Presto
Issue: 1925 2039 - Page 7
August 22, 1925.
PRESTO
KEEPING "SOLD"
ON YOUR LINE
EEBURG
Veteran Traveler Tells of a Common Condi-
tion Among the Selling Fraternity Where-
in Even Optimistic Ones Go Stale
on the Goods.
CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES
T YLE "L"
The KEY to
OSITIVE
ROFITS
MANUFACTURED ONLY BY
J. P. Seeburg
Piano Co.
"Leaders in the
Automatic Field"
1510 Dayton St.
Chicago
Address Department "E"
A Job So Easy That in Time Energy Turns to
Apathy, Is a Frequent Cause of Selling
Degeneration.
Occasionally in the confidences of the smoker on
the train or the commercial room in the hotel, some
trusting piano traveler confesses that he is no longer
"sold" on his line. And sometimes retail salesmen
of long acquaintance make a similar confession to me.
Whether they are impressed hy my years, experience
or all around wisdom, they 'fess up to me as they
would to a lawyer when in search of advice or to a
father confessor with the desire to be shriven from
something troubling to the conscience.
But once in a while the traveler or retail salesman
has no humility in his confession. His words show
an attitude of resentment to the goods and their
makers. That kind of a confidence might distress
me were I unaware of the variety of causes bringing
about that condition of mind in the young men. For
usually they are in that category.
The Zestful Condition.
The condition of the mind determines the zest with
which the piano traveler or retail salesman will seek
to discover and sell the prospects. The clear, eager
desire to accomplish sales is the condition that leads
to ? ~hievement. The salesman's wits are the tools
of iiis trade. Should they become dull or out of ad-
justment his first care should be to put them in
order.
From one cause or another, mental or physical, a
salesman goes stale on his line. If he encounters an
old-timer like myself and humbly confesses his lapse
from loyalty he may hear advice of a curative kind
to yank him back to normal. If, on the other hand,
he misses the beneficent philosophic advice and lets
his ego provide a solution, the worst may happen.
The Petted Ego.
A petted ego may tell him his attitude toward his
line is not his fault, due to some temporary mental
or physical condition, but the fault of the line, the
firm, the prices and terms, anything but himself.
When the salesman finds that he is no longer "sold"
on his line he should submit himself to an exhaustive
personal examination. Possibly he will soon see the
reasons for his condition and also the way to correct
it.
Exhibit No. 1.
While getting shaved in the barber shop of the
Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, last week I was
distracted by the woebegone look on the face of a
young man in a neighboring chair, seen in the mirror.
When the barber straightened him up to give the
finishing touches to the hair-cutting operation I rec-
ognized a piano traveler, usually of cheerful person-
ality. He saw me at the same time and acknowl-
edged my soundless greeting with a rueful nod.
"Now, what's the matter?" I asked with the free-
dom of the veteran when I took an adjoining chair
to his in the rotunda after the operations in the bar-
ber shop. But I needn't have asked. I knew the
symptoms before he stated his pathetic case. The
hopeful chap who had joyously chatted with me a
couple of months before in the Blackhawk Hotel in
Davenport, la., had become a fellow of lugubrious
mien and dismal conversation. He had gone stale on
his line.
Easily Diagnosed.
But his case was nothing new to me and the causes
were plain. He was physically tired. His ardor had
burned out his endurance. He had tried to see too
many customers a day, talking pianos and two side-
lines in music goods. He had got himself physically
jaded, and this had reacted on his mentality. Low
spirits, inertia and a decrease of his ability were
natural sequences.
But in this young fellow's case it was not the thrill
of keen competition that had physically weakened
him and made him sour on his line or lines. He had
been proceeding along the line of least resistance
since he had taken up the job six months previously
and every day enervated his sales ability. Every day
the so-called arguments in his perfunctory talk be-
came more flabby. His wit weakened. There was
no occasion in his job for the play of offense. The
time-keeper in the factory at home had more thrill
to his job. This chap had gone stale on his line be-
cause his job was too easy. His work was tiring
because there was no zest to it.
