The talking machine world (Oct-Dec 1921)

December 15, 1921 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD 59 Customers should not be permitted to fall behind in their regular payments without first advising you of their inability to meet them and secure your permission for an extension of time. Opinions vary as to what policy should be pursued in making collections and enforcing payments. Some believe in allowing customers to let their payments become past due for several months before taking a firm stand, but it is a noticeable fact that the greater number of large, experienced instalment merchandisers use the most aggressive methods to enforce payments, and this fact would seem to indicate that this policy is the one most productive of results. If you secure a loan from your bank and give your note payable on a certain date you are going to pay that note or see the banker on or before the date due and make arrangements for a renewal. You will not expect the banker to call you up a few days or a month later to remind you that you have not met it. There is no more reason why you should expect one of your customers to consider his obligations to you any differently or as something of no importance, and if the payments are not met promptly you should learn the reason at once, with a definite promise when they will be made. Accounts cannot be watched properly unless it is done in a systematic manner. A good way is to refer to the ledger every Monday, see what payments were not made during the past week and write a letter to all delinquents, callthis fact to their attention. One week later it will be necessary to look again to see if all those having received letters responded or made the payment in question. If no attention has been paid to the letters the accounts should then be placed in the hands of your collector, in many stores the manager or proprietor himself. It should be remembered, however, that your customers should be taught to call at the store with the money and not encouraged to wait for a collector or n. salesman to call at their homes for it. Houses employing one or more collectors find that these men seldom seem to grasp the fact that accounts are payable at the office and not at the homes, but collectors, with few exceptions, seem to like to return from the day's work with a pocketful of money, probably to show that they have been on the job and, accordingly, encourage the customer to wait for them to call. Large establishments catering to the poorer class are the exception, for the reason that people of this class must be seen as soon as they receive their pay, otherwise other houses will get it all, leaving nothing for the house that does not send collectors. The use of printed forms notifying people that their payment is past due is not encouraged. A printed form immediately discloses the fact that there are many others who are in arrears. Letters written individually to each are far more effective. The first letter to be sent when a payment is missed should be very fair, explaining the situation to them, appealing to their good intentions, giving them an opportunity to call and either make the payment or explain why this cannot be done at once. The second should be along the same lines, but expressing surprise that the first one was given no attention. The third should be much stronger. If no attention has been paid to three letters you are justified in writing very pointedly and setting a definite time to make settlement "before you take steps to enforce collection which might prove embarrassing to them." By send Warbletone Record Renewer Cleans and polishes old records and makes them sound and look like new. Cleans the grooves and the general surface, removing dust, grit and foreign matter without the least injury to the sound grooves themselves. This new invention gives new voice and renewed tone to records and will positively clarify articulation. One bottle will last indefinitely. Very simply applied. Immensely valuable to dealers as ^ well as to machine owners. "2 drops to a record." If your jobber cannot supply you order direct. Price 50 cents per bottle retail. Liberal discounts. WARBLETONE MUSIC CO. 225 Ma.«achu8elU Ave. INDIANAPOLIS. IND. ing such letters no one would be justified in complaining about receiving strong letters, because you have written at least two which explained the situation to them and given them every opportunity to call at your store to explain matters if their intentions were good. By writing a mild letter in the beginning and gradually working up to a strong one you have the best of an argument before it starts. Ordinarily, the first letter should be sent out a few days after the first payment has been NEW LIBROLA FOLDER Seaburg Mfg. Co. Issues Artistic Folder — Librola's Distinctive Features Illustrated J.\MEST0WN, N. Y., December 5. — The Seaburg Mfg. Co., of this city, manufacturer of the Librola phonograph, has just issued an artistic four-page folder which can be used to splendid advantage by Librola dealers. The front page is designed in several colors, featuring an illustration that combines a sales message with human interest. In the two center pages are illustrated various missed, as has already been stated, and the other letters should follow about one week apart. If you have good reason for doubting the ability or intentions of a new customer to make the payment it would be advisable to send a representative at once, but in ordinary cases a letter system works out in a satisfactory manner and teaches the new customer that payments are to be made at the office and all extensions of time must be granted by your office before the payment becomes due. models in the Librola line, among which are the No. 125, retailing for $125; the Louis XVI, retailing for $150, and another model of the Louis XVI, retailing for $200. All of these models are designed as consoles, and, in addition, there is a No. 110 upright, Adam design, retailing for $85, and a console cabinet design to accommodate the small table models of the standard machines. On the fourth page of this interesting folder there is presented a brief sales message, calling attention to some of the distinctive merits of the Librola. One of the features of this instrument is the fact that two-thirds of the top is stationary. Write for prices 1 ' <Sphinx Gramophone Motors Lc. 21 East 40th St. NEW YORK CITY