported for
talking machines, especially in the console mod-
els, as well as for musical merchandise, sheet
music, etc.
The Thatcher Music Co., Logan, Utah, has
changed one of the articles of its incorporation
papers to provide that S. S. Eccles shall act as
president and F. L. Monson as secretary of the
company, and that a majority vote of all the
outstanding stock shall be necessary to elect of-
ficers and conduct business.
The Consolidated Music Co. recently dis-
played in its window an Ampico used by Rach-
maninoff, the noted Russian pianist and com-
poser, who records exclusively for that instru-
ment. The display was timely, inasmuch as
Rachmaninoff gave, a recital here last week.
Sam Palmer, an official of the Glenn Bros.-
Roberts Piano Co., gave a very successful con-
cert in Beaver City last Sunday.
George Teasdale, a well-known local trom-
bone player, has been placed in charge of the
small goods and band instrument department of
the Glenn Bros.-Roberts Piano Co.
Col. J. J. Daynes, president and general man-
ager of the Daynes-Beebe Music Co., and Mrs.
Daynes have just returned from their trip to
California, where the firm recently opened a
branch at Hollywood. Mr. Daynes reports that
this branch is making fine progress and giving
satisfaction in every way.
Miss Johanna Gobel, for fourteen years head
bookkeeper of the Daynes-Beebe Music Co.,
whose engagement was announced recently, will
be asked to attend a social in her honor before
these lines appear in print. At this affair the
employes will present the lady with a nice set
of silverware. A gift will also be made by the
management. Miss Gobel will accompany her
husband to Europe soon after the wedding.
Nathan Wood, formerly branch manager in
this section for the Daynes-Beebe Music Co.,
has accepted a position as traveling salesman
with the Southern California Music Co., River-
side, Cal. Mr. Wood's family, still in this city,
will join him at an early date.
The Daynes-Beebe Music Co. had an exhibi-
tion in its window showing the mechanical
workings of the Ampico. It was arranged by
Tod Taylor and Bert Anderson. They arranged
a water gauge showing different variations in
the pressures, which range from five in water
pressure to thirty while the artist is playing.
It attracted a lot of attention.
Consult the universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions
of any kind.
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).