Music Trade Review

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MAY
2, 1925
THE
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
Standing Behind the Selling Force
How D. H. Holmes & Co., of New Orleans, and Brook Mays & Co., of Houston, Texas, Have Found Close
Touch With the Individual Salesman Through General and Separate Conferences Leading Directly
to Better Work by the Man Out on the Firing Line Who Gets the Business
"K
E E P in constant touch with your
salesmen." That is a policy which is
the basis of more than one retail
music merchant's success. The man that is out
on the firing line, hunting the elusive prospect,
meeting the wiles of his competitors, fighting
the good fight for the house he represents,
needs all the encouragement and support he can
get from the house that employs him if he is
going to run up a good volume of sales. And
that encouragement must be of the friendly
kind. That policy never failed to bring divi-
dends to the house which employed it, providing
of course that it was backed with good ad-
vertising, good merchandise and good collec-
tions. But all of these three fundamental re-
quirements will fail, if the sales force is not
handled properly, the men are not satisfied with
conditions, and if they fail to receive the proper
co-operation in their work. Here are two ex-
amples of how this policy works out.
D. H. Holmes & Co.
Down in New Orleans everybody knows D.
H. Holmes & Co. It is one of the big depart-
ment stores of the South and it has a music
department which is of the type that is an asset
to the retail trade. Under the management of
Robert Cone, Jr., this department has shown
a steady advance, and the reasons, as Mr. Cone
recently told them to The Review, are simple.
"Good salesmen, well paid and thoroughly
backed by the house, who co-operate with each
other because of the co-operation of the house
are the way to secure results," he said. "I be-
lieve in paying good salaries and offering
bonuses. These 'starvation commission con-
tracts' do not get results.
"I believe in individual conferences with each
of my salesmen. I believe in conferences often.
I can learn much from them, and I can keep
them thoroughly in touch with the policy and
purposes of the institution. I believe also in
collective conferences and in get-together meet-
ings with the salesmen. Goods must first be
sold before you can get your money.
"I am a strong believer in the proper kind
of advertising. Advertising creates interest and
the properly worded advertisement will bring
customers to your store, will bring many in-
quiries to your business. After the desire has
been created through the free and proper use
of printers' ink, your sales organization has
something substantial upon which they may put
forth effort.
"Then I believe in a systematic way of col-
lections, but to keep the 'human touch' of
kindness in the collection department. I believe
that in the collection department many sales
can be brought to the house through friends.
"Our institution believes in selling all kinds
of musical merchandise. In the piano line we
sell from the highest priced and the highest
grade instruments, all along down the various
grades and lines of instruments to the good and
substantial cheap pianos. We do not believe in
appealing only to the masses or only to the
classes; we believe in appealing to everybody.
We believe in having that character of instru-
ments that will appeal to everybody's purse.
"I believe there is a great market for high
grade pianos, and I believe that salesmen should
appeal in their selling to the musical thought
and not undertake to promote sales merely by
offering long terms and very low priced goods.
"I attribute our success to honest purposes
on the part of the house, fair representation on
the part of the salesmen, and to the fact that
we furnish all kinds of musical instruments at
the right prices and on terms to meet the rea-
sonable requirements of our patrons."
Brook Mays & Co.
Over in Houston, Tex., there is another
house where the same policy has built up an
imposing volume of sales with proper returns
in profit. That is the Houston branch of Brook
Mays & Co., under the management of Joseph
Sondock. This firm does an annual business
of several hundred thousand dollars and Mr.
Sondock sums up the reasons for this success
as follows:
"Be sure of co-operation with each member
of your selling force. In common parlance,
'back them up.' As general manager of this
business many years ago, I learned it is wise
and absolutely necessary that you plan with
your selling organization. Confer with them
often and you will find that you will learn
from them very much. They are on 'the firing
line.'
"I would say this to every sales manager. If
you will confer with your salesmen you will
learn from them a great deal. Often it is neces-
sary for you to be teacher. Often it is essen-
tial that you be director. But more can be ac-
complished by working with your sales organi-
zation, and keeping that unanimity of action and
harmony of spirit and general concentrated in-
terest in the object you wish to attain, than can
be gotten by dictatorial methods and the driv-
ing policy that some managers employ.
