The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1914)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. 17 Columbia records of song hits are real hits— hits as songs and hits as sales. (Write for "Music Money," a book "full of meat" for those dealers interested in quick and frequent turnover of capital.) Columbia Graphophone Company Woolworth Building, New York T. H. E. PUBLIC, ESQ., THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSOURI. Prospective Purchasers of To-day Demand Lucid and Reasonable Explanations from Merchants in Place of the Old-Style Meaningless Generalities Regarding Products to be Bought — Something of the "Department of Detail" for Talking Machine Stores. The age of lavish explanations has arrived, Mr. Dealer, and in order that you may retain the patronage of the supercurious, you must expound yo.ur trade gospel exhaustively as well as entertainingly. You must also develop your Department of Detail to a state of high efficiency. The times demand these things from yo.u. To-day, in order that a talking machine salesman may take his place in the proficiency class, he must 'be a veritable encyclopedia of phonographic lore. He must be able to speak the 'ola language as fluently and exactly as a college professor emits Tschechisch or Croatian. Summing up concisely, he must know it all. Every establishment where talkers are dispensed should pay particular heed to the development of its Department of Detail. Never before was attention to the smaller things of such vital importance. This situation has been brought to light largely through the medium o.f various worthy sundries which, when attached to the talking machine, add to its musical excellence. I have found in my tramps along the trade trail that this subject of detail is not given the care it deserves. 1 have visited a half dozen talker shops in Brooklyn, New York City and Philadelphia within the past few weeks where the matter of sundries was a dead issue. Does not this illustrate my po.int that the detail end of the talking machine business is being neglected? Such a state of affairs is a menace to trade for this reason : When T. H. E. Public, Esq., reads in a popular magazine an attractively displayed advertisement regarding an article that promises to make his Musicola more melodious at the modest o.utlay of a dollar or two, he determines to investigate. He calls forthwith upon John Jones, proprietor of The Graph & Phone Co., Inc., and asks for the article he has seen advertised. He goes further than that ; he demands a demonstration, and he desires it in a hurry. Then, by way of making his remarks emphatic and acquainting Mr. Jones with his identity, he shouts that he is from Missouri. To his supreme disgust, he finds that not only has Jones neglected to put the attachment he is interested in in stock, but has never heard of it. He departs amid vituperative fireworks, and his opinions regarding The Graph & Phone Co., Inc., are no.t publishable. It seems to the writer that the best and easiest way to overcome this difficulty would be to peruse more carefully the pages of your trade journal. If you made it a rule, Mr. Dealer, to pass The Talking Machine World among your employes when you were through with it, and made it clear that you desired it read carefully, good results could not but accrue. The salesman who makes a practice of becoming thoroughly familiar with the contents of such a publication monthly will find himself in a position to answer any question put to him lucidly and to the point. One dealer o.f my acquaintance keeps a tabulated list of sundries on hand for the use of his salesmen. His stenographer has charge of this work, and as The W orld arrives she looks it over and adds to her list whatever invention of moment has come to life during the month. She simply writes down the name o.f the article, together with the volume and month of the magazine in which it was advertised or described. Carbon copies of this typewritten list are posted in conspicuous place throughout the store. A few items from one of the pages of this sundry list follows : LIST OF TALKING MACHINE SUNDRIES FOR USE OF SALES FORCE. Automatic stops: Columbia T. M. W., Vol. X, No^, page " Standard Bagshaw Needles Delivery bags Dollar motors Fibre Needle Cutters: L. & H W. & W Heise System Masterphone Nyoil Union T. M. Specialties. I'nimie Record Albums. 31 19 22 15 32 33 14 16 16 27 6 As the trade journal subscribed to by this dealer is carefully filed, it is easy for the salesman to ar He Demands a Demonstration. rive at the desired information at a moment's notice. By adopting this method, Mr. Dealer, it is practically impossible for a patron to go away from your store without having learned all about talking machines and their accessories. Ano.ther page in the salesman's book of knowledge that is seldom read is the one which deals with the care of the "talker." Most chaps are so saturated with the mania for making sales that they do not give a thought to anything beyond the disposal of the outfit. The dealer of sundry list renown has a repair catalog for the various makes of machines. This, too, is displayed at different points in the store where the eyes of the salesman can reach it, and by consulting it he is very often enabled to prescribe successfully. Of course, where the condition of the patient is such that an operation is necessary, the services of the surgeo.n from the Department of Restoration are required. Where a dose of oil, graphite, etc., administered in just the correct proportions, is sufficient to renew activity, the repair catalog is invaluable. A salesman can sell goods much more intelligently if he has seen them in the making. This being true, would it not be advantageous to. manufacturer and merchant alike if some arrangement was arrived at whereby salesmen were given access to the factories and laboratories of the builders of talking machines and the entire process of production witnessed and described? Henry Ford, o.f profit-sharing fame, has adopted this method of educating not only the folks who are interested in his car as a business proposition, but T. H. E. Public, Esq., as well. He even goes so far as to. include a moving picture show in the course of instruction. What will work out successfully in the world of automobiles should apply to the talker fraternity also., and it would aid him very materially, I am sure, if every young man who derives a livelihood from the sale of talking machines could pay a visit to the producing plant in order that he might become enlightened as to the practical side of their creation. Do not take my word for it that the matter of a comprehensive knowledge of talking machine manufacture is non-existent in the mind of the average salesman. Take your star sales expert aside and ask him about it. Methinks I hear the echo of his answer : "I'm sellin' goods, not makin' 'em. 'Isch ga bibble!' " Howard Taylor Middleton. ANNUAL DINNER OF DEALERS. Eastern Talking Machine Dealers' Association Making Elaborate Plans for Annual Gathering on May 6 — Meeting to Be Held a Week Later to Elect Officers and Hear Reports. The annual dinner of the Eastern Talking Machine Dealers' Association will be held on May 6, according to plans announced following a meeting of the Executive Committee of the association held at Keen's Chop House on April 6. The place for the dinner has not yet been selected. John G. Bremner, president of the association, announces that the program for the dinner will be particularly interesting, and a number of speakers of note, including at least one man of national importance and prominence, will be present. The annual meeting of the association, for the election of officers and for the transaction of other regular business, will be held on the week following the dinner in order to avoid the confusion that would arise by having the dinner and meeting on the same evening. If Terpsichore were to return to earth and watch a tango tea some evening, she'd probably apply to the Olympian courts to have her name changed the next morning. It's a modest man who doesn't think the photographer could have made a better looking picture of him if he'd only tried.