Music Trade Review

OCTOBER
27, 1923
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
5
Selling Fundamentals Do Not Change
From the Earliest Times Down to the Present the Basic Principles of Salesmanship Have Remained the Same
Complexity of Problem Has Grown With the Development of Modern Minds, but the Salesman
Takes Fewer Risks- -Player Salesmanship and the Present-day Prospect
There is a common d elu sion t hat with nery
succe eding age everythin g begins anew . YoutiI
always ~uppo ses th at its world is a wo rld totally
different [rom that o f its elders. Each wa r,
each politi cal re tu rn, is sup posed to brin g about
a n enti rely new de al of the cards, making obs o­
lete a ll prev io us knowledge of th e ga me. Y et it
is not so. The prin ciples of strategy were by
no means ove rth rown in the las t grea t war;
th ey wer e m erely emphasized and t h ei r e ternal
truth pro ved agai n und.:r condi tions amazi n gly
novel. The principles of political d eal ing are
precisely what th ey were w hen Pericles rul ed
in _'..th ens or when Ma cc hi ave lli po ur ed out the
riches oi his prac ti ca l wi sdom for the b enefit
of the tyran t of Florence. T he principles o f
bus iness a r e the sa me to -day as they wer e
twe nt y-live centuries ago, when th e Phoenicians
t raded their silks and cloth, their wines and
ol ives for the tin of th e Briton, th e ivo ry of
th e Be rber a nd t he slaves of the Gaul. The
princip ks of bu siness have never a ltered a nd
the pri nciples of bu siness are, in effec t, the prin­
cip les of sa les manship.
Salesmanship the Art of Bringing Together
Wheth er it be in th e mos t o bviou s of opera­
tions, s uch as th e exchange of a po und of tea
for so m uch money, or the mos t complex, such
as the Rotation of an iss ue of bonds o r the
reorga ni zation of a commercia l instit u tion which
is to se t forth o n a new jour ney of trad e with
new capital reso urc es and nevv dire c tion, the
und erlyi ng principles n ever change. These p rin­
ciples a re very easily sum med up. They res t
upo n the fact that men and women des ire
things wh ic h the) canno t produ ce of th em­
selves, w h ile som e of the things which they
ca n produce are wanted by others who canno t
produ ce them . The medium of the re sulting
exc han ge is money, and th e a rt of sales manship
cons ists merely in bringing together those w h o
want some t hi n g and those who have that thin g
to dispo se of.
The only d iffere nce b etween the sale smans hip
of a thou san d years ago an d the sa lesma nship
of to-d ay is to be found in t he fact that th e
ge neral co ndi tions of life h ave to -d ay beco me
a grea t de a l m ore complicated. Th ere ar e more
th in gs to want and more things a re offe red to
those ,,vho may wan t th em. As lif e becom es
more complex th e art of fi lli ng n eeds in this
way becomes lar gely th e art of an ticipatin g
public opinion a nd o f s h owing p eo ple, not so
m uch h ow to fill needs a lready definitely vo iced,
but how they may m ake life finer a nd ri cher
b y acq uir ing the materia l means ther eto. Th e
lines t sa les manship, then, is th at whic h sees
tha t a ce rtain thing wi ll co ntribu te to m ake the
life of the people lin er, eas ier, mo re pro spc rous
or spiritually ri cher , a nd whic h then proceed,
Lo se ll the thin g or th e id ea as wide ly as pos­
sib le.
Business and Money
T he pr in cip les of sa lesma ns hi p nc ve rth eles s
have n ot c hantSed. Bu s iness is exc hange a nd
th e most co mple x busi ness is mere ly a process
of exchan ge more p ro t racted and invo lvin g
mo re condi tion s than a simple b arter. Money
is bu t the mediu m thr ou gh which exchange is
ca rried on and th e effe ct of the present chaot ic
condition of cur rencies in so me parts of the
wo rld rea ll y proves th e point. It is the need
and its filling wh ich a re important ; no t th e
monetary considerat ion .
