The talking machine world (Jan-June 1928)

34 The Talking Machine World, New York, April, 1928 Greater Re -sale Value A TLAS Plywood Packing Cases will bring the highest prices in the second-hand market every time. These modern containers are so strong and well-made that radios and phonographs packed in Atlas Cases come through in perfect condition with the cases themselves undamaged and absolutely O. K. for reshipments. "Atlas" on a packing case tells the second-hand buyer that he is getting a container that's still good for many long distance shipments. That's why he'll pay more for Atlas Cases. He knows he can depend on them. C/MFtV THE WEIGHT ~ JS/JVE FREIGHT ATLAS PLYWOOD CORPORATION Park Square Building, Boston, Mass. New York Office: 90 West Broadway Chicago Office: 649 McCormlck Building 163U Increasing the Sales Volume of the Finest Music on Records (Continued record selling you have to make it one of the many things you live for. Think Victor, talk Victor, eat with Victor and dream of Victor. Be on the learning side. We never know so much that we cannot know more. Never say "I think" when you speak, make it authentic. Never argue with a seemingly egotistic customer. The music masterpieces and other Red Seal records have been very successfully sold by letting the customer take them home for a night. There they have a place to try them over without the least disturbance, and, too, Red Seal buyers have to please more than themselves sometimes. This gives them a chance to hear them together and they buy. Of course, these records go out with the understanding that they are to be returned in perfect condition. It is wise to know the customer that you are sending them to; use your own judgment in this case. Stay With the Customer Never leave a customer in the record booth alone unless requested to. This shows lack of interest, and the customer will not only feel neglected, but will not buy, nor return again to be treated this way. Remain in the room, only when necessary to come out for more records. Each record that you play tell the customer of some particular part to pay especial attention to. This makes the customer listen more closely to the entire record. The customer in this way realizes what he is getting for his money and is satisfied. Make the customer go home with the idea that he has just what he wanted. There is no advertisement so lasting, so wide reaching and so sure to grow in value as the "Satisfied Customer." Use the Sales Helps Use the posters and window cards that you get from the Victor Company. Keep constantly in mind that the more advertised, the more you will sell. If you are unfortunate enough to be out of a certain record that-your customer calls for, order it at once and call or send it to them as soon as it is received, which will be within three days. They appreciate this and will gladly wait for the record if you do not have it in siock. While in your department suggest something else for them. Be accommodating. Do not let anything be too much for you to do for your customer — assure them that it is a pleasure to serve them and not a duty. When new records are received use your telephone and call your customers and tell them of the outstanding numbers. Have them come in and hear these records and while they are in suggest others. No word in the vocabulary is more filled with significance than the word from page 32) "quality," and the Victor Red Seal records are all quality. Teach your customer this. Some Selling Advice Never misrepresent your goods. If the record is an old mechanically recorded record, do not tell your customer it is electrically recorded. This makes your customer lose confidence in you at once and it can never be regained. Be on the square with them, like the Victor Company is with its dealers. Help the prestige of the Victor Company last forever. They have the goods to do it with and no misrepresentation is needed, neither is it appreciated by the right kind of dealers, nor the Victor Company direct. Keep in touch with the music associations and let them rest assured that you are awaiting the pleasure of serving them at any and all times. Lend them an Orthophonic to use at the meetings, and when once heard it is sold. Get in touch with the schools. The younger people need a higher-class music than they are getting at the dance halls. In school is the place to begin with the higher class of music. This is where they are obliged to listen and later have their tests to see just how much they really learned about it. When once the higher class of music is enjoyed and known it remains ideal in the mind of the individual. Have patience with your customers. Do not rush or become impatient with them. Do you buy the first pair of shoes or the first hat you try on? Always have supplements with your name stamped on them and hand them to every customer. Tell them to look through the list and return to hear the records. This brings them back. From the time the customer enters your department he is your problem, study his tastes in music, learn what he wants and stay by him until he gets it, and if he does not buy, always leave him with a smile — "They will buy later." Your Mailing List Keep an up-to-date mailing list — use it. Every Orthophonic you sell, put the name and address of the purchaser on your list and send them the supplement regularly. Keep their Victrola constantly in mind. Do not allow it to become old to them. Sell them new records to make them play their machine more. The more they buy the more they want and they will buy if the records are suggested and played. My middle name is suggestion, and suggestion is the biggest money-making proposition ever. But, as I have stated before, to suggest you must "know your records." Keep artists' pictures in the record booths and be able to readily give a brief history of their' lives, or tell of some particular instance in their lives that will make a lasting impression, Advertise your records in local papers as they are released. Make arrangements with your local paper to have a brief history of the great composers' lives published and in this article mention some of their compositions, also state that these compositions can be heard and secure at any Victor dealer's department. The artists can also be advertised in the same way. The people are very anxious to hear these records after they know something of the artist and composer and, as I have stated before, the more advertised, the more sold. And it only takes a few minutes to bring this (otherwise lost) business to your department. If there is to be a musical or opera in your city, before it comes, run an ad stating that the selections that are to be in the opera or musical can be secured in your department. Have a list of these records in your window two or three weeks before the musical. Give an album with every three or six records bought. You can secure albums at little cost that hold three or six records. Suggest this to your customers, if they buy three records they get the album free, this makes them buy three records where they would otherwise buy one or two. Each week select some "particular" record to suggest to every customer that comes in, great results have been derived from this. Advertise appropriate lists of records for Mothers' Day, birthdays and Christmas. Have a Victor window. Place an Orthophonic Victrola in the window and tastefully arrange the Red Seal records, pictures and hangers. Make it as attractive as possible for the passer-by. Write a personal letter to your out-of-town customers who have not been in recently and who cannot be reached by telephone. Tell them that they have been missed, that you are sending a list of new records you are sure they will like and ask if you might send them a selection. If you have been the salesperson that you should have been, the customer will order a number of records from your selection. Service is what people crave — give it to them. Keep a complete stock of records, especially the standard ones. For instance, Souvenir, Barcarolle, etc., these are good records for suggestion when the customers do not know what they want. Keep in mind that money is made on turnovers and lost on leftovers. Marketing Electric Window Ad. Sign The McDonald Travo-scope, an electric window advertising sign, is now being marketed by Scientific Products, Canada, Ltd., manufacturer of the McDonald howl arrester for radio tubes. H. Whittaker, sales manager, announced this product upon returning to his desk in New York from a visit to the home office of the company in Montreal.