The talking machine world (Jan-June 1925)

116 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD February IS, 1925 Analysis of Principles of Salesmanship Twin Principles of Salesmanship as Applied to Talking Machine Business Are Confidence and Demonstration, Says W. Braid White There never was a salesman yet, from the first man who offered skins in barter for food, who did not act upon principles immutably fixed in the human mind. The Salesmanship which was exercised by the first salesman and the Salesmanship which is being exercised right at this moment by the latest high-pressure man in Automobile Row or in a Wall Street banking house is precisely the same sort of Salesmanship as is used behind the record counter or in the audition room of a talking machine store or department. Just at this time it is very good to keep facts like these precisely in mind. The temptation is always to suppose that one's own problems are ULTRA Charges All Storage Batteries "A" or "B" 2 to 48 volts The purchasers of high priced radio sets are the best kind of prospects for the Ultra Handy Battery Charger. Sell the charger as well as the radio set and let your cash register ring more profits for you. Absolutely Fireproof There is positively no danger of fire when using the Handy Charger. Even if allowed to run for several days no harm can be done. The taper charge makes it impossible to overcharge the battery — as the charge in the battery increases the current in the charger decreases. For all batteries, "A" and "B," both 24 and 48 volts. Charges quickly — 5 to 7 amperes to a 6-volt battery — "B" batteries at recommended rate. No bulbs nor liquid No breakable glass No fast wearing parts No auxiliaries necessary No frequent adjustments No sticking contacts Simple to Connect Very simple to connect and disconnect. 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Let us see why and how this is so. Salesmanship, I said, is the same thing everywhere and always. The whole essence of salesmanship consists in acquiring such a hold over the mind of the prospective purchaser that one's statements will be accepted at their face value. Confidence once gained, selling becomes merely a matter of pushing a mind already convinced lo the point of action. That is what is called, in fact, "closing." This final act of "closing" is, however, something which can only be brought about when 'the other elements of the sale have first been developed. First of all comes the establishment of confidence; and this may indeed be said to be the heart and soul of successful selling. Vital Element Established Now, when we are dealing with the talking machine, the first thing about it to strike us is that the vital element of confidence has already long since been established in the public mind. The essential fact in considering the selling possibilities of the talking machine is the hold it has gained over the mirids and hearts of the people, a hold which is far stronger than some superficial thinkers imagine, and which is not to be broken for any slight or shallow cause. The talking machine is an established element in the social life of Western civilization. To put it another way, no one now has to be persuaded to believe that the talking machine will actually reproduce music, and reproduce it extremely well. Everybody knows this and knows all about it. There is nothing more to be said on that score. When, therefore, it comes to a matter of selling, the salesman does not have to argue with the customer. He hardly has to demonstrate what already is well known. If to-day there is any slackness in retail sales of talking machines, that slackness is due to causes which have nothing to do with the essential ability of the talking machine to deliver the goods of musical reproduction which it promises. The future of the talking machine is a future bound up with the eternal principles of salesmanship; and of these the most vital and essential is already fully established. The future salesmanship of the talking machine needs but be based upon these principles, taking into consideration changed circumstances, to be quite as successful as the past salesmanship ever was. Looking, therefore, to the future, we see that to sell the talking machine successfully we shall have to take account of changed conditions in the market. These conditions have been changed on account of the emergence of the player-piano and of broadcasting through the air. Music of the popular dance type, music for chance occasions, music as a mere ear-tickling occasional amusement, is now to be had at home through several different channels. The resulting competition is bound to change the attitude of the public towards the talking machine, which must now stand, not upon abilities for music reproduction now no longer exclusive, but rather upon its exclusive merits. What are those merits? They can be summed up "in the two words "universal storage." The talking machine and its records (the two must always be considered together, of course) are universal storers and preservers of music. This music is the best music, made under test conditions, with one recording after another thrown aside until a perfected result has been attained. It differs in this respect almost wholly from every other instrument of reproduction, save only the reproducing player-piano, and is really superior to the latter on account of its universality. The talking machine of today reproduces all music, not only the music oi one instrument, and in the very latest and finest of recordings it touches the heights where the reproducing piano sits enthroned and shows signs of shortly being able to scale them and dispute with its rival in the latter's own territory. As a preserver of the finest music the talking machine is supreme. As a reproducer of that music it is also supreme, for no rival methods of reproduction have been able to touch it in respect of cleanness, beauty and fidelity. And so we are irresistibly driven to the conclusion that the future salesmanship of the talking machine must be the salesmanship that rests upon the foundation of established confidence and that proceeds upon the understanding that what is strong in the selling position of the talking machine is what that machine will do exclusively; what it will do which nothing else will do. It is this we have to sell, and with this that we have to win the business battle of the talking machine. "Persuaded, Led, Guided" That is why it is so important to revise our ideas of salesmanship. Now, for the very first time in the history of the talking machine business, we find it needful to consider how we shall sell. Hitherto it has been possible to think but little of sales methods, since the urge on the part of the buying public has always been sufficiently strong to render intensive selling methods needless on our part. Now, however, all that is changed. There are rivals in the field, and the buying public must be persuaded, led and guided. But why be annoyed or discouraged? It all only means that the buying public discriminates better than before. And after all, if those who wanted talking machines in the past only for dancing and kicking up a noise are now running after newer fads, then let us remember that all the owners of talking machines in the whole country are a very small minority, and certainly do not include any large proportion of the truly music-loving elements who in their millions are now annually contributing colossal sums of money to the upkeep of music in America. The job of selling the talking machine in all its perfection and beauty to these people is hardly as yet begun; certainly it has not yet been begun systematically. We have a whole new field, the field of intelligent demand, to exploit and develop. Is that a cause for discouragement? Hardly! Twin principles of Salesmanship are Confidence and Demonstration. Of these the first has already been established, and the second has hardly yet been tried. Those principles are immutable, and when used in combination they have always succeeded since the first mechanic of the Stone Age showed how good was the . flint hatchet he had made and persuaded his fellow prehistoric man to give him a brontosaurus steak in exchange for it. The Webster Music Co., Arcadia, Ind., was recently incorporated to deal in musical goods.