Music Trade Review
Issue: 1924 Vol. 79 N. 15 - Page 4
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
OCTOBER 11,
1924
THE POINT OF REVIEW
Training the Retail Salesman
T
HE problem of developing a trained salesman in the retail
piano trade has bee*i a topic of continuous discussion in the
industry during the past several years. It has been generally
realized that the average piano salesman selling at retail is definitely
lacking in several of the elements which are necessary to develop
the prospect for the instrument which he represents. This lack
has played an exceedingly important part in checking t the natural
expansion of the industry, despite the remarkable developments in
merchandising, this term being used in its broadest sense, which have
taken place during the same period. Unfortunately, whatever train-
ing has been placed at the service of the salesman during this time
has largely been concerned with the actual technique of selling,
that is, methods of closing after the prospect is already interested,
and so on. While this is important unquestionably, it is not nearly
so important as to equip the salesman with an adequate and com-
prehensive knowledge, first, of music, the fundamental product
which he is selling, and, second, of the instruments which he offers
to bring that music to the prospective purchaser who desires it in
his own home.
9t
>£
%
T
HIS has been especially true in the development of the repro-
ducing piano. Here we have an instrument which accom-
plishes things that, at first glance and without adequate investigation
on the part of the prospective buyer, are exceedingly likely to arouse
a degree of skepticism which serves generally as a hindrance to the
ultimate closing of the sale. It seems almost impossible to the
average person that a combination of metal, wood and fabric,
operated by the air, should be able to reproduce in its slightest
nuance the interpretation of a master pianist with a fidelity which
makes the word reproducing so expressive in its relation to this
instrument. As a consequence, the salesman who is selling the
instrument requires an expert and detailed knowledge not only of
the music which the instrument reproduces, but of the technical
side of the instrument as well, in order that he may be equipped to
answer promptly and directly any objection or question which the
prospect may raise or ask, with a weight of proof and confidence
that will immediately remove the skepticism and make the prospect
as interested and convinced as the good salesman is himself in the
instrument he is endeavoring to sell.
%
% MS
ITH a realization of this condition, coming from a careful
study of its needs, the Ampico Corp. has worked out its new
course in retail salesmanship for the Ampico reproducing piano
which is described in some detail on another page of this issue of
The Review. Both of the broad divisions of the problem, music
and expert knowledge of the instrument, have been kept in mind
consistently throughout the entire course.
W
%
T
%
V£
H E first of these is especially important so far as the repro-
ducing piano is concerned. Here we have an instrument that
brings to the home the compositions in the musical literature of
the world, from the latest popular song to those master works
which constitute essentially the background of musical culture. A
salesman who is not equipped to talk with at least some degree of
knowledge upon this subject is lacking in the most elementary
factor of his sales work. It is a pitiful sight, and one that is often
seen in the average piano warerooms, to see a salesman who is
unable to meet the prospective buyer upon the latter's own musical
ground, who struggles vainly to talk with some degree of authority
upon a subject of which he is largely ignorant and who is compelled
in many cases to "bluff" at a time when a little knowledge would
prove extremely valuable. For conditions to-day are such that, with
the advance of musical knowledge among the people of the country,
in the sale of such an instrument as the reproducing piano, the
prospect in many cases knows far more than the salesman and finds
but little aid from that source in coming to a decision as to whether
or not to buy. The Ampico course in retail salesmanship in a clear
and simple manner provides a fund of musical knowledge for the
salesman who will follow it through that will effectually prevent
such situations from arising and that will provide the latter with a
number of new selling factors which should go far towards sim-
plifying each transaction as it appears. If the reproducing piano
thus far has built up the volume of sales that it has despite lack
of this emphasis upon the music element in the direct sale, an
achievement which has been accomplished through the sheer merit
of the instrument itself, think what an increasing volume of sales
will be had once the average salesman selling the instrument is
adequately equipped to give the emphasis to this element which
it deserves.
Mf
&
&
'"INHERE is a school of retail piano salesmen who believe in sell-
•1 ing their instruments from outside the case. This has been all
very well in the past, when the piano itself and the ordinary player-
piano constituted practically all the sales which they were called
upon to make. But to-day the growing importance of the repro-
ducing piano, a more extended knowledge, one that bears a close
and expert relationship to the instrument itself, is required. The
new Ampico salesmanship course provides for this. It gives the
salesman an adequate idea of what he is trying to sell. It provides
him with a knowledge sufficient to answer immediately any ques-
tions a prospective customer may ask regarding the mechanical and
technical side of what must be considered the outstanding achieve-
ment of mechanical inventive genius in the realm of music-repro-
ducing instruments. This knowledge may not be required in every
sale, but to-day it is essential in a growing proportion of them.
