Music Trade Review
Issue: 1926 Vol. 83 N. 15 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
60 to 70 Per Gent of Pianos Sold
Once Placed in the Home
S. E. Murphy, Head of the Murphy Music Co., St. Cloud, Minn., by This Method Sold More Instruments Dur-
ing June, July and August Than During Any Previous Six Months in His Firm's History, Thus Proving
Once More the Fallacy of the Claim That Pianos Are Not Sold in Summer
and night, and I am glad to say in consequence
our house sold in June, July and August of this
year more instruments than during any six
months' period of any previous time in our his-
tory. In other words, in what the dealer thinks
is a dull time of the year we sold more instru-
ments than the total sales of double that time.
This, of course, has encouraged us so much that
we believe that you can show a steady and
consistent gain each year if you have a right
kind of organization and a fixed determination
to sell goods. We don't sacrifice quality in
pianos nor do we try to offer goods on a bar-
gain basis.
"We have sold good instruments and have
treated our people right because we want every
customer to be a good advertisement, both of
the instruments we sell and of our methods.
Our policy is to get at least 10 per cent of the
total price as first payment on the piano, and
our average instalment sales are closed up in
two years.
"Perhaps you think that the farmers want a
big piano. Years ago that was largely true, but
now the big, massive case finds few buyers and
most sales are confined to four-foot-four-inch or
four-foot-six-inch, in mahogany or walnut. We
sell the Crown line of straight pianos, players,
grands and Concords. We find them to be
mighty fine instruments and are glad to push
them. The new Crown Style 81 upright with
sliding fall is particularly attractive. We have
sold Schumann pianos for a long time and also
have sold the Premier and James & Holmstrom
pianos.
"We don't find that the straight piano is out
of date by any means, although the player-piano
is naturally the most popular. Some buy the
straight piano because of the lower cost. A
number of people buy the straight upright be-
cause they have been told, or reasoned it to
themselves, that if they bought a player-piano
their children would not practice manual play-
ing as they should, but would use player rolls
instead.
"We have no trouble at all meeting that argu-
ment as we tell them that if they want their
children to study French, German, or any other
foreign language they would naturally want
them to meet some one who was either an ex-
pert or a native and could give them the stand-
ard pronunciation. We tell these people that
the player-piano does furnish a standard inter-
pretation of the piece of music, but it is a
method of comparison or an ideal to which their
children can study for."
Q R S Music Co. Completes Media for
Next Three Months' National Campaign
Mueller's Music Shop
Takes Columbia Line
NE of the prominent dealers in Chicago
this week was S. E. Murphy, head of the
Murphy Music Co., St. Cloud, Minn.
He left on Monday for a visit to the plant of
the George P. Bent Co., Louisville, Ky., accom-
panied by Dan Pagenta, one of the Crown
travelers.
Talking in the office of The Review here Mr.
Murphy discussed piano selling in his territory,
which he said was very good. "We have three
trucks," said he, "and cover an era of about
sixty miles around St. Cloud. We believe in
going out and getting business and we find that
the business is there if you will go out after it.
Of course, it is harder work than staying in the
store hoping for customers to come in, but our
percentage of sales is high. In our method of
taking the piano out to the prospect and getting
him to permit us to put it in his house, our
records show that we make six or seven sales
out of every ten instruments which we put in
these homes, and the settlements are very sat-
isfactory.
"If you want to, it is very easy to argue with
yourself that business is dull or that little busi-
ness is to be had, but, as I said before, our policy
is to go out and find sales. This Summer I
went out on a truck and hustled morning, noon
O
Complete List Will Reach a Total of 60,000,000 People in Campaign o n Q R S Music Rolls and
Redtop Radio Tubes—Campaign to Use Both Newspapers and Magazines
/CHICAGO, ILL., October 4.—The complete
^ list of all the media which will be used by
the Q R S Music Co. in its great national adver-
tising campaign for September, October, No-
vember and December, 1926, is now ready. This
campaign, which sets a record as the largest
publicity aid to the dealers in music rolls and
Redtop radio tubes, will cover an extensive
and carefully selected list, including the leading
magazines of national circulation, great daily
papers in the principal cities of the country, and
the trade press of this industry. In all, the
circulation reached will exceed 60,000,000 people,
or more than one-half of the population of the
United States, and the corresponding benefit to
the piano merchant who carries the Q R S mer-
chandise on his shelves is tremendously im-
pressive.
