Presto

August, 1931
P R E S T 0-T I M E S
River avenue; Hubert S. Ratcheller, 15828 Wark
street; Becker Piano Mfg. Co., 2262 Monroe avenue;
Paul Stanislaw, 8102 Kentucky street; H. Schwes-
inger, 3790 Columbus street; I. F. Pratt, 446 Navahoe
street: Peoples Outfitting Co., ISO Michigan avenue;
John J. Kollmer,. 1780 Townsend avenue; Ford Lefler,
8545 Dumbarton'road; E. C. Brink. 3046 Hazelwood
avenue; Dean D. Brown, 15881 Muirland avenue;
Detroit League of the Blind, 1363 East Jefferson
avenue; Detroit Piano Tuning Co., 3809 Bagley
street; Homer R. Dill, formerly with Bush & Lane
for 20 years, 14896 Indiana street; Dean S. Gray, 2700
Vicksburg street; E. B. Gregor, 3024 Whitney street;
Frank F. Hopkins, 320 Puritan street; Bryant G.
Marble, 3809 Bagley avenue; Ray H. McElmurry,
3610 Wayburn street; Russel W. Oak, 11757 Broad
street; Passage Piano Service, 52 Putnam street;
Charles F. Bernhardt, 1525 Church street; Walter M.
Blinn, 2661 Taylor street.
LYON & HEALY-DE ACRES
The resignation of Mr. C. H. De Acres as general
manager of Lyon & Healy, is made in the following
announcement, sent out under date of July 15, over
the signature of Raymond E. Durham, president:
ANNOUNCEMENT
Effective today, Mr. C. H. De Acres has resigned
as vice-president and general manager of Lyon &
Healy, Inc., to accept greater personal opportunities
that he has been offered elsewhere.
During Mr. De Acres' lour years' association with
Lyon & Healy, Inc., he has made valuable and last-
ing contributions to our business, so that the com-
pany is now better organized and is operating more
efficiently than at any time in the many years of its
successful business operation.
We regret that, owing to the reduction in the vol-
ume of business in the industry and the proportionate
reduction in our volume, our business does not permit
the retention of the services of a man of Mr. De
Acres' experience and ability.
The present official roster of Lyon & Healy is:
Raymond E. Durham, president; W. P. Roche, vice-
president and secretary; F. G. Le Mar, treasurer.
As to Mr. De Acres' future connections, nothing
up to the time of going to press has been settled. It
is understood that he will take a prominent official
position with the house of Sherman, Clay & Co., but
at the time these lines are written the details of this
connection are not obtainable, nor has any other in-
formation concerning any possible changes in the
house of Sherman, Clay & Co. been given out by
that house.
FORMER MUSIC TRADE MAN NOW
BANK RECEIVER AND BROKER
Will H. W T ade, formerly associated with the music
trades of Chicago as dealer and manufacturer, now
an investment broker at 39 South La Salle street,
Chicago, was appointed receiver by State Auditor
Oscar Nelson of the Builders and Merchants Bank
& Trust Co., Chicago. A petition was signed by
many depositors of the bank to replace Mr. Wade.
Mr. Wade is also receiver for the Millard State Bank,
3645 West 26th street, Chicago.
OPPORTUNITY FOR GOOD BUSINESS
CONNECTION
The advertisement in our classified columns keyed
"Opportunity," care Presto-Times, is worthy of the
attention of anyone desiring to line up with a profit-
able paying business. The house offering this oppor-
tunity is well known and is a house of strict reliabil-
ity and capability. Anyone desiring to make a change
or get into a well-established business we advise to
get in touch with this advertiser.
PIANOS FOR RASPBERRY GROWERS
There's money in raspberries, and some of the
money that is now pouring into Cheboygan County,
Michigan, ought to go into the purchase of pianos. A
Presto-Times staff member was in that county last
week, when thirty prominent agricultural men from
Otsego county interested in raspberry growing made
a special trip of inspection of the cultivated rasp-
berry fields and patches in Cheboygan county.
