Presto
Issue: 1928 2190 - Page 7
July 21, 1928
PIANO CLASSES
AS AID TO SALES
Group Piano Lessons by Dealers in Ware-
rooms and Studios, No Matter What Sys-
tem Is Used, Are the Most Potent Means
to Quick Piano Sales.
PRESTO-TIMES
versation was what can be done to obtain more busi-
ness; whereas, now it sometimes seems as though it
were a case of how little can be done to get business
and how much time can be spent in pleasure seeking.
I really think this has more to do with any let up in
business than any other one factor at the present
time.
SCHUMANN ELFIN GRAND
NEW SPIRIT OBSERVED
IN THE PIANO TRADE
Evidences Are Everywhere That Alert Men
Are Taking Up the Challenge Thrown
Out by the Newer Industries.
By JOHN S. GORMAN,
Interest continues to grow in the trade concerning
the new Schumann Elfin grand piano, the diminutive, Vice-Pres. and Sales Manager, Gulbransen Company.
By CHARLES F. YAHRLING,
art style instrument made by the Schumann Piano
Since the convention we meet on all sides piano
Vice-President of the National Association of Music Co., Rockford, 111. The Schumann Elfin grand is a men who seem to sense the dawn of a new day. The
seventy-two note piano, measuring only forty-eight sleeping giant has awakened: Everywhere we hear
Merchants, and Head of the Yahrling-Rayner
inches in length, forty-six inches in width and thirty- men pledging themselves anew to this great industry.
Music Co., Youngstown, Ohio.
six inches in height. It is designed as the ideal in- They realize, as possibly they never have before, that
If dealers and salesmen would give as much thought strument for homes affording limited piano space. The they are in a new business which requires new meth-
ods, new resourcefulness, new enterprises, new blood,
to creating a new demand for pianos as they do to company's circulars read in part:
"The Schumann Elfin Art Style grand piano, new courage, new regard for fellow manufacturers,
golf, bridge parties and automobile touring there
might be some piano business stirring. Devising though just an infant in size, is astoundingly huge fellow merchants, fellow retail salesmen.
means to create piano sales requires a large part of and masterful in the full measure of its classic attain-
Suddenly they seem to discover these potent truths,
a dealer's time. For instance what percentage may ment. Perfect in tone and action. Accomplished mu- that an industry to continue great must be basically
be justified in appropriating for the operation of any sicians who've tasted its charm express even greater sound; that all should unite under a definite code of
piano-class-instruction-in-the-warerooms plan which delight than amazement."
ethics; that all should live and let live; work with and
Attention is also called in the circulars to the Elfin not against one another; that the industry is greater
he may put in force?
There is absolutely no question, and we have proved upright. The measurements of this instrument are than the individual; that public opinion is important;
it by our own experience, that group piano instruc- given as three feet eight inches in height, four feet that this is the day of industry versus industry; that
tions of any kind, whether the "Melody Way" or ten inches wide, and two feet one-quarter inch deep.
the fight is from without rather than from within;
any other system is used, not only creates new busi-
that we have lost our position—crowded out by more
ness and unlimited good will for a house, but stimu-
aggressiveness on the part of newer industries.
lates the interest in piano study. The one thing
There is a new spirit abroad which seems to demand
Col. J. A. Bates, president of the Bates & Mead
which I feel is absolutely necessary, if the piano busi-
that we take up the challenge thrown down by these
Piano
Co.,
Inc.,
Middletown,
N.
Y.,
has
addressed
ness is to prosper, is to stimulate interest in the chil-
a letter to Governor Smith of New York enclosing a newer industries—this new spirit or the re-awakening
dren now growing up to learn to play the piano.
bill "for service and sufferin' " chauffeuring a radio on of the spirit that at one time placed the piano in the
Profit and Good Will
foremost position in the home and the home life of
the sidewalk in front of his store during the days of
It is not a question in my mind how much any the Democratic convention recently in Houston. Col. America.
dealer can afford to pay for sales which are pro- Bates has a keen sense of humor and his letter will
May we each do our share to crystallize this new
duced through this group piano teaching. He could be accepted in the spirit in which it is written by a spirit until it becomes an indomitable force that will
well afford to spend all of the profits he would make man notable for his unremitting enjoyment of humor. lead us on to push this great piano industry forward
on the sales sold direct to group piano students in The colonel estimates his time and brain fag at to heights undreamed in the past—to a greatness be-
order to keep the classes going steadily throughout $1,985.12, and he would give a clear receipt to Presi- yond past accomplishments.