Commencing with the four page tip-in
("Freddie the Sheik"), followed by the adver-
tisement of the Q R S music rolls and Redtop
radio tubes, which appeared in The Review Sep
tember 18 and gave the piano merchants of tht
country an indication of the extent of this great
campaign, the Q R S Co. followed with the rt-
publication, on Sunday, September 26, of the
same striking advertisement in all the news-
papers throughout the United States carrying
that comic section.
It is estimated that this publication reached
and was read by over 20,000,000 people, young
and old, and it is obvious that such widespread
publicity should aid the sale of Q R S player
rolls and Redtop radio tubes, particularly if
the dealer has this merchandise in stock for
immediate response to inquiries that are sure
to be developed.
In the current advertising vernacular, it was
a great "hook-up" for the dealer, for the manu-
facturer reaches direct 20,000,000 people, a large
proportion of whom were interested, and un-
doubtedly a high ratio of these will see the local
representative who lets his public know that he
carries such widely advertised products. This
same sort of publicity is being continued in
October, November and December, and the
piano merchant is advised of what is coming to
interest his public and to create possible pros-
pects for him by the publication of the Q R S
advertisements in The Review and some other
selected trade magazines.
The Sunday newspapers used geographically
covered the entire country from coast to coast.
The magazines include such well-known publi-
cations as The Saturday Evening Post, Literary
Digest, Atlantic Monthly, the Golden Book,
Harper's Magazine, World's Work, Review of
Reviews, Scribner's Magazine, Adventure, and
many others.
The enterprise of the Q R S Co. in planning
and paying for this campaign is an inspiring
message of itself to the industry and the dealer.
The retail price of the rolls of the Q R S Co.
and the Redtop radio tubes is a small unit, com-
mercially speaking, and the piano merchant in
his own locality gets or can get the benefit of
hundreds of dollars' worth of publicity expended
by the manufacturer in his own particular terri-
tory.
A new music store has been opened in Lees-
burg, Fla., by Mrs. L. Crawford Van Orsdale
and will operate under the name of the Music
Shoppe.
5
Well-known Baltimore Music House Handles
Complete Line of Columbia Products
BALTIMORE, MD., October 4.—The complete line
of all Columbia products has just been taken
on by Mueller's Music Shop, 506-8 South Third
street. This shop is located in the eastern part
of the city and is the largest in its section, as
well as one of the oldest and best known music
houses in Baltimore. William Mueller, the pro-
prietor, not only announced his securing a
Columbia franchise with a half-page advertise-
ment in the daily papers, but also distributed
several thousand card announcements. The
cards were so cut that they fitted over the
door knobs, and the thousands of homes in his
section woke up one morning to find themselves
effectively tagged with notices of this new prod-
uct. Mr. Mueller arranged an exceptionally at-
tractive display of the new Columbia phono-
graphs, which instruments yield to unusually
effective display results because of their beauti-
ful decorations.
Frank E. Edgar on Tour
Frank E. Edgar, manager of the wholesale
piano department of the Aeolian Co., left this
week on his regular Fall trip to the West. In
addition to calling on the distributors of the
Aeolian Co. products, Mr. Edgar will attend the
opening of the new Schmoller & Mueller store
in Sioux City, la., and will also attend the In-
diana convention in Indianapolis on October
25 and 26.
Edwin D. Seabury, retired piano manufac-
turer, passed away recently at his home in
Rockville Center, L. I., at the age of seventy-
nine. Mr. Seabury was prominent in civic cir-
cles and was a former president of that village.
