TUNER'S VALUE AS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF PIANO …

[Pages:1]PRESTO

March 15, 1924.

TUNER'S VALUE AS

name a figure that will allow a profit on re-selling the instrument and will stand by it.

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE OF

PIANO SALESMAN Continues Interest in Pianos. The tuners have most to do with the pianos after

MRS. FORBES AND FAMILY

they are sold and when too often the salesmen who sold them consider the incidents closed. And often

Open Door Holds Up Overturned Car and Occu-

Technical Knowledge of the Instruments and Keen Judgment of Human Nature Acquired in Tuning Experiences Make for Efficiency.

GOOD JUDGE OF TRADEINS

Salesman With Tuner's Ability Makes Fairest Estimate of the Worth of Taken-in-Trade Instruments.

too, the most important advice about the treatment of the instruments is given and repeated by the considerate tuner. That interest in the sold piano continues with the tuner when sales take up all or the best part of his working time. One highly successful salesman who was graduated from the tuner profession has the habit of visiting houses where he has sold pianos whenever he finds himself in the neighborhood. He not only fosters the acquaintance of the customers but keeps up his knowledge of the conditions of the pianos as well. And many of these enjoyable calls on old customers, buyers of pianos, lead to new sales of playerpianos or reproducing pianos.

Closes With a Story.

pants Are Uninjured.

Mrs. E. E. Forbes, wife of E. E. Forbes, president of the E. E. Forbes Piano Co., Birmingham, Ala., together with members of the family, had a narro*w escape last week when the automobile in which they were riding skidded and turned over on the pike road about a mile and one-half from Oxford, Ala., near Anniston. They were en route to attend the funeral of Mr. Forbes' mother and he was already in Anniston.

In the car were Mrs. Forbes and her sister, Miss Annie Mallory, and the Forbes children, Mallory, Kenneth, Herman and Jenetta. No one was injured and even the car was not damaged. When the car

This man enjoys his business all the more because skidded one of the children threw open the door, and

Many successful piano dealers among those who have built up a business from a very small beginning to a safe and sound commercial position began their career as tuners. Many of the country's most successful piano salesmen first followed the tuner's profession. Many among the latter frankly state and hrmly believe that the knowledge of the instrument gained in their tuner activities contributed to their success in selling the instruments. But other varieties of knowledge acquired as tuners may have been just as valuable a preparation for the selling role as the ability to tune the instruments and perhaps do certain repairing where needed.

A study of the human side of the piano prospect

he constantly sees the humorous side of it. A story he told to a group at the trade convention last year in the Drake Hotel, Chicago, may make a pleasant ending to this article.

He had sold a piano to a customer near Delavan, Wis. The buyer was a lady of German extraction and was famed for the scrupulous cleanliness of her house and her vigorous use of mop, soap and scrubbing brush. Monday was always a day of sudsy activity in her house.

The woman's husband paid for the piano. In the matter of choosing it, though, or anything else in the domestic menage, he admitted he was a cipher minus the rim. On soapy Monday it was his pleasure to completely remove himself. He was naturally

as it struck the ground it was held up by this open door. They considered it strange that they had gone safely over all the bad roads on the journey and the accident did not occur until they struck the fine pike.

The M. Schulz Company, 711 Milwaukee avenue, Chicago, gave hearty greeting on Monday of this week to Otto M. Heinzman, its eastern representative, who called at the headquarters in Chicago.

WESER

is continuous with the piano salesman who has been neat in his habits but the peace-upsetting rule of the

graduated from the department of tuning. The tuner scrubbing event palled on him. gets a more intimate view of the families of the piano The tuner-salesman went along to see the piano in-

Pianos and Players

owners than the salesman does. And the human side stalled and give it a few final touches.

of the piano prospect is important because it is so "Now you want to be careful about the way you

wound up with the business side.

dust and clean this piano," he said, aware of the

The Opportunities Vary.

suds-splashing fame of the lady. "And remember you are to put no wet cloths, sponges or scrubbing

The doorbell-ringing salesman has limited oppor- brushes on it. Don't attempt to rub it down with

tunities for getting acquainted with the conditions in water."

the homes, the family life of the people to whom he is endeavoring to sell pianos. When he is invited to enter he usually encounters the family or portion of it primly seated in the parlor. It is different with

"You hear that, mother?" spoke up the delighted husband. "You gotta haf that biano dry-gleaned."

MARVIN J. LAKE.

