Presto
Issue: 1939 2286 - Page 28
THE SALESMAN'S
CORNER
P
ROFESSOR WILLIAM L. BAILEY, the distinguished
sociologist of Northwestern University, said last week :
"Experts in business analysis tell us that two-thirds
of failures in business come from lack of understanding of
trends and failure in plans
The next five years will be
better years than we have had or, after that, will have, for
some time. The brand of prosperity that is possible in the
times we are experiencing will be quite different from what
we had about 1925. The same sort of things and forms of
business are not suitable and therefore are not successful for-
ever. The rhythm of ups and downs and change is a thing of
short periods—a few years; then adjustments have to be made.
The greatest failures in business and life come from failure
to recognize change, and changing patterns. These changing
patterns of life and affairs are exhibited in time and in space
basally, though also in many more subtle aspects."
Which is Professor Bailey's academic way of warning us
to be on our mental toes because the world is changing, and
if we don't change with the world w r e'll suffer—in business
as in every other department of life. When reduced to sales-
room language Professor Bailey's idea may sound like some
more of the old stuff. It isn't. He has simply repeated a
warning which can never grow stale, which all of us must
always keep in mind.
This brings us to the wisdom contained in a letter to Presto
Music Times from Mr. C. S. Hammond, Manager of the Piano
Department of Frederick Loeser Co. Mr. Hammond says:
"The following are some of my thoughts as to the recruiting
and training of young piano salesmen.
"When discussing a subject such as this it is easy to lapse
into platitudes, to reiterate ideas already familiar to all men
of experience. Yet there are few new ideas and I have none
to advance here.
"What qualifications did we look for when engaging these
men? Just the simple basic qualities any man would seek.
Honesty, character, energy, and some degree of musicianship.
Then when they were put on the payroll we did not give them
a lot of old prospects and let them flounder.
"Each new man was allowed a certain amount of floor time
and when at leisure he observed the work of experienced, suc-
cessful men. When he required help it was willingly given.
He learned by observation, experience, and patient guidance..
P A G E
w
"That is the way I was taught a good many years ago and
it is the way I have successfully taught salesmen during the
past twenty-five years. There may be short cuts, but I am not
familiar with them. A certain amount of business may be
lost in the beginning while a man is gaining his experience,
but in the long run a manager willing and able to work with
young men will be amply rewarded for his efforts."
This department agrees with both Mr. Hammond and Pro-
fessor Bailey. The world changes and we must keep up with
it; at the same time, the basic causes of success and the sound
method of getting it remain unchanged.
Having indirectly warned you against half-baked ideas in the
business world, this department will now volunteer an idea
which we don't think is half-baked. It is not our idea; credit
for it belongs to George G. Shor, Director of Plans and Re-
search for The American Weekly.
Speaking at the New York Piano Sales Clinic, Mn Shor
said in effect that advertising could change the piano from a
luxury to a household necessity; that it could be made as
essential to the American home as advertising made the re-
frigerator during the last year of the 'Twenties. The piano
has never yet penetrated the mass market, and Mr. Shor be-
lieves it could.
Presto Music Times believes that the piano will penetrate
the mass market, and that the speed with which it reaches
that market depends upon the sales effort and the sales intel-
ligence of the men in the music industry. Presto Music Times
believes that music in America has made great strides in re-
cent years, and that the longer people listen to music, the
greater will be their desire to create music.
This brings us, oddly enough, to the Tonette. Everybody
in the trade knows that friendly little contraption, half whis-
tle and half pipe, and everybody in the trade knows what phe-
nomenal success it has had. The Tonette was first pointed
at the pre-band school trade, at children who, through listen-
ing to music, had gained a desire to create music, but because
of their extreme youth were unprepared to take up the study
of the more complex musical instruments.
Of course the Tonette has long since reached a larger mar-
ket. Why? Because the vast majority of the American pub-
lic is in the pre-band stage. They have heard enough music
to be eager to create their own, but they're scared of the
study required for mastery of the more complex instruments.
But that fear can be overcome. It is the job of advertising
and intelligent salesmanship. There comes a time in the life
of every music listener when he'd rather pick out Hearts and
Flowers for himself than hear Moritz Rosenthal play Chopin.
And when he reaches that point he can be sold a piano with
surprisingly little effort.
But how can the music industry get him there? By break-
ing down his fear of study, and by exposing him to so much
music that he can't help but try to create his own.
Nobody in the United States nowadays can avoid hearing
some music, no matter how hard he tries. The way to break
down people's fear of study is to give them simple things to
learn, which, when learned, will only give them a desire to
learn more difficult things. In other words, sell your pros-
pect a Tonette today and sell him a piano tomorrow.
Targ and Dienner, Inc., Chicago's "wholesale music center," has
just produced a handsome new supplement to its 1938 catalog.
The latest developments in the band world—everything from
ocarinas to piano accordions—are beautifully displayed, and all
price changes since the appearance of the 1938 catalog are listed.
Targ and Dienner is one of the oldest houses in its field, and
is known to music dealers from coast to coast.
