The Edison phonograph monthly (Jan-Dec 1916)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, OCTOBER, 1916 Edison Phonograph Monthly Published in the interest of EDISON AMBEROLA PHONOGRAPHS AND BLUE AMBEROL RECORDS By Thomas A. Edison, Inc. ORANGE, N. J., U. S. A. Editorial The dealer who won't adver BusineSS Food tlse usually balks because he feels that money spent in this direction is money thrown away, just because he does not always see immediate results. He doesn't appreciate the fact that a business has to be nourished in order to make it produce and grow. He would not deny the necessity of planting and fertilizing a field and of feeding and caring for stock in order to get a profitable return in farm or dairy products. But he believes that business is a field that should produce golden grain without seeding — that it is a force that will move and produce without care or nourishment. The value of advertising is not debatable. It is an essential to successful business. It is the seed from which the harvest springs. A part of your profits should go into advertising. A little reasoning will convince you that money spent in this way is not only a necessary investment but the best investment you can make. Because the Amberola produces Inside wonderful results, you should Information^ not stand m awe °^ *ts mechanical features. It is exceedingly simple in construction and the operation of each component part can be readily comprehended by you if a slight study of it is made. You can learn how to locate and repair most of the difficulties that are caused by mishandling the instrument or neglecting it and, needless to say, this knowledge greatly increases your efficiency as a dealer. When an Amberola is out of order, each part should be given a thorough examination to determine whether or not the trouble lies with it. Do not take one look at the entire instrument and throw up your hands in despair. Do not go through it in a haphazard way, giving occasional parts superficial examination. Do not push one part and pull another, all at random, and believe that such an operation might do some good. Take one part at a time and examine it from every angle and, before your task is completed, you necessarily will have located the cause of the trouble. This is the method of the expert repairman and the method that every repairman should adopt. The article on "repeating" contains much that is of interest and importance to Amberola dealers, and we recommend that you give it a careful reading. A communication from J. Opportunity R Tolleson, of J. R. Tolleson & Company, Amberola dealers at Gaffney, South Carolina, brings to the attention the fact that many Amberola dealers are neglecting the opportunities that the recently arrived new era of the Amberola business offers. Mr. Tolleson, in his letter, states that for many years his concern did not pay much attention to the phonograph business and that it was only the interest that people in his district displayed in the Amberola that spurred them into activity. What has the result been? The concern has been obliged to abandon other less active and profitable business in order to afford more time and space to the Amberola business. They have been brought to a realization of the value of advertising, and they are using more and more publicity all the time. They have made a conscientious study of the best ways of merchandising the Amberola and Blue Amberol records and they are using methods that have been found effective and that are recommended by those who have learned their value from experience. Because of this rejuvenation and the discovery that the Amberola line is exceedingly active, the concern is profiting now and will continue to profit in the future. If you are neglecting your opportunities as J. R. Tolleson & Company did, why not profit by their experience? ♦ The place of the Home Demonstration phonograph is in the home and that is where it has the strongest appeal. Don't depend on store demonstrations only. There is a certain psychological influence in your favor if you succeed in placing an instrument in a home on a trial offer proposition. Once in a home, the Amberola immediately creates a place for itself. "Now that it is here, we might as well keep it," is the logical decision. And, in numerous cases, there it will remain. The best investment that an Amberola dealer can make is to acquire a stock of instruments that will enable him to make plenty of home demonstrations, and then supplement his stock by efforts to keep Amberolas out on trial as much as possible.