Music Trade Review

NOVEMBER
24, 1923
TIlE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
5
•
Demonstration as a Factor In Sales
Why Not Give the Player-Piano an Opportunity to Speak tor Itself and Do Its Own Sales Work-The
Salesman Who Is More Intent on Selling Himself Than the Instrument Which He Is Trying
to Sell-Put the Prospect on the Player Bench Right From the Start
Why on earth do men try to sell player­
pianos? Why don't they Jet till' pla yer-pianos
sel l themselv(;s?
He re is something to annoy some rea and to st imulate others. The lluestions arc not
to find t h eoreti cal puzzles with wh ich to twi st
the brains of aspirin g salc smc n. In very truth,
lhe question s are aske d in a ll sinc erity. Vv'hy
do men tr y to sC'1l player -pianos when they
would be much better off le ttin g the player­
pianos se ll themselves ?
We are all ac c l1 s tom ed, of cour se, to h earin g
that pla yer -pianos are sold by demonqration,
an d the statement is preci sely true. But it ju s t
happens that everythin g in the case dep e nd s
upon just what is me a nt by d e mon s tration. If
the wo rd is held to mea n copiou s con versa tion
by the sa lesman and a g r eat deal of ,how in g off
by him at the in s tru ment, then, in place of the
word "demo nstr a ti on " it would usually be better
to use th e word "ex hibition ." For the di s pla y
in these cases is us ually far 1110 re of th e sales­
man than of the play e r-piano. Now the sa les­
man, in this particular instan ce , is not e ngage d
in se lling hi mse lf. Th e re a re cases, as when
one is lookin g for a j ob, or somethin;.:: of that
sort, when th e selling- one is doing is the selling
of se lL B ut the se cases arc not now undl'r
rev iew. \>Vhat w,' are ta lk in g about is the sale
of player-pianos, an d we sa y once mor e that we
do not sec that th e busine ss of the saleslllan is
to sell him se lf. I t is to se ll pl aye r- pian os and
nOlhing else.
Don't Sell Yourself
Very go od: everyone wi ll agree to the s tate­
ment. nut when a salesman undertakes to se ll
a player-piano it sho uld be e vid ent that the very
la s t thin g he has any right to do is to direct
att e ntion to himself or to anything that he docs .
Obviously the le ss he ta lks the b e tter, sinc e
public know ledge of the phycr- pi ano is very
limited a nd prospective purchasers do no t cOllle
armed with a lot of practi ca l ideas an d "dop e"
of a ll kinds, as th ey clo when the automobile is
in que s tion. Usu :llly they are in a state of blank
ig norance r egarding th e player-piano, and so it
i" abslll' d to ~~ a)' or elp anythin g which will have
the effec t oCf inten sify in g an ig norance alread y
about as black, any how , . as it well ca n be. To
intensify the mental d a rkness of the prospect
the best method is the con ve rsa tional. Just talk
e nou g h to the pro s pec t about te c hnical or artis­
ti c matters an d about play in g a nd one is pretty
ce r tain to turn an am ia ble int o a hostile igno­
ran ce, and spoil a promi sin g sale.
Personality and the Reproducing Piano
It is even wors e to do a lot of person a l show­
ing off at the instrument. If one is se llin " a
reproducing piano, the thin g to do is til sink
personalit y so compl e tely that absol utel y noth ­
in g at all is thou ght of save thr instrument.
The bright salesman in that case is the "a lrs­
man who finds out what so . t of Illusi c the pros­
pect wants or likes and proce.: ds to deal it oul
in judi ciously chosen do ses. No sa les man who
knows the least thin g about sa lesmanship wili
eve r dream of - obtr uding hi s per so nality. He
\\·ill ke ep him -e lf in the backg round and bl ' as
sof t-voiced and a s quiet as he po ss ibl y can. H e
w ill se ll the in str um e nt and keep his ow n per­
"onalit)' comp lete ly out o f the way. TIl(' pro­
spective purcha se r of it reproducing piano is in­
terested in findin g Ollt w h e ther a cert ment will sat isf y hi s or her nlu sica l wan t s. The
bu s iness of the saleslilan is to pre sent his own
in th e most fa\'orable aspect. The less h e talk:;
th e better. T he re i;; littl e for hi"l to talk abo ut.
