Do you find yourself saying, "I have too many things to do to worry about being productive"? The good news is managing your time is easier than you think. A few simple online tools will help you stay on track. Donovan Bankhead of Springfield Music reveals how such tools as Gmail, Boomerang, Google Calendar and Google Drive can change your day-to-day experience—and impact your bottom line.
Does your company handle purchasing as a team? Are the voices of your sales and support staff heard before you place purchase orders? Obviously, a purchasing director or manager needs to make final calls on buying decisions, but the more you can get your associates involved in what they're going to sell, the more they'll be motivated to sell it.
Social media. Smartphones. Tablets. Internet access everywhere, all the time. There's a point when technology shifts from being a trend to becoming a disruption in daily business. Yet another point comes when consumer behavior starts to shift, and we're presented with an important decision: Either we embrace this change or we don't. Digital marketing guru Brian Solis explains how. Watch the video.
Industry veteran Chip Averwater, chairman of Amro Music Stores and author of Retail Truths: The Unconventional Wisdom of Retailing, shares his street-smart retailing insights and business savvy from years of experience in the retail trenches. Joe Lamond, NAMM president and CEO, and Chip dig deeper into the surprising truths of music retailing today–and provide ideas that will strengthen your business no matter what changes take place in the industry.
Based on Joe Calloway's best-selling book of the same name, Becoming a Category of One is an exciting session about what creates market leaders in today's hyper-competitive marketplace. What can music products retailers learn from great companies in other industries to help them meet today’s challenges?
Donovan Bankhead is back with his brilliant session from Nashville that got rave reviews from attendees! His organization methods are a must-try, especially in our music products industry, where it’s no surprise that many of us fall into a creative category. As easy as it is to categorize ourselves, the same can’t always be said for our files.
Is your store over-inventoried with too much of last year’s “hot product”? Do you know what emerging trends will determine this year’s “must-have” products? How can you forecast the “new best sellers” and also know when hot products start to cool down-before you place your next Purchase Order?
Marketing 101 says the best customer is the one you already have. Every fall, a gush of new customers tumble right into our laps during rental season. And, every fall, we provide them with their instruments and supplies—and that’s it. Other than a few reeds or bottles of valve oil during the year, we may not see these customers again until June, if they return their instrument.
Before starting their store in the mid-1960s, Lauren Haas Amanfoh's grandfather went to his childhood music store and asked the owners how they survived the Great Depression. With their advice, he set up the business model that Royalton Music Center still uses today—through good times and tough times, Royalton has survived and thrived. More recently, it has adjusted to today's economy and boosted lessons, rentals and sales—at a time when many retailers are closing their doors. Lauren discusses several factors she attributes to her company's recent success: proven methods to bring more stability to the industry and ultimately bring music to more lives.
Want to attract more customers to your store? Want the customers who do visit your store to purchase more products? Want to accomplish this without spending money? Learn how to effectively merchandise your store to attract your customer’s attention, interest and desire to own the products that you offer.