Presto

PRESTO-TIMES
cessities or luxuries which compete with the
piano in its appeal to the American family.
The stores are filled with them and the store
The American Music Trade Weekly
owners use efficient advertising talent and the
Published Every Saturday at 417 South Dearborn most insinuating means to present their claims
Street, Chicago, Illinois.
to the public.
C. A. DANIELL and FRANK D. ABBOTT • - Editors
Piano manufacturers through an activity of
Telephones, Local and Long Distance, Harrison 234
their national association see the absolute ne-
Private Phones to all Departments. Cable Address (Com.
merclal Cable Co.'s Code), "PRESTO," Chicago.
cessity for continuous advertising of the piano
Entered as second-class matter Jan. 29, 1896, at the in order to increase its uses. Individual piano
Post Office, Chicaeo, Illinois, under Act of March 3, 1879.
manufacturers do the same thing in directing
Subscription, $2 a year; 6 months, $1; Foreign, $4.
attention
to the merits of their particular
Payable In advance. No extra charge In United States
possessions. Cuba and Mexico. Rates for advertising on
pianos.
They
all do a big job of advertising
application.
for
the
dealer.
It is the dealer's duty to take
Items of news and other matter are solicited and if
of general interest to the music trade will be paid for advantage of every effort provided by the
at space rates. Usually piano merchants or salesmen manufacturers towards creating piano pur-
in the smaller cities are the best occasional corre-
chasing' desire in the minds of the public. It
spondents, and their assistance is invited.
is equally his duty to inaugurate publicity ef-
Payment is not accepted for matter printed in the
forts of his own and to make them continuous.
editorial or news columns of Presto-Times.
Where half-tones are made the actual cost of pro-
Because of the great number of other claims
duction will be charged if of commercial character, on the family purse the advertising of the
or other than strictly news interest.
When electrotypes are sent for publication it is piano by the dealer should be continuous.
requested that their subjects and senders be carefully There should be no let-up on circular adver-
indicated.
tising, direct by mail advertising, telephone
7
Forms close at noon every Thursday. News mat- talks to prospects, show window piano attrac-
ter should be in not later than eleven o'clock on the tions, well-announced piano demonstrations,
same day. Advertising copy should be in hand before
Tuesday, five p. m., to insure preferred position. Full newspaper advertising and house-to-house
page display copy should be in hand by Monday noon canvassing. Piano classes, either free or avail-
preceding publication day. Want ad vs. for current
week, to insure classification, must not be later than able with the payment of a nominal fee, are
Wednesday noon.
later forms of piano promotion whose effec-
Address all communications for the editorial or business
tiveness is easily seen. Every means of adver-
departments to PRESTO PUBLISHING CO., 417 South
dearborn Street, Chicago, III.
tising is powerful if it creates the desire to
buy
a piano.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1927.
NEW PRESTO BUYER'S GUIDE
The widely expressed interest of piano deal-
ers and salesmen in PRESTO BUYER'S
GUIDE, following the announcement of prep-
aration of the new edition for 1928, is a tribute
to the usefulness of the book, owing to the
dependable character of its statements. The
attitude of the trade in expecting absolute cor-
rectness about the newer forms of grands,
playerpianos and reproducing pianos makes
the responsibilities attending the preparation
of the new edition for 1928 greater than ever
before in thirty-one years of publication.
The established considerations of tonal and
structural merit will govern statements in the
new book. It is designed primarily for the
use of retail merchants and their salesmen in
the guidance of customers who may be in
doubt as to the merits of any particular piano
which may be drawn to their attention.
PRESTO BUYER'S GUIDE has been
relied upon by thousands of intelligent piano
buyers and a large proportion of piano mer-
chants employ it for reassuring their custom-
ers and sustaining just claims set forth by
their salesmen. Every statement in PRESTO
BUYER'S GUIDE is sincere and estimates of
the qualities of the pianos, playerpianos and
reproducing pianos are based on the personal
knowledge of experts in the piano industry.