60 to 70 Per Gent of Pianos Sold
Once Placed in the Home
S. E. Murphy, Head of the Murphy Music Co., St. Cloud, Minn., by This Method Sold More Instruments Dur-
ing June, July and August Than During Any Previous Six Months in His Firm's History, Thus Proving
Once More the Fallacy of the Claim That Pianos Are Not Sold in Summer
and night, and I am glad to say in consequence
our house sold in June, July and August of this
year more instruments than during any six
months' period of any previous time in our his-
tory. In other words, in what the dealer thinks
is a dull time of the year we sold more instru-
ments than the total sales of double that time.
This, of course, has encouraged us so much that
we believe that you can show a steady and
consistent gain each year if you have a right
kind of organization and a fixed determination
to sell goods. We don't sacrifice quality in
pianos nor do we try to offer goods on a bar-
gain basis.
"We have sold good instruments and have
treated our people right because we want every
customer to be a good advertisement, both of
the instruments we sell and of our methods.
Our policy is to get at least 10 per cent of the
total price as first payment on the piano, and
our average instalment sales are closed up in
two years.
"Perhaps you think that the farmers want a
big piano. Years ago that was largely true, but
now the big, massive case finds few buyers and
most sales are confined to four-foot-four-inch or
four-foot-six-inch, in mahogany or walnut. We
sell the Crown line of straight pianos, players,
grands and Concords. We find them to be
mighty fine instruments and are glad to push
them. The new Crown Style 81 upright with
sliding fall is particularly attractive. We have
sold Schumann pianos for a long time and also
have sold the Premier and James & Holmstrom
pianos.
"We don't find that the straight piano is out
of date by any means, although the player-piano
is naturally the most popular. Some buy the
straight piano because of the lower cost. A
number of people buy the straight upright be-
cause they have been told, or reasoned it to
themselves, that if they bought a player-piano
their children would not practice manual play-
ing as they should, but would use player rolls
instead.
"We have no trouble at all meeting that argu-
ment as we tell them that if they want their
children to study French, German, or any other
foreign language they would naturally want
them to meet some one who was either an ex-
pert or a native and could give them the stand-
ard pronunciation. We tell these people that
the player-piano does furnish a standard inter-
pretation of the piece of music, but it is a
method of comparison or an ideal to which their
children can study for."
Q R S Music Co. Completes Media for
Next Three Months' National Campaign
Mueller's Music Shop
Takes Columbia Line
NE of the prominent dealers in Chicago
this week was S. E. Murphy, head of the
Murphy Music Co., St. Cloud, Minn.
He left on Monday for a visit to the plant of
the George P. Bent Co., Louisville, Ky., accom-
panied by Dan Pagenta, one of the Crown
travelers.
Talking in the office of The Review here Mr.
Murphy discussed piano selling in his territory,
which he said was very good. "We have three
trucks," said he, "and cover an era of about
sixty miles around St. Cloud. We believe in
going out and getting business and we find that
the business is there if you will go out after it.
Of course, it is harder work than staying in the
store hoping for customers to come in, but our
percentage of sales is high. In our method of
taking the piano out to the prospect and getting
him to permit us to put it in his house, our
records show that we make six or seven sales
out of every ten instruments which we put in
these homes, and the settlements are very sat-
isfactory.
"If you want to, it is very easy to argue with
yourself that business is dull or that little busi-
ness is to be had, but, as I said before, our policy
is to go out and find sales. This Summer I
went out on a truck and hustled morning, noon
O
Complete List Will Reach a Total of 60,000,000 People in Campaign o n Q R S Music Rolls and
Redtop Radio Tubes—Campaign to Use Both Newspapers and Magazines
/CHICAGO, ILL., October 4.—The complete
^ list of all the media which will be used by
the Q R S Music Co. in its great national adver-
tising campaign for September, October, No-
vember and December, 1926, is now ready. This
campaign, which sets a record as the largest
publicity aid to the dealers in music rolls and
Redtop radio tubes, will cover an extensive
and carefully selected list, including the leading
magazines of national circulation, great daily
papers in the principal cities of the country, and
the trade press of this industry. In all, the
circulation reached will exceed 60,000,000 people,
or more than one-half of the population of the
United States, and the corresponding benefit to
the piano merchant who carries the Q R S mer-
chandise on his shelves is tremendously im-
pressive.
