“Every indie MI store is unhappy with Costco, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other mass merchants selling entry-level guitar packs, drum sets, keyboards, etc., as well as chain store competition. Here’s my suggestion to overcome this. FREE Guitar Packs and possibly other instruments. That’s right FREE! First of all, I am talking about entry-level instruments, guitar packs, (not Les Pauls, Strats, etc.) and other upscale expensive instruments. Promote this with ‘FREE Guitars/Instrument’ signs in your store windows, banners, etc., and local press (with a phone call I’m sure you can get your local newspapers or TV stations to do an article on your store offering FREE guitars, etc.) and to your local school system. Well not exactly not FREE, but this is how it can work. Let your customers know if they purchase a instrument at a mass merchant, not only is the instrument not set up properly, which YOU WILL do at no charge for them, and without their child signing on for lessons, their kid will probably give up on learning to become a player in a short period of time and the instrument will end up under the bed, in the closet, etc., or traded for video games to a buddy and they then wasted $200 to $300 on the instrument. Lessons are most important to keep the interest ongoing. You must offer them at your shop to do this. You get the parent to prepay in advance for 25 weeks of lessons and include one free lesson for a total of 26 weeks of lessons. If you charge $20 for a one-half hour lesson, that’s $500. At $25 per lesson, it’s $625. If you charge more or less than that for a lesson, do the math. Stipulate that ‘no refunds are offered on the prepaid lessons’ or you will ‘only provide a refund on lesson sessions after a 16-week initial minimum as the student needs to at least provide a good attempt at learning the instrument.’ This puts pressure on the parent to enforce that their kid practices the instrument and attends their lessons faithfully. You also make sure you let them know you will set up the instrument to play the best it can during the lesson period and will perform scheduled maintenance such as string changes on a regular basis as needed: monthly, etc. (which you charge the customer for the strings, etc.). If you feel you cannot offer the instrument for free, offer it at one-third or one-half of the SELLING PRICE of the mass merchant or chain store along with the lesson program. This is how you can take back the music business from the mass merchants to where it belongs, to folks like you who are building players for a lifetime of making music. If a manufacturer complains about you selling a guitar pack, drum set, etc., or threatens to cut you off for selling them below MAP price, find a good quality instrument, which there are now many available, either a lesser known or possible no-name brand to do this. At the end of the initial 26 weeks of lessons, you may also offer a trade-up deal to a better instrument/amp, etc. with an additional prepaid 26 weeks of lessons. Get inventive in your marketing of your store and services! Also, teach the student an easy song or two from one of their musical heroes; it goes a long way in keeping their interest in continuing to play and a feeling of accomplishment. Another thing indie MI stores can do is promote musicians. Hold musician meeting sessions on a weeknight or Saturday morning. Sometimes kids who want to form bands attend different schools in the same town or in other nearby towns and it can be hard to find band mates with the same musical interests. When kids form BANDS, it becomes a sum of the parts, and they will keep up their interest in becoming seasoned skilled musicians. The band grows and their purchases grow for more gear of all types. Along with these musician meeting sessions, hold performances, jams in your stores, and parking lots and team up with your local parks and recreation department to promote your store and the local musicians in your area.”
—Tom Concorde, FBT USA
“Independent retailers won’t be successful if they try to copy the big guys. They need to carefully assess their own strengths (and weaknesses) and capitalize on those strengths. They can generally be more agile than a chain and can tailor their product mix and efforts toward the local market. Specialty retailing implies specialty activities. Consider offering services that the big guys may not be able to offer such as trade-ins, rentals, home trials (with deposits as appropriate), service loaners, support of local music-oriented events, in-store clinics, and anything else you can think of. Talk to your sales reps and ask them to share success stories from other independent dealers. Network with other independent dealers to find what has and hasn’t worked for them.”
—Dean Standing, Rane
“Independent retailers can keep pace with chain stores and mass marketers by evaluating what works for these retailers and then incorporating these concepts into their retail environment. For example, the overall appearance of the store, layout and traffic flow, execution of product displays, use of effective graphics, background music, etc., are all elements that, when done with excellence, can help independents better compete in their market against larger retailers. Going beyond appearances, independents should consider the value of e-commerce systems, inventory management software, structured sales training, and strategic sales promotions. After all, doing what was done 10 years ago in today’s marketplace will not work.
