Presto
Issue: 1924 1959 - Page 9
February 9, 1924.
PRESTO
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
Go After It.
Of course it is easier to sit around the store in the
winter time and wait for trade to walk in.
But when it does not walk in, let the extra man
explore the unknown places of your town or city.
You will find that you had no conception of the re-
sources of your fellow townsmen in the remote places.
There they were, all the time, not reached or
touched hy the influences of your store.
* * *
The Quitters.
Men of spasmodic achievement, men who quit a
project in the same sudden and determined way as
they begin, do not make the permanent piano dealers
or manufacturers.
They are the comets of the piano firmament. True,
they live for a day in a fool's paradise, despising those
who have put in many years of uninspired drudgery.
And they are shocked and dazed a few months or
years later to find that they and their methods are
not in demand.
* * *
Make 'Em Pay.
Go after the man who seems to have completely
forgotten his liability.
Approach him understand-
ingly, not as though he had attracted undesired at-
tention as a voluntary dead-beat, for you may find
upon investigation that he may have been worrying
considerably over his debt to you.
Use severe measures only after you are satisfied
that he belongs to the defiant; only after you discover
that he has an appetite for rows and likes the sound
of breaking glass.
* * *
Exclusive Styles.
The fear that they should duplicate somebody else's
piano has deterred many a woman from buying one
right ''off the bat."
Exclusive design is uppermost in the mind of such
a woman, who is not hard to convince that she her-
helf is of the most exclusive design of any mortal.
So she is. So is any piano she may find in your
store or in your city.
Tell her that every piano is exclusive, even though
a hundred duplicates, seemingly, of it were made at
the same time in the same factory. Only one was
sent to your city, but this one, like all the others,
has its own voice, its own pieces of wood and metal,
its own appearance all through; its own keys from
elephants with an individuality that herded exclu-
sively in their own exclusive jungle.
Assure her that the piano has hundreds of voices
in it that may be brought out by exclusive players,
no two of them of similar talent; that this piano,
therefore, is exclusive in a hundred ways.
And if she has any sense, of humor she will see
what you are driving at and will buy it without fur-
ther question.
* * *
Courtesy Wins.
The knaves who go out and sell bogus oil stocks
find that their dupes like courtesy. Here is a lesson
for the honest men who sell well-made pianos and
benefit the homes.
Be courteous always, for people who are not dupes
like courtesy as well as the too-credulous stock-pur-
chasers.
* * *
Big Men Wanted.
The piano trade needs an exciter, a big man of
broad ideas who will start the blood of the trade cir-
culating livelier. It needs a man who believes in the
vastness of things that can be accomplished in the
piano line.
Some of the attempts to capture trade in recent
years have been pathetically ludicrous. The adver-
tising was done in a splendor of publicity by men
who believed in the infallibility of their judgment.
And perhaps some of them thought it profitable,
although most of them found it not permanently so.
* * *
Factory Locations.
Conditions for extensive production of pianos exist
only in a few localities, or so it seems. One of these
spots on the earth's surface is in the southern part of
the Bronx, New York, where pianos form the basis
of business and conversation, of regrets and hopes, of
fortune and of life.
Space, shipping facilities, the nearness of skilled
mechanics and proximity to markets are the principal*
considerations in setting in operation a large establish-
ment.
The late Melville Clark once said that mechanics
did finer work if the factory were in a large city.
Later he removed his plant from Chicago to DeKalb,
111., because he had changed his mind about the size
of the town for the workmen.
The answer is no longer made that the size of the
city makes any difference. It's the men who make
them that count.
* * *
How It Happens.
A goodly proportion of the successful piano men
were thrust into the business by force of circum-
stances. The thing happened before they knew it
was happening, and now, looking back at it, .they
think it is funny because it is true.
There is nothing more interesting, as things fall
out, than the development of a piano man. His
longest step is from the point where he thinks him-
self efficient to the place where he becomes efficient.
It takes an undisguised test of unweakened vision to
make this step.