A condition of that kind can be avoided—if the
man gives up his job. But there's a way by which
it can be cured. So I told him to make a supreme
sales effort on the commodities in his lines that were
seemingly hard to sell. He admitted there were such,
but that the competition rendered sales almost im-
possible.
"Great," I exclaimed. "There's your cure for de-
jection. Hop to the joust with your competitors."
There was nothing original in my prescription. A
good mind exercise creates keenness. The aggres-
sive attack on his prospects prevents a man going
stale on his line. Competition engenders spirit in the
work. Salesmanship is finely shown in the ability to
demonstrate the desirability of one's own line in such
contrast to the strength of a competitor's line that
the prospect is impressed. Such a happening in-
vigorates a salesman's belief in himself, in the house
he represents and in its goods.
Keeping sold on your line is selling it to yourself
and through yourself.
M. D. S.
FINE PROGRESS OF
UNITED_PIANO CORP'N
Factories at Norwalk, Ohio, Display Steadily
Increasing Activities and Draw High
Compliment From Prominent Dealer.
A recent call on the United Piano Corporation, at
Norwalk, Ohio, found much activity in all branches
of the extensive factories of that industry, and a feel-
ing of optimism in the general offices throughout
the entire system of operations.
J. H. Williams, president of the corporation, re-
marked that business had shown steady increase
from month to month, all through this year, and the
record this month is far ahead of a year ago and
twenty-five per cent better than a few months back.
First Vice-President J. H. Shale recently returned
from a vacation and, incidentally, he brought several
good orders in his pocket which were "just tossed"
to him, as he puts it.
L. D. Richardson, who has been covering some
western territory of late, is sending in good orders
with very encouraging reports concerning the sea-
son's prospective business.
As everybody in the trade knows, the United
Piano Corporation's factories, as now organized,
present a model institution with up-to-date piano
building facilities. A prominent piano man, the head
of a great music house, visited the Norwalk factories
not long since and in the course of a conversation
with the Presto representative who happened to lie
there also, remarked that he was never more in-
terested in seeing pianos made, or had ever spent a
day better, than when he visited the Norwalk fac-
tories. He said that he had never met a more con-
genial group of men, all so enthusiastic to do any-
thing and everything to make pianos of the best
grade. He remarked especially on the harmony and
good-fellowship which prevailed throughout the en-
tire organization. There was that atmosphere of
satisfaction and contentment which means every
man striving to do his best to build good pianos.
"No factory that I have ever visited," remarked
the gentleman, "and I have been through all the big-
gest and best ones in this country, is better organ-
ized or equipped than the United, at Norwalk. Mr.
Williams and Mr. Shale and their lieutenants should
be proud of what they have accomplished."
SOME ONE IS TUNING
A PIANO SOMEWHERE
[The following poem was written by a sixteen-year-
old young lady of Oregon, 111. Miss Robinson has
written numerous poems, and her "Blue Boy" was
copied.by the "Line" in the Chicago Tribune.]
"Some one is tuning a piano somewhere—."
Middle C—a soft touch, lingering there;
D—a deep voice, humming a time-old strain;
K—sunshine smiling through mists of rain,
Moments of silence, then sounds of gold—
Swift, timid runs, and chords, proud and bold;
F—a plowman at work in the fields,
G—a knight with his heart on his shield—
Clear treble notes, love singing through,
Deep, resonant tones, each ringing true;
A—rose-clustered lattice with sun shining through,
B—a lyre, long-lost, jewelled with diamonds of dew,
C—a songster with quivering throat—•
Calm, lovely, aloof, a soft, silvery note.
Each mellow tone tested and tried.
Playing soft chords, as if satisfied.
Lovely chords touched, caressing the air—
"Some one is tuning a piano somewhere."
