Recent

2025 MMR Dealers’ Choice Awards Nominations – Ballot Closes 9/5!

August 22, 2025
Paul Reed Smith and Governor Wes Moore: photo credit Stephanie Lemus/PRS Guitars

Paul Reed Smith Day Declared by Maryland Governor Wes Moore

August 22, 2025

Timeless Elegance Meets Modern Performance: Introducing The ADJ Vintage Bar

August 22, 2025

Slingerland Launches Radio King and Studio King Outfits, Plus Spare Parts

August 22, 2025

Seattle Cascades Now a Fully Powered KHS America Drum & Bugle Corps

August 22, 2025
Reid Peterson (Audio-Technica U.S. Executive Director of Sales, Professional Markets); Julie Van Berg (Mavric Incorporated sales associate); Kazuo Matsushita (Audio-Technica Corporation CEO/President); Pete Petty (Mavric Incorporated principal); Manabu Aoki (Audio-Technica U.S. CEO/President); Jeff Beck (Audio-Technica U.S. Regional Sales Manager, System Solutions); and David Barrett, Jerry Silhavy and John Herr (Mavric Incorporated sales associates). Photo credit: Corey Walthall, Clyne Media

Audio-Technica honors Mavric, Inc. with its President’s Award

August 22, 2025

Solid State Logic Appoints Mark Skipper to National Sales Manager, Eastern U.S., for Broadcast & Live Audio Production Systems

August 22, 2025

Boston Crusaders Win 1st-Ever DCI Gold Medal Playing Pearl/Adams

August 22, 2025
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
  • Contact
MMR Magazine
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!
No Result
View All Result
MMR Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Rules of Engagement

Christian Wissmuller by Christian Wissmuller
October 30, 2013
in Editorial
0
A great customer engagement strategy is always key.

A great customer engagement strategy is always key.

938
SHARES
2.3k
VIEWS
Share on Facebook
ADVERTISEMENT

A great customer engagement strategy is always key.
Every day I feel like I have to come in here and reinvent myself,” Gordy Wilcher of Owensboro Music Center told me when I visited him this past spring. I think of that often, because it rings so true. And not just for retailers – for all of us.

There are no rules for succeeding these days, but there is a commonality, and in a word, it’s “engagement.” And it happens to be a theme in this issue (I wish we could say we brilliantly planned it – alas, sometimes serendipity is the best editor).

ADVERTISEMENT

An independent drum store doing well with high-end products? Check out the feature on Drum Center of Portsmouth and meet Shane Kinney, who has built something out of nothing in five short years. I realized while writing this story that his success came not just because he provides “good customer service” – he engages. He’s excited about what he’s doing and it’s enticing to those other drummers who enter his sphere. 

Matt Parish took on a heady topic: Showrooming. You’re a retailer. Someone is walking around with a smart phone obviously looking at something they want, but looking up a “better deal.” In this edition of Small Business Matters, we provide some answers, and the underlying key to this problem is going beyond “customer service” – but engaging that customer.

Then there’s Christian Wissmuller’s no-holds-barred cover story on Guitar Center. Long in an industry media shadow of their own choosing, they change course. In a follow-up to his exclusive Q&A with Gene Joly back in June, Christian went out to their HQ to return with a report of their reversal of industry relationship philosophy. Previously there was a vacuum, and filling it was rumors of misinformation. Now they are going to be more engaged, and the industry will be better off for it.

And speaking of Wilcher, he is “starting over after 40 years,”  and his reinvention will involve rules of engagement learned at NAMM’s Retail Boot Camp.

Engagement is an exchange of mutual respect and enthusiasm that ends with a commitment from both parties. Do I believe a real engagement can allow us all to thrive, and reach our ultimate collective goal, which is be better at creating music makers?

I do. 

Tags: EngagementShowrooming
Previous Post

MI Intellectual Property Issues – Setting the Record Straight

Next Post

Band Methods from HLC and Alfred Embrace Technological Possibilities

Related Posts

Current Issue

Bridging the Sound – Audio Interfaces and the Modern Musician’s Toolkit

April 25, 2025
Current Issue

Twang, Nostalgia, the Americana Boom – and Why Now is the Time to Take Advantage

March 25, 2025
Editorial

Enough with ‘It’s Back!’

March 25, 2025
Editorial

Is Your Store an ‘Experience Destination’?

January 9, 2025
Editorial

A New Year – and Potentially Plenty of Change – Awaits

March 25, 2025
Editorial

FOMO Can be Good for You!

December 17, 2024
Next Post

Band Methods from HLC and Alfred Embrace Technological Possibilities

Please login to join discussion
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

NAMM’s Top 100 Dealer Awards Rebranded as The NAMM Retail Awards

July 21, 2025

Jessica Tropea Joins Neutrik Americas as Customer Solutions Engineer

August 15, 2025

Furch Guitars Introduces Pioneer Series: All-Solid-Wood, Travel-Friendly Short-Scale Guitars

July 21, 2025

Music Sales swoops for Carisch

April 8, 2015
Paul Reed Smith and Governor Wes Moore: photo credit Stephanie Lemus/PRS Guitars

Paul Reed Smith Day Declared by Maryland Governor Wes Moore

Timeless Elegance Meets Modern Performance: Introducing The ADJ Vintage Bar

Slingerland Launches Radio King and Studio King Outfits, Plus Spare Parts

Seattle Cascades Now a Fully Powered KHS America Drum & Bugle Corps

2025 MMR Dealers’ Choice Awards Nominations – Ballot Closes 9/5!

August 22, 2025
Paul Reed Smith and Governor Wes Moore: photo credit Stephanie Lemus/PRS Guitars

Paul Reed Smith Day Declared by Maryland Governor Wes Moore

August 22, 2025

Timeless Elegance Meets Modern Performance: Introducing The ADJ Vintage Bar

August 22, 2025

Slingerland Launches Radio King and Studio King Outfits, Plus Spare Parts

August 22, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT
The Latest News and Gear in Your Inbox - Sign Up Today!
  • August 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • July 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • June 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • May 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
  • April 2025

    Articles | Digital Issue
© 2005 - 2025 artistpro, LLC
7012 City Center Way, Suite 207
Fairview, Tennessee 37062
(800) 682-8114

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe Now!
    • Subscribe Now!
  • Advertise
  • Email Press Releases!
  • Current Issue
    • Past Issues
  • Newsroom
    • News
    • MMR Global
    • Supplier Scene
    • Upfront
    • People
  • Awards
    • Dealers’ Choice Awards Ballot 2024
    • Don Johnson Award Winners Archive
  • Directory
  • Get Support!

© 2005 – 2024 artistpro, LLC 7012 City Center Way, Suite 207 Fairview, Tennessee 37062 (800) 682-8114

This is Modal Title

Click Me
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?