The main location for All Music Inc. in Plainview NY, on Long Island, is in a precarious position within the area’s retail landscape. Not only are there two Sam Ash stores and two Guitar Center locations within a 15-minute drive, but the store itself is also only noticeable to the most eagle-eyed of customers.
“We’re just a doorway and then it’s a basement store, so it’s a struggle to get people to even know we’re here,” said the store’s Owner, Guy Brogna, who first came on board 12 years ago following a career as a touring bass player for national acts like Ludichrist and Scatterbrain. “Some of our customers have called us the Kings of the Downstairs,” he continued, jokingly. “In fact, our e-mail address is Music Dungeon.”

All Music Inc.
397D S. Oyster Bay Rd.
Plainview, NY 11803
516-433-6969
www.allmusicinc.com
Mon-Fri 10am to 9pm
Sat 10am to 6pm
Sun 11am to 5pm
Guy Brogna, Owner

As a result, he and his partner, store Founder Irwin Natman, have had to work extra hard to get the store’s name out to the community. One of Brogna’s first major tasks when he joined the ranks at All Music Inc. was to do just that by turning the store into a destination for guitar players across the area. “They had approximately 100 guitars on the floor at the time I started, but, as a bass player, I felt I wanted to create more of a presence in the guitar market. So, I brought in brands like Fender and Taylor; now, we have about 600 to 700 guitars,” said Brogna, who boasts that his store is now one of the few Gibson Five-Star Acoustic Dealers in the world.
“I search out items that are rare or limited editions…the stuff you don’t really see around,” Brogna continued, “whereas lots of stores out there will get the same Strat or Les Paul. If you go to five stores and see the same thing over and over again, it’s like, ‘Eh, OK.’ That’s why I look for these special things.”
Its impressive guitar selection, including a special vintage room, is a great attraction at the Plainview store, but All Music Inc. also sells plenty of other items, including band and orchestra instruments, books, effects, amps and keyboards. In addition, All Music Inc. has a second location in Hauppauge, which is an approximately 25-minute drive away. Brogna describes the Hauppauge store as half store and half lessons, with about 200 students on the…

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I have kept my sales training to the basics because, just like in school, we aren’t able to read until we first learn our ABCs.
There is a lot of psychology connected to selling, because the customer is buying emotionally.
You all know that I hate psychobabble.
Unfortunately, in selling, the customer’s mind is making the decision to buy or not to buy.
A salesperson’s professional attitude influences a buyer, as can any other single factor. Develop professionalism in all the things you do; it pays high dividends in selling, as it does in business.
Many new salespeople are amazed at the change that sometimes comes over the prospect at the moment of closing. You have been getting along well. Every phase has seemed right. But then, for no apparent reason, the prospect freezes. He or she becomes nervous and tense. He or she might even become irritable, irrational or insulting. What has happened?
A moment ago, the individual seemed perfectly agreeable.
Psychologists explain this as the “crowd mind.”
Crowds, as you know, do not reason well. They are torn by indecision and are highly emotional, being capable of extreme emotions.
The buyer is suddenly afraid. He or she is afraid to buy. Thoughts of fear develop, such as, “I should wait before I place my order” and “I should talk this over with someone.” The question may arise, “How do I know that I can’t do better elsewhere?”
Your greatest weapon in combating this fear is your professional attitude. You must be confident, self-assured and poised.
The “crowd mind” wants a leader. Your professional attitude will give the prospect the leadership for which he or she is looking.
To overcome the “crowd mind,” you must…

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Some dealers say they are not able to compete with the big-box stores online, so, they ask, “Why bother?” Brick-and-mortar stores have a distinct advantage over Web sites because they are ready, willing and able to provide customers with detailed information, better service and a hands-on experience with the product in which they’re interested.

Studies show that it’s not always about price when people search for products online. Many are looking for information about the item. This would include products details, specifications, videos and images. Others look for reviews where they can read about shopping experiences and testimonials for the product or store. In fact, more than 20% of shoppers on your sales floor actually visit your Web site during their visit.
Getting customers into your store is an ongoing challenge. Your biggest draw is having products on display, especially those that can be touched and played. This provides you with a competitive edge. Teaming that up with reliable, detailed information and excellent customer service is the one-two punch that knocks many online competitors out of the ring.

