Music Trade Review
Issue: 1945 Vol. 104 N. 4 - Page 22
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PRIZE WINNING LETTERS
(Continued from Page 9)
In the past there was a tendency to look upon the piano
business as being rather anemic, and an insufficient number
of salesmen of high caliber were attracted to it. With clean,
clear-cut merchandising policies good salesmen will be drawn
into the industry, and this in itself will tendl to elevate the
the plane of the industry in public repute. This type of busi-
ness getter will have to be well paid, but the investment
will be profitable.
The industry must eschew the bad practices which were
too prevalent in the past, and be conducted on sound,
straight-forward business principles. Pianos should be equit-
ably priced, and the price levels should depend upon the
cost of manufacture and quality. Fictitious quoting prices,
with indiscriminate discounts therefrom, wreck public confi-
dence and demoralize salesmen. Allowances for old pianos
taken in exchange should be at their actual value, if any.
The automobile industry, with a few exceptions, has by
mutual agreement corrected many comparable evils which
afflicted it in the past, to the advantage and profit of all
concerned. Its educational programme has been impressive.
There will probably be changes in manufacturing methods,
and new inventions may tend to alter musical tastes some-
what, but I believe the piano has sufficient intrinsic worth
and distinctiveness to reassert its right to enter most homes.
But there must be intelligent cooperation in directing atten-
tion to the cultural advantages of possession.
If the piano industry will bind up its wounds, and embark
upon a strong, active, unified, and persistent campaign for
its own development, I believe the buying public can be put
into a receptive mood.
The past is dead. When the stone is rolled away let us
get out of the tomb and go forward with the living. So
here's to the future of the piano industry! Let all look
forward, not backward.
I have been on a leave of absence from the piano business
for about two years, so I can look at it objectively and
without prejudice.
Honorable Mention
J. M. WYLIE
Piano Dealer
Fargo, N. D.
ERE is the way that I see the piano business. I don't 1
agree with Mr. Glasser, because I feel a piano is
almost the most personal thing that the whole family
can ever have. I used to marvel when a family would trade
in an old piano that had been in the home for thirty or
forty years, on a new player, and then they would cry when
the old piano left the house, when, to us, we felt it should
have gone into the junk heap. But, around that piano were
memories of father and mother, weddings and deaths, good
times and sorrowful times, and the piano was just a part
of them.
H
I realize now what I didn't realize when I looked just at
the dollar and cents angle of it. The future of the piano,
as I see it after twenty-eight years experience, twenty-five
of them wholesale where we sold approximately 50,000 new
Baldwin-made pianos, and going on our third year in the
retail, where we will have sold over 1,000, the future of
the piano business is just as bright as it is for any other
22
necessity or luxury made, if it is properly sold for what
it will do.
First, it is estimated that there are 1,250,000 weddings
each year, as an average. That means 1,250,000 brides be-
gin keeping house each year. A good part of those young
brides have been away to school and colleges, and they want
something new. Therefore, there is a potential market right
there without going any farther.
Yet, there is the home where a piano is purchased as a
mark of distinction, so when others come, others purchase
it as a piece of fine furniture plus its musical value. But,
the real value of the piano comes in selling it to the working
man, to the medium or poor class people; and by poor, I
mean financially poor.
That father and mother has a desire that their children
accomplish more, and have more, than they ever had in life;
and the lack of, creates a desire for. Then, also, music has
the power to lift one from where they are, just as high as
their ability will carry them. I believe that with all my
heart and soul. I have been it happen over the years.
I have seen a section boss, maybe he was an Italian, liv-
ing in a box car and raising a family. His children could
not go, and did not go, in the same standard of living, or
social circle, as the banker's, or the doctor's or lawyer's
children, but we had sold him a player piano. Lo and behold,
the children learned to sing.
Again, the lack of the finer things created a desire in
them to have what those about them leave. When the high
school contest came, that little Italian girl probably won
the contest. She probably won the city contest. She probably
won the state contest, and she probably went on to Chicago
or New York, and won the national contest.
It is again the Parable of the Talents. As the Bible says,
"use what you have or they will be taken away from you."
That is why I believe in music. That is why I believe in the
piano.
Mr. Chace, I can name you the towns in my state that are
most prosperous. Those same towns are the most musical.
They are the most religious. They produce the finest boys
and girls, and over 50% of the boys that are drafted from
those communities, are now officers in this World War II.
Why, it is because it reaches the bigger, better, finer God-
given talents that man was endowed with, the Man Inside
You.
That is the way to sell pianos. That is the way I have
sold approximately 51,000 of them. It is around that theme
I am going to build my selling organization, and I think
when our earthly days are over and we all meet up yonder,
there is going to be a reward for those that sold music and
helped suffering humanity along the road of life. All that
we get out of life is not going to mean a thing to us. It is
what we give back while we are here on earth that will
count for us up yonder.
Now, that is why I believe in the piano future. I believe
it is 50 r A tone, style, and the right price, plus all other
things considered, but I think 50 r /> of it rests squarely on
the shoulders of the dealer, the distributor, and the sales-
men; does he know how to sell a piano?
I am attaching my ads and one of this week's letters.
