The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1908)

18 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. would it not be a good plan to begin right now to make plans for fall business? There may be changes in store arrangement that can be made at comparatively small cost and yet aid materially in increasing the attractiveness of the store to prospective customers. Nothing helps to keep the cogs of business running smoother than a good system of handling prospects, insuring the careful and prompt and constant following up of even the slightest expression of interest in the talker proposition. Dealers who have been lax in this respect in the past may well consider the installation of card index and filing systems. This can be done at small expense. Even home-made systems may be devised that will answer the purpose very well. The talking machine store should be headquarters for meritorious auxiliaries and appliances for machines of every kind, and the dealer who does not realize this misses opportunity for profit and also for reviving the interest of machine owners who may have allowed their talkers to fall into a condition of innocuous desuetude. It is needless to say that the advertising columns of The World furnish multitudinous suggestions along this line. Furthermore, western ingenuity in the inventive line is rapidly growing, and Chicago, besides being a great jobbing center for talking machines, is giving to the world a constantly increasing number of excellent devices for increasing the efiiciency of both types of machines. Finally, although the list has by no means been exhausted, the adding of good side lines which will serve the double purpose of increasing the dealer's profit, and by judicious advertising and window display will draw customers into the store, may be carefully considered. This, however, is another story which, by the way, is told in an effective manner from month to month in the side line department of The World. E. A. Parsons has been appointed retail sales manager of the Chicago branch of the Columbia Phonograph Co., and is taking hold with the vigor and ability to be expected of a man whose experience in the distributive end of the trade runs back to days when the first crude instruments appeared. Of late years Mr. Parsons has been affiliated with his brother, W. W. Parsons, in the commercial graphophone department of the Chicago house, but he has kept in close touch with the entertainment machine business, in which he was formerly a strong factor. It occurred to me to ask Mr. Parsons if he could give the readers of The World any pointers regarding the stimulation of retail sales during the traditionally dull summer months. "Possibly I can," remarked Mr. Parsons. "The talking machine has of late years become a very strong outdoor, as well as indoor, proposition. Its use on porches and on lawns, in a private way, at lawn fetes, outdoor entertainment of all kinds, at summer resort cottages, on yachts, etc., is steadily growing. The army of canvassers which worked the local field last year piled up an imposing volume of sales by going from lawn to lawn in the residence district during the summer, provided with a machine and a choice selec tion of records. No more resultful demonstration can be imagined than to start a machine going on one lawn, as a large proportion of the residents of the block will gather around you. You can soon locate those in the crowd who are especially interested and have n6 machines of their own, and these people you can follow to their homes and give them a special concert. Some of the salesmen who worked so effectively last summer told me that not only did they build up a fine line of prospects every night they went out, but that not infrequently they closed deals on the spot. After the coming issue of The World appears there will be at least six weeks during which this kind of campaign can be effectively carried on, and I believe that any dealer in city or town who adopts the plan will find it instrumental in securing an excellent volume of business in spite of hot weather and "business depression.' Furthermore, I am inclined to goodnaturedly criticize some dealers who drop their newspaper advertising during the summer months or reduce it nearly to the vanishing point. While I admit that it may be wise to do your heaviest advertising at other seasons, still a fair amount of judicious publicity will go far to maintain the interest of the public and sales by the dealer during the torrid months." President E. R. Johnson, of the Victor Talking Machine Co., was in Chicago for an hour or two on Tuesday of this week and left for the East. J. F. Bowers, secretary of Lyon & Healy and president of National Talking Machine Jobbers' Association, left Wednesday night for Asbury Park, N. J., where he will locate his family for the summer before getting into the whirl of the convention at Atlantic City this week. It is only due Mr. Bowers to say that whatever is accomplished at the convention will be due in large measure to the energetic propaganda for membership and the impetus he has given to the formation of plans of action since the organization of the association a year ago. He has not only inspired his associates in the active work of the association with the chronic desire for new members, but by personal solicitation and vigorous letter writing has himself landed many of the most important concerns in the country, some of whom were not membei-s of either the western or eastern bodies which existed prior to their consolidation into the national association. Mr. Bowers has made frequent trips during the past year at his own expense in order to spend Sunday with Secretary Perry B. Whitsit in conference regarding association matters. The result of these conferences in the furtherance of the work could not have been obtained through correspondence. Mr. Bowers, by the way, has frequently expressed his appreciation of Mr. Whitsit in building up the organization. E. H. Uhl, manager of the western business of the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., of Cincinnati, and the most valued member of the executive committee of the national association, who is now East, will make a trip of the Great Lakes before returning to Chicago. F. K. Dolbeer, of the National Phonograph Co.. Edison Jobber Zonophone Distributor Carrying Cases Wire Record Racks INDESTRUCTIBLE RECORDS RECORD CABINETS SPRINGS '<"■ 3II makes and sizes QUILL NEEDLES "TIZ-IT" ^'"^ All-Metal Horn Connection for Cylinder Machines JAMES I LYONS 265 Fifth Avenue CHICAGO spent a few hours in Chicago on Monday of this week on his return from an extended trip to the Coast. Your correspondent did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Dolbeer this time, but he is quoted as saying that he found business in the talking machine line very fair throughout the far west, while in Spokane it was exceptionally good, and that the trade there did not know, as far as business was concerned, that there had ever been anything in their section that even made a noise like a panic. Mr. Dolbeer attended the convention of National Credit Men's Association in Denver as a delegate, expressed himself as highly pleased with their deliberations, and also praised the convention hall, which in size, appointments and acoustic properties, should make Denver one of the great convention cities of the country. A. V. Chandler, the famous baked potato philosopher, who looks after local trade for -the Edison, has been making a series of short trips within a radius of 100 miles of Chicago. He was impressed with the abundance of the cherry crop. "The cherries are there, and all you have to do is to pick them," remarked he in a tone of voice that signified that the epigram could be applied in a trade sense. Burnett's Music House, Edison and Victor dealers, have moved from 1043 to 1034 Lincoln avenue. John Otto, manager of the retail talking ma TWO IMPORTANT ITEMS FOR EVERY JOBBER STANDARD NEEDLES Are the best on the market. A trial will convince you of the truth of this statement. SIX SIZES EXTRA LOUD TONE MEDIUM LOUD TONE SOrr TONE LOUD TONE MEDIUM TONE PEERLESS OR MUSICAL TONE DISC RECORD ENVELOPES We carry an immense stock, at all times, of an Extra Strong Manila Envelope in following sizes : 8'4x 8'.i FOR 8 INCH RECORDS lOMxIOM " 10 " i2Mxl2y " 12 " •• Hole in center and without flap SPECIAL ENVELOPES MADE TO ORDER OUR PRICES ON BOTH ARE VERY INTERESTING AND WILL SURELY SAVE YOU MONEY. WESTERN TALKING MACHINE AND SUPPLY CO. No. 6 MADISON STREET, CHICAGO WRITE TODAY FRANK DILLBAHNER, Prop. SEND US YOUR HORN WANTS. 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