The key to this is your unique ability to establish yourself as an authority figure…someone who can be counted on to provide accurate and helpful information. Reliable advice goes a long way, and customers will tell all their friends about their shopping experience with you. Doesn’t it make sense to create a culture where all your customers would benefit from your solid advice and shared experiences?
The Internet is constantly evolving with new ways of motivating customers to take action. One interesting development is the meteoric rise of “authority Web sites.” They tend to rank better in the search engines, attract more traffic, and generate more leads and sales for the

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Grandma’s Music & Sound
9310 Coors NW
Albuquerque, NM 87114
(800) 444-5252
www.grandmas.com
Mon-Fri 10am to 6:30pm
Sat 10am to 6pm
Sun 12pm to 5pm
Micky Patten, Owner

Before he knew it, Patten was the sole employee of a 1,500-square-foot store in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. Even though Patten played bass professionally, Grandma’s Music & Sound was not primarily a guitar shop. “No good guitar lines were available to me at that time because I didn’t have credit,” said Patten, who instead focused on recording equipment, keyboards and MIDI products from brands like Roland, Ensoniq, Sequential Circuits, Emu Systems and TASCAM.

“That was the technology of the ’80s. That’s what was popular back then,” Patten continued, adding that he had a working knowledge of pro audio equipment through some experience in the recording studio and at the studio at his college. “No one in our area was addressing that market adequately.”

Two months after opening his store, Patten was able to get a line of credit for his business and, in 1989, added a guitar and drum department to the store, with Fender as the first major guitar line. The early struggles in getting to that point “taught me an important lesson about how fast you need to sell your merchandise in order to pay the bills,” said Patten. “I learned how to get good product lines and make relationships, not just with manufacturers but also with people like your CPA, your lawyer and your computer guy.”

One relationship in particular that Patten forged that first year in business has helped to carry Grandma’s Music & Sound to the top of the market. “In the first year, I hired Brad Clement, and we ran the store together for four years,” said Patten. “Then, when his brother Ryan moved here from California, we hired him and he was great. He outsold both of us and he grew to have quite a following. He’s still with us 26 years later, and he’s now the Store Manager.”

Today, Ryan Clement runs the store alongside Patten’s wife, Patty, who runs the office and most of the operations; Patten is more of the “visionary,” looking at the bigger picture. It’s a business that has grown exponentially, to say the least, in the
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Persistence is a vital element to success.

Its basis is willpower. Willpower and desire, properly combined, make an irresistible team. You cannot win without them.

No matter what obstacles you face in life, you must persist.

When you have had a bad day and your sales are not what you want them to be, you must persist.

You must face tomorrow with an attitude that says, “I can.” Never tell yourself, “I can’t.”

As a manufacturer’s rep, I drove 50,000 miles a year, covering seven states. What kept me going? Persistence!

I knew that with goal setting, a product I believed in and a positive attitude, I would succeed.

This is what you must have in your daily endeavors.

Don’t be deterred. Know you have a service that people need and perform it to the best of your ability.

Now that you know what it takes, you’re on your way.

It’s April. People are receiving their refund checks from the IRS. What should they do with them? Hmmm…. Come to your store and buy a musical instrument, of course!

“Why would they do that?” you ask.

They would do that because you are going to advertise. How about, “We will cash your refund check with any purchase over $300”?

Every retailer in town wants to get their hands on that refund check. So why not you?

Do you remember the emotion that’s prevalent in April? The answer is “greed.”

We are in the second quarter of the year. How is your year going? Have you met your goals up to now?

Are you ahead, or have you fallen behind?

If you are ahead, why?

If you’ve fallen behind, why?

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Promoting a vacant Facebook page is kind of like running an empty pizza parlor. You might have the best pizza in town, but, if no one comes in to eat, what’s the point? The same holds true for your Facebook fan page. Great content will go to waste without fans to follow, enjoy and take action on your posts.

If you plan to use Facebook to market your store, consider using the Facebook fan page feature. It gives you a free place to promote your brand, including your logo, news and events, unique content and more. You can highlight what matters most every week on the top of your fan page so people know what’s important, and you can see and manage everything in one place.

Many music dealers are already using Facebook and, based on their feedback, they’re getting mixed results. The fan page is different from the typical profile page. The main difference is there is no limit to how many fans you can have.

Getting 1,000 fans to “like” your Facebook fan page may seem daunting and you may feel intimidated by that number. Turn it into a positive and make it your first milestone! Once you achieve 1,000 fans, you will be able to place special “1,000 Likes” graphics on your page that visitors will see.

The following tips will help you build your fan base and start seeing the positive results that a well-visited Facebook fan page can provide to music retailers.

Tip #1   (continue reading)

We need to look up from the spreadsheet, get our heads out of our…cases and welcome people to this wonderful activity we all love.

