Music Trade Review
Issue: 1924 Vol. 79 N. 17 - Page 7
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
OCTOBER 25,
1924
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Demonstration Is the Basis of Selling
This Principle Underlies Every Part of Player-Piano Salesmanship—Demonstration Means Showing to Each
Prospect What to Him or Her Constitutes a Replica of Piano Playing—Nowhere Is This
Truer Than in the Art of Selling the Reproducing Piano
•
OMEBODY is always laughing at those
who insist that there is a science of sales-
manship. Somebody is always saying that
he never learned anything about a science of
salesmanship, and yet see how successful he has
been. Which is about as wise as it would be
to say that because a man can find north on a
clear night by looking for and finding the North
Star, therefore the compass is of no use what-
ever. It is like saying that because men in some
places still burn kerosene lamps, electric light
is useless. In a word, it is like saying that
nothing is any good if one can possibly get
along without it.
Now, of course, it is very easy to poke fun
at some of the absurdities which are paraded
around, and sold at a profit to suckers, under
the guise of courses of instruction in salesman-
ship. At the same time, no one who has ever
studied salesmanship has ever doubted that the
art does rest upon certain principles which are
ascertainable and demonstrable and therefore
are scientific. Salesmanship is no exact science
indeed, but it does rest upon certain principles
which are always alike.
Principles and Practice
Much piano selling has been done—and per-
haps still is done—in virtue of every possible
principle save the principles of legitimate sales-
manship. Price, terms, and throw-ins all have
their powers and to each opportunity is given in
its turn. Good pianos on the other hand, the
best pianos certainly, have always been sold
more or less on merit. In fact they have to
be sold on merit, because there is nothing but
merit to justify the prices that must be asked
for them. Merit in this connection may be
held to include prestige or reputation, for it
is certain that no house making pianos has ever
obtained a great prestige save through merit,
or held it by any other means.
The Merit Principle
Now player-piano salesmanship, taking the
art in its broadest sense, depends just as much
upon this principle of merit. For what one
sells is not the instrument, but what the instru-
ment will do. We deal here with a sales
principle of very wide application. Consider
the talking machine. What is the basis for the
prices asked for talking machines? On the sur-
face it is hard to see where $200 come in, as
one looks at an ordinary upright or small con-
sole phonograph. In actual fact, only those
who make them know how much more they
cost to build than they seem to cost, and how
many items there are to add to the cost before
the customer assumes the load. The customer
does not, and cannot, see these things, and so
the customer has to be sold upon the question
of what the machine will do. It is a case of
how much you get, not how much you pay. The
wise talking machine salesman banks upon this,
and upon this only, and demonstrates the
beauties of the machine's work until the custo-
mer wants that machine and nothing else. One
does not say indeed that the process is invari-
ably the same, for of course talking machines
are often sold for reasons entirely dictated by
the customer, which reasons may be highly
illogical; but the point is that there is no
other principle upon which to build but this,
and none other which can be regularly and
steadily followed.
New Radio
Even the same principle applies to the newest
of public demands, the radio. When a sales-
man has to sell a $300 set, how much of the
necessary conviction comes to the customer by
reason of the mystery surrounding the technical
S
jargon, and how much from the technical
merits of the set, its selectivity, its immediate
response to distance and its freedom from
interference; in a word, from what it will do?
It is the same with the player-piano, the
reproducing piano and their like. Each one of
them is a demonstration article. It does not
and cannot appeal to the common herd by its
looks, nor can the masses be expected to en-
visage its possibilities from anything in its ap-
pearance. It is a dead piece of very high-priced
bulky furniture until it begins to speak; and
only then does its value become demonstrated
to the millions. It is only when the customer
can hear what the instrument can do that it
becomes an object of desire; and it is only by
showing what it can do that the salesman com-
mands the situation with the customer and finds
a secure basis for the sale.
The Universal Foundation
This principle of demonstration underlies every
part of player-piano salesmanship. Whether it
be a case of public demonstration of the most
elaborate character, or of private showing be-
fore a family group in a hearing room at the
store, the principle of the salesmanship is al-
ways the principle of demonstration; and all
other arguments are as nothing compared with
this. The argument of appearance is as noth-
ing save only as one style of case may be better
suited to a living room than another. The
argument of price is as nothing, for those to
whom the beauties of the reproducing piano are
displayed are not persons who will be upset at
the price demanded if they have been convinced
that the instrument itself is what appeals to
them. It is not more difficult to sell the very
highest priced reproducing piano than the more
moderately priced instruments of the same kind.
What is alone difficult is to demonstrate that
the reproducing piano does what it is said
to do.