—OLIVE L I O N E ROBINSON.
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
KEEPING "SOLD"
ON YOUR LINE
EEBURG
Veteran Traveler Tells of a Common Condi-
tion Among the Selling Fraternity Where-
in Even Optimistic Ones Go Stale
on the Goods.
CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES
T YLE "L"
The KEY to
OSITIVE
ROFITS
MANUFACTURED ONLY BY
J. P. Seeburg
Piano Co.
"Leaders in the
Automatic Field"
1510 Dayton St.
Chicago
Address Department "E"
A Job So Easy That in Time Energy Turns to
Apathy, Is a Frequent Cause of Selling
Degeneration.
Occasionally in the confidences of the smoker on
the train or the commercial room in the hotel, some
trusting piano traveler confesses that he is no longer
"sold" on his line. And sometimes retail salesmen
of long acquaintance make a similar confession to me.
Whether they are impressed hy my years, experience
or all around wisdom, they 'fess up to me as they
would to a lawyer when in search of advice or to a
father confessor with the desire to be shriven from
something troubling to the conscience.
But once in a while the traveler or retail salesman
has no humility in his confession. His words show
an attitude of resentment to the goods and their
makers. That kind of a confidence might distress
me were I unaware of the variety of causes bringing
about that condition of mind in the young men. For
usually they are in that category.
The Zestful Condition.
The condition of the mind determines the zest with
which the piano traveler or retail salesman will seek
to discover and sell the prospects. The clear, eager
desire to accomplish sales is the condition that leads
to ? ~hievement. The salesman's wits are the tools
of iiis trade. Should they become dull or out of ad-
justment his first care should be to put them in
order.
From one cause or another, mental or physical, a
salesman goes stale on his line. If he encounters an
old-timer like myself and humbly confesses his lapse
from loyalty he may hear advice of a curative kind
to yank him back to normal. If, on the other hand,
he misses the beneficent philosophic advice and lets
his ego provide a solution, the worst may happen.
The Petted Ego.
A petted ego may tell him his attitude toward his
line is not his fault, due to some temporary mental
or physical condition, but the fault of the line, the
firm, the prices and terms, anything but himself.
When the salesman finds that he is no longer "sold"
on his line he should submit himself to an exhaustive
personal examination. Possibly he will soon see the
reasons for his condition and also the way to correct
it.
Exhibit No. 1.
While getting shaved in the barber shop of the
Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, last week I was
distracted by the woebegone look on the face of a
young man in a neighboring chair, seen in the mirror.
When the barber straightened him up to give the
finishing touches to the hair-cutting operation I rec-
ognized a piano traveler, usually of cheerful person-
ality. He saw me at the same time and acknowl-
edged my soundless greeting with a rueful nod.
"Now, what's the matter?" I asked with the free-
dom of the veteran when I took an adjoining chair
to his in the rotunda after the operations in the bar-
ber shop. But I needn't have asked. I knew the
symptoms before he stated his pathetic case. The
hopeful chap who had joyously chatted with me a
couple of months before in the Blackhawk Hotel in
Davenport, la., had become a fellow of lugubrious
mien and dismal conversation. He had gone stale on
his line.
Easily Diagnosed.
But his case was nothing new to me and the causes
were plain. He was physically tired. His ardor had
burned out his endurance. He had tried to see too
many customers a day, talking pianos and two side-
lines in music goods. He had got himself physically
jaded, and this had reacted on his mentality. Low
spirits, inertia and a decrease of his ability were
natural sequences.
But in this young fellow's case it was not the thrill
of keen competition that had physically weakened
him and made him sour on his line or lines. He had
been proceeding along the line of least resistance
since he had taken up the job six months previously
and every day enervated his sales ability. Every day
the so-called arguments in his perfunctory talk be-
came more flabby. His wit weakened. There was
no occasion in his job for the play of offense. The
time-keeper in the factory at home had more thrill
to his job. This chap had gone stale on his line be-
cause his job was too easy. His work was tiring
because there was no zest to it.
