Music Trade Review

SEPTEM BEll
29, 192j
~tHE
MUSIC i-"i'RADE REVIEW
Ei
The Broad View of Selling Problems
The Error of the Merchant Who Follows Consistently the Lines of Least Resistance in His Warerooms
-The Four Elements in the Player-Piano Department, All of Which Must Be Given Equal
A ttention and Developed Simultaneously for Success
of con s id eration even the s mallest a nd least im­
The temptation in selling is always to " take
th e less, that on e m ig ht spend a week walkin g
mediate ly app ealing featur e or part. That sort
around amon g the mu s ic stores of a bi g city
the lin e of least resistance"; but the scientific
of ll1erchant is the sort w ho mak es a s lI ccess
befor e findin g one m e rchant who really work s
thinker who unconsciously put into the heads
of a nyth i ng he 1I nderta\..:c;;. H e is vcr y mu ch
th e Illu s ic ro ll bu s in ess, real ly makes a sys ­
of bu s iness men a phrase so easi ly wrenched out
w a nt ed in th e pl aye r busin ess .
temali c e ffor t to get out of it the profit th a t
of it s tru e significance had no idea th a t he was
Four Co-equal Elements
i, in it; r call y, in fac t, tri es to sell mu s ic roll s.
goin g to furnish an excuse for poor sales sttat­
T he re ar t lll a ll Y m e rcha n ts who ke ep mu s ic
And 11 0 "1' w hat exa ctl y do w e me a n by
e gy a nd for much downri g ht la z in('ss. He was
"t aki ng a broad vi ew " o f· th e sel lin g game in
roll s, but th e re s..:e m to be ve ry few w h o sell
th inkin g in sc ientifi c terms of phy s ical phenom­
th e m; th a t is to say, who re gard them as essen­
thi s, our pla ye r bu s in cs s ' Thl' fa cts ca n be put
e lla and hi\ d no more idea than the man in
ti a l el ement s in th e profit-makin g which is th e
bri efl y a nd poi nt edl y enough . Th e,r e a re in the
th e 11100n lhat hi s scientific de sc ription of a
pla yer bu s in ess a t lea s t four se pa rat e featur es
objec t of th e bu sines s.
phy s ical event wou ld be some day used to
or parts, ea c h of which is ca pable by it se lf o f
Tru e enoLl g h, to s ell music roll s p rofitabl y
ju s tify boneheadedn ess in the business world.
means to or gani ze a se lling department and to
goin g onl y ju s t so far; but, when ta ken with
When we talk of "takin g the line of least
ali th e oth e r thre e, works st ea dily to build up
give it th e sam e careful attention as is given
resistance," in business, we are talkin g of some­
to tht' "bi g thin gs" ; but, after ' a ll , why not'
thing which is totally different from the simp le an enduring stru c ture of bu sine ss good-will.
The s e four are (1) the reproducin g pi a no; (2)
Th e music roll department is never neglected
physical fact involved in the action of the light­
the foot -pedal pla y er-piano; (3) th e mu s ic roll;
by thu se who und er s tand the musi c busines s a s
ning which seeks the easiest conductor through
d epart m ent stor e m e n und e rstand the dry good s
(4) the te c hni cal service dep a rtm ent.
which to reach the earth or of the water
How man y m erchants gi ve a ttention , ad equ a te
busine ss. In a depa rt me nt store th e e nde av or
whi ch runs down hill in obedience to gravita­
is constantl y to make ev ery department con­
tiona l law. We are always dealin g in business a tt e ntion, to a ll four of th es e el e ments of th eir
bu s in ess ?
tribute its share to the g eneral aggregate, and
with intangible and impondera ble forc es, with
Con s ider. _\t th e present tim e there is a
a departm e nt w hich, after careful cultivation, is
human likes and dislikes and with mental rather
founel to be unprofit abl e is r eor ganized o r eve n
good d eal of momentum, if on e m ay so phrase
than with material products. Therefore we have
s crapped.
it, in th e reproducing pi a no end of the ga me.
to learn in business, as one of our first lessons,
Why Give Away Dollars?