Salesmanship in th e mu s ic in d us tne s is no
differe nt from sal es manship in a ny ot her branc h
o f human a ctivit y. It consists in the art of
brin ging b efo re the unaw ake ned human con ­
s cio usness it s need fo r somet hin g lin er, for the
1l1inistrations of mu s ic and ther efore for the
m ater ia l m ea ns to such ministrations. So, th en,
salesman s hip in music, salesmanship in our own
playe r industry, to be concrete, is t he a rt of
bri n gin g be fore the people what the people
want ; whether they kn ow it or n ot.
Salesmanship Leads, Not Follows
Ih i< not, ho weve r, t he art of waiting until
the p eople sa y w hat th ey want an d then bein g
(;o~te nt with ti llin g this need. )Jor was sales­
ma ns hi p at any time this ab su r d paro dy on the
rea l thin g. The P hoeni cian trader, touchin g with
his littl e ga lley the shores of Co rnw all to gain
sOllle of the tin w hi ch th e pa inted Briton rudely
clu g up as it lay alm ost on the s urface of the
g'fo und, ha d to make that untu to red native see
the need fo r the cloth, the beads and t he trink­
ets h e had to barte r. H e ha d to use precisely
th e same salesmanship as do es th e a bl est ex­
pon e nt of th e a rt in our indu stry to-day. He
had to pe rsuade, and the b eginnin g of per­
suas ion is ed ucatio n. H e had, in fact, to edu ­
cate, to make th e unt utore d Brito n, conte nted
in his coat of blu e paint, realize that the clo th
was necessary to his happi ness . Otherwise he
could not ha ve got hi s tin. The Phoeni cian
m erc h ant did thi s , and he was ri g h t in doin g so.
·fhe a ncient Bri to n was much better off cove rcd
than naked; cove red he had begu n to wa lk th e
path of civ ili zatio n and was a lready be ing mys ­
teri ousl y prepared fur the days whe n a line of
Roma n road s sh ould cover his land, Roman
ci ties spring u p from London to York and the
la ngua ge of Cicero b e h eard in the s treets of
Colches ter a nd Cante r bury . The Phoe ni cian
was takin g his risks , too, a nd thou gh he g ot
much tin for little cloth and few b.:ads, hi s
voyage to get th at much-wan ted m eta l '''ias an
undertaking o f co los sal ri sk in vo lv ing a n im­
mense expend iture of time and lab o r. H e mad e
a g ood profit, but he took a vas t ri sk. H e was,
in fact, a goo d sa lesman; thou gh a spec ul a ti ve
one.
Fewer Risks: More Details
Ou r modern sa lesman take s fewe r ri sks, but
he has a more comple x mind to dea l with. The
m ission of m usic is to civil ize, to humanize, to
softe n, t o refine. Even the mos t vu lgar dance
mu s ic ha s its place, for a h ome whi ch has
no music but th a t is better th an a ho me
without a ny music at all. The pi a no, and es­
pecially th e player-piano, ho weve r, is essen ti a ll y
th e home musica l instrument, and as suc h th e
sa l,'s man sho uld always consi der it. To think
of t he player-piano as mere ly a sort o f noisy
g rind er-o ut of dance music I S to mistake: t ha t
in str um ent's e ntir e meaning and pla ce in th e.
worl d. It is no t goo d salesma nship to do this,
a ll Y more th an it wo uld have been good s~ le< ­
IIl an ,h ip o n the pa rt of our Phoenician to try
to ge t tin fr om the un c loth ed Briton in ex­
cha nge fo r oak wood or wo ad, both of wh ich
\\c re eas il y to be had in the woo d s o f the un­
c lothed one 's na tive la nd . Th" P hoen icia n
o f'fu ed th e Briton somethin g ",.. hich he had
not and co uld not ge t. And there he was ri gh t,
as history a bunda nt ly shows.
Where the Player-piano Shines
The player- piano offers its owne r any kind
of m usic th at owner may wan t ; but it g ives
best t he m us ic whi ch no ri va l ca n give so we ll.
