Presto
Issue: 1923 1919 - Page 25
25
P R E S T O
May 5, 1923
COINOLAS
FOR
RESTAURANTS, CAFES and
A M U S E M E N T CENTERS
Style SO
FROM THE BIGGEST
ORCHESTRION
of upkeep. They haven't had the nerve to tell the
customer in a common sense way that a piano and
a player require attention if the best musical results
are desired.
This, of course, is getting to be ancient stuff. Hun-
dreds of dealers are now telling customers the simple
truth about the upkeep of their instruments, and are
se'ling tuning contracts along with the instrument—
not free tunings, but tuning contracts, that get the
customer into the habit of paying for upkeep. And
these dealers are running service departments that
pay for themselves and yield a profit, besides insur-
ing the customer's continued satisfaction with their
'nstruments.
The Opportunity.
It is estimated that there are between two and
three million good pianos and playerpianos now in
service in the homes of America. Estimating only
$5.00 per year per minimum expense of upkeep, the
p'ano dealers and tuners of America have in sight
from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 annually in service
revenue as the reward of a little common sense in
salesmanship.
Getting back to the main subject of selling a player-
piano by the instruction of teaching method. It is
surprising how this system applied in a straight for-
ward way puts the salesman in what the advertising
agencies call the dominant pos'tion on such simple
matters as price, terms and trade in valuation.
Speaking of prices, the piano business generally is
getting so well sold on the idea of one-price that it
isn't much use to argue that point except to say that
one-price is the greatest time and energy saver that
has ever come into the piano business. I could cite
you so many examples to p^ove this that it would be
tiresome to gentlemen who are already convinced
of the benefits of one price operation as a time-saver
and the basis of sounder, safer financing through the
banks and otherwise
Competition.
One of the hardest mouthfuls for some piano sales-
men to masticate is the trade-in, especially on com-
petitive deals. They will let the prospect bamboozle
them into a scare and then it is all off with common
sense. The prospect is holding an auction of an old
piano. The salesmen are the bidders, and they get
to going stronger sometimes that the old piano goes
to one or the other at about twice what a good new
piano can be bought for.
I don't know whether you are much afflicted by the
allowance fever here in Texas, but if you are, for
your own sake be as shrewd in placing values on them
as you are in buying new pianos from your manu-
facturers. Get the old second hands on a basis that
w'll enable you to turn them at a profit without jock-
eying the books to make them show a profit.
Better salesmanship means better salesmen aiul
more of them. Take a young man get him imbued
with enthusiasm over what can be done musical'y
with a player-piano, don't hand a dead prospect list
on him at the start, give him some live ones, spend
a little time with him each day going over his story
of how he handled each situation, coach him and
encourage him •through the first few weeks of can-
vassing, put him on a fair compensation basis and you
will have done something to relieve the famine for
salesmen.
Speaks of Prices.
From what we read, hear and see, this is going to
be the best year the music business had had since the
war time flurry. It may lack some of the froth of
1919 and 1920 but it has more promise of real sub-
stance in every section of the country. With demand
at the present time taxing the physical resources of
the piano factories of the country, it does not seem
within the bounds of possibility for the combined pro-
ductive and storage facilities of the piano factories
to shoulder the extra burden of the heavy fall demand.
Knowing something of the condition that exists in
the industry all the way from Boston to the Missis-
sippi I would not consider any duty done here today
if I did not call this situation to your attention and
urge you to time your purchases and shipments for
fall well in advance. It is better to have a surplus
in July and August than a lot of unfilled orders in
December.
FIRE IN FOSTORIA STORE.
A lire of undetermined origin in the store of the
C. W. Gilliard Piano Co., Fostoria, O., recently did
damage in varying degrees to all of the stock of
pianos and players, and entirely destroyed the frame
portion of the watls at the rear of the store. Eleven
pianos and players were damaged by fire and water.
The intense heat of the flames confined to the rear
room caused a number of instruments to blister and
the varnish to peel off. The front plate glass window
was cracked by the heat.