It is an expensive gam c in one way and really
that apt phrases ate much more likely to de­
perhaps not so easy as it looks. But one finds
v\' hich leacls to a last thought, namely, that
ceive and mislead than to guide aright. ::--ro
that many merchants are allow in g manufactur­
the service departm e nt of every mus ic store in
apt phrase is likely to be more misleading than
ers to do a lot of free exploiting for them and
the land could be mad e profitable, made to rc­
thi s one we are discussing.
then are quietly waiting for the returns, in the
turn, that is to say, an a ctual cash surplus over
It is because he "follows the line of least
shape of sa les, to walk in at the door. Mean­
a ll expenditures, if onl y it were treated as a
resistance," or thinks he do es, ·which is not
while the y are neglecting. the regular mod e ratel y
department store wo uld treat it. Such a d e­
necessarily the same thing, that many a mer­
priced play er-piano, which ~eJls as w ell one
partment ca n be ma de to pay, but only by adoptc
chant does not get anywhere in his merchan­
y ea r as it do e s another, which is never out of ing the sound principk of declinin g to g ive
disin g. A man who year after year does about
date and neve r either fashionable or unfash­
away any sort of ser vice which is not an actu a l
the sa me amount of busine ss and reaches about
ionable.
element in the compl e ti on of a sal e. T o g ive
the same circles of purchasers, without expan­
This is not good merchandisin g. Yet, ther e away technical se rv ice , tuning, re gul a tin g,
sion or intensive internal development, is usually
is a great deal of it going on, camouflag..:d und e r adjusting, is ridi culou s, blind and non sensical.
the man who imagines the right method in se il­
Good mercha ndi s in g is that merchandi s in g
ing to be the method of negation instead of th e name of up-to-date business methods.
It is, however, when we come to th e music­
which takes every element of a business and, '
positiveness, the method of allowing the un­
roll end of the business that things really begin
while neglectin g non e, examines and work s on
instructed whim of the public to dictate his
to look qu e er in some music stores . How it
each to find out its utmost profit-makin g pos­
every business action, the man who never tries
comes about that the music roll game is so
sibilities and exploit th ese to the utmos t. I t is
anything new for fear it may be too highbrow,
utterly negl ected by sO . many m erchants is on e
unfortunat e th a t som e r etai l men in th e play er
who is always afraid of a fresh idea or a novel
business have h ere so much to learn in thi s
conception, who, in a word, follows the line of • of th os e .puzzles wh t2h- are more interestin g to
r espect.
read than to. try t6 solve. It is a fa ct, never­
least resistance, as he suppos es that line to be.
~nmIlRI1n:!lI\lI\lIl1l1l1l1\nllnllnlllllll\lIIl1v,litmIfIl\II\Ollll1l1l1nllllllnnnmllllll\mmll\lIIIIIIIImAlmlllln1II11111111IRlllllllllnllllllllnllIDllmlllllllllllllnllllllllflfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfllll1I111111lfllllllililllll1ll1111lifllillllllll111111i
Business Is Daring
But the history of all business, and especially
the history of the player business, is the his­
tory of men who dare, and especialIy of men
who reali ze that new ideas are the life of 'c ivi­
~
li zat ion and that if one is to make progress
one must be always educating the public to
take up new ideas. The m e rcharit who says
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that his job is to "give the people what the
"The
valve unit that made the player famous"
people want" is really either fooling himself
or using words whi ch do not me a n an y thing. If
he wer e to say that hi ~ job is to give the
peopl e what the people hav e learned by patient
education to want he wo ul d be telling the truth ;
and thi s would be mu ch better all round for
him s<::lf since it would give him a clearer idea
of what he actuall y is doing in business. The
nlu s ic merchant especially is th e one merchant
who cannot sit down and wait for the public to
start in to want his g oods. The music mer­
chant, of all men, mu st learn to co-operate with
th e manufacturer in teaching the public what
their wants ar e to be.
Tlt e new "Anl/>/tion Accessible Actio,," is the last word in scientific playe,
achievemeJt,I. It has the complete valve act ion assembled in a ~; DrmoLwtable
Selling All the Line
Unit" giving ",stant acces$1:bilit y.
B eca use this is true it is also true thaI the
suc cess ful music m erchant is he who sel ls all
his line.
Narrowin g the di sc ll ss ion to the
player business, it is as tru e her e a s in any
other business which can be named that the
.'leno"
successful merchant is he who takes the busi­
SYRACUSE
NEW YORK
nes s as a whole, looks at it in the broadest light
and in sists that every little portion of it has
it s lo g ical place in the complete scheme· and
that it is unsafe as well as blind to leave out IImllUI\IIIWl\IlllIlIlllRlJlI\II\IIlIlIlIlUI\I\IIUlIlIlIlIllrnIlJlIJIIIIJI\ll\llI\lI\lWI\II\I\IUI\IU._UllIIIIIllIlI\JIJ\IIUIIIUUIIIIIUI!\IlJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII\II111l111l1111l11ll1Jl1li1l1ll1l\uIIII)lI\IlliIllI\IUillUIll~I1IUJIIUllUJllll!!llnrlll1I11DIIIllII.· '~ ,
rhe highest class player
actions in the world
AMPt-fION~ACTIONS