the year, and the good will he builds up in his commu- dent Al Smith for appointment as "consul in some
Fellow piano men, this great piano industry is now
nity is of inestimable value.
far-away country where conventions are unknown my industry. Will you who have given so much of
We are tonight having a "Melody Way" pupils' and silence forever reigns."
your lives to it realize that you, too, are in a new
recital given by selected members of the classes just
business—reborn of necessity to meet the new day
finished. This is going to bring at least two hun- LYON & HEALY REPRESENTATIVES. which now exists.
dred people into our store. The mere fact that there
Four live middle west dealers have been added to
are a hundred children coming into one store every
week, many of them bringing with them their parents, a rapidly growing number of aggressive piano houses
granted franchises for the piano sponsored by Lyon
at least keeps the carpets from getting moldy.
& Healy, Chicago: Musholt Music House, Quincy,
Lehman Piano Company, St. Louis, Knabe dealers,
I would say that any dealer could afford to spend 111.; Molthop Music House, Liberal, Kan.; Newton
25 per cent of the gross profits on any sales made to Music Company, Newton, Kan., and C. E. Lester, report the following sales, all to persons prominent in
the business and social life of that city: A Knabe
group piano students for this promotive work, and, Hoopeston, 111.
Ampico Grand in walnut to Mrs. Ross W. Judson.
while our cost on direct sales has averaged a good
Mr. Judson is president of the Continental Motors
deal less than one-half of this percentage, yet, when
Company and has just built an unusually fine home in
F. D. CURTIS, MANAGER.
we first started out, it cost us near this 25 per cent
until we build it up to a point where the volume of
F. D. Curtis has disposed of his interests in the St. Louis. An Ampico Grand in mahogany to Mr.
sales created through this promotive work cut the Curtis-Proseum Music Company, San Jose, Cal., to J. E. Taussig, president of the Wabash railroad. Mr.
sales cost more than half.
his former partner and has joined the staff of the Taussig is also a resident of St. Louis. A Knabe
branch store of Sherman, Clay & Co., in that city, as Grand Style A in walnut to Mr. Clifton H. MacMil-
Give Interesting Figures
assistant
manager of the phonograph and radio de- len, vice-president of the Mercantile Trust Company
I do not believe that the total newspaper adver-
of St. Louis.
partments.
tising done by our house to secure "Melody Way"
pupils has averaged throughout the two and a half
years we have been operating these classes more than
4 per cent. We figure the profit made on the mate-
rial sold to the pupils pays for the teachers and
clerical work necessary in handling the classes.
What gets me is that dealers will go along and
blow two or three hundred dollars in newspaper ad-
vertising, announcing low prices and bargains, and
get no returns merely because they have created no
demand for the merchandise they are trying to sell at
bargain prices. I think you will agree that there
must be a demand before people will buy an article at
any price, and they certainly do not create this de-
mand by advertising low prices.
Our records show that direct sales made to "Mel-
ody Way" pupils have averaged better than 22 per
cent in unit sales to those who came in the classes
who had no pianos. This does not include the various
other musical instruments and radios that were sold
to people who were brought into the store through
these "Melody Way" classes.
Names of Prospects
Up to date we have on our register pretty close to
eleven hundred names of people who have had their
children in these classes, and we would not exchange
this mailing list for all the professional mailing lists
in the world put out by concerns who make a busi-
ness of furnishing mailing lists.
In conclusion I will say again that any dealer can
afford to spend all the profits on direct sales through
this promotion plan for the first year at least and
over the course of two years he will find that he has
secured a substantial amount of plus business that
he would not have gotten in any other way.
I find in my conversation with a large number of
Rowland (seated) of Albion College; C. P. Bilhorn
The Albion, Mich., high school has installed a Bald-
dealers that about the only subjects in which they
(back of him), musical director; and Superintendent
win
grand
piano
for
use
in
the
school
auditorium.
In
appear to be interested have to do with golf, bridge
of Schools Harrington (with hand on piano).
the
accompanying
picture
the
school
building
is
shown
or touring. It was formerly a case when you visited
a dealer in another city that the main topic of con- at top. In the lower picture is shown Dean L. U.
