The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1916)

12 EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, MARCH, 1916 Sales Suggestions A NEW SALES FIELD THE enterprising dealer is always looking for new angles for selling. Following are some ideas on working a field which has been overlooked. Most factories have some sort of a room which is, or can be, used for recreation purposes. There is always a good portion of the workers who take their dinners with them, eating about the factory, The noon hour usually hangs heavily upon them for entertainment. Most employers are now broadminded enough, or believers in real efficiency enough, to realize that any entertainment their men would get during their noon hours would benefit them also. With this idea for a central argument, it should be found no task to get permission from the heads of the firm to give a noon concert to the men. If you cannot spare the time from the store or have not sufficient help to send a man, we would suggest that you can find a man, musically inclined, working in the factory, if it is large enough to warrant assigning a man for that one place. He can be easily taught your methods and ideas. But we are much in favor, and recommend strongly, that you yourself, or a trained salesman, go along and handle the affair, instead. You could take with you an Amberola 30. Be sure to take along literature describing the different models so that the men can take it home, for they surely will. Also, be prepared with agreements for possible sales. Often a man will take a sudden notion, then get over it. Catch him while he is "warm." Take along some funny records as well as popular airs. Have at least one classical record on tap but don't play it unless the class of work or factory is one employing men that would appreciate it; or, of course, unless a classical record is asked for. Be sure to invite the men to your shop, telling them they needn't "dress up," and to bring the family along to hear some more. Remember, also, in thus going after the men in the family that a man, who will hold his wife down on the purchase of anything like a phonograph, will buy one himself without turning a hair or making an excuse. If you don't think this is true, ask the women folk. In talking to men at the factory noon hour, you can put more stress upon the remarkable mechanical finish of the finer parts of the machine, the diamond point feature, etc. These will appeal more to a man. To a woman, alone, these features would mean little and would not persuade her as a talk on the influence and refinement of life, pleasure, etc., of a phonograph in the home. It's getting a prospect when attention is easy to arouse that lands many a sale. During noon hour, the men have to stay around the shop and have nothing to interest them. Don't give one concert and give it up if you don't make a sale from it. Also, don't give them too frequently or the men will consider that they might as well listen and enjoy it there without expense as at home. At the first concert, if you haven't what some would like to hear, encourage them to name selections they like. Remember that, despite the popularity of current "hits," you are sure of pleasing them by having some of the old-time favorites, such as "Annie Laurie," "Dixie," "The Last Rose of Summer," "Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms," "Old Black Joe," etc. Songs of these sort awaken in any man sentiments of his earlier life when sentiment was stronger in him, and his impressions were deeper. If the factory employ more women than men, then the situation is little altered. It is the same field of possibilities for sales. Only, and better yet, you have a much more impressionable lot of prospects, which fact prepares the way for sales to a marked degree. SALES INFLUENCE OF PHONOGRAPHS IN SCHOOLS DON'T neglect the opportunity of placing an Edison Diamond Amberola in a school, when it is possible to do it. The influence on the child of what is seen and heard in the school room has been proven to be of most permanent effect. Therefore, bear in mind, that if a child thinks of an Edison Diamond Amberola when it thinks of a "phonograph," your sales are bound to show the effect sooner or later. This sounds broad, but let us see. Their hearing a phonograph at school first of all creates in the children a desire they otherwise likely would not experience, except by chance. They become an auxiliary sales force for you. Home, to them, would be a better place if it had a "phonograph." They tell their parents so. Parents, with few exceptions, are more susceptible to their children's desires than to any influence outside the home. If you doubt this, recall what influences prompted many a home purchase— if you are intimately enough acquainted with the cases. Once the children have become used to