After purchasing Milwaukee’s Cream City Music in 2013, Brian Douglas’ first order of business was revamping the company’s website. Specifically, he aimed to create a more personal online experience—one that rivaled the in-store experience. During the “NAMM Retail Summit” at 2016 Summer NAMM, he sat down with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond to discuss how this has been critical to Cream City Music’s success.

For Paige’s Music, online technology has been critical to business growth. During the “NAMM Retail Summit” at 2016 Summer NAMM, Mark Goff, president of the Indianapolis school music retailer, explained to NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond how Paige’s website has improved the customer experience—not to mention operations.

David Kalt, founder of the online buying and selling platform Reverb.com, stopped by the “NAMM Retail Summit” at 2016 Summer NAMM. There, he shared what he sees the most successful Reverb.com sellers doing differently. Here are some of Kalt’s success tips for Reverb.com.

We all want our sales staff to perform like a finely tuned team of superstars. The hard part is motivating them so they produce consistent results. Here, Liz Reisman of Creative Music Center shares her system for conveying expectations to employees and getting them working together as a team. Walk away with five sure-fire ways to be the Coach K of your retail sales staff.

With the right planning, delaying your company’s transfer of ownership could make sense. Still, that doesn’t mean you delay your succession planning. You may want to consider a one-way buy-sell arrangement. Find out why.  

Creating newsworthy stories about your music retail business can result in increased publicity, marketing and free advertising. Here, Noel Wentworth of Wenworth Music reveals how his company does this by staying active in the community and hosting special events. Check out his example, and discover what it could mean for your store.

Music retailers don’t have to be left behind in the connected world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media lets you reach potential customers at a lower cost and in unique ways. At the 2016 NAMM Show, Ben Ash, director of social media at Sam Ash Music, showed how to get social with your retail business and savvy with managing your social media presence.

How many of you want satisfied customers? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Tracy Leenman of Musical Innovations challenged music retailers to go a step further. She shared the best practices that have helped make her store NAMM’s 2015 Dealer of the Year and the Top 100 Award winner for Best Customer Service.

Have you invested in your music lesson programs and watched the money drain from your store, rather than go back in your pocket? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Joel Bertrand of Bertrand’s Music shared three powerful strategies that he’s used to build his lesson program and bring in more students. Find out what they could mean to your program.

What’s keeping you from getting found by the customers you want? Strap in and hold on as marketing guru Jeffrey Hayzlett delivers a bold, no-nonsense approach to driving change. Hayzlett, a best-selling author and the primetime television host of C-Suite and Executive Perspectives, looks at how to get results with online and social marketing. He’ll lead you through the necessary components to create an effective social media strategy, then guide you through implementation.