Also, retailers who are well-established in a town or area can leverage existing relationships with local schools, churches, and clubs. Accordingly, well-managed lesson departments, band instrument rentals and sheet music/instructional materials can become profit centers for independent retailers. These ideas, when combined, can help independents keep pace with chains and mass marketers for both store traffic and sales.”
—Jack Hanser,
Hanser Music Group
“The best way for independent dealers to gain a competitive edge against mass retailers is to become very good at the things mass retailers typically have problems with. Personalized service by a knowledgeable staff is a key component at differentiating your store from the big box down the street. Encourage your sales staff to take the time to get to know the nuances of your product mix. Request that manufacturers assist you with training for your staff and make sure the importance of customer service and satisfaction is stressed to your employees. There is no substitute for a satisfied customer. Secondly, the independent retailers can help themselves by ensuring their product mix includes a healthy selection of products that cannot be purchased in large retail chains. Be on the lookout for brands that are exclusive to independent retailers (like Mapex drums). This will help prevent price wars that can compromise critical profit margins.
Lastly, build a strategy to encourage repeat sales. When you sell a drum set or guitar, do whatever it takes to makes sure the customer comes back to you for heads, hardware, strings or sheet music. Make sure you get contact information, so you can follow up and offer your customers future opportunities for add-on sales. Build a continuing relationship with your customers and make sure they come to you for that accessory in the future. They are your customers. It’s your responsibility to keep them.”
—Jeff Ivester, Mapex
“Independent music dealers can provide true consumer added value by focusing on providing well informed product information, clear and concise feature/benefit product comparisons and delivering best-in-class in-store customer service.”
—Peter Brinkman, Casio
“Independent dealers should start by evaluating their business’ strengths and weaknesses versus the chain store. To do this they should consider becoming a secret shopper. Visit the chain store and assess their product offerings, sales expertise, product knowledge, and marketing acumen. Then they should shop at their own store and answer the same question.”
—David Luster, GE Money
“Continue to service their educational community and minimize their desire to expand outside their respective communities. Present clinics, master classes, and workshops utilizing educators, artists, and employees supported by their respective manufacturers. Continue to offer parents an opportunity for involvement. Educators and parents are the industry’s greatest allies.”
—Bruce Silva,
Buffet Crampon
“Identify your store strengths and weaknesses. Expand on strengths and improve weaknesses. Keep a close watch on your competition. Learn from your observations and strive to continually improve. Stay involved with community, schools, the local music scene, music ministries, sound companies, and other groups that harbor customers. Join your local chamber of commerce and support the business community—they will support you. Advertise in local music scene publications. Offer lessons, service, repairs, instrument setup and social programs. Have clinics, appearances and social activities as much as possible. No buzz equals no biz. Make sure to send press releases to local press about events. Become part of a buying group. Discuss your challenges, plans, and opportunities with vendors. Ask for specific strategies from vendors to help with those challenges, plans, and opportunities. Revise your strategy at least twice per year. And have fun; that’s what originally interested you in the music business.”
—Bill Wenzloff, Sound
Enhancement Products
“Independent dealers need to access their competitive advantage vs. chain and mass market retailers and exploit those differences in a way that builds a loyal base of customers. They cannot attempt to compete on the same level as the other two as this won’t provide consumers with a ‘reason why’ they should shop at independents vs. chain and mass merchants. The areas they should look at are customer service, depth of product offerings and product specialization/focus (pro drum shop vs. full line of musical instruments) as potential points of differentiation. There are already some good retail models in the independent channel that are already doing a great job at this, so look and see how they are accomplishing this.”
—Brad Baker,
Avedis Zildjian
“Our business has grown up around the independent dealers because many of our pickups and preamps require installation or additional expertise that other products may not require. Many of our independent dealers have an experienced technician who can explain and install our products. The individual attention they can give to a customer and the service they are able to provide is a huge advantage compared with a mass merchant or chain store. Also, independent dealers have the ability to be much more proactive with their customers. Many times, chain stores’ hands are tied as they have to follow the guidelines from the corporate office. Independent retailers have more freedom to establish ongoing relationships with their customers as well because of this.”
—Ryan Angle, L.R. Baggs
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