Best practices – whenever they’re enacted – are worth examining and learning from, whatever time of year. With that in mind, we’re turning back the clock and taking a close look at how one MI retailer made the most of things this past November.
“Black Friday,” or the Friday after Thanksgiving, is recognized as the traditional kick-o to the holiday shopping season, when frenzied consumers, looking for bargains, line up for the race to the cash register. For retailers, the day is recognized as the point in the year when they turn a profit, going from being “in the red” to “in the black,” hence the name, of course. If that’s the case, why wait? What’s wrong with a pre-Black Friday blowout sale?
That’s what Dave Schmidt thought when he planned a pre-Black Friday sale, held on November 16, 2019 at Schmidt’s Music in Pensacola, Florida. Years of step-up instrument events held at local schools had yielded only modest results for the Band and Orchestra specialty shop, with correspondingly modest benefits to the hosting band programs. Hosting an in-store event, well before the holiday shopping season was underway, Schmidt and his team knew they were taking a gamble on a new approach. After all, this was the first time in nearly 40 years, that Schmidt Music hosted an in-store, step-up sales event in their 1,500-square-foot space. Dave and his team of 16 employees decided to invite every middle and high school to visit the store. As Kari McConkey, the store’s marketing manager, explains, “We did a lot of advertising and outreach to raise awareness for the event. We handed out thousands of flyers, put up full-sized posters in the store, did ads on Facebook, and told everyone who came into our store about it. Our educational representatives visited local colleges, and our local community bands help spread the word.” It appears that this novel idea for a sales event paid off.
Moments after the doors opened, the store was completely full. According to McConkey, the sale was a tremendous success, with more instruments sold or rented in those four hours than any previous year’s entire lineup of school step-up events combined.
“Realizing the potential of this event to improve the sound of their programs, the band directors strongly encouraged their students to experiment with enhanced sound,” she says. “Our goal has always been to support the local schools’ music programs and help them to succeed in any way we can.”
Working with the local music community is not new to Schmidt’s Music. For 30 years, they have sponsored the Pensacola Jazz Fest. The popular annual event draws thousands of people and gives the local community a financial boost. Additionally, owner Dave Schmidt serves as the vice president of Jazz Pensacola, a non-profit organization of business owners, musicians, teachers, and students who work together to promote jazz music performance and education in Pensacola and the surrounding Gulf Coast region. The store also donates folders, instruments, money, and time to bands and organizations throughout the area. Schmidt’s also offers emergency repairs at auditions and competitions, so when the unexpected happens, students can still play.
They have six full-time technicians who are always on hand to provide on-site emergency repair at no charge. Even when nature strikes, literally, they are there to lend a hand. Two years ago, a local orchestra lost their classroom due to damage sustained during a lightning storm. Schmidt’s partnered with Yamaha to donate instruments, and the students were up and running within a week.
With that spirit, the future looks good for the Schmidt’s Music. As McConkey says, “We’ve achieved 23 percent growth over the last five years. Our plans are to keep our inventory in such a way that we can be flexible and react quickly in this ever-changing marketplace.” It also helps to have a strong team, she explains: “We have been able to create an environment at Schmidt’s where every employee’s input and contribution is recognized and valued. This has created a feeling that the sky is the limit with respect to what we can accomplish as a team.”
With a positive attitude and the success of a pre-Black Friday sale event behind them, the sky could be the limit.