AL SMITH HIS DEBTOR
GOOD KNABE SALES
BALDWIN FOR HIGH SCHOOL
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/
PIANO CLASSES
AS AID TO SALES
Group Piano Lessons by Dealers in Ware-
rooms and Studios, No Matter What Sys-
tem Is Used, Are the Most Potent Means
to Quick Piano Sales.
PRESTO-TIMES
versation was what can be done to obtain more busi-
ness; whereas, now it sometimes seems as though it
were a case of how little can be done to get business
and how much time can be spent in pleasure seeking.
I really think this has more to do with any let up in
business than any other one factor at the present
time.
SCHUMANN ELFIN GRAND
NEW SPIRIT OBSERVED
IN THE PIANO TRADE
Evidences Are Everywhere That Alert Men
Are Taking Up the Challenge Thrown
Out by the Newer Industries.
By JOHN S. GORMAN,
Interest continues to grow in the trade concerning
the new Schumann Elfin grand piano, the diminutive, Vice-Pres. and Sales Manager, Gulbransen Company.
By CHARLES F. YAHRLING,
art style instrument made by the Schumann Piano
Since the convention we meet on all sides piano
Vice-President of the National Association of Music Co., Rockford, 111. The Schumann Elfin grand is a men who seem to sense the dawn of a new day. The
seventy-two note piano, measuring only forty-eight sleeping giant has awakened: Everywhere we hear
Merchants, and Head of the Yahrling-Rayner
inches in length, forty-six inches in width and thirty- men pledging themselves anew to this great industry.
Music Co., Youngstown, Ohio.
six inches in height. It is designed as the ideal in- They realize, as possibly they never have before, that
If dealers and salesmen would give as much thought strument for homes affording limited piano space. The they are in a new business which requires new meth-
ods, new resourcefulness, new enterprises, new blood,
to creating a new demand for pianos as they do to company's circulars read in part:
"The Schumann Elfin Art Style grand piano, new courage, new regard for fellow manufacturers,
golf, bridge parties and automobile touring there
might be some piano business stirring. Devising though just an infant in size, is astoundingly huge fellow merchants, fellow retail salesmen.
means to create piano sales requires a large part of and masterful in the full measure of its classic attain-
Suddenly they seem to discover these potent truths,
a dealer's time. For instance what percentage may ment. Perfect in tone and action. Accomplished mu- that an industry to continue great must be basically
be justified in appropriating for the operation of any sicians who've tasted its charm express even greater sound; that all should unite under a definite code of
piano-class-instruction-in-the-warerooms plan which delight than amazement."
ethics; that all should live and let live; work with and
Attention is also called in the circulars to the Elfin not against one another; that the industry is greater
he may put in force?
There is absolutely no question, and we have proved upright. The measurements of this instrument are than the individual; that public opinion is important;
it by our own experience, that group piano instruc- given as three feet eight inches in height, four feet that this is the day of industry versus industry; that
tions of any kind, whether the "Melody Way" or ten inches wide, and two feet one-quarter inch deep.
the fight is from without rather than from within;
any other system is used, not only creates new busi-
that we have lost our position—crowded out by more
ness and unlimited good will for a house, but stimu-
aggressiveness on the part of newer industries.
lates the interest in piano study. The one thing
There is a new spirit abroad which seems to demand
Col. J. A. Bates, president of the Bates & Mead
which I feel is absolutely necessary, if the piano busi-
that we take up the challenge thrown down by these
Piano
Co.,
Inc.,
Middletown,
N.
Y.,
has
addressed
ness is to prosper, is to stimulate interest in the chil-
a letter to Governor Smith of New York enclosing a newer industries—this new spirit or the re-awakening
dren now growing up to learn to play the piano.
bill "for service and sufferin' " chauffeuring a radio on of the spirit that at one time placed the piano in the
Profit and Good Will
foremost position in the home and the home life of
the sidewalk in front of his store during the days of
It is not a question in my mind how much any the Democratic convention recently in Houston. Col. America.
dealer can afford to pay for sales which are pro- Bates has a keen sense of humor and his letter will
May we each do our share to crystallize this new
duced through this group piano teaching. He could be accepted in the spirit in which it is written by a spirit until it becomes an indomitable force that will
well afford to spend all of the profits he would make man notable for his unremitting enjoyment of humor. lead us on to push this great piano industry forward
on the sales sold direct to group piano students in The colonel estimates his time and brain fag at to heights undreamed in the past—to a greatness be-
order to keep the classes going steadily throughout $1,985.12, and he would give a clear receipt to Presi- yond past accomplishments.