THE DEALER'S ADVERTISING
Publicity for the piano dealer today is more
a necessity than ever before because of the
greater number of commodities that create a
desire to buy. These are the real competi-
tors, of the piano merchant. There was a time
when the desire to own a piano came natural
to the average family. Every piano dealer
concedes that there are now more urgent de-
mands on the family's bank account. The
young people in the family weigh the advan-
tages of having a modern piano in the home
with those of possessing the latest model auto-
mobile. There are other things classed as ne-
THE GOLF TOURNAMENTS
'Hie golf tournament at the Cedarhurst
Country Club was a feature of the Convention
of the Ohio Music Merchants' Association in
Cleveland last week. It was an occasion for
the enjoyment of a hobby, the cultivation of
which shows the common sense of the players.
That a golf tournament has become a feature
of conventions in all phases of business is
significant of an understanding of some im-
portant facts by the business men.
Active and industrious business men should
be rewarded with periods of leisure, if they
would conserve their mental and physical pow-
ers. But leisure must be put to pleasant use
in order to be enjoyed. Enforced leisure, with
nothing to do, may become as burdensome as
a prison sentence. So sensible business men
see the desirability of cultivating in them-
selves the power to enjoy not idleness, but
time free of routine duties.
Hobbies are numerous and varied, but golt
seems to allure a great number. That fact
makes possible the golf tournaments which
ad:l so much to the joys of the trade, conven-
tions.
PIANO PROMOTION PLANS
It did not need the able talk of Edward C.
Boykin, executive secretary of the National
Piano Manufacturers' Association at the con-
vention of the Music Merchants' Association
of Ohio in Cleveland last week to convince the
merchants of the necessity of practical pro-
motion of piano sales, but his talk was a grati-
fying assurance that effective work in increas-
ing sales is being done. Mr. Boykin quoted
figures and explained data regarding the work
being done, but every word was interesting
because his address told of the success of a
desirable undertaking.
The National Piano Promotion Plan of the
National Piano Manufacturers' Association
should interest any organization of music mer-
chants. It provides an association with potent
September 24, 1927
means to promote state and regional activities
conducive to sales. Mr. Boykin was th.5 more
interesting in that he told of the success of a
concrete plan for promoting piano sales. But
he showed how merchants' associations can be
invaluable in promoting group instruction and
piano playing contests and in generally ampli-
fying the efforts emanating from the National
Piano Promotion Plan headquarters.
Two more important state association con-
ventions will take place in October, that of
Wisconsin on the fourth and sixth, and the
meeting of the Illinois state organization of
the music trade in the new Palmer House, Chi-
cago, on the eleventh and twelfth. The avowed
object of the latter is to make the association
the largest and most active organization of
the kind in the country. Trade cooperation
in efforts to effect more sales of music is the
commendable purpose of the Wisconsin body.
It involves individual dealer activity and joint
action in promoting piano classes and piano
playing contests.
Mr. B. R. Hunt, head of the B. R. Hunt
Manufacturing Company, Union City, Ind.,
manufacturers of musical instrument cases,
not only is an extensive traveler but a keen
observer as well. A condition noted in his
own particular business is one observed in the
various phases of the music trade: "Every
dealer seems to have had but one idea in mind
the past few months and that was to cut his
inventory. But now that most of the old stock
has been cleaned out a few days of brisk con-
sumer demand will start every one of these
dealers to buying," he said recently.
The action of the group of Chicago men
who were active in promoting the recent piano
playing tournament in connection with the
annual convention of the music trades, in urg-
ing Mayor Thompson to appoint a music
supervisor of the Board of Education, is a
helpful step towards the extension of piano
classes in the public schools. The music trade
realizes that the cause of music will be best
served by the presence of such an official in
the management of the schools.
In this day of piano promotion efforts every
means that aids in sales should be considered.
The Galperin Music Co., Charleston, \V. Ya.,
in a letter printed in this issue, says that since
it has provided its salesmen with Bowen piano
loaders its piano business has increased con-
siderably. It is a wise dealer who realizes that
the piano prospects have to be discovered and
that the quickest and most effective means of
doing so are the ones to be employed.
Experts of the Department of Commerce
who have analyzed the tariff figures in the
new Franco-German treaty, discovered that
American pianos and other musical instru-
ments exported to France will pay four times
the duty imposed upon similar imports from
Germany. Unless the situation is modified
American musical instrument manufacturers
will be practically excluded from the French
market.
* * *
No salesman fit for his job will stop ihe sell-
ing of a reproducing grand to tell about the
merits of a foot-playing upright. But neither
will a wise salesman hazard the delivery of an
upright in his enthusiasm to sell a grand.
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