The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1909)

6 Edison Phonograph Monthly, March, 1909 Selling the Goods Two Kinds of Team Work There can be no real success in Edison Phonograph selling without team work. Team work means pulling together. When we advertise Edison Phonographs and Records in your locality through the magazines, and you advertise them through your local papers, that is team work. When we, in our advertising, tell people to go to their dealer — which means you — and hear an Edison play, and you, in turn, welcome all who come, and demonstrate the instrument to the best of your ability, that is team work. But team work means more than harmony between our efforts and yours. It means that your advertising and your store must agree, and this is something you should look closely to. When you display a hanger listing the new Records for the month and saying they are ready, are they? When a customer comes in and asks to hear certain ones, does he hear them? Or is he told that a particular one is sold out or that you have it but cannot lay your hand on it and will something else do? Do your window cards invite people to come in and listen to their heart's content, and when they accept, hnd that your idea of their heart's content is a Record or two, hurriedly played, and apparent displeasure on your part if they do not buy? Team work means carrying out your promises. It means instruments properly adjusted for perfect demonstration, so that what is claimed' for the Edison Phonograph and Records can be shown. It means a complete stock, systematically arranged so that what is wanted can be instantly found. It means courteous treatment of all who come in, whether they are prompted to call by a desire to buy, or merely by curiosity. Your store will never make the progress it should unless every selling force at your command is put to work and so arranged that all are pulling in the same direction. Demonstration Advertising will not sell Edison Phonographs. Your arguments over the counter will not sell them. Advertising excites a curiosity or arouses an interest, and that brings people to your store ; but a sale depends upon a demonstration. The expression "Show me" is generally credited to those skeptics who hail from Missouri, but when it comes to parting with money, everybody is a skeptic, and the "show me" of the Missourians has become a national catch phrase. Everybody says "show me" and everybody means, "convince me." The Edison Phonograph must convince people before they will buy, and therefore everything depends upon demonstrations. The definition of demonstrate is to produce proof that precludes denial. The demonstration of the Edison Phonograph is the vital thing in Phonograph selling. Every other selling effort but leads up to this. Our magazine advertising to your customers, your local newspaper advertising, your hangers, the printed matter you distribute, the windows you trim, the clerks you employ — everything we do and everything you do is practically wasted effort if the demonstration of the Phonograph fails to convince. If it fails it is the fault of the demonstrator. Given a Phonograph in perfect working order, properly oiled and adjusted, an Edison Record that is free from defects and a demonstrator who knows his business, and the Phonograph convinces. Its sweet tone and faithful reproduction of the singing voice and notes of instruments carry conviction. It proves itself better than any claim ever made for it. It bears out the enthusiastic endorsement of those who own one. It sells itself. But it suffers in inexperienced or careless hands. It must be wound ; it must be oiled ; it must be properly adjusted; it must be given perfect Records to play. Do you understand your Phonographs as well as you should? Are they always in order? Do you take the time to demonstrate them so as to bring out the best that is in them ? Are your