He can a nd should ma:;ter the s impl e trick of
ha ndlin g; th e nlll-"ic rolls and s tarting and stop­
ping, but this s hould be ?one so quietly and
u no btru s ivel y that th e cu s tomer never stops
to think that it may p e rh aps be a technica l or
d iffic ult job. Of cou rse it is not; but there is a n
art in hand lin e! litt le matters of the sort so· sim­
p ly a nd unobtrusi\'< 'ly that no one eve r notices
w hat is b eing done. ILis timr to make exp lana­
tion s when the instrument ha s been safely so lei
and d e liv e red. Then thl' expert can go u p to
the house and show th(' new own e rs how sim­
ple th e manipulation really is.
So m uc h will probably be a dlllitt erl and a >4reed
to b y everybody. But when wc COTlle tn th('
s ta nd ar d form s of player-piano, where the
playe r-pi anist take s part in the proceedings, we
are confronted ,vith a differ e nt se t of facts,
alllong which the sal esma n must thread his way
with cons id e rably more caution.
The Fascinating Player-piano
The humanly con trolled player-piano is, in Ollr
opinion, a Illuch more fascina tin g instrum ent to
se ll than th e reproducing piano. For one thing
iL introdu er's at once th(1 clement of personality
But thi s s hould be, of ' course, the clemen t of the
buyn's personality. Th at is to say, if the sa le
is to be s ucces s fully made, the salesman must
:;om ehow mana g r to get th e p e rsona lit y of the
p rospect into contact with th e instrument; and
keep the two in that cont act until the sa le has
been mad e. There is nothin g e lse to it but that.
Ye t, of co u rse , it is not always quit e so easy
to acco mpli s h this as one might s up pose by
lhe s inlplicity of the s tatement. For th e player­
p;ano llIust be d e mon s trated. That is to say, it
requires certai n pr e viou s explanation before the
prospect can compre hend it at a ll; unl ess the
sa les man proposes to se ll by th e proces s or
p layi n g the instr ument hims elf until the pros­
p ect has bee n brou g ht, b y the experience of
si ltin g ami listening, into a state of s uffi cienl
excitement to cause him to c lose w ithout fur ­
ther ado.
nfortun a tely, however, prospects do nol
close d ea ls in thi s wa y, nor does the process
o f li s t e nin g see m to ha ve Illuch effect in pro­
du cin g th e nec essary h ypno tic eff ec t. O n the
cont rary, it seems to bor e them rather than
anyt hin g e lse. For the truth is that the demon­
s tratin g, if it is g oin g to attract and not to
bore the prospect, mu s t be done' b y th e pros­
pect's OWIl sell. That se eills lik e a rather wild
statenH'llt, but it is s tricti.\' tru C' .
On the Bench-From the Start
I n uther word s, the rig ht wa y to se ll a playcr­
piano is to gel t h e custoll!c r fron l the very s tart
and at th e very fir s t tOo "i:. at the instrume nt with
fed on pcdal- and f;0 throu ;;h all the ncce <.;" ary
1I 10 tion s w ithout tit e sa k ~ mall s howin g oli' 01lC'
littk bit. .'\11 th e ne eded expl manipulation s and adjustment s, which ar c in
r ea lit y ve ry le,," and simple. must lw clone with
th e c usto lller sitting on th e b('nch r ea d y to b eg in
\Jedalin.Q. Every notc of music, to o, sho uld be
lh e produ c t of the cllstom e r' s own init iati ve,
and not one note -hould b e sounded, not one
action incidc nt to the playing carri ed out, save
by th e pro spec t, a nd by the prospcct alone.
