The talking machine world (Aug-Dec 1919)

The Talking Machine World » Vol. 15. No. 9 New York, September 15, 1919 Price Twenty-five Cents GOING OUT AFTER BUSINESS PAYS Canadian Dealer Builds Up Business by Taking Talking Machines Out Into the Country Districts— Seldom Loses a Sale — Reason Why Winnipeg, Man., September 4. — Many hardware dealers throughout Canada are taking on talking machines as a side line and making a success of it. The case of W. E. N. King, of Neepawa, offers a striking illustration of the success that awaits the man who goes out after business. Mr. King does not wait for the customer to come to his store, but goes out and finds him. A motor car has been fitted with a platform large enough to hold four cabinet machines, and in this Gar Mr. King sallies out into the country and seldom comes back with a machine. The idea came to him several years ago when he found it worth while to go out into the adjoining territory to sell oil to farmers using tractors. When he added musical instruments to his business he decided to try the same plan in the selling of talking machines and pianos, for the only way to meet the mail order competition was to see the farmer before he sent his order away. In discussing his business methods with the World correspondent, Mr. King said: "I have two methods of going after outside business. One of these is to take advantage of every tip we can get of where goods can be placed, and the other is by literally going out and taking the business by the throat, that is to say, by a straight canvass. "In the former case I find that quick action is essential. As a case in point, on the Saturday just before last Christmas a farmer came into my store to buy a few articles, and I noticed him examining the cabinet models. I did not press him to buy, but asked him if he was thinking of making a purchase. 'You know me,' he said. 'My name is , I live out by Arden. If you are out that way sometime I will look at your machine.' "On the following Monday morning I was out at this house about breakfast time, and I hadl driven about eleven miles. The farmer helped me to carry in the machine and did not seem surprised at my visit. I made a sale, and also disposed of thirty records. When I had made out a lien note payable after threshing the farmer surprised me by making a heavy cash payment on account." Mr. King made a sale to the farmer's brother across the road in spite of the latter's objections to all talking machines in general. Having the goods right on the spot brought results and showed the advantages of going after the business instead of waiting for it. TALKING MACHINE EXPORTS GROW Exports, Including Records, for Twelve Months Ending June 30, 1919, Total $4,543,332 Washington, D. C, August 1. — In the summary of exports and imports of the commerce of the United States for the month of June, 1919 (the latest period for which it has been compiled), which has just been issued, the following figures on talking machines and records are presented: The dutiable imports of talking machines and parts during June, 1919, amounted in value to $35,921, as compared with $45^,028 worth which were imported during the same month of 1918. The twelve months' total, ending June, 1919, showed importations valued at $318,239, as compared with $355,785 worth of talking machines and parts imported during the same period of 1918. Talking machines to the number of 4,531, valued at $177,229, were exported in June, 1919, as compared wth 2,978 talking machines, valued at $104,249, sent abroad in the same period of 1918. The twelve months' total showed that we exported 49,717 talking machines, valued at $1,544,870, as against 91,217 talking machines, valued at $2,610,866, in 1918 and 78,669 talking machines, valued at $1,987,878, in 1917. The total exports of records and supplies for June, 1919, were valued at $345,143, as compared with $216,584, in June, 1918. For the twelve months ending June, 1919, records and accessories were exported, valued at $2,998,4o2, in 1918 and $2,073,463 in 1917. COAST GUARD WANTS VICTR0LA Crew of Rockaway Station Want Someone to Send Them a Machine The shortage of talking machines is affecting not only the dealers, as the following letter shows. Willis D. Abrams, a surfman stationed off Fort Tilden, N. Y., sent out this plea through the columns of the New York Herald: "I am writing to you in behalf of the crew of this station, hoping that through the medium of your paper we can obtain a Victrola. "This station is at the lower end of Rockaway Point and is three miles from the nearest village where any amusement can be had. Liberty is granted to the men every eight days. Because of the fact that only nine men are on duty we have been more or -less overlooked by the different charitable organizations. "Whatever service you may render us in this line will be greatly appreciated by this crew. Thanking you in adVance, we remain the crew of Coast Guard Station No. 92." The Eskimos, in spite of their rather out-ofthe-way location at the top of the world, have been able to keep up with the things of the warmer hemisphere without any difficulty. They have their talking machines and1 know the popular songs of days gone by. Styles in music do not