the year, and the good will he builds up in his commu- dent Al Smith for appointment as "consul in some
Fellow piano men, this great piano industry is now
nity is of inestimable value.
far-away country where conventions are unknown my industry. Will you who have given so much of
We are tonight having a "Melody Way" pupils' and silence forever reigns."
your lives to it realize that you, too, are in a new
recital given by selected members of the classes just
business—reborn of necessity to meet the new day
finished. This is going to bring at least two hun- LYON & HEALY REPRESENTATIVES. which now exists.
dred people into our store. The mere fact that there
Four live middle west dealers have been added to
are a hundred children coming into one store every
week, many of them bringing with them their parents, a rapidly growing number of aggressive piano houses
granted franchises for the piano sponsored by Lyon
at least keeps the carpets from getting moldy.
& Healy, Chicago: Musholt Music House, Quincy,
Lehman Piano Company, St. Louis, Knabe dealers,
I would say that any dealer could afford to spend 111.; Molthop Music House, Liberal, Kan.; Newton
25 per cent of the gross profits on any sales made to Music Company, Newton, Kan., and C. E. Lester, report the following sales, all to persons prominent in
the business and social life of that city: A Knabe
group piano students for this promotive work, and, Hoopeston, 111.
Ampico Grand in walnut to Mrs. Ross W. Judson.
while our cost on direct sales has averaged a good
Mr. Judson is president of the Continental Motors
deal less than one-half of this percentage, yet, when
Company and has just built an unusually fine home in
F. D. CURTIS, MANAGER.
we first started out, it cost us near this 25 per cent
until we build it up to a point where the volume of
F. D. Curtis has disposed of his interests in the St. Louis. An Ampico Grand in mahogany to Mr.
sales created through this promotive work cut the Curtis-Proseum Music Company, San Jose, Cal., to J. E. Taussig, president of the Wabash railroad. Mr.
sales cost more than half.
his former partner and has joined the staff of the Taussig is also a resident of St. Louis. A Knabe
branch store of Sherman, Clay & Co., in that city, as Grand Style A in walnut to Mr. Clifton H. MacMil-
Give Interesting Figures
assistant
manager of the phonograph and radio de- len, vice-president of the Mercantile Trust Company
I do not believe that the total newspaper adver-
of St. Louis.
partments.
tising done by our house to secure "Melody Way"
pupils has averaged throughout the two and a half
years we have been operating these classes more than
4 per cent. We figure the profit made on the mate-
rial sold to the pupils pays for the teachers and
clerical work necessary in handling the classes.
What gets me is that dealers will go along and
blow two or three hundred dollars in newspaper ad-
vertising, announcing low prices and bargains, and
get no returns merely because they have created no
demand for the merchandise they are trying to sell at
bargain prices. I think you will agree that there
must be a demand before people will buy an article at
any price, and they certainly do not create this de-
mand by advertising low prices.
Our records show that direct sales made to "Mel-
ody Way" pupils have averaged better than 22 per
cent in unit sales to those who came in the classes
who had no pianos. This does not include the various
other musical instruments and radios that were sold
to people who were brought into the store through
these "Melody Way" classes.
Names of Prospects
Up to date we have on our register pretty close to
eleven hundred names of people who have had their
children in these classes, and we would not exchange
this mailing list for all the professional mailing lists
in the world put out by concerns who make a busi-
ness of furnishing mailing lists.
In conclusion I will say again that any dealer can
afford to spend all the profits on direct sales through
this promotion plan for the first year at least and
over the course of two years he will find that he has
secured a substantial amount of plus business that
he would not have gotten in any other way.
I find in my conversation with a large number of
Rowland (seated) of Albion College; C. P. Bilhorn
The Albion, Mich., high school has installed a Bald-
dealers that about the only subjects in which they
(back of him), musical director; and Superintendent
win
grand
piano
for
use
in
the
school
auditorium.
In
appear to be interested have to do with golf, bridge
of Schools Harrington (with hand on piano).
the
accompanying
picture
the
school
building
is
shown
or touring. It was formerly a case when you visited
a dealer in another city that the main topic of con- at top. In the lower picture is shown Dean L. U.
AL SMITH HIS DEBTOR
GOOD KNABE SALES
BALDWIN FOR HIGH SCHOOL
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).