* * *
Piano Advertising.
The great advancement in piano advertising has
not been due to the handling of theme or thesis. Art
and common sense have done it. Interest in the piano
man's problems has served to sharpen the adman's
apperceptions of the rest, for piano advertising is a
distinct art.
He who seeks more to come in touch with the
genius of this art will discover its beauties and
difficulties, and not until then is he prepared to create
an ad.
* * *
The English Way.
Playerpiano and phonograph are the long-estab-
lished universal names in this country, with, already
almost obsolete, the "olas" and other endings sub-
sumed beneath them.
Yet the dictionaries published in England, bidding
a vain defiance to American universality, use as the
universal names "piano player," which is applied in
this country only to the old cabinet that was wheeled
up to the piano. And they use "graphophone," which
is a trade-mark name, for our word, phonograph.
The only explanation is, "it isn't done, ye kneow,
except in crude H'america."
* * *
How Salesmen Succeed.
Heartened by the assurance that prospects are in
certain corners of your city, gay salesman, why not
go after them? Go out and see what you may see.
Vague but insistent rumors have reached you that
they are there. You are astonished. Well, my boy,
astonishment stimulates thought. Thought touches
the springs of action.
What does it mean to you? Good money, per-
haps; at least adventure. Men who have not seen a
battlefield can hardly image it.
If at first you don't succeed in your old clothes, buy
a new suit, make a display of prosperity in advance,
and try again. Make a bluff of living in enviable
magnificence.
You will not get at your best customers without
good clothes. The trouser creases must be sharp.
No wrinkle on your vestments. Your linen must
glisten white.
Yankee assurance will carry you far. Never mind
the weather. A rainy day catches the women at
Jiome. The need to make sales is your stimulant;
then measure your fortune by that need.
* * *
American Piano Co. Stock.
A month ago, or less, the American Piano Co.
placed 13,500 shares of new stock of that industry
upon the market. It is announced that the entire
offering was taken by investors within less than three
weeks after issue.
The announcement of the new American Piano Co.
stock appeared as an advertisement in eastern news-
papers. We read it in the New York Times. It
was a succinct statement of the company's financial
condition and intimated that one of the purposes of
the issue was to pay for the newly acquired Mason &
Hamlin, which will henceforth be a "division" of the
American Piano Co. The statement was signed by
President George Foster, by whose clear-headed en-
terprise the acquisition was made. The avidity with
which the large block of American Piano Co. stock
was taken presents a remarkable proof of the con-
fidence the investing public has in the piano industry.
ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GULBRANSEN.
B. A. Trestrail, president of the Mutual Sales Serv-
ice, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, takes enthusiastic inter-
est in watching the success of the Gulbransen Regis-
tering piano, made by the Gulbransen Company,
Chicago, of which instrument his company is the
distributor in the Dominion.
REPAIR MAN MOVES.
Max Giersch, well known Davenport musician and
specialist in musical instrument repairs, has moved
his shop from the H. H. Willey music store, 307
West Third street, to 319 Brady street. The new
location is in the Davenport Phonograph and Ac-
cessories store.
Why Dealers Find the Small
Miessner So Profitable!
There are seven big sales fields in which dealers are
cashing in on the small Miessner Piano. Every sale is
extra profit in these fields. It does not cut in on the
regular business and regular profits. For these buyers
can use only the compact Miessner.
We have prepared, a special booklet telling about
these sales fields and how dealers can cash in on them
with the Miessner.
Send for this and for complete information about
the 3 ft. 7 in. high Miessner, the original small piano
which is today first in development and perfection.
The attached coupon brings this information.
MIESSNER PIANO COMPANY
Milwaukee, Wis.
Miessner Piano Co.,
126 Reed St.,
Milwaukee, Wis.
Gentlemen:
Send me, without obligation, a
copy of "How to Get Business in
New, Untouched Fields with the
Miessner Piano."