These letters go to all the men in the shop, and elsewhere,
because every man is a salesman, either as a doctor, lawyer,
or a dentist. He has to sell his wares.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and very
kindest regards to you all.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1945
PRIZE WINNING LETTERS
(Continued from Page 9)
In the past there was a tendency to look upon the piano
business as being rather anemic, and an insufficient number
of salesmen of high caliber were attracted to it. With clean,
clear-cut merchandising policies good salesmen will be drawn
into the industry, and this in itself will tendl to elevate the
the plane of the industry in public repute. This type of busi-
ness getter will have to be well paid, but the investment
will be profitable.
The industry must eschew the bad practices which were
too prevalent in the past, and be conducted on sound,
straight-forward business principles. Pianos should be equit-
ably priced, and the price levels should depend upon the
cost of manufacture and quality. Fictitious quoting prices,
with indiscriminate discounts therefrom, wreck public confi-
dence and demoralize salesmen. Allowances for old pianos
taken in exchange should be at their actual value, if any.
The automobile industry, with a few exceptions, has by
mutual agreement corrected many comparable evils which
afflicted it in the past, to the advantage and profit of all
concerned. Its educational programme has been impressive.
There will probably be changes in manufacturing methods,
and new inventions may tend to alter musical tastes some-
what, but I believe the piano has sufficient intrinsic worth
and distinctiveness to reassert its right to enter most homes.
But there must be intelligent cooperation in directing atten-
tion to the cultural advantages of possession.
If the piano industry will bind up its wounds, and embark
upon a strong, active, unified, and persistent campaign for
its own development, I believe the buying public can be put
into a receptive mood.
The past is dead. When the stone is rolled away let us
get out of the tomb and go forward with the living. So
here's to the future of the piano industry! Let all look
forward, not backward.
I have been on a leave of absence from the piano business
for about two years, so I can look at it objectively and
without prejudice.
Honorable Mention
J. M. WYLIE
Piano Dealer
Fargo, N. D.
ERE is the way that I see the piano business. I don't 1
agree with Mr. Glasser, because I feel a piano is
almost the most personal thing that the whole family
can ever have. I used to marvel when a family would trade
in an old piano that had been in the home for thirty or
forty years, on a new player, and then they would cry when
the old piano left the house, when, to us, we felt it should
have gone into the junk heap. But, around that piano were
memories of father and mother, weddings and deaths, good
times and sorrowful times, and the piano was just a part
of them.
H
I realize now what I didn't realize when I looked just at
the dollar and cents angle of it. The future of the piano,
as I see it after twenty-eight years experience, twenty-five
of them wholesale where we sold approximately 50,000 new
Baldwin-made pianos, and going on our third year in the
retail, where we will have sold over 1,000, the future of
the piano business is just as bright as it is for any other
22
necessity or luxury made, if it is properly sold for what
it will do.
First, it is estimated that there are 1,250,000 weddings
each year, as an average. That means 1,250,000 brides be-
gin keeping house each year. A good part of those young
brides have been away to school and colleges, and they want
something new. Therefore, there is a potential market right
there without going any farther.
Yet, there is the home where a piano is purchased as a
mark of distinction, so when others come, others purchase
it as a piece of fine furniture plus its musical value. But,
the real value of the piano comes in selling it to the working
man, to the medium or poor class people; and by poor, I
mean financially poor.
That father and mother has a desire that their children
accomplish more, and have more, than they ever had in life;
and the lack of, creates a desire for. Then, also, music has
the power to lift one from where they are, just as high as
their ability will carry them. I believe that with all my
heart and soul. I have been it happen over the years.
I have seen a section boss, maybe he was an Italian, liv-
ing in a box car and raising a family. His children could
not go, and did not go, in the same standard of living, or
social circle, as the banker's, or the doctor's or lawyer's
children, but we had sold him a player piano. Lo and behold,
the children learned to sing.
Again, the lack of the finer things created a desire in
them to have what those about them leave. When the high
school contest came, that little Italian girl probably won
the contest. She probably won the city contest. She probably
won the state contest, and she probably went on to Chicago
or New York, and won the national contest.
It is again the Parable of the Talents. As the Bible says,
"use what you have or they will be taken away from you."
That is why I believe in music. That is why I believe in the
piano.
Mr. Chace, I can name you the towns in my state that are
most prosperous. Those same towns are the most musical.
They are the most religious. They produce the finest boys
and girls, and over 50% of the boys that are drafted from
those communities, are now officers in this World War II.
Why, it is because it reaches the bigger, better, finer God-
given talents that man was endowed with, the Man Inside
You.
That is the way to sell pianos. That is the way I have
sold approximately 51,000 of them. It is around that theme
I am going to build my selling organization, and I think
when our earthly days are over and we all meet up yonder,
there is going to be a reward for those that sold music and
helped suffering humanity along the road of life. All that
we get out of life is not going to mean a thing to us. It is
what we give back while we are here on earth that will
count for us up yonder.
Now, that is why I believe in the piano future. I believe
it is 50 r A tone, style, and the right price, plus all other
things considered, but I think 50 r /> of it rests squarely on
the shoulders of the dealer, the distributor, and the sales-
men; does he know how to sell a piano?
I am attaching my ads and one of this week's letters.
These letters go to all the men in the shop, and elsewhere,
because every man is a salesman, either as a doctor, lawyer,
or a dentist. He has to sell his wares.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and very
kindest regards to you all.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1945
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