The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1910)

10 Edison Phonograph Monthly, Oct., 1910 Selling the Goods How does the new Record Exchange Plan strike you? Pretty fair and liberal solution of the question, isn't it? We don't think there will be much difference of opinion about it. It's clearly up to you, Mr. Dealer, to see that the new plan produces just the results we intend it shall, and the sooner you get started on it just so much the sooner will those results be brought about. Special literature — a catalog of the 500 Records, a window hanger and a post-card — will leave the factory in a day or two. The latter form is an invitation to the phonograph owner to call at your store and learn how to dispose of his present stock of Records. Meanwhile, don't sit down and wait for this literature to arrive. You can't afford the delay. Get busy at once, if you haven't done so, and advertise the plan in every way possible. Remember that the more you deplete your customer's stock of worn out or undesirable Records, the more room you make for sales of Records from the regular catalog and the quicker your stock of slow selling Records will go; and all the time you are making a profit of 4c. on every one of such Records you sell. Go at it hammer and tongs and clean up all the old stuff in your territory. You will make the owners of such Records steady customers for the new supplements and in addition will acquaint them with the brand new features of the line. In other words you will convert them from diffident machine owners to enthusiastic and regular purchasers of Edison goods. to draw upon. Put in a card at once — and make it one that will be sure to catch the eye of the passer-by — on the Record Exchange offer, something like: OLD EDISON RECORDS EXCHANGED FOR NEW STEP INSIDE AND ASK US FOR DETAILS We frequently pass Dealers' stores which are as free of window cards as a hen is of teeth. Wrong — dead wrong. There isn't another line of goods on the market in which there are more suggestions for catchy, attractive cards as the Edison line. You have a big catalog of standard and popular stuff; you get the latest "hits" as they come out; the various types of machines and accessories are rich in suggestions. Consider the window card, therefore, and make liberal use of it during the coming season. Just now, with the Amberola, the new Model "O" Reproducer, the Combination Attachment and Promotion Plan propositions and the Record Exchange offer, you have a world of material In some States, particularly in the South and West, county fairs will be held all through the month of October and well into November. Wise is the Dealer who secures a space at his local county fair and makes an attractive display of his goods. He is making an investment which will pay him manifold, both in immediate and future profits. The people who attend exhibits on this order are for the most part the people whose opportunities for entertainment during the Winter months are necessarily limited. They are, therefore, easily impressed by anything which offers such splendid possibilities of entertainment and fun during the "shut-in" period as does the Edison. Dealers who are fortunately so located as to be able to draw upon this class of trade, and who are given the opportunity of appealing to it at a county fair, make a big mistake if they fail to do so. Concerts are the best kind of publicity. The Dealer who hasn't made some preparation for a series of concerts at his store during the fall and winter is negligent, criminally negligent, of his opportunities. There is absolutely no better means of educating the people of your town to a proper appreciation of the present-day development of the Edison and of adding to your roster of good Record customers than a well advertised concert. Dealers who have once tried this plan have never abandoned it. We have yet to hear of a solitary instance where it can be truly said that a series of concerts, advertised and conducted as they should be, have failed to bring satisfactory results. By all means give the concert plan a trial if you have never done so. All sales arguments and advice are fruitles if your stock is not complete.