THE LITTLE PIANO WITH THE BIG TONE
Name of Store
Street and Number
City
State
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/
PRESTO
THINGS SAID OR SUGGESTED
Go After It.
Of course it is easier to sit around the store in the
winter time and wait for trade to walk in.
But when it does not walk in, let the extra man
explore the unknown places of your town or city.
You will find that you had no conception of the re-
sources of your fellow townsmen in the remote places.
There they were, all the time, not reached or
touched hy the influences of your store.
* * *
The Quitters.
Men of spasmodic achievement, men who quit a
project in the same sudden and determined way as
they begin, do not make the permanent piano dealers
or manufacturers.
They are the comets of the piano firmament. True,
they live for a day in a fool's paradise, despising those
who have put in many years of uninspired drudgery.
And they are shocked and dazed a few months or
years later to find that they and their methods are
not in demand.
* * *
Make 'Em Pay.
Go after the man who seems to have completely
forgotten his liability.
Approach him understand-
ingly, not as though he had attracted undesired at-
tention as a voluntary dead-beat, for you may find
upon investigation that he may have been worrying
considerably over his debt to you.
Use severe measures only after you are satisfied
that he belongs to the defiant; only after you discover
that he has an appetite for rows and likes the sound
of breaking glass.
* * *
Exclusive Styles.
The fear that they should duplicate somebody else's
piano has deterred many a woman from buying one
right ''off the bat."
Exclusive design is uppermost in the mind of such
a woman, who is not hard to convince that she her-
helf is of the most exclusive design of any mortal.
So she is. So is any piano she may find in your
store or in your city.
Tell her that every piano is exclusive, even though
a hundred duplicates, seemingly, of it were made at
the same time in the same factory. Only one was
sent to your city, but this one, like all the others,
has its own voice, its own pieces of wood and metal,
its own appearance all through; its own keys from
elephants with an individuality that herded exclu-
sively in their own exclusive jungle.
Assure her that the piano has hundreds of voices
in it that may be brought out by exclusive players,
no two of them of similar talent; that this piano,
therefore, is exclusive in a hundred ways.
And if she has any sense, of humor she will see
what you are driving at and will buy it without fur-
ther question.
* * *
Courtesy Wins.
The knaves who go out and sell bogus oil stocks
find that their dupes like courtesy. Here is a lesson
for the honest men who sell well-made pianos and
benefit the homes.
Be courteous always, for people who are not dupes
like courtesy as well as the too-credulous stock-pur-
chasers.
* * *
Big Men Wanted.
The piano trade needs an exciter, a big man of
broad ideas who will start the blood of the trade cir-
culating livelier. It needs a man who believes in the
vastness of things that can be accomplished in the
piano line.
Some of the attempts to capture trade in recent
years have been pathetically ludicrous. The adver-
tising was done in a splendor of publicity by men
who believed in the infallibility of their judgment.
And perhaps some of them thought it profitable,
although most of them found it not permanently so.
* * *
Factory Locations.
Conditions for extensive production of pianos exist
only in a few localities, or so it seems. One of these
spots on the earth's surface is in the southern part of
the Bronx, New York, where pianos form the basis
of business and conversation, of regrets and hopes, of
fortune and of life.
Space, shipping facilities, the nearness of skilled
mechanics and proximity to markets are the principal*
considerations in setting in operation a large establish-
ment.
The late Melville Clark once said that mechanics
did finer work if the factory were in a large city.
Later he removed his plant from Chicago to DeKalb,
111., because he had changed his mind about the size
of the town for the workmen.
The answer is no longer made that the size of the
city makes any difference. It's the men who make
them that count.
* * *
How It Happens.
A goodly proportion of the successful piano men
were thrust into the business by force of circum-
stances. The thing happened before they knew it
was happening, and now, looking back at it, .they
think it is funny because it is true.
There is nothing more interesting, as things fall
out, than the development of a piano man. His
longest step is from the point where he thinks him-
self efficient to the place where he becomes efficient.
It takes an undisguised test of unweakened vision to
make this step.
