The Edison phonograph monthly (Mar 1905-Feb 1906)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY. A PHONOGRAPH CLUB. Rockdale, Texas, Sept. 6, 1905. Here is a selling scheme that might be of interest to the trade. I have a Phonograph Club consisting of twenty members. Each member pays $1 per week for twenty weeks and the club buys one machine a week. Then they draw to see which member gets the machine that week, and the member who gets the machine does not draw again but pays his dollar every week till he has paid $20. The club takes a mortgage on the machine for balance due. You see, I sell a Standard machine a week to this club. I get cash for the machine and the club gets twenty weeks' time. You see this gives me a cinch on selling twenty Standard machines, and the members believe they have twenty weeks to pay for their Phonograph, but there is only one goes out every week till every member has a machine. The beauty of this plan is when a member draws for eight or nine weeks without getting a machine he will come in and pay the balance and get his machine. The way I manage the drawing is this : I write each man's name on a slip of paper and put it in a small envelope and seal it up. I draw one out each week and open it and the name inclosed gets the machine that week. I think when I get these twenty machines out, and others I sell to parties who do not belong to the club, I will have a fine Record business. I have handled other machines here but did not make a success of it as the price of the records was too high. I have got every one Phonograph crazy here now and I am expecting a large trade. J. B. Ashby. 500 EDISONS TO ONE OF ALL OTHERS. Albany, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1905. Your letter enclosing a reference to a prospective purchaser received. I appreciate your favor very much, and commend the adoption of your follow-up system. I think it will prove a great benefit to Dealers and Jobbers as well as to the National Phonograph Co. I have received many favorable comments on the fine list of records for September, both in regard to the tone and quality and the artists in general. While I handle other records besides Edison Gold Moulded Records, I sell but few of thein, for the Edison Records excell them all. I sell 500 Edison Records to every one of the other makes. Many of my patrons say, give me the Edison Record or none at all, even if the selection wanted is made by other companies and not on the Edison Record. When I first started in business, my store was small, but before long I had to get a larger place, thereby increasing my trade. I lock for a prosperous fall and winter business. Mark A. Ody, 1 122 Broadway. WANT NONE BUT EDISON MAKE. Bluffton, Indiana, Aug. 21, 1905. I formerly handled disc goods exclusively, but since I put in the Edison line my talking machine business has doubled many times over and I find it almost impossible to sell any other make. In fact, I have sold but one disc machine in seven months. The people don't want them after they hear the Edison. Your Records as you are now making them, are simply wonderful and outclass every other line. I find that it pays to carry a complete assortment prominently displayed. The arrangement of record stock which you illustrated in your August Phonograph Monthly', has been in use by me for some time. It is certainly fine and establishes the confidence and enthusiasm of customers the moment they enter my store. George D. Shigley. A FINE PHONOGRAPH STORE. Foster & Foster, Edison Dealers at Spokane, Wash., send the following description of their new store : "We now have the swellest Phonograph store in the Pacific Northwest, having the whole store, where heretofore we have only had half of it. The size of our store now is 20 x 60. It has two swell display windows. The interior decorations and woodwork are in dark golden oak, both sides of the store being shelved and numbered from 2 to 10,000, numerically arranged from o to 9. In the back of store we have arranged a shipping room and a very pretty Phonograph parlor, where we can take a prospective buyer and show him what a machine will do in a room similar to one in his home. The store is very high, and we have a balcony over these rooms which we will finish off later, and by double-decking the front part we will have lots of room. "The new Records from month to month are getting better and better, and we wonder if the company will ever quit improving." A STRONG ENDORSEMENT. Brown Brothers, of Great Eastern street, London, in a recent advertisement of their business used this unusually strong phrase: "Worth Handling; Genuine Edison Phonographs and Gold Moulded Records ; absolutely the most perfect talking machines and Records yet introduced." The italics are ours. It is significant when a firm with the standing of Brown Brothers, without solicitation, prints such a sweeping and unqualified endorsement of the Edison product. WHY HE IS SUCCESSFUL. Salem, Indiana, Aug. 18, 1905. Having noticed in this month's Phonocraph Monthly a description of F. L. Fritchey's "step" shelving as applied and used by some of the large Dealers of Edison goods, we thought possibly the readers of the Monthly might be interested in the application of the plan to the needs of the smaller Dealer in a town of 2,000 people. Our initial order for Edison goods was received some four months ago. Since that time we have done a very fine business and we attribute it tothe method of showing the goods, judicious advertising, and last, but not least, the superiority of Edison Phonographs and Records. In this section of the country we find that the price of the Edison Record as compared with the dollar records of the other kind, is a point to be emphasized in our advertising, and then, after the possible purchaser hears them and the musical tone produced, it is no trouble to self him an outfit. This may appeal to other small Dealers. There are other machines on sale in this town, but so far as we can learn, not one of them has been sold since we have been selling Edison goods. H. H. Routh & Son.