It bes t gives the music for whic h the piano as
a nlU s ical in strument is best fitted. Ev<'fy nor­
ma l ma n o r woma n who own s, is about to own,
o r wou ld like to own a musi ca l in st rument
desires it because it gives the chance' to it s
owner to p lay beautiful mu s ic in wh a teve r ma n­
ner may be to that per so n th e mos t bea utiful.
Th e tas te of the indivi du a l may not be h ig h ly
ed u cated; but, in ninety-nine cases out of eve ry
hundred, it is an hon es t tast e a nd, on th e whole,
Th e jan fi end s ca n neve r get from th e p layer­
pia no the onl y quali ty that makes the lates t ex­
tensions of syncopated m usic to le rab le; which
is the orches t ra l t one co lor. Co nsequ ently th e
r ight way t o sell the player-piano is as much
as possible to forget that s ide of . its manifold
a ctivities and to con ce ntrate upon the things
which it alone can do w ell; namely, upon th e
s imple joy of touchin g off with the foo t the
little accen t or the little emphasis, th e occ ur­
rence of whic h at th e ri gh t moment tr a nsfo rms
a m ec hanical into an artisti c perfo rman ce.
Eve r~' b ody would li ke to play the player-piano;
and only those who are literally abn o rmal think
or b elieve otherwise.
From Known to Unknown
Salesmanship, we have sai d, is t he art of per­
s uasion. It has a lways been the art of pers ua­
sion. Its principl es h ave neve r changed, and
one of these prin ciples is the principle of lead­
ing from th e known to the unknown by short
and eas ily take n step". The secre t of selling
the p layer-p ia no is to lead thc prospe ct from
some thin g whi ch is perfect ly famili a r to some­
thin g whi c h is less so , giving the mind time a t
(';lch step t o ga th er itself an d to g rasp the idea
pre se nt ed. Bar ter in a savage sta te would be
inlposs ibk un less its su bjects were entirely
familiar to both parties .
The Phoenician
wante d tin , the Briton wanted trinkets. Each
go t what he want ed. The prospective purchase r
of a p layer-piano wants music, music which is
familiar and eas il y unders tood , music which
makes a respon s ive cho rd in the heart, not music
\/hich alarms by its unfamiliari ty or repels by
it s stran ge s tride ncy a nd noi se.
The way of suc cessful salesmanship is, then,
the natural a nd simp le way. Stunts count for
far less th a n sincer ity, sim plicity and a capacity
(rarer than we som et imes think) to enter into
the prospe ct'~ thou ghts and think wi th him. The
bes t salesmen are t hose w ho find out what their
pro spects' id eals in m usic ar e, wh o then show
th ose pr o spec ts how t he player-piano m eets
those id eals and who conten t them selves with
mce tin g them.
This is no more nor less than the ancient
principle of bar te r . It is as old as the hills, and
as str ong. It may thus b e stated. .One per­
,; uade s a ma n th at he h as a need which can and
s h ould be filled, one p ersuades him, not by
aggress ive attack of new a nd s trange proposi­
tio ns, but by ge ntly leading his thought from
the fami liar to th e u nfamil iar.
Or, to put it in anot he r way, more p layer­
pia no s have been 'o ld on "A nni e Laurie" and
the "Wear in g of the Green" than o n "Barkin g
flog Blues" For th e fi rs t can be mad e to sound
like piano music, the last can only be an in­
ellecti ve imitation of Paul V"hiteman or Vincent
Lopez.
..' \nd th e human min d prefers th e
famili a r to th e unfamiliar. The princ iples of
salesmanship do not cha n ge.
MELODEE ROLL TRAVELERS MEET
T he' melllbers of the sales sta ff of th e Melodee
Co. met a t th e h ea dqu a rters of the com ­
pany in th e Aeo li an Bui ldin g this week to di s­
cu ss with Gene ra l Manager Freder ick S under ­
man th e various phases of the busines s and th e
,·ario us plans for the future . Amon g those who
a tlend ed the co nference were : R. E. Miller, who
cove rs the Middle West; W. H. Ricker, for th e
Eas t, ando V.i. ]. Pauli, who represents the M elo­
eie c rol ls in the Boston district .
~\'Iusic