Music Trade Review
Issue: 1950 Vol. 109 N. 12 - Page 7
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
Established 1879
VOL. 109-No. 12
THE
PIONEER
REVIEW
PUBLICATION
December, 1950
2,849th Issue
OF T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
Successful Retail Sales Management
During a Semi-War Economy
by HOWARD M. COWEE, New York University School of Retailing
T
HE challenge to retail sales man-
agement in any economic frame-
work is not only to hold present
sales volume, but also to win more sales
volume now and in the future.
The point of sales is the most vital
area in the entire field of marketing,
because it is at this point that the mer-
chandise, the money and the customer-
are brought together physically for the
first time. This meeting results in the
evaluation of the goods and the services
of all producers and distributors. It is
at this point that the coordination of
all store operation activities succeeds
or fails in the combined ability of
these activities to win and to hold sales.
The challenge to retail sales manage-
ment in the semi-war economy of today
does not change in its basic statement,
but clearly the problems of a semi-war
economy are different from the prob-
lems that face retail sales management
in any other economical framework.
We should fix one fact firmly in mind
—we should acknowledge that the rules
of "business as usual" have been
changed. The rules are likely to change
still more. For example, taxes now take
a larger slice of disposable consumer
income. Credit regulations have stiffened
and threaten to draw off still more of
the consumers' ability to buy. The man-
power magnet pulls at the pool of re-
tailing employees. As men leave retail-
ing—now classified as "unessential"
work—the ability to service a sale is
bound to suffer. Industrial and material
dislocations as a result of defense or-
ders menace the sources of supply. If
you stock-piled inventories, you may
live to be hailed as a hoarder and be
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, DECEMBER, 1950
to be controlled for you rather than by
you.
The second profit potential is one that
you can and that you should control. It
is an intangible profit and, therefore,
one that is yours alone to earn, to hold,
and to enjoy. This profit is the "know
how," or the development of greater
skill and competitive advantage in store
operations. If you win this intangible
profit in the hard period to come, you
can easily convert it into tangible
profits when the full control of business
is returned to your hands.
Three Basic Approaches
HOWAKI) M. COWEE
made to suffer. Taxes, again, threaten
profits. The threat merely has been
postponed for accomplishment until
later in this election year. Certainly less
profitable operations are probable and
"'profitless'" operations become a dis-
tinct possibility. If these conditions
spell "business as usual," yours must
be, indeed, an unusual business.
You face the formidable problems of
a semi-war economy with a sales objec-
tive that is unchanged. But you also
face these problems with two profit po-
tentials. The first profit potential is the
tangible or money profit. The control
of how much of this profit you can
pocket lies temporarily at least in other
hands. In the checks and balances estab-
lished, or to be established in a semi-
war economy, the money profit is likely
Regardless of whether you seek to
win only one or both of the profit po-
tentials it seems to me that there are
three basic approaches that can be taken
to the solution of sales management
problems in your business:—(1) You
can play by ear. (2 I you can follow the
score, or (3) you can improvise.
If you elect to play by ear, you are
probably somewhat of a genius, or have
a superior form of aptitude for the
mechanics, or are indifferent to expos-
ing yourself to the lack of success that
frequently follows the untutored practi-
tioner.
If you follow the score, you trace a
prescribed path that leads to a defi-
nite conclusion, comfortable in the
knowledge that if you make a mistake
you can seek it out. practice some more,
and then proceed without becoming
hopelessly lost.
If you improvise, you not only pos-
sess the benefit of knowing the score,
but also because of this fact your confi-
dence is buoyed to the extent that you
can give imagination, inspiration, and
Established 1879
VOL. 109-No. 12
THE
PIONEER
REVIEW
PUBLICATION
December, 1950
2,849th Issue
OF T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
Successful Retail Sales Management
During a Semi-War Economy
by HOWARD M. COWEE, New York University School of Retailing
T
HE challenge to retail sales man-
agement in any economic frame-
work is not only to hold present
sales volume, but also to win more sales
volume now and in the future.
The point of sales is the most vital
area in the entire field of marketing,
because it is at this point that the mer-
chandise, the money and the customer-
are brought together physically for the
first time. This meeting results in the
evaluation of the goods and the services
of all producers and distributors. It is
at this point that the coordination of
all store operation activities succeeds
or fails in the combined ability of
these activities to win and to hold sales.
The challenge to retail sales manage-
ment in the semi-war economy of today
does not change in its basic statement,
but clearly the problems of a semi-war
economy are different from the prob-
lems that face retail sales management
in any other economical framework.
We should fix one fact firmly in mind
—we should acknowledge that the rules
of "business as usual" have been
changed. The rules are likely to change
still more. For example, taxes now take
a larger slice of disposable consumer
income. Credit regulations have stiffened
and threaten to draw off still more of
the consumers' ability to buy. The man-
power magnet pulls at the pool of re-
tailing employees. As men leave retail-
ing—now classified as "unessential"
work—the ability to service a sale is
bound to suffer. Industrial and material
dislocations as a result of defense or-
ders menace the sources of supply. If
you stock-piled inventories, you may
live to be hailed as a hoarder and be
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, DECEMBER, 1950
to be controlled for you rather than by
you.
The second profit potential is one that
you can and that you should control. It
is an intangible profit and, therefore,
one that is yours alone to earn, to hold,
and to enjoy. This profit is the "know
how," or the development of greater
skill and competitive advantage in store
operations. If you win this intangible
profit in the hard period to come, you
can easily convert it into tangible
profits when the full control of business
is returned to your hands.
Three Basic Approaches
HOWAKI) M. COWEE
made to suffer. Taxes, again, threaten
profits. The threat merely has been
postponed for accomplishment until
later in this election year. Certainly less
profitable operations are probable and
"'profitless'" operations become a dis-
tinct possibility. If these conditions
spell "business as usual," yours must
be, indeed, an unusual business.
You face the formidable problems of
a semi-war economy with a sales objec-
tive that is unchanged. But you also
face these problems with two profit po-
tentials. The first profit potential is the
tangible or money profit. The control
of how much of this profit you can
pocket lies temporarily at least in other
hands. In the checks and balances estab-
lished, or to be established in a semi-
war economy, the money profit is likely
Regardless of whether you seek to
win only one or both of the profit po-
tentials it seems to me that there are
three basic approaches that can be taken
to the solution of sales management
problems in your business:—(1) You
can play by ear. (2 I you can follow the
score, or (3) you can improvise.
If you elect to play by ear, you are
probably somewhat of a genius, or have
a superior form of aptitude for the
mechanics, or are indifferent to expos-
ing yourself to the lack of success that
frequently follows the untutored practi-
tioner.
If you follow the score, you trace a
prescribed path that leads to a defi-
nite conclusion, comfortable in the
knowledge that if you make a mistake
you can seek it out. practice some more,
and then proceed without becoming
hopelessly lost.
If you improvise, you not only pos-
sess the benefit of knowing the score,
but also because of this fact your confi-
dence is buoyed to the extent that you
can give imagination, inspiration, and
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