Some of us are passionate to the point of being geeked out completely (think “Star Trek” uniforms or basement shrines to the Yankees). There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it can get a little one-dimensional. The majority of us have a spectrum of interests, and each thing about which we’re passionate rises to prominence in the right season (be it football or gardening) or in the right company (other car enthusiasts, snowboarders or “Downton Abbey” fans). We blossom in the presence of like minds, and we’re invigorated when it’s time to indulge in our passions.

In this industry, passions abound, and gear passion is one you will encounter wherever you turn. It can be new technology, high-end instruments or boutique items like tube amps and vintage guitars; whatever the case, though, it’s not hard to start a gear conversation around here.

It would seem that gear passion is a core value of our industry…and, perhaps, it is. But although there is value and enjoyment in wallowing in the myriad details of spec sheets and exotic woods, I worry that some industry members have also become too one-dimensional, focusing more on products than anything else. I like to think that most of us are passionate about making music, too. But although it may be so, too few of us try hard enough to spread the passion for making music. Theoretically, we should be excited about bringing others into the fold. But that often takes a back seat to gearfatuation.

I communicate with scores of people in our industry, on both the retail and the supply side. Despite the usual litany of cares and woes we all have and hear, many are upbeat. I’m always impressed when someone talks about student retention, products for young or new players, or promotions that put music making in the spotlight. I believe these are the people moving our… (continue reading.)

Doug John and Francie Denis

By Michelle Loeb

It had been 47 years since Doug John first started working at Delta Rubber Co. at the young age of 13, and he and his partner had decided it was time to sell the company. He was not yet at retirement age, and he’s the first to admit he “can’t sit at home” and “doesn’t play golf.” So what could John do next? Open a music store, of course!

Music had become a late-in-life love for John, who first learned to play guitar when he was 55 years old. “It happened at a friend’s barbeque where some people were playing in my friend’s studio and, after a few drinks, they convinced me to learn how to play, too,” said John. “So, the next day, I went out and bought a guitar.” A year-and-a-half later, John was playing in bands and taking lessons from Jeremy Brown, who had been recently laid off from an MI store at the time John sold his business. “So, we decided to put a business plan together and opened up our first store,” John recalled.

“I negotiated for free lessons for life as part of the deal, but I haven’t had a single lesson since,” he continued with a laugh. “Actually, I learn more now from sitting and playing with my customers. That’s part of the fun of this business. They are my teachers now.”

The warmth and camaraderie of the music business is very different from the more corporate environment in which John worked for most of his career. But, thanks to his strong business background and keen interest in his competition, John was quickly able to learn just what his customers needed to keep them coming back.

“I did my homework to see how other stores treated their customers,” said John, who works not only with Brown but also with his wife, Francie Denis, who handles administrative duties as well as the store’s Web site and newsletter. “When I go to a competitor and I watch people, it’s not rare to see them sitting behind the counter. Sometimes, they’ll say hello and sometimes they won’t.

“Image and reputation is everything,” he continued. “I tell my staff they have to be on the floor and be proactive with the customers. I don’t want them to go 30 seconds without being acknowledged.”

That’s not to say John’s staff is pushy, however. Legend Music is designed to be inviting, with couches and plenty of other places for customers to sit, relax and shop. “Our customers need to have a good experience; they need to be priced well and get taken care of in a timely fashion,” John explained. “We keep the place clean and change the merchandise every two to three months so that it looks different. We let people look all they want, and we let them play the instruments all they want because that’s how you know if you like it.”

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Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

If you are not happy with the results you are getting by selling the way you do, then you have to change something.

We are all creatures of habit. We go about our lives doing things out of habit. We wake up about the same time every day because of habit. We put our socks on the
same way because of habit. We take the same route to work because of habit.

To change a habit, we must do it by affirmations.

It usually takes 21 days to change a habit.

Here are some affirmations to help you become a successful salesperson.

I will be a successful and professional salesperson because I am…

Dedicated: I go to work on time, I plan my work, I enjoy my work and I go the extra mile.

Ethical: I am honest and have my customers’ best interests at heart. I sell them the products they really need. I will not lie to make a sale.

Knowledgeable: I will keep up with all the advances in my industry and learn all I can about the products I sell.

Analytical: I evaluate the benefits of a product and am able to decide if it is suitable for my customers’ varied needs.

Imaginative: I am able to visualize my goals to benefit my company, as well as my customer enjoying the benefits of my products.

Diplomatic: When I have a disagreeable customer, I have the ability and tact to influence a change in his or her thinking without offending him or her.

These are affirmations that will change your bad habits into good ones. You must read these aloud every day and, in 21 days, they will become a part of you.

Work at making these good traits your new habits.

Og Mandino, author of The Greatest Salesman in the World, wrote, “It only takes a small step to go from ordinary to excellent.”

Take this small step and let me know if it

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