KANSAS CITY WURLITZER MANAGER
M. W. Newman, recently connected with the Mil-
waukee store of Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, has be-
come manager of the Kansas City Wurlitzer store,
located at 1015 Grand avenue, Kansas City, Mo. The
store at Kansas City is enlarging its school of music
and is making plans for radio broadcasting from its
studio.
Two professional musical publications, the Music?
Observer and the Musical Courier, have merged, b\
the music trade papers are continuing their indivic
uality as units of this division of trade and business
papers.
FILING THE USEFUL FACTS
The Method Involves and Encourages a Systematic Way of Doing Things
and Every Record Is a Reminder That Has a Most
Valuable Suggestive Quality
One music trades dealer finds a'memory-jogger i
most valuable first aid in his daily business transac-
tions. This is kept by the office girl who shoulders
all of the minor details. Whenever he wants to do
something or be reminded of anything he jots it
down on a blank slip of paper and then passes it along
for file in his memory-jogger.
A small pad of blank paper, 2 by 3 inches, is
constantly carried in his coat pocket for this pur-
pose. No matter where he may be, he always takes
out his little memo pad and jots down his ideas
before there is any chance of forgetting them. Then
at a convenient moment he turns these slips of paper
over to his guardian, the memory-jogger. He never
goes anywhere unless he is armed with his memo
pad. It is as valuable to him as his pocketbook.
At just precisely the right moment, time and place,
the memory-jogger brings up the matter for atten-
tion, and a typewritten memo card is placed on his
desk every morning of all the things that have to be
done that day or planned ahead for the week.
Good for Sales.
This system is aiso used to record sales events. A
complete description of t iie idea as conceived and
what it hoped to accomplish is dictated before the
plan it, started. Later a recapitulation sheet is added
showing preparations made and total costs, with the
results obtained stated by days, until the sales died
cut and the effects of the drive wore off. The com-
plete record is then filed away for his future guidance
in the memory-jogger under the title "Selling
Stunts."
On ail seasonal advertising or for the holidays, a
copy of the advertisement used or the sales circular
or letter sent out, is always filed away for future
reference, with a statement of results obtained on any
particular item or items featured.
Recording Window Displays.
If a good window display is staged on any partic-
ular line, the date the window was opened and closed
is noted, with a detailed description of the window
or a photo, and a summary of all sales by days on
that particular line. At the end of each year this
music trades dealer can get a pretty good bird'seye
view of what his windows did for him in a mer-
chandising way during the year, and which windows
pulled the best results, and why.
He is constantly (hanging the interior of his store,
moving items to the front which are not ordinarily
called for and moving things back which will be
most likely asked for anyhow. A notation of results
on each shift helps him out in the future, does away
with guess work, and gives him a complete picture of
"what's what," thus enabling him to do more sci-
entific planning in his interior arrangement and dis-
plays.
Prizes for Staff.
The many little details of successful selling meth-
ods are also cornered and filed away in this memory-
jogger for future use. Weekly sales conferences take
place with the sales force, and at every meeting each
salesman is supposed to offer up something new that
happened during the week, between himself and the
buying public. For the best suggestion at each sales
conference a prize is awarded of merchandise valued
at $2.50 and once a month a cash prize in that amount
is offered. All of the suggestions made are jotted
down by the stenographer at the conference and filed
away in the memory-jogger.
Watching Competitors.
This music trades dealer also believes in keeping
in close touch with what his competitors are doing in
the way of newspaper advertising and window dis-
plays, and each week a runner reports on windows of
other stores, while his stenographer clips and files
away all advertisements and news items under the
head of "Competitors, Week of January 10, Adver-
tising," and another for "Window Displays." In this
way he keeps well informed along merchandising
trends in his city and what is going on in the music
trades generally.
The Call Book.
A call book is a!so kept in which each salesman
notes "requests" from customers which could not
be filled because the item or line was not carritd.