To Each a Replica
And yet after all this is not so very difficult
either. Demonstration in this case means, more
than anything else, displaying to each prospect
a replica of the sort of thing which, to him or
to her, best represents piano playing. Women
who understand and appreciate fine playing are
not few, and even the American male is fast
progressing in the same direction. Musicians
more and more come to regard the reproducing
piano as an invaluable aid in the study of
pianistic style, and music lovers or amateur
musicians are members of a very rapidly grow-
ing class of enthusiasts. They are by no means
in the majority as yet, but to pretend that they
do not exist is to deceive oneself very seriously.
Persons of these classes, especially women of
discrimination and taste, are not to be treated
cavalierly. They want to know whether the
reproducing piano will actually reproduce the
work of Rachmaninoff or Paderewski, and to
be unable to demonstrate this fact is to run
the risk of losing the sale.
Their Own Ideas
On , the other hand, those who have the
money to pay for a fine reproducing piano and
yet have not the cultivated taste required to
appreciate fine artistic piano playing, do have
nevertheless their own ideas as to what consti-
tutes piano music. They may not know much
about it, but they know what they like and their
tastes must be considered. It is a case of giv-
ing to each class or type of music lover what
represents to the members of that class their
ideal of piano playing; and there is as much
discretion to be shown in demonstrating by
means-of dance 1 music as in anything el$e^
Intelligent demonstration is the whole basis
of all successful player selling and the repro-
ducing piano simply cannot be sold successfully
unless demonstration is made the prime feature
as well as the foundation. Demonstration
means, then, intelligent choice of music, instru-
ments always in mechanical and musical perfec-
tion, adequate stocks of music, intelligent dis-
crimination between types and classes of pros-
pects, and finally, mastery by the salesman of
the technical language of the thing he is
demonstrating, and some familiarity, at the
least, with the music he undertakes to use as
his means of selling.
A Wrong Principle
It is doubtless possible to sell reproducing
pianos by some other principle; but so is it
possible to sell silks without knowing Shantung
from Pongee. In either case, however, the
customer will either buy what he or she likes,
or nothing at all. In the other case the sales-
man is in charge ,from the start and does what
he wishes to do. That is why we say that there
is an art of reproducing piano salesmanship,
based upon a principle; the principle of
demonstrating what the instrument will do.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Pratt Read
Products
Piano Ivory
P i a n o Keys
Piano Actions
Player Actions
Established in
1806
atpeep 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
OCTOBER 25,
1924
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Demonstration Is the Basis of Selling
This Principle Underlies Every Part of Player-Piano Salesmanship—Demonstration Means Showing to Each
Prospect What to Him or Her Constitutes a Replica of Piano Playing—Nowhere Is This
Truer Than in the Art of Selling the Reproducing Piano
•
OMEBODY is always laughing at those
who insist that there is a science of sales-
manship. Somebody is always saying that
he never learned anything about a science of
salesmanship, and yet see how successful he has
been. Which is about as wise as it would be
to say that because a man can find north on a
clear night by looking for and finding the North
Star, therefore the compass is of no use what-
ever. It is like saying that because men in some
places still burn kerosene lamps, electric light
is useless. In a word, it is like saying that
nothing is any good if one can possibly get
along without it.
Now, of course, it is very easy to poke fun
at some of the absurdities which are paraded
around, and sold at a profit to suckers, under
the guise of courses of instruction in salesman-
ship. At the same time, no one who has ever
studied salesmanship has ever doubted that the
art does rest upon certain principles which are
ascertainable and demonstrable and therefore
are scientific. Salesmanship is no exact science
indeed, but it does rest upon certain principles
which are always alike.
Principles and Practice
Much piano selling has been done—and per-
haps still is done—in virtue of every possible
principle save the principles of legitimate sales-
manship. Price, terms, and throw-ins all have
their powers and to each opportunity is given in
its turn. Good pianos on the other hand, the
best pianos certainly, have always been sold
more or less on merit. In fact they have to
be sold on merit, because there is nothing but
merit to justify the prices that must be asked
for them. Merit in this connection may be
held to include prestige or reputation, for it
is certain that no house making pianos has ever
obtained a great prestige save through merit,
or held it by any other means.
The Merit Principle
Now player-piano salesmanship, taking the
art in its broadest sense, depends just as much
upon this principle of merit. For what one
sells is not the instrument, but what the instru-
ment will do. We deal here with a sales
principle of very wide application. Consider
the talking machine. What is the basis for the
prices asked for talking machines? On the sur-
face it is hard to see where $200 come in, as
one looks at an ordinary upright or small con-
sole phonograph. In actual fact, only those
who make them know how much more they
cost to build than they seem to cost, and how
many items there are to add to the cost before
the customer assumes the load. The customer
does not, and cannot, see these things, and so
the customer has to be sold upon the question
of what the machine will do. It is a case of
how much you get, not how much you pay. The
wise talking machine salesman banks upon this,
and upon this only, and demonstrates the
beauties of the machine's work until the custo-
mer wants that machine and nothing else. One
does not say indeed that the process is invari-
ably the same, for of course talking machines
are often sold for reasons entirely dictated by
the customer, which reasons may be highly
illogical; but the point is that there is no
other principle upon which to build but this,
and none other which can be regularly and
steadily followed.
