FEATURES
FEATURES
America the Beautiful 2010 has been a good year for American patriotism. And we don’t just mean annual rituals such as the Fourth of July.
Not Doubting Thomas
Mendello Retires, Thomas Named Fender CEO Former Guitar Center CEO Larry Thomas has a new gig: CEO at Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
The ‘Spin’ on the DJ Market Whether your store carries a full line of DJ products, just a few or none at all, it’s hard to dispute that these products have carved a major indentation in the MI marketplace.
Music City Mystery Summer NAMM had many highlights, but attendance dropped 4 percent compared to last year. The future of the show is a topic on many minds.
The Canadians’ Club Changes galore took place at this year’s installment of the MIAC show in Toronto. The date changed to May. The location changed. Why were the adjustments made? Did the alterations work?
Floyd Rose Sued Geoffrey McCabe, an inventor and guitarist, has sued Floyd Rose Guitars and distributor Davitt & Hanser Music for patent infringement.
Pay It Forward! You’ve heard enough bad news. We take a look at the fantastic things happening in MI today.
-‘MIM is the Word The Musical Instrument Museum opened in Phoenix to a lot of fanfare. Rebecca Apodaca, an expert on antique instruments, gives you a rundown of the latest thing to hit MI.
-‘Loud and Clear Pro audio products continue to sell. We get the scoop from four top manufacturers.
-‘Open Door’ Policy NAMM makes a big change by allowing member-invited guests on the last day of Summer NAMM.
-Musikmesse A-107K! Attendance at Musikmesse and Pro Light + Sound dipped slightly, but optimism was up.
-It’s in the Cards ! You need to have PCI DSS-compliant terminals to handle credit card transactions by July 1. What are we talking about? Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
-Unplugged Acoustic guitar sales grew dramatically in 2009 and the beginning of 2010. Is this the beginning of a new trend?
-Head of the Class! We shine the spotlight on many of the new companies that launched at NAMM.
-Musicorp Mourns Mike Murphy We honor the sale rep’s life that ended way too soon.
-Is a New Healthcare Plan Just Snake Oil? We take a thorough look at how a new public healthcare plan can affect you and your employees. ?
-Bonanza! Behringer Buys Bosch Brands Behringer’s parent company added the Midas and Klark Teknik brands to its stable.
-The Stars Will Come Out…This Weekend We highlight a few of the celebrity appearances at NAMM.
-What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been!!! We reminisce as we close out the first decade of the new millennium. It was a tough 10 years for many. How about for the music industry though? What’s ahead?
-It’s Voting Time! Here are your nominees for the 24th annual Music & Sound Awards.
-Here We Come to Save the Day!!We provide a plethora of accessories that manufacturers assure you will provide excellent margins.
-For Those Who Make Lesser Publicized Instruments, We Salute You!!For the first time, we pay tribute to instruments and products that get little press coverage. We provide a well-deserved spotlight for these products!

-Kathy How:Now here’s a story you don’t hear connected to MI every day. A woman who grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, studied medicine and later moved to England.
-Sarah Heil:We’ve all heard the stories about people beginning in the mailroom and later becoming the CEO of a major corporation. Those people are rare, but it does happen.
-Sue Avant is a trailblazer. She’s also someone who
has varied interests. And she is, indeed, formidable.
-Mary Ann Giorgio It sure sounds like a great job to cover soap operas like Days of our Lives and speak to celebrities on a daily basis. But MXL’s Mary Ann Giorgio was never comfortable in that industry. She sure is comfortable at MXL Microphones though.
-Fusion Bags For the first time, we feature multiple people in this column. We look at the genesis and growth of the all-women founded business, Fusion Bags.
-Linda Arink is one of the very few female executives at a DJ company. Learn how she became involved and why she hopes we won’t even need to have a column about top industry females in the future.
-Debbe Stephenson stumbled upon MI shortly after college, but is sure glad she did. She’s now president and COO of Pro Co Sound.
-• Mary Peavey
-• Jennifer Tabor
-• Tarina Dunwoodie
-• Stacey Montgomery-Clark.
-• Cathy Duncan
-• Bee Bantug
-• Dale Krevens
-• Melanie Ripley
-• Susan Grund
-• Toby Nady
-• Shawna von Behren.
-• Berenice Chauvet
-• Sue Kincade
-• Tish Ciravolo
-• Vikki Hayward
-• Roxana Ramirez
-• Susan Lipp

In this story, learn:
• General advice for selling pro audio products
• What to focus on if the customer still isn’t convinced
• How to overcome the problem of having some products behind the counter
• Why you should consider installations for houses of worship
• Future trends in the pro audio industry

Selling pro audio products is certainly no amateur effort. Ringing up sales on any item can be a challenge today, especially ones with pleasant margins. Pro audio is no different. In fact, a definition of what a pro audio product is can even be debated. For our purposes this month, we’ll discuss microphones, speakers, and installations, although many more products are under the broad pro audio auspices. We invited a group of manufacturer panelists to serve up advice. Our panel comprises Cliff Castle, co-founder, Audix; Trevor Gibson, North American sales manager, Peavey; Gil Soucy, outside sales manager, Behringer; Dawn Birr, product manager, Sennheiser; and Ken DeLoria, product manager, Community Professional Loudspeakers.

Castle began by talking about an industry trend he’s noticed. “The one recurring theme is that salesmanship in the pro audio market is a dying art. In other words, there really aren’t any young salespeople coming up through the ranks who specialize in pro audio. That’s the biggest problem we face as a supplier of pro audio gear. That’s the most important point we can make. That lays the groundwork for how we proceed in marketing our products.”

Castle added he has seen this at both large and small MI retailers and he said education and training of store salespeople has become his company’s primary focus.
But let’s say you do have a pro audio specialist in place, or perhaps you have a smaller store and you’re the pro audio specialist. What tips can our panel provide when selling pro audio products?

“It’s certainly good to know the customer and their basic needs,” said Birr. “First, you must know what their goals are. What’s the application they plan to use it for? What budgetary boundaries do they have?”

“Listen to your customer and properly qualify the customers’ needs,” added Soucy. “Once you’re comfortable with what the customer may or may not know about pro audio, give them information or your sales pitch in a way that is clear and precise, and in terms they understand. For example, not every customer looking for a compressor or a power amp knows exactly how they may work, so keep it simple for them, and only as they become more educated should you start using a more technical approach.”

“We spend a lot of effort getting out into the field and working with the guys on the shop floor of the retail environment—the managers and the guys who are out there in the trenches every day—we do our best to educate them as to why we believe our products have better attributes than competitors,” said DeLoria. “That helps tremendously. The more equipped the salesperson is with information, the better the chance they have of hitting a home run.”

( continued, next page >> )

[ pages: 1 - 2 - 3 ]