Music Trade Review

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NoVKMBF.R 1, 1924
THE
MUSIC TRADE
11
REVIEW
Using Manufacturers' Dealers' Helps
J. A. Jacober of the Otto Grau Piano Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, Describes the Method by Which His Firm Ties Up
Its Name With the Literature Furnished by the Manufacturers Whose Lines It Handles, in
Its Direct Mail Campaigns to Prospective Customers
H
EARTY co-operation between the music
merchant and the manufacturer whose
instrument he handled was urged by J.
A. Jacober, advertising manager of the Otto
Grau Piano Co., of Cincinnati, in addressing the
direct-mail department of ihe Advertisers Club
of Cincinnati during the past week.
Mr. Jacober outlined the plan that is used
by his company to interest the present cus-
tomers and prospective customers in pianos and
other musical instruments, as well as talking ma-
chine records and player-piano rolls. The Otto
Grau Piano Co.when sending out to the consumer
any direct-mail matter, such as booklets, broad-
sides, letters, etc., always sends with it a letter
from the company. This is a personal note to
the consumer and often results in more interest
being displayed by the prospective customer in
the booklet or other direct-mail matter enclosed.
Mr. Jacober, in speaking of the manufacturer,
said that the distribution of his literature is a
problem that the dealer can help to solve to a
great extent. The dealer actually becomes the
direct distributor to the prospect, and it rests
with him as to what percentage of the literature
actually reaches the prospect's hands. For the
manufacturer to publish a great quantity of
booklets and have but a small percentage of
them ieach the consumers or prospects is a
form of waste with which every manufacturer
at all times has to contend.
"It is my opinion," said Mr. Jacober, "that
a great deal of this waste is a direct result of
lack of interest or, we might say, of apprecia-
tion of the sales creative value of such literature
on the part of the dealer. The fact that he is
sent a large quantity of such material and not
advised of any plan that would stimulate his
interest to the extent of actually using it is
unquestionably the cause of the major part of
such waste. Any direct-mail matter sent out
should be a part of a set plan. It should tie
dealer with manufacturer. It should crystallize
in the mind of the prospect the fact that he (the
dealer) handles the particular make or brand
being advertised, around which a brief and con-
vincing story should be written, that the pros-
pect may almost at a glance grasp the funda-
mental idea that he is trying to convey.
"The trouble in mailing a booklet, or any
bulky piece of direct-mail matter, is that the
prospect not infrequently fails to read the text,
and even though he should read what you have
written in such a booklet, you must remember
that there is always a possibility of his over-
looking the particular or essential features that
differentiate your product from that of your
competitor. Unless your direct-mail matter is
in such a form that it will prove interesting,
even at first glance, to your prospect, it cannot
accomplish your object; consequently you will
not secure the results that you anticipate.
"I believe you will agree with me that a
piano is about one of the most difficult things
in the world to sell. It is one of the few articles
manufactured from which the purchaser not
only expects, but actually demands, a lifetime
of satisfactory service, and, strange as it may
seem, but few are disappointed in this respect.
Another article of this kind is a watch—you
buy it, and ever thereafter expect it to keep
perfect time. Do you ever have it oiled, cleaned
or looked over? Yes—when it actually cannot
go another tick. So not infrequently it is with
a piano.
"One of the peculiarities about pianos is that,
while practically all of them look alike, there
are vast differences and points of superiority
pne from the other, and this brings us to the
important role which the direct-mail advertising
of our house is made to assume.
"We begin with a definite plan, calling the
prospect's especial attention in a series of brief
letters to these essential differences and points
of superiority. We tell him why he should con-
sider these points of real importance to him.
Just to mail the booklet would compel him to
read same through to get the story, and even
then he may miss the point we are trying to
bring out. These letters, if carefully written,
•will very nearly interest him to the point of
reading the booklet sent. You may doubt the
wisdom of such a plan, but when I tell you thai
it has worked with complete success in our
business, you must admit that such a plan
actually possesses merit. To attain this end
the literature of the manufacturer in most in-
stances is used as shown in these samples.
"We at no time send literature created by a
factory featuring their particular line without a
direct tie-up with our store in the form of such
a letter. The few samples I have here will illus-
trate to you how this is done, and you may use
your own judgment as to their effectiveness.
Suffice to say that our business has shown a
phenomenal increase in those departments
where the plan has been tried, and is rapidly
being extended to cover every department.
