Music Trade Review
Issue: 1954 Vol. 113 N. 4 - Page 5
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
The JS usic
Established 1879
Vol. 113-No. 4
PIONEER
2,889th Issue
REVIEW
75th Year
THE
April, 1954
PUBLICATION
75th Year
O F T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
The Working Salesman Will Find
Piano Business Good During 1954
By CURTIS P. KIMBALL
Wholesale Division W. W. Kim ball Co., Chicago, III.
F
%
IRST and foremost the 1954 most
positive selling factor of our indus-
try and any other is the general eco-
nomic outlook for the year.
We have all been reading many eco-
nomic forecasts of what we business
men can expect in 1954. These fore-
casts range from ivory tower ideal-
ists with no practical knowledge of
business to those made by top drawer
executive talent who every day face
the realities of business life.
One of the finest experience I had
recently was hearing speeches made
by Mr. Livingston, President of the
First National Bank in Chicago, Mr.
McCaffrey, President of International
Harvester Corporation, and Mr. Kes-
tenbaum. President Hart-Schaffner &
Marx. These men spoke together at
a luncheon and covered their opinion
of the outlook for business in 1954.
Among other things their consesus
of opinion was:
Executive Opinions
1. Business will be good for those
who put out more effort in 1954
than they did in 1953—in our busi-
ness this means that all of us who
are salesmen will have to call on
more prospects, which means us-
ing more shoe leather, and spend
less time sitting in our respective
stores waiting for prospects.
2. Store owners will have to run
their store operations more care-
fully and efficiently in 1954 than
in previous years and will have to
show their employees the road
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL. 1954
they want them to travel by set-
ting good examples of harder work
and longer hours.
3. These three top executives were
also of the consensus of opinion
that it will be too bad for those
of us who either do not have
the foresight based on past experi-
ence or neglect to use this quality
of foresight to attack the problems
of the day right now. It is no
longer possible to put off until
tomorrow what should be done to-
day.
4. Who can be pessimistic in view
of the very rapid increase in pop-
lation which started with the tre-
mendous so-called baby boom in
World War II that hasn't stopped
yet. This means more and more
potential customers every year for
all business men and the starting
of more and more families each
year who will specifically be in
the market for our product in
years to come.
Ample Savings Available
• The Americans have two hundred
billion dollars in savings right now.
six billion more than at the end of
1952. which indicates there is more
than enough money available for
purchasing pianos and that it is up
to us in the piano industry to make
the American public want our prod-
uct badly enough to part with some
of these savings.
Again, how can we be pessimistic
in the face of what we hear about
the extent of business outlays for
new plants and equipment. This dol-
lar figure for new plants and equip-
ment is forecasted to be in 1954 at
an annual rate of 28 billion dollars
which would be 800 million dollars
above the pace set in the first three
months of 1953.
General Motors Example
A specific example of a business
outlay for 1954 was the announce-
ment we all head made by President
Curtice of General Motors in which
he said his company was planning
a one billion dollars expansion in
1954. This announcement was greet-
ed very enthusiastically by the ei tire
business world since it indicated the
very positive approach of business
in trying to keep our economy run-
ning at a high pace in peacetime
without having to call on the Fed-
eral Government for help.
Maybe I am just showing what is
considered the typical trait of sales-
man, that is optimism, but in view
of these things and others we all are
aware of, I can't help but believe
1954 will be a good year for the
piano business. Also, I know we all
feel very optimistic that our particu-
lar industry will prosper in the years
to come because of the substantial
increase in our population each year.
The Working Salesman Will Win
To narrow down this thought to our
industry I think we will all agree that
the most positive factor in piano selling
The JS usic
Established 1879
Vol. 113-No. 4
PIONEER
2,889th Issue
REVIEW
75th Year
THE
April, 1954
PUBLICATION
75th Year
O F T H E MUSIC
I N D U S T R Y
The Working Salesman Will Find
Piano Business Good During 1954
By CURTIS P. KIMBALL
Wholesale Division W. W. Kim ball Co., Chicago, III.
F
%
IRST and foremost the 1954 most
positive selling factor of our indus-
try and any other is the general eco-
nomic outlook for the year.
We have all been reading many eco-
nomic forecasts of what we business
men can expect in 1954. These fore-
casts range from ivory tower ideal-
ists with no practical knowledge of
business to those made by top drawer
executive talent who every day face
the realities of business life.
One of the finest experience I had
recently was hearing speeches made
by Mr. Livingston, President of the
First National Bank in Chicago, Mr.
McCaffrey, President of International
Harvester Corporation, and Mr. Kes-
tenbaum. President Hart-Schaffner &
Marx. These men spoke together at
a luncheon and covered their opinion
of the outlook for business in 1954.
Among other things their consesus
of opinion was:
Executive Opinions
1. Business will be good for those
who put out more effort in 1954
than they did in 1953—in our busi-
ness this means that all of us who
are salesmen will have to call on
more prospects, which means us-
ing more shoe leather, and spend
less time sitting in our respective
stores waiting for prospects.
2. Store owners will have to run
their store operations more care-
fully and efficiently in 1954 than
in previous years and will have to
show their employees the road
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL. 1954
they want them to travel by set-
ting good examples of harder work
and longer hours.
3. These three top executives were
also of the consensus of opinion
that it will be too bad for those
of us who either do not have
the foresight based on past experi-
ence or neglect to use this quality
of foresight to attack the problems
of the day right now. It is no
longer possible to put off until
tomorrow what should be done to-
day.
4. Who can be pessimistic in view
of the very rapid increase in pop-
lation which started with the tre-
mendous so-called baby boom in
World War II that hasn't stopped
yet. This means more and more
potential customers every year for
all business men and the starting
of more and more families each
year who will specifically be in
the market for our product in
years to come.
Ample Savings Available
• The Americans have two hundred
billion dollars in savings right now.
six billion more than at the end of
1952. which indicates there is more
than enough money available for
purchasing pianos and that it is up
to us in the piano industry to make
the American public want our prod-
uct badly enough to part with some
of these savings.
Again, how can we be pessimistic
in the face of what we hear about
the extent of business outlays for
new plants and equipment. This dol-
lar figure for new plants and equip-
ment is forecasted to be in 1954 at
an annual rate of 28 billion dollars
which would be 800 million dollars
above the pace set in the first three
months of 1953.
General Motors Example
A specific example of a business
outlay for 1954 was the announce-
ment we all head made by President
Curtice of General Motors in which
he said his company was planning
a one billion dollars expansion in
1954. This announcement was greet-
ed very enthusiastically by the ei tire
business world since it indicated the
very positive approach of business
in trying to keep our economy run-
ning at a high pace in peacetime
without having to call on the Fed-
eral Government for help.
Maybe I am just showing what is
considered the typical trait of sales-
man, that is optimism, but in view
of these things and others we all are
aware of, I can't help but believe
1954 will be a good year for the
piano business. Also, I know we all
feel very optimistic that our particu-
lar industry will prosper in the years
to come because of the substantial
increase in our population each year.
The Working Salesman Will Win
To narrow down this thought to our
industry I think we will all agree that
the most positive factor in piano selling
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