The talking machine world (Jan-June 1928)

r ' RECORDS can be made to accomplish two definite, constructive objects if the phonograph store manager will devote a little thought to the cooperation he can effect through selling the two lines of merchandise — phonographs and records. Records will, first of all, produce for themselves a reasonable net profit; and secondly, they will do a lot toward cinching the phonograph sale. That, at least, has been the experience of the Tulsa Music Shop, Tulsa, Okla., according to the manager, P. R. Chapman. The firm has been selling phonographs in Tulsa for more than ten years; and a concern that has been in business in Tulsa for ten years is a pioneer, because Tulsa is indeed a very new city. "I think the average music store with a normal stock of records can depend upon selling records totaling about 15 per cent of the total phonograph business," explains Mr. Chapman. "That is, without special effort beyond diligence in keeping the stock up-to-date, the store can do about fifteen dollars' worth of record business for every hundred dollars' worth of phonographs sold. But we have found here that it is comparatively easy to step up the ratio of record sales to phonograph sales by 10 per cent and sometimes considerably more, especially if a little extra effort is exerted. That means selling twenty-five dollars' worth of records with every hundred dollars' of phonograph business. That, we find, represents an extra record profit that is well worth going after." That extra 10 per cent of record business is represented largely in the added effort to sell records at the time the customer buys a phonograph, Mr. Chapman declares. "It is the natural inclination of the average person when buying a new machine to buy as few records as possible, because he feels that the machine is costing a lot — more perhaps than they had intended paying in the first place — and they do not want to spend so much money at once. "Once the newness of the machine wears off, Tulsa Store Steps Record Sales By Ruel McDaniel it is a lot more difficult to sell additional records than when it still is interesting to the purchaser. The time to sell him a good assortment of records is when he still is highly enthused over the phonograph. So when we sell a machine, rather than permit the customer to select just a few of his most favored pieces, we help him to select an assortment that represents at least 10 per cent of the cost of the machine. If he buys a hundred dollar outfit, we select about ten or eleven dollars' worth of records; if it costs two hundred dollars, we select around twenty dollars' worth of records, believing that the more a man has invested in a phonograph the more records he needs in order to get his full money's worth out of it. "We offer to add the cost of the records to the customer's account and permit him to pay for them along with his regular payments on the machine. That is, if the total cost of machine and records is one hundred and ten dollars, we take our usual cash payment, then divide the balance into a certain number of equal payments, the same as though the customer had bought only the machine. "The average customer is willing to invest freely in records on this basis, because it does not materially increase his cash outlay, and he sees that it adds so little to his monthly pay m e n t s that he will scarcely notice it; yet the plan gives him the pleasure of a good assortment of records. He knows, too, that if he comes back a little later to buy records he will be expected to pay cash for them, or at least he must buy them on open account and settle at the end of the month. "After the average customer has bought his machine and has worn off his first flush of enthusiasm, his record pur"W" T chases usually are lim ! i ~Y\ lie& to tne new recor(is 1/ that he especially likes, i whether he buys two or three dozen records or just a half-dozen when he gets the machine. We find that selling a customer additional records at the time he purchases the phonograph does not reduce his buying in the months to come. Thus the sales are really extra. That normal 15 per cent that the music store can usually depend upon getting is represented primarily in the new records that customers buy. And they buy them, regardless of how many records they have at home." Incidentally, in speaking of time-payment plans in the sale of phonographs, Mr. Chapman explained that his firm finds it much more satisfactory in the long run to add in the interest or carrying charge on the machine at the time the sale is made, and the contract is signed, explaining to the customer, however, that the charge is being added and telling him the amount. This charge is added to the principal and the total divided into the required number of equal payments. Thus the customer knows exactly the amount of his payment each month and there is no ground for misunderstandings over interest or carrying charges. Another manner in which the firm increases its record sales, works in the same basic idea as to selling 10 per cent of the value of the machine in records, and at the same time boosting the stock of phonographs as well, is a novel sales appeal whereby the public is told that if it will buy a certain number of records and pay cash for them, the firm will deliver a choice (Continued on page 24) M'f'g. Radio & Phonograph HARDWARE PERFECT Portable Needle Cup Open Stays Open Closed Keeps Closed Star Mach. & Nov. Co. Bloomfield, N. J. The Demand for Quality Never Ceases To learn the difference between ordinary Cotton Flocks and "QUALITY" Cotton Flocks, order a sample bale of our Standard No. 920 for Phonograph Record Manufacturing. CLAREMONT WASTE MFG. CO. Claremont, N. H. 22