PIONEER SCHOOL FO PIANO MEN
ith upwards e€
1OOO
SUCCESSFUL
GRADUATES
COURT HOUSE SO.
VALPARAISO. IND
V
Piano "foyer-Piano and Organ Tuning. Repairing, Regula-
tor A Voicing, ftcst equipped schooj in the II. S.
Df pJ"-ntt awarded and positions secured. Private and class
instn—tions, both sexes.
f#*o«f mil thm ymr.
lUumtrmtmJ
POLICS SCHOOL OF TUNING, VALPARAISO, IND
Schaff Bros.
Players and Pianos have won their stand-
ing with trade and public by 54 years of
steadfast striving to excel. They repre-
sent the
LARGEST COMPETITIVE VALUE
because of their beauty, reliability, tone
and moderate price. They are profitable
to sell and satisfactory when sold.
Brighten Your Line with the
SCHAFF BROS.
The Schaf f Bros. Co.
Established 1868
Huntington, Ind.
Tiny Coinola
THE SMALLEST
KEYLESS
HIGH GRADE
Manufactured by
Folding Organs
School Organs
The Operators Piano Co.
Practice Keyboards
16 to 22 South Peoria St.
CHICAGO
Dealers' Attention Solicited
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
215 Englewood Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
MAKERS
In Three Parts:
1. Instruments of Established
Names and Character.
2. Instruments that bear Spe-
cial Names or Trade Marks.
3. Manufacturers of Pianos
and Player-Pianos with Chap-
ters on Piano Building and Buy-
ing designed for the guidance
of prospective purchasers.
Fac-simile Fall-
board Names of Leading Pianos
and Player-Pianos in Colors
Revised
Annually
NO PIANO DEALER OR SALESMAN
CAN AFFORD TO BE WITHOUT ifT
IF YOU DON'T CONSULT "PRESTO
BUYERS' G U I D E " YOU ARE M I S S I N G
OPPORTUNITIES. G E T I T N O W .
Give a copy to each of your salesmen..
Price 50 cents per copy.
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
P R E S T O
May 5, 1923
COINOLAS
FOR
RESTAURANTS, CAFES and
A M U S E M E N T CENTERS
Style SO
FROM THE BIGGEST
ORCHESTRION
of upkeep. They haven't had the nerve to tell the
customer in a common sense way that a piano and
a player require attention if the best musical results
are desired.
This, of course, is getting to be ancient stuff. Hun-
dreds of dealers are now telling customers the simple
truth about the upkeep of their instruments, and are
se'ling tuning contracts along with the instrument—
not free tunings, but tuning contracts, that get the
customer into the habit of paying for upkeep. And
these dealers are running service departments that
pay for themselves and yield a profit, besides insur-
ing the customer's continued satisfaction with their
'nstruments.
The Opportunity.
It is estimated that there are between two and
three million good pianos and playerpianos now in
service in the homes of America. Estimating only
$5.00 per year per minimum expense of upkeep, the
p'ano dealers and tuners of America have in sight
from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 annually in service
revenue as the reward of a little common sense in
salesmanship.
Getting back to the main subject of selling a player-
piano by the instruction of teaching method. It is
surprising how this system applied in a straight for-
ward way puts the salesman in what the advertising
agencies call the dominant pos'tion on such simple
matters as price, terms and trade in valuation.
Speaking of prices, the piano business generally is
getting so well sold on the idea of one-price that it
isn't much use to argue that point except to say that
one-price is the greatest time and energy saver that
has ever come into the piano business. I could cite
you so many examples to p^ove this that it would be
tiresome to gentlemen who are already convinced
of the benefits of one price operation as a time-saver
and the basis of sounder, safer financing through the
banks and otherwise
Competition.
One of the hardest mouthfuls for some piano sales-
men to masticate is the trade-in, especially on com-
petitive deals. They will let the prospect bamboozle
them into a scare and then it is all off with common
sense. The prospect is holding an auction of an old
piano. The salesmen are the bidders, and they get
to going stronger sometimes that the old piano goes
to one or the other at about twice what a good new
piano can be bought for.
