The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1916)

12 EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, JULY, 1916 CREATING A SUMMER DEMAND FOR THE AMBEROLA THERE is an old tradition that business must slump in summer and that it is impossible to sell anything but ice during the warm months. We suspect that many of our dealers are being deluded by this old tradition and are losing many sales and much profit as a result. We have an idea that we have become wise to the old tradition at last, and, while we have a due reverence for things that are old and venerable, we believe that it is high time that the impression that the warm weather handicaps business should be abandoned. Under modern conditions most people have money all the year round and spend it all the year round, so why should there be any summer slump? Many Diamond Amberolas can be sold during the spring and summer. However, sales cannot be made in summer merely by wishing. You cannot relax your efforts in any way and expect to make the sales that you make in the winter. But, by directing your efforts along the right lines, you can make many sales in summer that otherwise would never materialize. And why shouldn't you? Isn't summer the very season of the year when the greatest amount of money is spent for amusement and for luxuries? You know that people save their money during winter in order that they may have a good time when summer comes. During the warm months that are ahead of us millions of dollars will be spent for vacations, ice-cream, baseball, and other things that are considered as summer necessities. When you give the question a little consideration you will come to the conclusion that the Diamond Amberola is just as attractive as any of the other things for which people spend money so freely during the summer, and if you can show them just where and how this is so you will get a good slice of the money that is being saved to buy amusement and comfort during the next few months. In creating this demand you must bear in mind that you cannot successfully use the arguments in favor of the Diamond Amberola that you use in winter. You have been advertising and selling the Amberola on its merits as an entertainer inside the house. Now reverse your argument and so feature the instrument that you will make it seem indispensable outside and away from the house; on the porch, on the lawn under the trees, at the summer home, in camp, etc. Every form of publicity that you use should be permeated with the idea that the Amberola is an essential factor to the enjoyment of summer and greatly enhances the enjoyment of vacation time. Contrast the permanent pleasure that a phonograph will afford with the fleeting pleasures that are derived from other forms of diversion that absorb so much money in summer. Make the Amberola more desirable than a month's trip to the seashore or mountains. You often have wished that you could sell as many Diamond Amberolas in the summer as you do in winter. You can if you defy the old summer slump tradition and take advantage of the opportunities that the warm season brings. INSPECT RETURNED RECORDS EDISON dealers who take advantage of the record return allowance can assist both jobbers and manufacturers by making a careful inspection of all records that are returned for credit. All dealers know that the terms of the agreement under which records may be returned provide that no cylinder that is cracked, broken, worn, etc., is returnable under the return allowance. Despite this fact, the factory is constantly receiving records which have been damaged in use or handling. This is primarily the fault of the dealers, and secondarily the fault of the jobbers. No record should be returned to the jobber under the return allowance by the dealer unless it is in perfect condition, but, at the same time, the jobber should inspect the records that come to him before he ships them to the factory. Every record that is returned to the factory is inspected and faulty records are certain to be discovered. When they are found they are returned, all such shipments being made at the expense of jobber or dealer, the loss falling eventually upon the latter. For this reason the dealer will save both time and money by making a careful examination of the records he returns for credit under the return allowance and determining that none of them are in a damaged condition. PHONOGRAPHIC ODDS AND ENDS A Philadelphia surgeon has a phonograph played while his patients are being given an anaesthetic and when they are recovering sensibility following an operation. The music is provided on the theory that it lessens the nerve shocks that invariably accompany a surgical operation. From 1909 to 1914, according to statistics recently compiled, the output of phonographs increased 49.4 per cent. In the same period of time the number of pianos of all kinds manufactured in the United States decreased 10.6 per cent. Phonograph music is to be provided for the inmates of death cells in New Jersey in order to prevent the incessant brooding that condemned men suffer from so acutely.