Sell readily--Stay sold Great profit possibilities

Style E (shown below) our latest 4'6"

the tuner when he makes a business call. He comes to stay for an hour or maybe more and even on

LOOKS LIKE OPPORTUNITY

his first visit the family acts natural. There are usually no restraints and the observant tuner has an

FOR SOME LIVE RETAILER

opportunity of studying the human nature of the

piano owner, the mental quirks which influence the Something It Will Pay Any Active Young Music Man

attitude of piano prospects.

to Look into Promptly.

Value of Technical Knowledge.

It isn't often that Such an opportunity presents it-

But apart from the knowledge of human nature self as the one now to be alluded to. It concerns an

acquired by the tuner during the period of his activi- old and highly reputable retail piano and general

ties in his profession, which involved the ability to music house which may be purchased for a remarkcorrectly estimate the social status, domestic habits, ably small sum, and on easy terms. Some ambitious

Order a sample to-day.

musical desires and financial standing of people vis- young man who understands something about the ited, he is equipped in another way for good work business may find here just what he wants. when he essays the role of salesman. In the matter The sale is made necessary by the death of one of

Liberal advertising and cooperative arrangements

of allowances for exchanges the salesman or dealer the partners and the illness of the survivor. The

who has had tuning experiences makes his estimates city is one of the most beautiful in Illinois--not a of value of the taken-in-trade pianos from the facts. "town" but a good-sized city. The store is a very

The salesman who has had no tuning and repair- old one and thoroughly established. The opportunity

Write for catalogue and price list

ing experiences often listens too hard to the used is unique in its unusual advantages to a man of

piano owner's opinions. Families that own a piano, energy, but small capital. Advices will be supplied

which for some reason or other they like, will usually by Presto to prospective purchasers who are in

value it out of all proportion to business reason. The earnest. tuner-salesman takes a cold technical slant at the

Weser Bros., Inc.

piano. The tinny-toned voice, dilapidation of the innards, scorbutic condition of the veneer cuticle are

NEWSPAPER FEATURES DEALER.

observations that prompt the deciding of values with- In a recent special issue of the Austin, Tex., Ameri-

out sentiment.

can the J. H. Reed Music Co., was among the old

firms featured. The company has been a consistent

All Cold Business.

advertiser of the American since 1900 when it was es-

Manufacturer*

520 to 528 West 43rd St.

New York

The families with a sentimental regard for their pianos usually do not understand the considerations entering into the handling of pianos second-hand or first-hand. Or if an owner does somewhat understand, his natural bargaining instinct prompts him to do the best he can for himself and to take advantage

tablished by J. R. Reed, who bought out the interests of the Bush & Gerts Piano Co. in the store in the old Smith Building on Sixth street. In 1914 the company moved to its present spacious quarters where a fine line of Mason & Hamlin, Hardman, Bush & Gerts and Brinkerhoff pianos is carried.

of any eagerness for the closed deal on the part of

the salesman. The tuner-salesman may be as eager as any one else to close the deal but his ability to approximate the cost of necessary reconditioning on the trade-in and his judgment of used piano values will make him firm in sticking to the just figure he puts upon the instrument.

The trade may establish a table of used piano values but the shrewd dealer or salesman will take his own judgment as the law in every case. And the shrewdest in making the trade-in estimate safe for the dealer is the man who has tuned and repaired pianos at some time in his career. The salesman who values a prospect's piano at so much and then raises his estimate after listening to arguments based on anything from pure shrewdness to pure sentiment, is possibly losing money for his firm. The man with the technical knowledge gained in the tuning and repair field will

G. F. JOHNSON, OF PORTLAND. G. F. Johnson, of the piano house in Portland, Oregon, which bears his name, has been in Chicago this week. Mr. Johnson has been located in Portland for about twelve years, having been the Sherman, Clay & Co. manager there before establishing his own company. He is popular and a good business man. He sells a fine line of instruments and has built up a substantial house.

NEW OHIO BRANCH. F. B. Bernhard is proprietor of the Bernhard Music Co., recently established at 29 Center street, Ashtabula, Ohio. The same line of pianos and playerpianos handled in the Geneva store of the company will be presented in the new Ashtabula store.

The Lyon & Healy Reproducing Piano

A moderate priced reproducing piano, beautiful in design and rich in tone. Write for our new explanatory Chart, the most complete and simple treatment of the reproducing action.

Wabash at Jackson - - - Chicago

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