Retail Disruptors - Larry Bailin, Single Throw Marketing (2019 Summer NAMM)

As an online marketing authority, Larry Bailin has had a front-row seat in watching disruption transform industries, including retail. During “Retail Disruptors” at 2019 Summer NAMM, he sat down with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond to discuss this trend and also share wisdom for winning customers in this hyper-changing climate. (Watch the video for the full interview.)

“Try to start to look inward,” Bailin said. “Look at who your customers are and what are the things that are attracting them. What are the things that are really grasping their attention, and how do I take advantage of that? How do I disrupt that? It’s not enough to look at your competitors anymore and see what your competitors are doing. You almost have to look at what your competitors aren’t doing and find that disruptive technology.

“There’s not an Uber model in your industry. There soon will be. So, why not you? Why not create that model? Why not figure out a way to disrupt the norm?”

Bailin also weighed in on the overarching strategy of Amazon, stating that “what Amazon has done is they’ve gotten rid of objections.”

“And objection-handling is 101 stuff,” he said. “That’s not disruptive, but it’s become disruptive. Amazon used that—something core to success. Without answering objections that our customers have, you’re not going to have success. But then [Amazon] put disruptive techniques around doing that. So what Amazon has done is given all of us every single reason to say ‘yes’ and no reasons to say ‘no.’ They have 15 different ways to deliver a package.”

“All you need is one competitor that doesn’t have the same trepidation as you have. And they’re going to leverage that and take over.”