Music Trade Review

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The Music Trade Review
end of the evening, was away ahead of every
game in the room, and as a result received the
grand prize, a motion picture camera, donated
by its manufacturer, the QRS Co. Anthony
Maresh, of Cleveland, won the door prize, a
radio console set, donated by the Whitney-
Blaine-Wilder Co., of Cleveland. There were
many other handsome prizes, and all those who
attended united in congratulating the commit-
tee which was in charge of the affair.
Golf Tournament
Twenty-four pjayers took part in the annual
golf tournament, under the auspices and for
Robert A. Taylor
members of the Ohio Music Merchants' Golf
Association. Among the prize winners were
Henry C. Wildermuth, Henry Hewitt, H. F.
Sturcke, A. L. Wessell, Fred C. Harlow, Roy
S. Hibshman, F. H. Harrison, Gordon Laug-
head, Otto B. Heaton, Corley B. Gibson, James
T. Bristol, George L. Ames and Chester Ander-
son. The star play of the day was a hole in-
one by Otto B. Heaton at 170 yards. In the
evening the Golf Association held its annual
dinner at the club. Chester Anderson was
elected president; C. G. Liedrickson, vice-
president; Otto B. Heaton, treasurer, and
Henry C. Wildermuth, secretary.
Tuesday Session
npHE Tuesday afternoon session of the con-
-*• vention opened with an interesting and
forceful address by Corley Gibson, president of
the Autopiano Co., New York, upon the sales
possibilities of the player-piano. Mr. Gibson
declared that there is a wide and proven market
for that instrument when the dealer and sales-
men properly demonstrate it and use the cor-
rect sales methods. He cited a number of in-
stances which showed clearly that his points
were well taken. The speaker declared that the
player-piano is the one instrument which can
be used by every member of a family that owns
it for both instruction and entertainment pur-
poses, and he urged that the dealers make a
real effort to capitalize upon these sales pos-
sibilities by training their selling organization. 1 -
to a proper understanding of the instrument.
Retail Dealers' Financing
Frazier Reams, of the trust department of
the Commercial Savings Bank & Trust Co.,
Toledo, and the next speaker, delivered a most
comprehensive and interesting talk on finance
which will appear in full in a later issue m"
The Review. He thoroughly discussed all
phases of the financing question as it applies
to retail merchandising, and particularly dealt
with those problems which arise from instal-
ment selling. The speaker pointed out that
SEPTEMBER 15, 1928
music merchants were among the pioneers in
this sales method, and that the experience of
thousands of instalment and finance companies
testifies to its success. However, the speaker
declared, the music merchant has probably
profited least from this business invention,
which he can justly claim as his own, since a
majority have continued this method on the
original basis, charging only interest and pay-
ing for carrying the credit out of the profits,
while the automobile, washing machine and
other similar retailers have adopted the carry-
ing charge, preserved their profits and made the
buyer pay for the cost of the credit.
Buyer Should Pay Premium
The buyer should pay the premium for credit
accommodation, he declared, since experience
has shown that money in the bank is regarded
much more highly than money which has not
as yet been earned or received, and that cv\..
people of means are often willing to pay carry-
ing charges rather than to disturb their bank
accounts. Instalment buying encourages la.ger
purchases, he continued, since the man who
comes into the retail music merchant's store to
purchase a $500 piano can otten be persuaded
to purchase a $750 instrument on the easy way.
The speaker stated that, in his estimation,
down payments oi less than one-quarter oi the
total sale and terms that are over twenty
months arc not good business, even in so stable
a line Oi merchandise as the piano. 1 hey lire
especially dangerous in lines whore the pur-
chasing public has been taught to discard obso-
lete models, and where styles change frequently.
On twenty months' paper interest of 6 per
cent and a service charge of 1/5 of 1 per cent
monthly should be ample, with penalties when
payments are not made regularly. Particular
care in investigating the credit standing of the
buyer is important, and especially important i.s
it that it be done in a way not to cause offence
Good credit practice, he stated, is the basis ot
all successful instalment business.