"We have kept our selling organization intact
and constantly at work, regardless of whether
business conditions were always promising or
not, by paying them well for the service that
we expect to get in return. In other lines of
business there are inviting opportunities, profit-
able positions. Good, honest, steady workers
can get good money in other lines of business,
and unless piano merchants realize this, and are
willing to pay their salesmen well, they will
make a great mistake. That mistake in the end
will mean that they will not make money, the
ultimate object that every man in this business
who thinks sanely wishes to attain.
"There are three important things to consider,
in my judgment," went on Mr. Sondock, "if a
business is to be a success. They are as fol-
lows:
"First: The instruments must be sold in
quantities to keep down the overhead, and sold
properly in order that collections may be made
advantageously.
"Second: It is very important that the collec-
tions be made. To be successful it is not wise
to be harsh with the customers. Keep everlast-
ingly at the collections, appeal to their honor
when they are behind, be patient and deal
kindly with your customers, and you will get
more money in the end.
."Third: This comes to the question of mak-
ing profits. The amount of profit in the busi-
ness is the simple difference between the cost
of the goods and the price for which you sell
them. We have found that it takes about three
years, as an average, to get paid for each in-
strument sold. Know the cost of your goods.
The invoice from the manufacturer is the begin-
ning point to figure your costs. One of the
most difficult things to determine in the music
business, in my judgment, is the question of
what your goods actually cost you, and the
piano merchant that doesn't devote a great deal
of thought to this is running his business on a
guess basis."
New Zealand Dealer
Studies Small Grand
in New Zealand according to our selling experi-
ence with them."
Mr. Eady will encircle the globe before he
it-turns to New Zealand, which will be in about
five months.
H. Cecil Eady, of Auckland, Forecasts Big De-
mand for This Instrument in the Antipodes
H. Cecil Eady, manager of the piano depart-
ment of Lewis R. Eady Son, Ltd., Auckland,
New Zealand, spent three days in New York
last week en route to England. During his
short visit Mr. Eady visited several factories
looking into the small grand situation.
"We are quite interested," he said to a rep-
resentative of The Review "in the development
of the small grand in the United States. In New
Zealand this type of piano is just commencing
to have a call. The greatest demand, how-
ever, so far has been for the upright and the
player-piano. I have noticed while traveling
through this country that the piano business
has been somewhat dull, which has been at-
tributed to various reasons, including the ad-
vent of radio, the automobile, the buying of
homes and the great interest in outdoor enter-
tainment. In Auckland, however, none of these
various so-called 'drawbacks' has ever had any
effect on the piano business. If there was ever
a country where the piano is considered a neces-
sity it is New Zealand. No one ever builds a
home or goes housekeeping without having a
piano as part of their furnishings.
"For this reason we have a steady business
which grows in volume in a very healthy man-
ner. American upright pianos are very popular
and I feel quite confident that the American
small grands will have a splendid call. We
are handling a great many Canadian player-
pianos, however, as they seem to be preferred
Courts to Define Limits
of Association Activities
U. S. Attorney-General Seeks to Put End to
Uncertainty That Has Existed Regarding Per-
missible Operations of Trade Bodies
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 28.—Definite deter-
mination by the courts of the activities in which
trade associations may legally engage will be
sought by Attorney General Nugent in an
effort to put an end to the uncertainty which
has existed for several years as to the per-
missible operations of such organizations. Chief
among the problems thus to be settled is that of
the collection and dissemination of statistics,
which were held by Attorney General Daugh-
erty to be illegal.
In the near future the new Attorney General
expects to go into the question thoroughly in
order to familiarize himself with the situation,
and a decision will then be made as to
the lines along which the Department of Jus-
tice shall proceed. It is probable that, if the
question is put up to the courts, an entirely new
case will be prepared to serve as a test. Previous
proceedings were planned to be brought in con-
nection with pending anti-trust legislation but it
is believed that the matter can best be handled
by making it the sole subject of a suit, rather
than to confuse the issue by the interjection of
other problems.