The Secret to Success? Adaptability

“It’s varied over time, but right now our typical customer is, in fact, a music student taking band or orchestra in school and the parents thereof,” explains Bronstein Music’s Rich Welker in this issue’s Market Profile of the San Francisco/Bay Area region, when asked about his core consumer base.

“It’s varied over time” is the phrase that resonated with me, as this is one of the most successful and stable independent musical instrument stores in San Francisco – and has been for just under 70 years – and Welker’s acknowledgement of just how amorphous their target audience has been speaks to an enduringly wise business philosophy:

Adaptability.

It’s a concept that’s been addressed and advocated for many times previously in the pages of MMR and within my own editorials, but one that truly can’t be overstated. Be it reacting to or anticipating changes driven by technology, musical trends, local competition, regional or national economic shifts, or any other factors, what is proven, time and time again, is that the organizations that stick around for the long haul are those willing to adapt.

Back to Bronstein’s situation, as explained by Welker: “We have some great, great rock n roll stores around us… Why would we try and compete with them? For a long time, I personally accounted for 40 percent of all sales of the business and then we had seven or eight other employees covering the combo [sales]. So they were accounting for 60 percent of the sales, while one guy – me – was responsible for the other 40 percent. We said, ‘Something’s wrong here’ and decided to make a change to focus more on our strengths.”

The above makes so much sense that anyone reading it would be apt to think it’s obvious, right? And yet, I’ve read about – or in my own, local area witnessed – MI retailers who stubbornly refuse to make these “obvious” realizations and react accordingly, to the detriment of their own businesses. “Well, we’ve been doing this for 20 (or 10, or 30 – fill in the blank) years and it’s always worked before, so we’re sticking with this model!” I understand the reluctance to uproot long-held, fundamental concepts. After all, it is personal. If I opened a guitar store because I love guitars and then, 10 years later, my fretted sales were down drastically due to emerging competition or other factors, but my (for example) keyboard sales were through the roof, I would probably be reluctant to throw in “the guitar towel” and reshape my store to focus on keys. If I had established a brick-and-mortar presence and had successfully run my store without any (or with minimal) commitment to, or understanding of, online retail or other technological advances, I might be loath to (or scared to) completely re-imagine my operating model.

As UK strategist and executive director of global industry analysts Competitive Futures, Eric Gartland, notes: “Independent MI retail stores have to become more cognizant of the trends emerging going forward, becoming early adopters of the opportunities the transitional retail marketplace affords them, or risk becoming further marginalized by consumers or, worse yet, going out of business altogether.”

Gartland is talking technology and the changing market trends tied to them, while Rich Welker is observing regional and demographic shifts and realities. Both are – be it through postings on blogs (check out www.ericgarland.co – lots of interesting and potentially useful stuff) or through actions – demonstrating the strength of adaptability.

It’s a strength within everyone’s reach and one you are hopefully putting to work for your own businesses.