Know what I hate? Reality shows. Why? They’re not real. Why call it “reality” when it’s not? Oh, I tried to watch some – I mean, I get a kick out of “Shark Tank” sometimes and I thought “Undercover Bosses” was a good premise, but come on – who follows a new hire around with a TV camera and additional lighting crews? Get a clue, Sherlock.
But here is a haunting tale of intrigue and drama: there are “reality shows” playing out every day in the MI business world – and they are costly. These “costs” are a combination of oversights, outright mistakes, and dealer/owners that will keep wearing blinders as they walk into their own stores every day, not wanting to confront reality and holding on to the dreadful belief of, “wanting to do business the way we always have.” Well, I’m sorry to say this – but someone has to – you are out of your mind! (note – if you stop reading here because I just made you mad, then you just made my point. You’re not going to “pass GO” nor collect the hundreds or thousands of dollars that a customer may have been willing to spend with you because it’s now being sent to another store in another territory). You are in the wrong lane, sir; there is another music store passing you on the right).
Still reading? I thank you. Who am I? I’m a “rep.” Well, not really a “rep,” but a sales manager of an international MI company. My job? To travel around the United States visiting and consulting with a lot of music stores; talking with a lot of owners, store managers, sales managers, IT managers, sales people, and buyers… to the point where I’ve seen enough retail to help put together a large piece of an interesting puzzle – the picture of which is elusive to some, but crystal clear to many! Do I have all the answers? Well, not 100 percent. It’s akin to the age-old question on the value of advertising. Is advertising worth it? Well, the answer is (drumroll…) only 50 percent of advertising produces results. The problem is you don’t know which 50 percent!!(Sidetrack to prove my point: I recently sold a piece of personal gear. As a science experiment, I listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $100 and Craigslist for $150. (Yep – Craigslist! Who uses that anymore?) Anyway, I got a text stating that someone wanted to buy it and could they pick it up. We decided to meet at a local convenience store, and when the buyer pulled out his wallet, he handed me three crisp $50 bills. I asked him where he saw my ad. He said Facebook. Alrighty then…)
OK, so what great words of wisdom do I have for you on this first introductory work of literary genius? Well, not really words of wisdom, but an interesting tale – of a store owner in denial. Let’s just listen in on an interesting conversation I had at the Summer NAMM show. A dealer friend was lamenting that the brick and mortar store was not doing well, and did I have any words of advice or thoughts. I said, “Let’s start by looking at what you’ve done to communicate with your customers in the first 30 days of the pandemic and then fast forward and also peek at the last 90 days. Let’s see – your website says nothing about any new hours, or your protocols, nothing on how to contact you. You haven’t done any (ZERO) Facebook posts to engage your customers, your Instagram account shows no activity AT ALL, and the photos of your store are from last year. Does your store manager have access to all of these accounts?”
“Yes.”
“So, why do you think there are no posts?”
“Umm… They were too busy.”
“Busy doing WHAT? You said traffic was down. What could they possibly be doing except staring at their phones wondering where their customers are while they are on social media!?”
Alright, what is the real takeaway here? There are many, but let’s break this down a little bit. This isn’t the days of Yellow Page ads that you can’t change for a year. This is the age of getting a message to your customers in an instant, whether it is in an email or a social media post – and here is the beauty: for the most part, it’s FREE! FREE, I tell you! But wait! There’s more!
How long does a Facebook post take to highlight a cool piece of gear? Five minutes? I guarantee that if there was a funny meme, that thing would be posted in under 60 seconds, but “no time for a Facebook informational post”? Jeez – if I were to quote a famous reality show I’d say “You’re Fired” (but in these days that’s political suicide!).
Here’s an interesting dose of reality, for the most part: your customers care about your success. They care about you. They want you to be successful. During the pandemic, they wanted to know if you were alright. Really, they did!! They would have loved to hear from you. And here is the best part: It’s not too late to begin to engage with your customers all over again. Social media is your best friend right now. 30-second videos of you and your staff with a new piece of gear, or a great pic of you getting ready to open the box on a hot new item is exactly what you need to do to engage your customer to come and see you. Begin to put together your campaign of engagement. They might just say, “I’ll be down”!