Heretofore, the average salesman has not possessed it, not entirely
through his own fault but largely through the fact that it has not
been really available. Material of this nature sent out by the manu-
facturers has been directed generally to the attention of the piano
technician and repairman, with the result that it has been too tech-
nical, and perhaps too complicated, for the average salesman to
use to advantage. The Ampico course effectually has overcome this
objection, and the retail salesman who follows it will have no
excuse in the future to betray any ignorance regarding the instru-
ment he is trying to sell.
your goods" is the basic element of good salesman-
ship. Without that knowledge, consistent achievement is
impossible, for uninformed selling ability, no matter how much of
it a salesman may possess, can never be an adequate substitute for
it. The Ampico Corp., in realizing this fact and in developing a
remedy for the condition it has created in retail reproducing piano
selling, has laid its finger upon the great weakness in modern piano
merchandising at retail and has effectually provided a remedy for
it. It is a work that will not only bring benefit to the Ampico
Corp. itself, to the dealers who handle its instruments, and to the
2,000 salesmen who have already been enrolled in the course, but it
will have a wide repercussion upon the entire retail trade, strength-
ening the efficiency of all retail piano salesmanship and reacting in a
direct increase in the general volume of sales. It is work of this
type which will make the piano salesman of the future as ade-
quately trained for his task as are the salesmen in hundreds of
other lines where technical problems are involved and where train-
ing of this nature has long been recognized as fundamental in the
solution of the merchandising problem up on a comprehensive and
efficient basis.
*
iH %
H E fact that 2,000 salesmen are already enlisted in this course
shows the vital need which has existed for it and also the way
in which the men in charge of the executive policies of the Ampico
Corp. have met this need in supplying a course which has definitely
been planned to solve the problems that confront the retail salesman
and merchant in distributing its products to the ultimate buyers at
top efficiency.
T
T H E REVIEWER.
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
OCTOBER 11,
1924
THE POINT OF REVIEW
Training the Retail Salesman
T
HE problem of developing a trained salesman in the retail
piano trade has bee*i a topic of continuous discussion in the
industry during the past several years. It has been generally
realized that the average piano salesman selling at retail is definitely
lacking in several of the elements which are necessary to develop
the prospect for the instrument which he represents. This lack
has played an exceedingly important part in checking t the natural
expansion of the industry, despite the remarkable developments in
merchandising, this term being used in its broadest sense, which have
taken place during the same period. Unfortunately, whatever train-
ing has been placed at the service of the salesman during this time
has largely been concerned with the actual technique of selling,
that is, methods of closing after the prospect is already interested,
and so on. While this is important unquestionably, it is not nearly
so important as to equip the salesman with an adequate and com-
prehensive knowledge, first, of music, the fundamental product
which he is selling, and, second, of the instruments which he offers
to bring that music to the prospective purchaser who desires it in
his own home.
9t
>£
%
T
HIS has been especially true in the development of the repro-
ducing piano. Here we have an instrument which accom-
plishes things that, at first glance and without adequate investigation
on the part of the prospective buyer, are exceedingly likely to arouse
a degree of skepticism which serves generally as a hindrance to the
ultimate closing of the sale. It seems almost impossible to the
average person that a combination of metal, wood and fabric,
operated by the air, should be able to reproduce in its slightest
nuance the interpretation of a master pianist with a fidelity which
makes the word reproducing so expressive in its relation to this
instrument. As a consequence, the salesman who is selling the
instrument requires an expert and detailed knowledge not only of
the music which the instrument reproduces, but of the technical
side of the instrument as well, in order that he may be equipped to
answer promptly and directly any objection or question which the
prospect may raise or ask, with a weight of proof and confidence
that will immediately remove the skepticism and make the prospect
as interested and convinced as the good salesman is himself in the
instrument he is endeavoring to sell.
%
% MS
ITH a realization of this condition, coming from a careful
study of its needs, the Ampico Corp. has worked out its new
course in retail salesmanship for the Ampico reproducing piano
which is described in some detail on another page of this issue of
The Review. Both of the broad divisions of the problem, music
and expert knowledge of the instrument, have been kept in mind
consistently throughout the entire course.