A condition of that kind can be avoided—if the
man gives up his job. But there's a way by which
it can be cured. So I told him to make a supreme
sales effort on the commodities in his lines that were
seemingly hard to sell. He admitted there were such,
but that the competition rendered sales almost im-
possible.
"Great," I exclaimed. "There's your cure for de-
jection. Hop to the joust with your competitors."
There was nothing original in my prescription. A
good mind exercise creates keenness. The aggres-
sive attack on his prospects prevents a man going
stale on his line. Competition engenders spirit in the
work. Salesmanship is finely shown in the ability to
demonstrate the desirability of one's own line in such
contrast to the strength of a competitor's line that
the prospect is impressed. Such a happening in-
vigorates a salesman's belief in himself, in the house
he represents and in its goods.
Keeping sold on your line is selling it to yourself
and through yourself.
M. D. S.
FINE PROGRESS OF
UNITED_PIANO CORP'N
Factories at Norwalk, Ohio, Display Steadily
Increasing Activities and Draw High
Compliment From Prominent Dealer.
A recent call on the United Piano Corporation, at
Norwalk, Ohio, found much activity in all branches
of the extensive factories of that industry, and a feel-
ing of optimism in the general offices throughout
the entire system of operations.
J. H. Williams, president of the corporation, re-
marked that business had shown steady increase
from month to month, all through this year, and the
record this month is far ahead of a year ago and
twenty-five per cent better than a few months back.
First Vice-President J. H. Shale recently returned
from a vacation and, incidentally, he brought several
good orders in his pocket which were "just tossed"
to him, as he puts it.
L. D. Richardson, who has been covering some
western territory of late, is sending in good orders
with very encouraging reports concerning the sea-
son's prospective business.
As everybody in the trade knows, the United
Piano Corporation's factories, as now organized,
present a model institution with up-to-date piano
building facilities. A prominent piano man, the head
of a great music house, visited the Norwalk factories
not long since and in the course of a conversation
with the Presto representative who happened to lie
there also, remarked that he was never more in-
terested in seeing pianos made, or had ever spent a
day better, than when he visited the Norwalk fac-
tories. He said that he had never met a more con-
genial group of men, all so enthusiastic to do any-
thing and everything to make pianos of the best
grade. He remarked especially on the harmony and
good-fellowship which prevailed throughout the en-
tire organization. There was that atmosphere of
satisfaction and contentment which means every
man striving to do his best to build good pianos.
"No factory that I have ever visited," remarked
the gentleman, "and I have been through all the big-
gest and best ones in this country, is better organ-
ized or equipped than the United, at Norwalk. Mr.
Williams and Mr. Shale and their lieutenants should
be proud of what they have accomplished."
SOME ONE IS TUNING
A PIANO SOMEWHERE
[The following poem was written by a sixteen-year-
old young lady of Oregon, 111. Miss Robinson has
written numerous poems, and her "Blue Boy" was
copied.by the "Line" in the Chicago Tribune.]
"Some one is tuning a piano somewhere—."
Middle C—a soft touch, lingering there;
D—a deep voice, humming a time-old strain;
K—sunshine smiling through mists of rain,
Moments of silence, then sounds of gold—
Swift, timid runs, and chords, proud and bold;
F—a plowman at work in the fields,
G—a knight with his heart on his shield—
Clear treble notes, love singing through,
Deep, resonant tones, each ringing true;
A—rose-clustered lattice with sun shining through,
B—a lyre, long-lost, jewelled with diamonds of dew,
C—a songster with quivering throat—•
Calm, lovely, aloof, a soft, silvery note.
Each mellow tone tested and tried.
Playing soft chords, as if satisfied.
Lovely chords touched, caressing the air—
"Some one is tuning a piano somewhere."
—OLIVE L I O N E ROBINSON.
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).