Sales professionals are highly paid for good reason. Sales are the lifeblood of a business. Though it is often said that leaving money on the table as a result of insufficient inventory is the cardinal sin of business, the truth is demand for a value offering begins with sales. Selling services at a music store requires a strategic approach and the industry’s latest point of sale technology. Music Shop 360 is here to help with the latest technology.
Importance of Services in a Music Store
The music industry is ever-evolving with new genres, musicians and styles. As a result, music stores need to be dynamic in their approach to marketing, value proposition development and other elements of this unique business. In particular, music stores that offer highly idiosyncratic services win more market share. Examples include:
- Unique instruments
- Music lessons
- Live performances
- Hard-to-find music
- Instrument repair
Complement in your efforts in selling services such as those described above and you’ll generate that much more interest in your music store.
You don’t have to do it all on your own. Music Shop 360 is here to make selling services that much easier.
As noted by David Lardizabal, an instrument repair specialist who owns his own music store, “There’s just a lot of hats you have to wear whether it’s, you know, the bookkeeping side, trying to figure out and understand, you know, any kind of tax code at 22 years old. Music Shop 360 really helped me consolidate and actually made it a little bit more affordable. That’s just like, I went through the spec list, I went through the features, and that’s kind of in line with what I’m looking for, and so they’re educated in that aspect, which is really nice.”
Service Offerings at the Music Store
When considering potential options for music store services, take some time to review competitors’ offerings. Do your due diligence and you’ll find the best music stores take chances. Add instrument repair, instrument maintenance and even instrument cleaning to your value offering repertoire and you’ll reap the rewards. Even something as simple as restringing instruments has the potential to inspire additional purchases and word of mouth references. Highlight your instrument repair service for damaged instruments and you’ll win the loyalty of musicians throughout the community.
Differentiating your music store from the pack requires creative thinking. Customize your value offering based on local demand, go to the extent of performing personally tailored instrument setups including equipment such as guitar amps and you’ll capture that much more market share.
Personalized setups are mutually beneficial as they provide music stores with a profitable niche and also hold strong appeal to musicians of all skill levels. There are countless opportunities for customized instrument and equipment installations:
- Installing drum sets
- Setting up digital turntables
- Hooking up guitar amps
- Tuning newly installed pianos
Add music lessons and workshops to your value offering, highlight your music education program including the merits of your instructors and it won’t take long to ramp up sales. Put the spotlight on the opportunity to take music lessons at your store and you’ll persuade new musicians as well as those looking for a new hobby to schedule an initial lesson with your experts.
Creating a Service-Oriented Environment
Service is the name of the game. Prioritize customer service and you’ll convert prospects into paying customers. More importantly, those satisfied customers will spread the word about your music shop services throughout the community.
The quality of your services hinges on the skills of your staff. Hire the right personnel and it will show during interactions with customers. Continue to train your team and their expanded skill set and professionalism will be the gift that never stops giving.
Both online and offline interactions matter as there is the potential for web-based feedback to shape the perception of your music store.
Nate Corning of Mark’s Guitar Shop comments, “Any music store is gonna tell you if they’re being honest, they’ve got guitars that have been on display for four years, five years, and nobody wants it in town. So it’s good to have that ability to say, like, well, somebody has been searching for this. They might be in Louisiana. They might be in Utah. They’re not at our town, apparently because they haven’t come into buy it.”
When in doubt, err on the side of overemphasizing customer relationships. After all, relationships are the building block of business and life itself. Listen closely to your target audience, respond to their feedback online including social media and use that feedback to enhance your selling services.
Marketing and Promoting Services
The days of advertising a music store in the local paper, on TV and on billboards are giving way to a new era. Nowadays, the most successful music stores advertise both online and offline. Though online interactions are important, they are only one piece of the puzzle. The most successful music stores use the following methods and more:
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Blogs
- Content marketing
- Social media
Though email marketing isn’t as popular as it was soon after its debut, it is still effective so do not hesitate to collect customer email addresses. Continue to engage your existing customers through a monthly email and you’ll keep them engaged, ultimately increasing the potential for sales.
Technology is available to facilitate smooth customer interactions. Max Larson of Centre Music House notes the following about Music Shop 360:
“It saves us man hours, man or woman hours, like, the things that my dad was doing when I started working here, I was like, you’re doing what? You’re spending, how many hours doing this? And it’d be like, we can just automate so much, you know, and it saved us just hundreds of hours. Even stuff just like updating our checkbook, you know, he was…manually doing that? We can’t necessarily afford to hire five or 10 people to do a job, having software to just run the background and take care of things. It just saves us so much time because it’s just us, you know, and a couple of other people. And if it wasn’t for that, we’d have to be doing everything manually. So yeah, software is everything.”
Offline Marketing Strategies
Running an ad in the local paper, on a billboard or paying for a local TV commercial will make an impact yet those efforts do not specifically target musicians and those interested in learning how to play an instrument. It is more cost-effective to host workshops and events to put your music store services on display.
Seize the opportunity to establish alliances with organizations throughout the community. Establish relationships with schools that serve as a musician pipeline directly to your music store. Forge alliances with music communities. Continue to recruit music instructors to bolster your lesson service.
Complement these efforts with traditional, broad outbound marketing strategies such as flyers, print ads, TV commercials and you’ll find they reinforce one another, making it easier for selling services at your music store.
Success Stories and Testimonials
Share your customers’ success stories such as the learning of an instrument, progression to professional musician status or even the development of a local band. Such anecdotes provide social proof of your music store’s merit.
It is perfectly legal to ask customers for testimonials. Feature the positive words of your customers on your website, social media and marketing videos, making it clear that locals have reverence for your music store and personnel.
Add a paragraph to each of your email newsletters asking locals for updates on their achievements and/or recognition. Highlight those accomplishments with consent and you’ll win that much more local market share.
Your Music Store’s Success Hinges on Selling Services
In the end, sales matter more than anything else. Encourage your online visitors and social media followers to explore the entirety of your music store offerings and you’ll plant the seed that sprouts in the form of additional interest, sales and revenue.
Prominently feature your music store’s contact information throughout the entirety of your online and offline footprints, encouraging your readers to contact your business or drop by for a visit and it won’t take long for sales to increase.
Music Shop 360 is here to help boost and expedite your music store sales. Our retail software for music stores provides the best of ecommerce and point of sale technology for the benefit of music store owners and customers.
Reach out to us today at (385) 279-4567 to find out how we can help your music store reach its potential. You can also reach us through our contact form or by email at sales@musicshop360.com.