Music Trade Review

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enough and then proceed to go over-
board with a sales pitch' about our
product which quite frankly taxes our
customer's credulity.
Today business is being bombarded
by pep talks and articles aimed at
gearing us for what the professional
sales field likes to refer to as the
"Hard Sell." The point is well taken
and there is no denying that plenty of
salesmanship is needed in order to
move the unprecedented volume of
goods which our huge production ma-
chinery is now turning out. We hear
a lot about tightening the belt, going
out after business again, the need for
salesmen working longer hours, and
above all the need for good old-fash-
ioned selling. Agreeing with all of
this I have been most interested in
reading what some of this country's
most prominent sales executives have
to say by way of defining "Old-Fash-
ioned Selling." Several have pointed
out that old-fashioned selling with all
its undeniable merits nevertheless had
too much tendency to play fast and
loose with the truth. No one in busi-
ness can fail to admire the hard-hitting
drive toward a sale. Yet the no-holds-
barred, high-pressure approach of the
good old days seems totally incompati-
ble with modern merchandising meth-
ods of today.
Installation Important
The final growing pain on my list
is one which may seem a bit redundant
—certainly it's nothing new, and prob-
ably it seems small by comparison.
Yet because it is so obvious it is so
rarely given proper attention. Credit
managers are fond of exhibiting in
their offices a sign telling all who can
read that "A Sale Is Not Complete Un-
til the Money Is Collected"—or words
to that effect. In the organ business I
think it must be said generally that
the sale is not complete when the
money is collected. This situation is
somewhat peculiar to the organ market,
but because of the nature of the prod-
uct a certain inescapable follow-
through must take place as a part of
each sale. The inadvertent tendency to
abbreviate the tranaction. to close the
books in more ways than one once the
bill is paid, is hurting the organ busi-
ness because it creates confusion and
misunderstanding in the minds of those
who have become our customers. Or-
gans must first of all be properly in-
stalled, with the right speaker equip-
ment, properly located, and the entire
unit properly adjusted to the room and
the use for which the instrument is in-
tended. This cannot be accomplished
by having one of the boys on the truck
just "plug it in." Whether the organ
is delivered to the accomplished organ-
ist or the musical beginner the odds
are that your customer is going to
need at least some instruction in the
use of the instrument. Of course the
beginner will require a complete train-
ing program. The television set buyer
learns all about running the machine
even before he says u yes" to the sales-
man. Organ playing, fortunately or
unfortunately, cannot be thus learned
at one sitting. However, even though
it is clearly to the dealers advantage
to see that each of his organ customers
is taught how to "get the most" out of
his instrument, the follow-through of
proper instruction is all too often ne-
glected and the customer is left to
shift for himself. Competitors have a
way of seizing on situations such as
these. The final and often-neglected
follow-through is maintenance. Or-
gans, like any piece of equipment
which is mechanical or electrical will
once in a while have to be repaired.
The buyer of an organ does just what
he does with his car when it needs re-
pairing: he takes it back to the dealer
he bought it from. When this time
comes—and it always comes—said
dealer must be equipped and ready to
do the job. All this is quite obvious
and I doubt if there are any dealers
who lack at least a part-time set-up for
handling service problems. I would
like to suggest, however, that the serv-
ice set-up be evaluated periodically for
unless it is fully effective it's inade-
quacies will ultimately show up as
lost business. The dealer's follow-
through on installation, service, and
instruction must all be accepted as a
promise by the customer. It's definitely
possible to cut corners here but the
organ dealers of this country are learn-
ing that it's a dangerous form of econ-
omy.
Team Work Essential
Perhaps the big truth that emerges
from any close look at the organ mar-
ket is that the organ business is truly
and necessarily a big success. In other
words, it's practically impossible for
a dealer or for that matter a manufac-
turer to be in it rather casually or in
a small way. For the manufacturer,
the basic cost of getting into the organ
business dictates the need for a rather
sizeable sales volume. For the dealer,
the various aspects of the business to
which he must give proper attention
establishes the need for some healthy
sales quotas. The selling job alone
requires a degree of specialization
which can in most cases only be at-
tained by having one or more full-
time, exclusive organ salesmen. Add
the service man, and an organist, these
at least on a part-time basis, and you
have a complete team. This Utopian
set-up may seem rather staggering to
the small dealer but as a goal it de-
mands careful consideration. Consid-
ering that this youthful market has
risen to its present size from a begin-
ning roughly 20 years ago it follows
that it can and will, with proper care,
develop as one of the principal perma-
nent activities of this music business.
(Turn to Col. 3, Page 14)
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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1954'
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