"Just recently during a conversation with a
dealer in this city, he bewailed the fact that one
department of his business continually operated
at a loss, this in spite of the fact that he was
prepared to take care of his customers' wants.
He had a nice clean stock, but his location was
a little out of the shopping district. Inquiry
developed the fact that he had on hand approx-
imately thirty thousand circulars of a monthly
series which had not been mailed, because the
head of that department felt that the business
depression or vacation period, or some such
alibi, kept patrons from coming to his store,
and the postage, addressing and envelopes
would just add to the expense of his department
and not produce results for the reasons stated.
This is criminal waste and absolute short-
sightedness, for no mail matter sent to a pros-
pect can really be considered a waste.
"Another department in this dealer's business
used a regular direct-mail service and increased
the business in that department almost 300 per
cent during the same period; and yet the head
of that department questioned the advisability
of using the direct-mail plan in this particular
department, thereby wasting all of the thirty
thousand circulars.
"Direct-mail advertising always accomplishes
one of two things, and not infrequently both.
It either produces immediate results in the form
of sales, or what is of great value to any busi-
ness, it creates good-will through the fact that
in keeping a customer on your mailing list dis-
plays your continued interest in him, and this
in time will stimulate his interest in your line
of merchandise.
"If you are buying from a man who is giving
you dependable merchandise and satisfactory
service, it is unreasonable to assume that a
series of letters or circulars from a competing
house would cause you to change, but if your
direct mail is couched diplomatically and sent
consistently, when an opening is created it is
almost a foregone conclusion that you will be
in line for first consideration.
"In our own business we cover very carefully
all new prospects, using all available good litera-
ture published by the factories we represent;
this we link up with our own publications, there-
by greatly reducing our publicity costs. We
also cover all whom we have sold, keying up
their interest in the instrument we have sold
them, and continuing to impress upon them the
obligation we have assumed in selling them an
instrument. This displays our interest in them,
and as a result we acquire their good-will and
they recommend their friends to us. This
creates new business, and that in the final
analysis is the function of a direct-mail depart-
ment."
Sonora Phonograph Go. Stops
Use of the Name "Sonata"
Well-known Phonograph Manufacturer Again
Called Upon to Take Action Against Western
Concern Using "Sonata" on Phonographs
Another attempt to bring out a phonograph
bearing the name "Sonata" was stopped recently
by the counsel of the Sonora Phonograph Co.
Several years ago a concern operating under
the name of the Sonata Phonograph Co. dis-
continued the use of this name when the patent
office adjudicated that the word "Sonata" is
an infringement of the name Sonora.
The latest attempt was made by a Western
manufacturer who apparently did not know of
this decision and unfortunately several inno-
cent dealers purchased these machines before
learning the correct status of the phonograph
bearing this name.
It was said at the office of the Sonora Phono-
graph Co. that they intend to enforce vigorously
their rights with all manufacturers and venders
of "Sonata" phonographs.
Mason & Hamlin Agency
With A. B. Clinton Go.
Well-known Music House of New Haven,
Conn., to Feature the Entire Mason & Hamlin
Line, Including the Ampico, in That City
BOSTON, MASS., October 27.—Henry L. Mason,
president of the Mason & Hamlin Co., has an-
nounced that the agency for the Mason & Ham-
lin line, including the Mason & Hamlin with
the Ampico, had been placed with the A. B.
Clinton Co. in New Haven, Conn. The Clin-
ton Co. is an old-established and prominent
music house and a most fitting representative
for the Mason & Hamlin product.
Broadcasting Piano Gare
A talk on the "Care of the Piano" was broad-
cast from Station WJZ Tuesday, October 28,
at 11 a. m., by Stephen Czukor, social repre-
sentative of Hardman, Peck & Co., New York.
Mr. Czukor has had about fifteen years' ex-
perience in the industry as tuner, regulator,
factory superintendent and retail salesman and
was well qualified to speak on this topic. Ac-
cording to several prominent radio announcers
this the first talk of its kind ever broadcast
over the radio.
A. B. Gone on Vacation
Ashley B. Cone, vice-president of Hardman,
Peck & Co., New York, is taking a short vaca-
tion with his wife and sister at French Lick,
Ind. Mr. Cone and his party made the trip by
motor from New York, and are expected back
this week.