Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
SEPTEMBER 6, 1924
THE MUSIC TRADE
11
REVIEW
Writing the Ideal Collection Letter
The One Which Brings in the Money Without Causing Any Loss in Good Will or Friendly Relations With the
Customer—Letter Without Begging or Pleading Should Make a Frank Appeal to the Best
Side of the Customer—Most People Are Honest and Pay Their Bills
N any line of business where selling is done
on the instalment basis one of the big prob-
lems is to insure the accounts being paid
within the proper time limit and as the business
develops and grows, and there is greater need
for giving more attention to the question of
financing, the necessity for developing ways and
means for keeping collections up to date as-
sumes increasing importance.
In the retail music business, and particularly
in selling pianos, where long terms are granted,
considerable sums of money are tied up at all
times in instalment accounts. The longer the
account runs the more important it is that col-
lections be kept up to the minute, for the dan-
ger of loss is almost in direct ratio to the length
of the credit period.
In this connection E. P. Corbett, letter writ-
ing expert of the National Cash Register Co.,
says in a recent interview:
"Not all retailers realize the importance of
handling their accounts and collections under a
system that will, without offense, train their
customers in the way they should go. If a
merchant makes it a regular practice to render
his bills at a certain time each month, the indi-
vidual cannot possibly take offense. He does
not resent businesslike methods that are applied
to all alike. When such methods are followed,
most charge-account customers will settle regu-
larly in accordance with conditions agreed upon
at the time the sale is made.
"There will, however, always be a certain per-
centage of delinquents. These delinquents do
not always deserve the title of 'dead beats,' but
many are naturally prone to lag in paying their
bills. These need the proper urge at the proper
time. A few are inclined to follow a wear-out
policy if they find any laxity on the part of the
merchant that would make this possible.
"In dealing with both these groups, personal
letters are most effective, but comparatively few
collection letters are as effective as they might
be. The first letter or two are usually written
in a light vein—sometimes almost jocularly,
perhaps suggesting that the account has been
overlooked. They gently intimate that all that
is necessary is to remind the customer of the
fact. Then the letters begin to get stronger and
more stern in tone. Finally comes the harsh
ultimatum.
"It must be taken into consideration that the
very people who are most in need of the urge of
collection letters are the ones who are most fa-
miliar with these usual processes. That being
the case, the debtors who are educated in col-
lection measures naturally wait until the final
ultimatum comes before feeling compelled to
take any action. In other words, these usual
collection methods are accepted as a matter of
course. The letters make no personal appeal.
They bring in a certain proportion of the
money, but certainly do not make for continued
good will and further business.
The Ideal Letter
"The ideal collection letter is one that brings
in the money without causing any loss of good
will or break in friendly relations—the one that
makes a frank appeal to the best in the person
written to. After all, the average person pre-
fers to be honest and pay his bills. Only what
he considers the pressure of painful necessity
and the lack of money keep him from doing so.
His intentions are good, but he perhaps lacks
the moral fiber that would enable him to deny
himself some pleasures or luxuries in order to
have the money to pay others their rightful due.
"Letters are needed that, without begging or
threatening, will impress that better side of the
I
debtor with a strong desire to do the thing he
knows in his heart he should do.
"There is a desire in most of us to live up to
the opinion others' have of us. If a merchant
writes a delinquent debtor and shows in his let-
ter that he has implicit confidence in that
debtor, the person addressed will find it hard to
admit that he is other than the merchant thinks
him.
"Collection letters can work wonders for the
retail dealer or can do him untold harm.
It is much easier to retain customers than it is
to get new ones. Customers are too valuable to
be lost through impatience or lack of tact, and
poor collection letters can drive away more
trade than any merchant can afford to lose.
Alter the Approach
"Not all delinquent customers can be han-
dled in the same way. If this were the case,
it would be comparatively simple to adopt a
certain system of collections and then use that
system in the same way with everyone. But
a great many habitually delinquent customers
are perfectly good pay. The object in such
cases is to get them to pay within a reasonable
period of time. Others are not the best risks
and, therefore, a merchant should classify his
accounts according to whether they are good
risks, fair risks or poor risks. In the latter
case he cannot afford to let much time elapse
before putting his collection system into opera-
tion. He can afford to wait a longer time be-
fore taking active steps to collect from the good
risks and allow a longer period to elapse be-
tween collection letters.
"With the poor risk it would be advisable to
send a printed form of notification on the first
Pease Enlarges Warerooms
An additional rear showroom for pianos was
added to the retail warerooms of the Pease
Piano Co., 128 West Forty-second street, New
York, last week, with the conversion of the
room formerly used for displaying talking ma-
chines and records. The room has been at-
tractively redecorated with cream-colored walls
and orange hangings, and about fifteen Pease
uprights and small grands have been moved into
it. The Victor record department has been
transferred to the front of the store, with a
newly built row of sound-proof booths provided
for demonstration purposes. By this arrange-
ment the floor space of the store has been ma-
terially increased.
Stratton Increases Facilities
TRINIDAD, COLO., August 30.—A balcony for the
display of grand pianos has been added to the
Baldwin Piano Rooms on West Main street,
here, and some changes in lighting effects have
been designed. The addition has afforded H. B.
Stratton, proprietor of the store, sufficient space
for the display of radio goods, including the
Sonoradio and other lines.
Opens New Warerooms
FARMVILLE, VA., August 30.—The Music Shop,
of this city, has just taken new quarters on
the second floor of the Chappell Building, where
its full line of phonographs, sheet music and
records will be handled.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
of the month following the date overdue. This
notification should be impersonal. Then the
account should be followed up two weeks later
with a slightly more insistent but impersonal
notification, after which, at intervals of two
weeks, the personal letters should follow.
"The dealer should try out on himself the
effect of his collection letters. Let him get
copies of the letters that are being used in his
business, go off by himself and read them.
While doing this let him imagine himself to be
an honest person who is hard pushed for funds
and to whom these letters have been sent. Let
him then try to judge the effect the letters
would have upon his feeling toward the concern
that sent them out.
"If he is honest with himself and conscien-
tiously feels that the letters would impel him to
pay and at the same time leave him feeling well
disposed toward the concern sending them, then
he may be sure he has good letters.
"If, on the other hand, the letters wound his
self-respect, show a lack of confidence in his
moral integrity, depend entirely upon the ele-
ment of fear to influence him to pay, then he
may be sure that, while the letters may bring
in the money, yet they are at the same time
losing him customers that might be a steady
source of revenue."
Pratt Read
Products
Piano Ivory
P i a n o Keys
Piano Actions
Player Actions
Established in
1806
at Deep River, Conn.
Still There
Standard Service and Highest Quality
Special Repair Departments
Maintained for Convenience
of Dealers
PRATT, READ & CO.
PRATT READ PLAYER ACTION CO.
Oldest and Best