Commencing with the four page tip-in
("Freddie the Sheik"), followed by the adver-
tisement of the Q R S music rolls and Redtop
radio tubes, which appeared in The Review Sep
tember 18 and gave the piano merchants of tht
country an indication of the extent of this great
campaign, the Q R S Co. followed with the rt-
publication, on Sunday, September 26, of the
same striking advertisement in all the news-
papers throughout the United States carrying
that comic section.
It is estimated that this publication reached
and was read by over 20,000,000 people, young
and old, and it is obvious that such widespread
publicity should aid the sale of Q R S player
rolls and Redtop radio tubes, particularly if
the dealer has this merchandise in stock for
immediate response to inquiries that are sure
to be developed.
In the current advertising vernacular, it was
a great "hook-up" for the dealer, for the manu-
facturer reaches direct 20,000,000 people, a large
proportion of whom were interested, and un-
doubtedly a high ratio of these will see the local
representative who lets his public know that he
carries such widely advertised products. This
same sort of publicity is being continued in
October, November and December, and the
piano merchant is advised of what is coming to
interest his public and to create possible pros-
pects for him by the publication of the Q R S
advertisements in The Review and some other
selected trade magazines.
The Sunday newspapers used geographically
covered the entire country from coast to coast.
The magazines include such well-known publi-
cations as The Saturday Evening Post, Literary
Digest, Atlantic Monthly, the Golden Book,
Harper's Magazine, World's Work, Review of
Reviews, Scribner's Magazine, Adventure, and
many others.
The enterprise of the Q R S Co. in planning
and paying for this campaign is an inspiring
message of itself to the industry and the dealer.
The retail price of the rolls of the Q R S Co.
and the Redtop radio tubes is a small unit, com-
mercially speaking, and the piano merchant in
his own locality gets or can get the benefit of
hundreds of dollars' worth of publicity expended
by the manufacturer in his own particular terri-
tory.
A new music store has been opened in Lees-
burg, Fla., by Mrs. L. Crawford Van Orsdale
and will operate under the name of the Music
Shoppe.
5
Well-known Baltimore Music House Handles
Complete Line of Columbia Products
BALTIMORE, MD., October 4.—The complete line
of all Columbia products has just been taken
on by Mueller's Music Shop, 506-8 South Third
street. This shop is located in the eastern part
of the city and is the largest in its section, as
well as one of the oldest and best known music
houses in Baltimore. William Mueller, the pro-
prietor, not only announced his securing a
Columbia franchise with a half-page advertise-
ment in the daily papers, but also distributed
several thousand card announcements. The
cards were so cut that they fitted over the
door knobs, and the thousands of homes in his
section woke up one morning to find themselves
effectively tagged with notices of this new prod-
uct. Mr. Mueller arranged an exceptionally at-
tractive display of the new Columbia phono-
graphs, which instruments yield to unusually
effective display results because of their beauti-
ful decorations.
Frank E. Edgar on Tour
Frank E. Edgar, manager of the wholesale
piano department of the Aeolian Co., left this
week on his regular Fall trip to the West. In
addition to calling on the distributors of the
Aeolian Co. products, Mr. Edgar will attend the
opening of the new Schmoller & Mueller store
in Sioux City, la., and will also attend the In-
diana convention in Indianapolis on October
25 and 26.
Edwin D. Seabury, retired piano manufac-
turer, passed away recently at his home in
Rockville Center, L. I., at the age of seventy-
nine. Mr. Seabury was prominent in civic cir-
cles and was a former president of that village.
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