The talking machine world (July-Dec 1920)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD July 15, 1920 Developing the Vast Uncultivated Field of "Better Class" Prospects By Courtney Harrison | llillllllllllllllllllillllllilliUIUH A few days ago I made an interesting experiment. It happened this way. I had just been in for a chat with a furniture dealer friend of mine who handles talking machines. Notice 1 say "handles" them. Of course he sells a few of them every month, but I happen to know quite a bit about the "insides" of his business and I told him some time ago that I did Jiot think he was getting near the amount of tallying machine business he should; that he wa.s allowing his advertising man and sales force to consider them too much as a "side line." in other words, I told him he was letting talking machine business slip past his doors every day. His come-back was: "We can't see where it would pay us to put a lot of money in advertising the talking machine department individually, sending out special sales letters, or having salesmen devote too much time to this line. Anyway, you know what I think? I believe nine ouc of ten of .the better class of people, the people we want to do business with and who would be liable to visit our store to buy an instrument, already own one." I assured him, of course, that he was all wrong — that he still had a vast uncultivated field of "better class' prospects to sell machines to. But he didn't believe me. And so I made this experiment I started to tell you about. And here's what I did. I started out (it was then about 10 o'clock in the morning) and every business acquaintance or friend I came in contact with that day I asked him if he had a talking machine at his house. Remember, I didn't pick and choose. I met that day what you might call the "average run" of business men, taking them as they come, and to each and every one of them I put the question: "Have you a talking machine up at your place?" And if the answer was "no," I asked why my informant didn't own an instrument. I got some interesting information. First off, what do you suppose? Fifty per cent of the sixty-three business men I put the question to did not have a talking machine in their homes. To be exact, thirty-three owned instruments and thirty did not. Of course, it would not be possible to take up the necessary space here to tell what sort of people owned the most machines or why those who did not own them had not bought one, but I can and will set down a few interesting things iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy in connection with my several brief interviews. The first man I put the questions to was a chair manufacturer. I took it as a matter of course he would have a machine, as he certainly has money to buy anything he wants. But to my surprise he said he didn't own one. Why? He had no particular answer. The only thing definite I could get out of him was that "My wife and I have thought several times about getting one, but I guess nobody has kept after us hard enough to make us buy one." My next "victim" was an advertising man (of all people, he didn't own one either). He laughed when I asked why, and said: "Oh, I don't know hardly myself; of course we can afford it, but you know I guess there are so many ads claim ■ Many People Do Not 1 J Own a Talking Ma ■ B chine Because the J ■ Dealer Has NotUrged J ■ Them to Purchase ■ ing so many different things we never have gotten right down to brass tacks and picked out one. Now, I'm an advertising man, as you know, and if you put the question straight up to me to know what would 'get' me — of course I'm not the average case, understand — I would say that some music shop would have to either write a good sales letter, or send out -some sort of special invitation that would get my wife and me down to see and test the machine the store set out to sell us. My wife doesn't go out a great deal, and perhaps because she hears enough about advertising from me, she doesn't read ads a great deal. As I naturally would wait for her to take some initiative before I spent the money, some sort of appeal would have to reach her that would give her the right 'jolt.' But, as I said before, we are not average cases." My third and fourth, also the fifth man I talked to, all owned talkers (mechanical ones, I mean). The sixth chap was another who "didn't own." His reason was that he and his wife had been living with her folks until a month or two before, and as the old folks owned a machine the young people had not bought one. However, this man admitted that some day "the fever" would get him, and he would go down and buy a machine. Some day, he said, when some store ran his "buying temperature" up to the proper degree. The seventh man had no instrument either. Said they had a piano but his wife seldom played, v'as all out of practice. Had been intending all along to get a talking machine, but "just never had done it." And so it went throughout my interviews Some of these people, as pointed out, may have been exceptional cases to reach, but the most of them were just average, every-day, better class Americans. The fact that they had never bought a talking machine does not reflect on talking machine advertising or special talking machine sales efforts either. The cumulative publicity that is reaching them in one form or another will some day turn them into talking machine owners. In the meantime, the store that puts on extra steam and tries the hardest tc) reach them can cop off the sales, perhaps. But this was not intended to tell you particularly how to sell talking machines. It was more to show you the possibilities for making sales that are at hand. The experiment I made any one can make, and I believe you, yourself, will be surprised at the number of people who still do not o_wn talking machines. Try it to-day. Make it a point to ask every man you come in contact with whether or not he owns a talking machine. And if he doesn't, ask him why. It will help you to do a bigger, better business through helping you to get the right angle from which to appeal to the folks in your town. A. I. Namm & Son, Brooklyn, N. Y., have recently announced an increase in their capital stock from $1,000,000 to $2,500,000. This store has a large talking machine and record department. Reasons Why NYACCO Albums Are the BEST [In Six Chapters] CHAPTER I The first consideration in the making of a NYACCO album is having the back made of wood in one piece, reinforced with cloth hinges. This is a positive guarantee that the back will never loosen from the cover of the album. You can assure your customer of this when you sell him the album. Watch next issue for the second Chapter New York Album & Card Co. Executive Office 23-25 Lispenard St. New York, N. Y. Chicago Factory 415-17 S. Jefferson St. Chicago, 111. Boston, Mass.: Boston Talking Machine & Accessories Co. Chicago, 111.: T. J. Cullen Cole & Dunas Music Co. DISTRIBUTORS : Cleveland, O.: Cleveland Talking Machine Co. Milwaukee, Wis.: Yahr & Lange Drug Co. New York, N. Y.: Plaza Music Co. Philadelphia, Pa.: Penn Talking Machine Co. Pittsburgh, Pa.: C. C. Mellor Co. Standard T. M. Co. Washington, D.C.: E. F. Droop & Sons Co. a r>