New Radio
Even the same principle applies to the newest
of public demands, the radio. When a sales-
man has to sell a $300 set, how much of the
necessary conviction comes to the customer by
reason of the mystery surrounding the technical
S
jargon, and how much from the technical
merits of the set, its selectivity, its immediate
response to distance and its freedom from
interference; in a word, from what it will do?
It is the same with the player-piano, the
reproducing piano and their like. Each one of
them is a demonstration article. It does not
and cannot appeal to the common herd by its
looks, nor can the masses be expected to en-
visage its possibilities from anything in its ap-
pearance. It is a dead piece of very high-priced
bulky furniture until it begins to speak; and
only then does its value become demonstrated
to the millions. It is only when the customer
can hear what the instrument can do that it
becomes an object of desire; and it is only by
showing what it can do that the salesman com-
mands the situation with the customer and finds
a secure basis for the sale.
The Universal Foundation
This principle of demonstration underlies every
part of player-piano salesmanship. Whether it
be a case of public demonstration of the most
elaborate character, or of private showing be-
fore a family group in a hearing room at the
store, the principle of the salesmanship is al-
ways the principle of demonstration; and all
other arguments are as nothing compared with
this. The argument of appearance is as noth-
ing save only as one style of case may be better
suited to a living room than another. The
argument of price is as nothing, for those to
whom the beauties of the reproducing piano are
displayed are not persons who will be upset at
the price demanded if they have been convinced
that the instrument itself is what appeals to
them. It is not more difficult to sell the very
highest priced reproducing piano than the more
moderately priced instruments of the same kind.
What is alone difficult is to demonstrate that
the reproducing piano does what it is said
to do.
To Each a Replica
And yet after all this is not so very difficult
either. Demonstration in this case means, more
than anything else, displaying to each prospect
a replica of the sort of thing which, to him or
to her, best represents piano playing. Women
who understand and appreciate fine playing are
not few, and even the American male is fast
progressing in the same direction. Musicians
more and more come to regard the reproducing
piano as an invaluable aid in the study of
pianistic style, and music lovers or amateur
musicians are members of a very rapidly grow-
ing class of enthusiasts. They are by no means
in the majority as yet, but to pretend that they
do not exist is to deceive oneself very seriously.
Persons of these classes, especially women of
discrimination and taste, are not to be treated
cavalierly. They want to know whether the
reproducing piano will actually reproduce the
work of Rachmaninoff or Paderewski, and to
be unable to demonstrate this fact is to run
the risk of losing the sale.
Their Own Ideas
On , the other hand, those who have the
money to pay for a fine reproducing piano and
yet have not the cultivated taste required to
appreciate fine artistic piano playing, do have
nevertheless their own ideas as to what consti-
tutes piano music. They may not know much
about it, but they know what they like and their
tastes must be considered. It is a case of giv-
ing to each class or type of music lover what
represents to the members of that class their
ideal of piano playing; and there is as much
discretion to be shown in demonstrating by
means-of dance 1 music as in anything el$e^
Intelligent demonstration is the whole basis
of all successful player selling and the repro-
ducing piano simply cannot be sold successfully
unless demonstration is made the prime feature
as well as the foundation. Demonstration
means, then, intelligent choice of music, instru-
ments always in mechanical and musical perfec-
tion, adequate stocks of music, intelligent dis-
crimination between types and classes of pros-
pects, and finally, mastery by the salesman of
the technical language of the thing he is
demonstrating, and some familiarity, at the
least, with the music he undertakes to use as
his means of selling.
A Wrong Principle
It is doubtless possible to sell reproducing
pianos by some other principle; but so is it
possible to sell silks without knowing Shantung
from Pongee. In either case, however, the
customer will either buy what he or she likes,
or nothing at all. In the other case the sales-
man is in charge ,from the start and does what
he wishes to do. That is why we say that there
is an art of reproducing piano salesmanship,
based upon a principle; the principle of
demonstrating what the instrument will do.
Consult the Universal Want Directory of
The Review. In it advertisements are inserted
free of charge for men who desire positions.
Pratt Read
Products
Piano Ivory
P i a n o Keys
Piano Actions
Player Actions
Established in
1806
atpeep 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
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