The talking machine world (July-Dec 1922)

4 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD September IS, 1922 illlllllll Profitable Plan for Keeping in Touch With Earning Power of Salesmen ■■■■ By a. m. Burroughs, C y Burroughs Adding Machine Co. Consider these two facts. They are vital in retail music store merchandising. And no dealer can ignore them long and continue to make fair profits in his business. L A clerk's salary should represent no more than a fixed "sales expense" percentage of the total merchandise he sells. 2. Merchandise yields the biggest profit when it is sold the day it is put on the shelf. Let us illustrate the first. A music store proprietor has a clerk to whom he is paying $25 a week. The proprietor knows from his records that he can allow, say, five cents out of every dollar's worth of goods sold for the salary part of selling expense. If the clerk sells $500 worth of goods a week he is just barely earning his wages. If he is selling less than that he is losing money for you. Keeping him on, under such circumstances, is neither fair to you nor to the clerk. As to Fact No. 2. A unit of merchandise is unpacked and placed on display. After the first day it begins to eat up possible profits as viciously as a rat destroys cheese. Suppose that it occupies four square feet of floor room. You are paying $40 a month for 400 square feet. Then you arc paying approximate!} 10 cents a week rent on that unit. Besides that, you possibly have money at 6 per cent invested in it. You are paying insurance on it. All the time it is on the floor it is getting shop worn, it is lowering its original finish or its style — in short, its salability. What is the solution? How is a dealer to know whether a clerk is earning his salary? How is he. to know what goods are moving and what are not? Perhaps we can borrow from the experience of a music dealer in the mid-West. He has worked out a system that answers those questions for him satisfactorily. There are two simple records in his system. They are headed up "Sales by Clerks" and "Sales by Departments." The first thing each morning the proprietor, or his stenographer-bookkeeper, sorts the sales slips by clerks. He happens to have seven clerks. The illustration would be just as good if he had one or two. The clerks' sales for the previous day are listed and totaled in the proper columns on the "Sales by Clerks" form. The bookkeeper then finds the total sales for each clerk for the month to date. In his desk are records of this sort for several months. Thus the proprietor has, at his fingers' tips, complete information about the usefulness of every clerk in his employ. He pays every man a fair wage and every one of Sales by Departments s. I <?i2 1SOO 25 OO 2S00 27 50 2800 2100 5500 4500 5400 6500 3500 27.50 2400 2 500 5-75 395 27-50 675 2300 19.50 4500 395 5400 6O.00 4 0.5 0 675 2.249B7 3.000-52* Ted*,', TmiI I 4.00 27 5 450 1.95 1.95 24 5 1 500 245 19 5 1.25 1.00 200 7 5 as 5 5435 101.69 Sales by Clerks Bene 11 Ear" a Kills HtlJUC Proprietor1 1Q50 2200 12 5 6.75 4.5 6 12 5 3.4 5 4.56 220 125 340 125 220 50 76 125 4.50 6.75 320 es 10.2 0 450 63143 14569 2S00 3500 546 567 4.30 240 3.30 500 500 500 315 14 167 10491 4 5.00 1 1 250 4.75 1350 67 8 7.6 5 345 225 320 90 90 75 3,60 5.4 O 50 90 4436 5110 1 250 L4 9 1 200 14 5 4.50 3.45 4 30 335 420 25 0 22 5 300 220 150 640 4.50 515 B 654B 3.2 5 6.75 547 696 4.32 345 125 4.45 3500 500 165 1-2 5 40 620 ISO 6O0 500 320 A 5.00 6 7.50 7.5 4 4.54 10.30 6.16 4.60 646 22 3 240 52 4.00 50 230 650 5 ROD 21.25 205 504 12 5 223 SOO 4.90 45 4.35 637 225 75 25 38 12 5 2 350 1.6 9 5Q.OO 65 325 4.25 26 e 462 4.90 345 360 260 3.20 125 4.20 fi.75 2 B7 5 6.04 545 125 24 5 540 SOO 500 SO E 0 3.4 6 22 5 400 2500 3500 A SOO 123 25 4.35 90 675 100 4,56 54 0 135 1 0.2 S 5.45 B30 4.50 SOO 2SO 6.35 345 1 611*35 1 46.69 S 14L67S 1 0491 5 4 4 36 S S 110 S 5156 S 6 5485 1 2 3 7.2 2 3 2 X.8 1 9 A 3 511-70 50269 3 07.6 7 136.36 1464 0 15 269 105B5 3.68279 3 2.4 s aas* 65B39« 61436* 412561 1 e 0.7 2 • 1 9 7.5 0 e 204.27* 17133* 492 G.013 tfHU T>U> J. ToUt tor MoCth Two simple forms for keeping track of daily sales by finding daily sales totals them knows that he is rated on results alone. In addition to keeping each clerk's sales for the month to date some merchants also figure out the salary part of the selling expense with.in the limits which have been fixed and what clerks need immediate attention. When the time comes to adjust salaries these merchants consider their records of "Sales by Clerks." Every adjustment is made fairly and without jeopardizing the margin of profits that is due them. Last week I called on the mid-West merchant. The store was full of customers. Every one of the clerks was working at top speed. Over the hum I could hear such urgings as these: "Have you ever heard this record, Mr. Wilkins? Customers tell us it's fine." Or, "You'll find this machine will just suit your purpose, Mrs. Hopkins. It is put out by a good, reliable house. The XYZ Co., you know. You've seen their attractive advertisements in all the national magazines, of course." This mid-West dealer watches his departments just as closely as he does his clerks. Each one has got to earn its share of profits or furnish a good reason for not doing so. After figuring the total sales by clerks the bookkeeper figures them by departments. Each one has a certain quota. This quota is based on a certain number of turnovers a year. The prop r i e t o r knows that a department that falls below this quota is losing him clerks and by departments and money as surely as though a thief were sneaking it out of the cash register. With accurate sales facts always at hand he can buy with greater assurance. He can jackup in lines that are slack — in fact, he knows exactly where he stands. What he can and does do every music store proprietor can do. It isn't a case of wonderful personality, advertising or sa.es stunts or peculiar methods. It is simply a case of getting the facts and using them intelligently. But, first of all, get the facts. THE TALKING MACHINE'S HELPMATE NYACCO Albums Fall Business Right Price, Service, Increased Sales, Quality, Strength and Durability — all are found in NYACCO alburns. These qualities mean dollars and cents to you. Plan now for your fall business. Plan to sell NYACCO albums this fall. NYACCO albums make satisfied customers and develop reorders. Write us for quotations and prices — To-day. Dealers, a beautiful colored display card, 1 1 in. by 14 in., mailed upon request. JOBBERS and DISTRIBUTORS— How many do you want? The Only Loose-Leaf Record Album on the Market New York Album & Card Co., Inc. NEW YORK 23-25 Lispenard St Western Coast Factory Representative, E. R. DARVILL — Munson Raynor Corp., 315 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, Cal. A. W. CHAMBERLAIN New England Factory Representative 174 Tremoot St., Boston, Mass. CHICAGO 415-417 S. Jefferson St.