Evening star., 1912-11-17

pcIIeHCeO IL III ourselves, tneSe liiiEO
and fourth generations Of our fam
lily being no doubt more and neces-
sarily more commercial than the
first and second.
But we have at least taken pains
to upset no traditions. The lines of
selling development were laid down
long ago: and We had little choice
have been dominated to a large ex-
tent by-shall l say-sentiment; it is
a question II sentiment is not neces-
sarily inseparable from a business
OF the sort we have built up. from a
prestige founded on the satisfaction
OF the sentiments. musical. literary,
esthetic. There are some things
which house that has associated
or identified itself with the fine
things of life cannot do. which In the
long run it would not be good busi
ness to do.
For instance. in the matter of
dealers. Many of them, as I have
pointed out, are old connections.
Some Of them are highly enterpris-
Ing. But others. naturally, have been
passed in the race by younger COM
petitors. Theoretically we might do
better in such case to transfer our
representation to one of the younger
houses. Practically, I believe the
moral effect of making such a
change without other reason than
the possible loss of a few sales would
be bad. not only for the local field
and for the trade. but also for our
selves. 1t is part of our strength
and our inspiration that we can af-
ford to make generous concessions to
the IDEAL
OF course, these cases are not very
numerous. Most Of our dealers are
thoroughly progressive and it is this
type that We add when We have oc-
casion to make a change
There is one all-important claim
that we make on the dealer, new or
old. 1t is that he shall have an alb
solute conviction that our instru-
ments are beyond any question the
best on the market and that he
shall always speak of them as such
to his customers and the visitors to
his store. In stipulating this, we
consider not only the Importance of
the dealers believing in the prod
uct he handles and so passing over
the higher price of the instrument
as having no real influence in COM
parison with it's quality, except, in
deed. s a guarantee of that, but we
have also in mind the desira bility of
impressing the Steinway prestige on
every member of the public, even
when there is no chance of making
an immediate sale, or any sale at all.
1t has many times been brought to
our attention-we have many times
been advised by our own dealers
that We have apparently sacrificed
thousands or hundreds of thousands
of dollars by having only one
grade Of Steinway. by not pat
ting out also at least one cheaper
grade of piano to catch those who
cannot afford to buy the best.
Persons wishing to buy a piano
will think first we will say, Of
Steinway and will look up ore of our
dealers. When they come to the dis
cussiOn Of price they may he taken
aback to find that it is good deal
higher than that of the ordinary
piano. If their means do not per-
NIT. they do not buy a SteinWay, but
some other piano, possibly Of the
same dealer. Now it is represented
to us that if We had a cheaper grade
we could secure this business that is
going elsewhere, without sacrificing
the better class of trade.
Evidently. since we haya not
adopted this theory, we do :, rot be-
lieve it Is sound. If the wheie OBJ
ject of the business We're fc: make
the most money in the shortes: time.
very likely 1t would be promising
policy to realize at once on ths. Stein
way prestige and fill the ho;ses OF
the country with lower grade OF
piano at a more popular price,
But making the most money in the
shortest time is not our aiilbition.
We prefer to perpetuate the tnstitu-
tion: We want to make enough
money to be able to make fl,e kind
Of pianos I'VE want to maks. We
believe that in the long run this pol
icy will be productive Of la,.ser re-
turns than would a policy a!liting at
a short cut to fortune.
The conviction of quality, the pas
sion for perfection. is the vesy soul
of business of this sort. 1, would
be fatal to consider anything else.
1t Is dangerous to do anything poorly
when 1t can be done well. There is
no permanency in a business that
has merely price-basis.
We make every part that goes into
the manufacture of our pianos. We
could save moEey by buying iron
parts from other foundries, but we
have our own foundry. Is it not
vital to us in an important sense
that we make our own strings. cases
and actions? Could we have the
same intense feeling about it if we
did not season our woods seven
years in dry air in our own factories
before putting them into the kiln?
Our pride that we do things no
other manufacturer has done goes
deeper than mere vanity: it gives
us our driving power. We do not
lose anything by doing these things,
and the profits We are thought to
sacrifice by doing them exclusively
are imaginary profits, We could :
not get them without sacrificing
something far better.
Aside from the different kinds of
promotional work that we have
done. We have always advertised
consistently, at first in the news
nf n1.1f-a IN,
azines, often in both together. Our
advertising is. of course, what you
may call prestige advertising. 1t
does not analyZe and reason. be-
cause that would be weak in COM
parison with our record. The Stein
way and it's position are known to
most of it's possible users: it is suf-
ficient to recall to them the name
and associations: the others will be
more impressed by the assertions of
superiority when coupled with the
statements as to higher price. royal
appointments. exposition awards and
the like. than by an elaborate an
alysis of merits. When they con-
suit the dealer or receive the liter
ature mentioned in the advertise
ments they get the complete story
The number of those who would
be likely to buy our piano is. of
course. in sense limited We reach
them. broadly. through the maga-
zine and newspaper advertising
concert and recital programmes and
also directly by mail matter. Per-
sonal solicitation is used by some
dealers in the smaller cities The
daily papers supply leads. A we'd
ding announcement, for instance,
calls for a suggestion to some one
interested that a Steinway piano
would be suitable present. Per-
haps the young couple plan to build
a nome of their own. and do not
need the piano at once. In that
case We suggest presenting the bride
a receipt for the amount, and per-
mitting her to choose an instrument
of her own design later. II the in
tention is to have a special music
room in the house, decorated after
a certain period, as colonial, Louis