General Dealer Financing
Mr. Reams devoted part of his address to
general dealer financing. He recommended that
the dealer first establish a general line of
credit with his local banks and then use the
finance companies, stressing the necessity of
the carrying charge upon instalment sales when
the latter is the case. He declared himself as
favorable to the dealer making his collections
in his own store when it is possible, in order
to maintain contact with his customers for iu-
ture business. He also covered in .some detail a
method of establishing a credit line through a
corporate trustee, in which a fixed amount is
set aside to cover credit uses. In conclusion,
he urged the dealer to keep a close watch upon
the ratio between assets and liabilities, in order
that he, himself, might be the major OWIKV ot
his business.
Earle Poling, of the advertising advisory
committee, was unable to be present owing to
an injury received in a motor accident. Charles
H. Yahrling was also ill and unable to be
present, but in a letter he urged that the dcal-
e/s support and adopt group piano instruction
in their warerooms and in their selling method,
pointing out how successful it has proven itself
in actual practice.
The evening was devoted to an automobile
ride to La Tabernilla, where a bay shore fish
dinner w y as served, followed by dancing to a
late hour.
their selling weakness, declaring that with the
majority of music stores and especially those of
the smaller towns, the stores themselves were
unattractive and the selling methods completely
out of tune with the times. There is no magic
in selling, the speaker continued, salesmanship
being simply the development of natural talent
based on a real liking for the work rather than
the simple desire to make money. He pointed
out that the type of salesman has improved
since the days when mothers warned their
daughters against the drummers of the hotel
front porch, and that the profession of sales-
manship is now a dignified calling. The speaker
cited his own experience in purchasing a piano
and a talking machine in showing that the sales-
manship in the music trade is away below par.
Mr. Harper declared that men in the music
trade are entirely too anxious to let the buyer
do all the work, and that many of them are un-
familiar with their product and are mistaken in
their manner of presenting it. He, himself, he
said, was a strong advocate of house-to-house
canvassing. The salesman who is used in this
type of selling should be of medium size so as
not to frighten the housewife when she comes
to the door, and should step back immediately
after it is opened, so as not to startle the
woman who replies to the ring.
The small town dealer, the speaker continued,
can keep sales from going to the big city if he
gives big city service. But in most cases he
depends too much upon neighborly friendliness
and makes too little an effort to come up to
that mark. Mr. Harper declared that the sales
organization can only be as good as the man
who directs it, and urged that the dealers them-
selves get out after sales and not wait in their
stores to answer the phone and to sell needles
and records. A fifteen-dollar-a-week girl can do
that work and when the dealer insists upon
doing it himself, he puts himself in the fifteen-
dollar-a-week class. The speaker concluded by
urging the dealers to sell advertised goods since
the sales resistance is lower and the cost of
selling as well.
From the National
Delbert M\ Loomis, executive secretary of the
National Association of Music Merchants, the
next speaker, delivered the following message
from the National Association:
"It is quite proper for me to say that it is
Wednesday Session
Rexford C. Hyre
both a pleasure and an honor to have this op-
portunity to present to the Music Merchants'
Association of Ohio greetings and most cor-
dial good wishes for the continued success of
your extraordinarily successful organization
from the National Association of Music Mer-
chants. President C. J. Roberts, of the Na-
tional Association, regrets exceedingly his in-
ability to accept the invitation to be here, and
I am, therefore, appearing in his place. I
final session of the convention opened
T HE
on Wednesday afternoon and proved to be
the most interesting and best attended of the
entire meeting. The chief feature was an ad-
dress by Harry B. Harper, manager of the Chi-
cago branch of the Airway Electric Appliance
Co., on salesmanship.
The speaker went directly to the point and
made no bones in telling the music merchants