H
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/
CORNER
P
ROFESSOR WILLIAM L. BAILEY, the distinguished
sociologist of Northwestern University, said last week :
"Experts in business analysis tell us that two-thirds
of failures in business come from lack of understanding of
trends and failure in plans
The next five years will be
better years than we have had or, after that, will have, for
some time. The brand of prosperity that is possible in the
times we are experiencing will be quite different from what
we had about 1925. The same sort of things and forms of
business are not suitable and therefore are not successful for-
ever. The rhythm of ups and downs and change is a thing of
short periods—a few years; then adjustments have to be made.
The greatest failures in business and life come from failure
to recognize change, and changing patterns. These changing
patterns of life and affairs are exhibited in time and in space
basally, though also in many more subtle aspects."
Which is Professor Bailey's academic way of warning us
to be on our mental toes because the world is changing, and
if we don't change with the world w r e'll suffer—in business
as in every other department of life. When reduced to sales-
room language Professor Bailey's idea may sound like some
more of the old stuff. It isn't. He has simply repeated a
warning which can never grow stale, which all of us must
always keep in mind.
This brings us to the wisdom contained in a letter to Presto
Music Times from Mr. C. S. Hammond, Manager of the Piano
Department of Frederick Loeser Co. Mr. Hammond says:
"The following are some of my thoughts as to the recruiting
and training of young piano salesmen.
"When discussing a subject such as this it is easy to lapse
into platitudes, to reiterate ideas already familiar to all men
of experience. Yet there are few new ideas and I have none
to advance here.
"What qualifications did we look for when engaging these
men? Just the simple basic qualities any man would seek.
Honesty, character, energy, and some degree of musicianship.
Then when they were put on the payroll we did not give them
a lot of old prospects and let them flounder.
"Each new man was allowed a certain amount of floor time
and when at leisure he observed the work of experienced, suc-
cessful men. When he required help it was willingly given.
He learned by observation, experience, and patient guidance..
P A G E
w
"That is the way I was taught a good many years ago and
it is the way I have successfully taught salesmen during the
past twenty-five years. There may be short cuts, but I am not
familiar with them. A certain amount of business may be
lost in the beginning while a man is gaining his experience,
but in the long run a manager willing and able to work with
young men will be amply rewarded for his efforts."
This department agrees with both Mr. Hammond and Pro-
fessor Bailey. The world changes and we must keep up with
it; at the same time, the basic causes of success and the sound
method of getting it remain unchanged.
Having indirectly warned you against half-baked ideas in the
business world, this department will now volunteer an idea
which we don't think is half-baked. It is not our idea; credit
for it belongs to George G. Shor, Director of Plans and Re-
search for The American Weekly.
Speaking at the New York Piano Sales Clinic, Mn Shor
said in effect that advertising could change the piano from a
luxury to a household necessity; that it could be made as
essential to the American home as advertising made the re-
frigerator during the last year of the 'Twenties. The piano
has never yet penetrated the mass market, and Mr. Shor be-
lieves it could.
Presto Music Times believes that the piano will penetrate
the mass market, and that the speed with which it reaches
that market depends upon the sales effort and the sales intel-
ligence of the men in the music industry. Presto Music Times
believes that music in America has made great strides in re-
cent years, and that the longer people listen to music, the
greater will be their desire to create music.
This brings us, oddly enough, to the Tonette. Everybody
in the trade knows that friendly little contraption, half whis-
tle and half pipe, and everybody in the trade knows what phe-
nomenal success it has had. The Tonette was first pointed
at the pre-band school trade, at children who, through listen-
ing to music, had gained a desire to create music, but because
of their extreme youth were unprepared to take up the study
of the more complex musical instruments.
Of course the Tonette has long since reached a larger mar-
ket. Why? Because the vast majority of the American pub-
lic is in the pre-band stage. They have heard enough music
to be eager to create their own, but they're scared of the
study required for mastery of the more complex instruments.
But that fear can be overcome. It is the job of advertising
and intelligent salesmanship. There comes a time in the life
of every music listener when he'd rather pick out Hearts and
Flowers for himself than hear Moritz Rosenthal play Chopin.
And when he reaches that point he can be sold a piano with
surprisingly little effort.
But how can the music industry get him there? By break-
ing down his fear of study, and by exposing him to so much
music that he can't help but try to create his own.
Nobody in the United States nowadays can avoid hearing
some music, no matter how hard he tries. The way to break
down people's fear of study is to give them simple things to
learn, which, when learned, will only give them a desire to
learn more difficult things. In other words, sell your pros-
pect a Tonette today and sell him a piano tomorrow.
Targ and Dienner, Inc., Chicago's "wholesale music center," has
just produced a handsome new supplement to its 1938 catalog.
The latest developments in the band world—everything from
ocarinas to piano accordions—are beautifully displayed, and all
price changes since the appearance of the 1938 catalog are listed.
Targ and Dienner is one of the oldest houses in its field, and
is known to music dealers from coast to coast.
H
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).