reach them as rapidly as is the case with us, but one traveler who had dreams of winning a fortune from the seal hunters of the ice fields was sadly disappointed. Thinking of the happenings of history, when the savages fell down and worshiped various inventions of civilized mankind, W. M. Thompson of St. Michael, Alaska, conceived the idea of taking a talking machine into the North and bringing home great wealth. He thought that to the natives this invention would be amazing and they would worship it and him as a god. He chose for his scene of operations Northern Siberia and the results of his expedition are both interesting and illuminating. To a West Coast correspondent he tells the following story of himself: "It was along in the early spring of 1904 that my two partners and I were figuring on what we could do to make some easy money. Things were rather quiet around St. Michael, the first boats from the States not yet having come in as the ice had not broken up sufficiently, and we thought our wits might turn up a few thousand dollars of easy money. Finally we hit on the scheme of separating Siberian natives from their stores of valuable skins and walrus ivory in exchange for the inexpensive but gaudy beads and junk that we could get at the trading companies' stores. So we outfitted a small schooner with enough supplies to last during the summer cruise, and laid in a fine stock of 'trade' to tempt the village beaux and belles. "But the piece de resistance we had in mind was one of those old one-cylinder phonographs with the horn. This was to be our magic, and IMPORTANCE OF DEMONSTRATIONS Danger of Overdoing Always an Unpleasant Possibility in This Work The demonstration of talking machines has been called merely practical advertising of certain facts and making them so clear to the hearer that the merits of the machine are at once understood. Some have thought that the demonstration was such an easy matter that it was not of any very great importance, but in this they are wrong. It is easily possible for the demonstration to defeat its own purpose if it is done by someone who does not realize the true worth of what he is doing. The experienced salesman who is thoroughly conversant with all the pitfalls of his calling is well aware of this fact and recognizes it as an unpleasant possibility. The demonstration may be overdone if the salesman overdoes the work of trying to make the process attractive and pleasing, and the wide-awake dealer or salesman is the one who has learned to know the proper time to demonstrate, the right numbers to use to suit the individual and the right people to demonstrate to. The successful store manager is the one who realizes that the value of demonstration plays a very important part in his sales and sees to it that his men are instructed in the work they are called upon to do. Carroll G. Smythe, of the Binghamton Phonograph Co., Binghamton, N. Y., has recently remodeled the Sonora department of the store and the facilities for handling the large shipment of Sonoras which has just been received are greatly improved. with the 'god-box' on our side, the aboriginal David Harums could be induced to come down a few notches in their demands. So we bought the machine and a few records, which were so old that I have forgotten the titles of any of them. But they were the kind that had a preliminary introduction by the company before the band started to scratch out the tune in question. This outfit cost us $240, and we figured we could make it return about $5,000 in dividends. "So we sailed with our hopes high, and soon made the north coast of Siberia, on the Bering Sea, and skirted along the mainland until we sighted a good-sized village, and then anchored. As usual, the natives came out in their kyaks, or skin canoes, and climbed aboard to see what our business was. The old chief was the first to greet us, delivering a guttural address of welcome, and after the rest of the ceremonies were over we decided to spring our big card. So we hauled out the machine, wound it up and put on the record showing the least signs of wear. The first stanza of 'In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree' came out according to Hoyle, and the crowd was still standing. There were smiles on their faces, as if they were waiting for something, and when the chorus began we got the surprise of our lives. Every one of those unwashed denizens of the Arctic circle chipped in with the chorus and sang it to perfection. "When we recovered enough to ask questions we found out that a missionary in the interior had a talking machine and the natives had been listening to the records for the last year, and knew them all by heart. But we traded the machine off to the chief for a couple of blue fox pelts that brought a neat little profit on the machine anyway. But the next fellow that tells me of the wild savage tribes burying their faces in the dirt when a new contraption is shown them will have to tell a good one." TALKING MACHINE FAILS TO WIN FORTUNE IN ARCTIC Progressiveness of Explorer Who Took Talking Machine and Records With Him to the Frozen North Fails to Impress the Eskimos, Who Were Already Familiar With That Form of Music See Index of Advertisers on Last Page