Titi s Illay so und rather rad ica l, but a mom en t 's
th ou f; h t will s how that it is reall y quite sounu
and co nse rvative . The player-piano is sold to a
p("l'son \\ho is to use it. It is not cO l'llplic and ther e is nothin g diffi cu lt abo ut s itting at it
and ped a ling to bring OLlt music.
The diffi­
c ulties, such a s they ar e, relat e almo s t entirely
to the finer points oj the music production, to
the finC' playing which later on th e owner m ay
lea rn t o do. If the tal ent to pla y well is not
there, the owner wi ll be satisfied with very
moderate atta inm ents, with nothing more than
the abi lity to make mu s ic satisfactory to him­
self or he rself. Therefore, the business of the
saltsl1lan is to see th at the instrument sells
itself. And that means that the prospect must
~ : et at th e peda ls and do the playing, all of it,
from the ve ry s tart.
. Positive, Not Negative, Interest
This r ecommendation is not in line with past
pra c ti ce, but th e best salesmen to-day admit
that it represents the only practical method,
ba ,; ,'d on the onl" practical system. Nothin g is
11l0re abs urd than to see a salesman performing
away at a play er- piano., which he is supposed to
be se llin g', whi le the prospective customer si ts
around and looks foolish, wondering what it is
all abo ut. The las t thing in the world to do is
to play pieces t hrough for a customer. The first
thin g to do, an d the only thing really necessary,
is to get that prospect hoisted on to th e player
bench as rapidly as possible and to make him
or her go through the motions from the very
be g innin g , so that no single note of music shall
sound out unless that note is produced by the
pro s pect's act ua I footwork. It may not be goo d
music, it may be very noisy and mechanical
lI1usi c; but that has s imply nothing to do with
the case.
Once th e pros.p ect has begun to make the
1I1u-ic th e pros pect has begun to take a live
interest in the instrument which is being pressed
upon hi s or her at tention. The interest becomes
positive and the idea of possession becomes ac­
tive from that moment. So long, on the other
hand, as th e prosp ect listens, the interest is static
a nd inactive. The c ustomer is eith er discour­
aged or bored. If the salesman plays well th e
prospect is probably discouraged. If he plays
badl y th e prospec t is bored.
Let the p layer-p iano sell itself. To do this
is much easie r and saves an awful lot of trouble
beside s.
ADDRESSES DALLAS ASSOCIATION
W . H. Beasley, President of Texas State Asso­
ciation, Speaks at Local Meeting
DALUS, TEX., No\cmber 17.-William H owa rd
Bea:dey, State pres ident of the Music Indu s­
tri, 's Assoc ia tion, addressed that body recent ly
at its sC ln i-monthl.v meeting in the Y. W . C. :\.
huilding he r e. Hi s s ubject wa s "The Fift e en
Esse nti a ls for a Su cce<.;s ful Music Mer chant ,"
aiter which round-table discussion of the ques­
Lion fol lowed . D. L. \Vhittle, president, pre­
sided at the m eet ing. The session was the first
under the new plan of holding- two monthly
meetin gs on the fir s t ancl th ird Mondays each
1110nth, in s t ea d of weekly.
OPENS NEW BOSTON STORE
BOSTo.'1, 'vIAs5., "i o.e mbe r 19.- -Samuel Perron,
until r ece ntly superinten d e nt of the player-piano
llepartment of ~I. Stei n ert & Sons, has ju st
opened a r epa ir s hop for pianos, players and
r epro du ce rs of a ll kinds at 221 Columbu s ave ­
nu e. Mr. Perron has worked in all branches
of piano cons tru c tion for the past t wenty years
and has be e n in s trumental in patenting several
devi ces for reprodu cing pianos. Three experi­
enced men have bee n employed to assist him
in the poli s hing and phonograph depa rtm ents.
Consult the Universal Want Dire.ctory of
Tpe Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.