Rules of Engagement

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).

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.