W
%
T
%
V£
H E first of these is especially important so far as the repro-
ducing piano is concerned. Here we have an instrument that
brings to the home the compositions in the musical literature of
the world, from the latest popular song to those master works
which constitute essentially the background of musical culture. A
salesman who is not equipped to talk with at least some degree of
knowledge upon this subject is lacking in the most elementary
factor of his sales work. It is a pitiful sight, and one that is often
seen in the average piano warerooms, to see a salesman who is
unable to meet the prospective buyer upon the latter's own musical
ground, who struggles vainly to talk with some degree of authority
upon a subject of which he is largely ignorant and who is compelled
in many cases to "bluff" at a time when a little knowledge would
prove extremely valuable. For conditions to-day are such that, with
the advance of musical knowledge among the people of the country,
in the sale of such an instrument as the reproducing piano, the
prospect in many cases knows far more than the salesman and finds
but little aid from that source in coming to a decision as to whether
or not to buy. The Ampico course in retail salesmanship in a clear
and simple manner provides a fund of musical knowledge for the
salesman who will follow it through that will effectually prevent
such situations from arising and that will provide the latter with a
number of new selling factors which should go far towards sim-
plifying each transaction as it appears. If the reproducing piano
thus far has built up the volume of sales that it has despite lack
of this emphasis upon the music element in the direct sale, an
achievement which has been accomplished through the sheer merit
of the instrument itself, think what an increasing volume of sales
will be had once the average salesman selling the instrument is
adequately equipped to give the emphasis to this element which
it deserves.
Mf
&
&
'"INHERE is a school of retail piano salesmen who believe in sell-
•1 ing their instruments from outside the case. This has been all
very well in the past, when the piano itself and the ordinary player-
piano constituted practically all the sales which they were called
upon to make. But to-day the growing importance of the repro-
ducing piano, a more extended knowledge, one that bears a close
and expert relationship to the instrument itself, is required. The
new Ampico salesmanship course provides for this. It gives the
salesman an adequate idea of what he is trying to sell. It provides
him with a knowledge sufficient to answer immediately any ques-
tions a prospective customer may ask regarding the mechanical and
technical side of what must be considered the outstanding achieve-
ment of mechanical inventive genius in the realm of music-repro-
ducing instruments. This knowledge may not be required in every
sale, but to-day it is essential in a growing proportion of them.
Heretofore, the average salesman has not possessed it, not entirely
through his own fault but largely through the fact that it has not
been really available. Material of this nature sent out by the manu-
facturers has been directed generally to the attention of the piano
technician and repairman, with the result that it has been too tech-
nical, and perhaps too complicated, for the average salesman to
use to advantage. The Ampico course effectually has overcome this
objection, and the retail salesman who follows it will have no
excuse in the future to betray any ignorance regarding the instru-
ment he is trying to sell.
your goods" is the basic element of good salesman-
ship. Without that knowledge, consistent achievement is
impossible, for uninformed selling ability, no matter how much of
it a salesman may possess, can never be an adequate substitute for
it. The Ampico Corp., in realizing this fact and in developing a
remedy for the condition it has created in retail reproducing piano
selling, has laid its finger upon the great weakness in modern piano
merchandising at retail and has effectually provided a remedy for
it. It is a work that will not only bring benefit to the Ampico
Corp. itself, to the dealers who handle its instruments, and to the
2,000 salesmen who have already been enrolled in the course, but it
will have a wide repercussion upon the entire retail trade, strength-
ening the efficiency of all retail piano salesmanship and reacting in a
direct increase in the general volume of sales. It is work of this
type which will make the piano salesman of the future as ade-
quately trained for his task as are the salesmen in hundreds of
other lines where technical problems are involved and where train-
ing of this nature has long been recognized as fundamental in the
solution of the merchandising problem up on a comprehensive and
efficient basis.
*
iH %
H E fact that 2,000 salesmen are already enlisted in this course
shows the vital need which has existed for it and also the way
in which the men in charge of the executive policies of the Ampico
Corp. have met this need in supplying a course which has definitely
been planned to solve the problems that confront the retail salesman
and merchant in distributing its products to the ultimate buyers at
top efficiency.
T
T H E REVIEWER.
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