I don't know whether you are much afflicted by the
allowance fever here in Texas, but if you are, for
your own sake be as shrewd in placing values on them
as you are in buying new pianos from your manu-
facturers. Get the old second hands on a basis that
w'll enable you to turn them at a profit without jock-
eying the books to make them show a profit.
Better salesmanship means better salesmen aiul
more of them. Take a young man get him imbued
with enthusiasm over what can be done musical'y
with a player-piano, don't hand a dead prospect list
on him at the start, give him some live ones, spend
a little time with him each day going over his story
of how he handled each situation, coach him and
encourage him •through the first few weeks of can-
vassing, put him on a fair compensation basis and you
will have done something to relieve the famine for
salesmen.
Speaks of Prices.
From what we read, hear and see, this is going to
be the best year the music business had had since the
war time flurry. It may lack some of the froth of
1919 and 1920 but it has more promise of real sub-
stance in every section of the country. With demand
at the present time taxing the physical resources of
the piano factories of the country, it does not seem
within the bounds of possibility for the combined pro-
ductive and storage facilities of the piano factories
to shoulder the extra burden of the heavy fall demand.
Knowing something of the condition that exists in
the industry all the way from Boston to the Missis-
sippi I would not consider any duty done here today
if I did not call this situation to your attention and
urge you to time your purchases and shipments for
fall well in advance. It is better to have a surplus
in July and August than a lot of unfilled orders in
December.
FIRE IN FOSTORIA STORE.
A lire of undetermined origin in the store of the
C. W. Gilliard Piano Co., Fostoria, O., recently did
damage in varying degrees to all of the stock of
pianos and players, and entirely destroyed the frame
portion of the watls at the rear of the store. Eleven
pianos and players were damaged by fire and water.
The intense heat of the flames confined to the rear
room caused a number of instruments to blister and
the varnish to peel off. The front plate glass window
was cracked by the heat.
PIONEER SCHOOL FO PIANO MEN
ith upwards e€
1OOO
SUCCESSFUL
GRADUATES
COURT HOUSE SO.
VALPARAISO. IND
V
Piano "foyer-Piano and Organ Tuning. Repairing, Regula-
tor A Voicing, ftcst equipped schooj in the II. S.
Df pJ"-ntt awarded and positions secured. Private and class
instn—tions, both sexes.
f#*o«f mil thm ymr.
lUumtrmtmJ
POLICS SCHOOL OF TUNING, VALPARAISO, IND
Schaff Bros.
Players and Pianos have won their stand-
ing with trade and public by 54 years of
steadfast striving to excel. They repre-
sent the
LARGEST COMPETITIVE VALUE
because of their beauty, reliability, tone
and moderate price. They are profitable
to sell and satisfactory when sold.
Brighten Your Line with the
SCHAFF BROS.
The Schaf f Bros. Co.
Established 1868
Huntington, Ind.
Tiny Coinola
THE SMALLEST
KEYLESS
HIGH GRADE
Manufactured by
Folding Organs
School Organs
The Operators Piano Co.
Practice Keyboards
16 to 22 South Peoria St.
CHICAGO
Dealers' Attention Solicited
A. L. WHITE MFG. CO.
215 Englewood Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.
MAKERS
In Three Parts:
1. Instruments of Established
Names and Character.
2. Instruments that bear Spe-
cial Names or Trade Marks.
3. Manufacturers of Pianos
and Player-Pianos with Chap-
ters on Piano Building and Buy-
ing designed for the guidance
of prospective purchasers.
Fac-simile Fall-
board Names of Leading Pianos
and Player-Pianos in Colors
Revised
Annually
NO PIANO DEALER OR SALESMAN
CAN AFFORD TO BE WITHOUT ifT
IF YOU DON'T CONSULT "PRESTO
BUYERS' G U I D E " YOU ARE M I S S I N G
OPPORTUNITIES. G E T I T N O W .
Give a copy to each of your salesmen..
Price 50 cents per copy.
PRESTO PUBLISHING CO.
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).