If at the end of a month enough calls come in on
any particular item he is sure to stock it, and here
again the memory-jogger turns the trick, for the
15th of every month is "call" day, and the stenog-
rapher goes over the call book reports and lists all
items not carried in stock, with a statement of the
total number of calls received for each item during
the month.
These varied experiences in buying, selling, adver-
tising and management are thus carded on perpetual
record instead of in this man's head, and he can refer
back at any time to what happened last year this
time, or what happened around Washington's birth-
day, or Labor Day, or Christmas, for everything is
at his finger's ends in the memory-jogger.
A series of 5 by 8 envelopes, indexed on the out-
side, such as "Window Displays," "Selling Stunts,"
"'Advertising Ideas," "Interior Displays," etc., by
months and years, contains all the data for any one
month and year, thus January 1930; February, 1930,
etc. For holidays special folders are used, such as
"Easter, 1931," "Graduation, 1931," "June Weddings,"
"Christmas," etc. Any scheme which has proved val-
uable in the past is thus taken out and re-used, im-
proved upon and enlarged, and put over stronger
than ever, and then filed away again for next year'i
benefit from the experience angle.
Featuring Lines.
Every week he makes a feature of pushing a cer-
tain line and the backs of his sales folks are bent
in this one direction during all of that week, by
calling attention of all comers to a certain item which
is being pushed, and in this way, through suggestive
selling, many other items are moved which might
otherwise have moved only on call or through vigor-
ous advertising measures.
This sales-aid and management memory-jogger
and experience guide has proved worth its weight in
gold, for this music trades dealer has doubled his
sales since the system was inaugurated and this year
lie expects to treble his sales volume.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUSIC
MERCHANTS COMMITTEES NAMED
President Edwin R. Weeks of the National Asso-
ciation of Music Merchants has announced the ap-
pointment of the following standing committees for
the ensuing year.
Membership Committee
Charles H. Yahrling, Yahrling-Rayner Music Co.,
306 West Federal street, Youngstown, Ohio, chair-
man, ex-officio, as elected secretary of the association;
Ben. F. Duvall, W. W. Kimball Co., 308 South Wa-
bash avenue, Chicago 111.; John J. Glynn, Mathushek
& Son Piano Co., 14 East 39th street, New York,
N. Y.
Press Committee
Charles H. Yahrling, Yahrling-Rayner Music Co.,
306 West Federal street, Youngstown, Ohio, chair-
man, ex-officio, as elected secretary of the association;
Miss Mayme Zechmann, Davidson Bros. Co., Sioux
City, Iowa; Fred W. Bush, Hush's Music and Radio
House, 132 Main street, Penn Yan, N. Y.; Fred G.
McKinley, Germain Piano Co., 400 South Washing-
ton avenue, Saginaw, Mich.
Legislative Committee
Melville Clark, Clark Music Co., 416 South Salina
street, Syracuse, N. Y., chairman; Merritt Alfred,
Gallup & Alfred, 201 Asylum street, Hartford, Conn.;
Homer L. Kitt, Homer L. Kitt Co., 1330 G street
Northwest, Washington, D. C ; Fred R. Sherman,
Sherman, Clay & Co., 536 Mission street, San Fran-
cisco, Cal.; Charles E. Wells, The Charles E. Wells
Music Co., 1624 California street. Denver, Colo.
Resolutions Committee
B. E. Neal, Neal-Clark-Neal Co., 473 Main street,
Buffalo, N. Y., chairman: Will R. Shutes, El Paso
Piano Co., 215 Texas street, El Paso, Tex.; Carl Wit-
tich, The Wittich Stores, 635 Penn street, Reading,
Pa.
LETTER TO PIANO CLUB MEMBERS
The following communication addressed to mem-
bers of the Piano Club of Chicago explains itself:
"Dear Fellow Members:
"As there is practically no attendance at the Piano
Club luncheons during the summer, it has been
decided to discontinue the weekly meetings at the
Illinois Athletic Club until the lirst Monday of Sep-
tember.
"A special evening event probably will be staged
later in the summer, and due notice will be given
at that time.
"Sincerely yours,
"BEN F. DUVALL.
"President."
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