* * *
Piano Advertising.
The great advancement in piano advertising has
not been due to the handling of theme or thesis. Art
and common sense have done it. Interest in the piano
man's problems has served to sharpen the adman's
apperceptions of the rest, for piano advertising is a
distinct art.
He who seeks more to come in touch with the
genius of this art will discover its beauties and
difficulties, and not until then is he prepared to create
an ad.
* * *
The English Way.
Playerpiano and phonograph are the long-estab-
lished universal names in this country, with, already
almost obsolete, the "olas" and other endings sub-
sumed beneath them.
Yet the dictionaries published in England, bidding
a vain defiance to American universality, use as the
universal names "piano player," which is applied in
this country only to the old cabinet that was wheeled
up to the piano. And they use "graphophone," which
is a trade-mark name, for our word, phonograph.
The only explanation is, "it isn't done, ye kneow,
except in crude H'america."
* * *
How Salesmen Succeed.
Heartened by the assurance that prospects are in
certain corners of your city, gay salesman, why not
go after them? Go out and see what you may see.
Vague but insistent rumors have reached you that
they are there. You are astonished. Well, my boy,
astonishment stimulates thought. Thought touches
the springs of action.
What does it mean to you? Good money, per-
haps; at least adventure. Men who have not seen a
battlefield can hardly image it.
If at first you don't succeed in your old clothes, buy
a new suit, make a display of prosperity in advance,
and try again. Make a bluff of living in enviable
magnificence.
You will not get at your best customers without
good clothes. The trouser creases must be sharp.
No wrinkle on your vestments. Your linen must
glisten white.
Yankee assurance will carry you far. Never mind
the weather. A rainy day catches the women at
Jiome. The need to make sales is your stimulant;
then measure your fortune by that need.
* * *
American Piano Co. Stock.
A month ago, or less, the American Piano Co.
placed 13,500 shares of new stock of that industry
upon the market. It is announced that the entire
offering was taken by investors within less than three
weeks after issue.
The announcement of the new American Piano Co.
stock appeared as an advertisement in eastern news-
papers. We read it in the New York Times. It
was a succinct statement of the company's financial
condition and intimated that one of the purposes of
the issue was to pay for the newly acquired Mason &
Hamlin, which will henceforth be a "division" of the
American Piano Co. The statement was signed by
President George Foster, by whose clear-headed en-
terprise the acquisition was made. The avidity with
which the large block of American Piano Co. stock
was taken presents a remarkable proof of the con-
fidence the investing public has in the piano industry.
ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GULBRANSEN.
B. A. Trestrail, president of the Mutual Sales Serv-
ice, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, takes enthusiastic inter-
est in watching the success of the Gulbransen Regis-
tering piano, made by the Gulbransen Company,
Chicago, of which instrument his company is the
distributor in the Dominion.
REPAIR MAN MOVES.
Max Giersch, well known Davenport musician and
specialist in musical instrument repairs, has moved
his shop from the H. H. Willey music store, 307
West Third street, to 319 Brady street. The new
location is in the Davenport Phonograph and Ac-
cessories store.
Why Dealers Find the Small
Miessner So Profitable!
There are seven big sales fields in which dealers are
cashing in on the small Miessner Piano. Every sale is
extra profit in these fields. It does not cut in on the
regular business and regular profits. For these buyers
can use only the compact Miessner.
We have prepared, a special booklet telling about
these sales fields and how dealers can cash in on them
with the Miessner.
Send for this and for complete information about
the 3 ft. 7 in. high Miessner, the original small piano
which is today first in development and perfection.
The attached coupon brings this information.
MIESSNER PIANO COMPANY
Milwaukee, Wis.
Miessner Piano Co.,
126 Reed St.,
Milwaukee, Wis.
Gentlemen:
Send me, without obligation, a
copy of "How to Get Business in
New, Untouched Fields with the
Miessner Piano."
THE LITTLE PIANO WITH THE BIG TONE
Name of Store
Street and Number
City
State
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).