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Want more rentals? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Frank Pampenella of PM Music Center shared the keys to boosting band and orchestra rentals—and cash flow. A successful school music dealer with 31 employees, Pampenella stressed communication as the knot that ties it all together. “With better communications, you’re going to get better customer service, and that’s what really leads to more rentals,” he said. Here are Pampenella’s six steps to growing a rental business: 1. Gain trust with music directors. According to Pampenella, when you contact directors, you’re perceived as a salesperson

People want to try before they buy. You wouldn’t purchase a car without test-driving it, and you wouldn’t buy a house without seeing it first. Music lessons are no different. For this reason, it’s a smart idea to consider offering free trial lessons if you have a lesson program. A potential music student needs to see if your school is a good fit, and the lesson itself is just one piece of the puzzle. Students need to experience the whole environment and decide whether or not it works for them. Your free trial must encompass all this and more, so consider incorporating these steps

Music retailers with empty lesson rooms, take note. At the 2016 NAMM Show, music lessons guru Pete Gamber revealed how to keep your lesson rooms filled with students whenever the lights are on in your store. Here are highlights. (Watch the video for the full session.) Know your lesson room potential.Do you know the maximum capacity of your store’s lessons program? Gamber offered a simple exercise that lets you see how much room you have for more lessons in your studio or store—and for getting to where you want to be. Here’s Gamber’s formula: • Multiply # Rooms × 8 Students/Day (3–

At the 2016 NAMM Show, Cris Behrens of Summerhays Music proved that you don’t need a big marketing budget to make a big impact. He updated his popular NAMM Idea Center session “Guerilla Marketing on a Chimp’s Budget 2.0” with new, out-of-the-box ideas to help you draw more customers to your business without spending much money. Here are Behrens’ guerilla marketing ideas. (Watch the video for the full session.) Watch out for musical artists coming to your area. Get in the habit of reaching out to your manufacturers to find out what artists will be in town on someone else’s dime, a

From the start, Mason Music’s website has been the centerpiece of its marketing strategy. The site has generated numerous leads for the business, helping grow its lesson program to 650 students per week. At 2016 Summer NAMM, owner Will Mason encouraged retailers to do four things to ensure an effective website that engages customers and generates sales. Here are highlights from the session. (Watch the video for the full session.) The Four Website Fundamentals 1.  Content: The stuff on your website—text, images, videos, etc. 2.  Function: What a visitor can do on your website—navig

From the start, Mason Music’s website has been the centerpiece of its marketing strategy. The site has generated numerous leads for the business, helping grow its lesson program to 650 students per week. At 2016 Summer NAMM, owner Will Mason encouraged retailers to do four things to ensure an effective website that engages customers and generates sales. Here are highlights from the session. (Watch the video for the full session.) The Four Website Fundamentals 1.  Content: The stuff on your website—text, images, videos, etc. 2.  Function: What a visitor can do on your website—navig

“Three years ago, I was talking right here on this stage about the prospect of one-day delivery,” said Joe Lamond, NAMM President and CEO. “Now, we’re talking one-hour delivery—right to your doorstep.” Lamond kicked off the “NAMM Retail Summit” at 2016 Summer NAMM with this example, underscoring the speed of change in online retail. Held the morning of June 23, this NAMM U Breakfast Session explored how successful music retailers have made the internet their own. Lamond stressed that large retailers aren’t the only ones innovating; independent music retailers are also raising the

Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center gave its website a complete overhaul in late 2014. Soon after, the company’s online sales more than tripled, and in-store traffic spiked. During the “NAMM Retail Summit” at 2016 Summer NAMM, Adam Levin, the retailer’s third generation of leadership, explained his website revamp and what others could learn from the process. He spoke with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond. “Word-of-mouth isn’t you and me talking anymore,” Levin said. “It’s a Tweet. It’s a Facebook post. The conversation is happening online, and if you don’t have something online

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. “I’m a big believer in what I call personality branding,” Douglas said. “Every one of our stores has its own unique identity. We all have a story to tell. So the goal was, ‘H

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. “The investment in technology, in general, has allowed us to grow our business over the last 10 years,” said Goff, who also serves as NAMM’s current chairman. “We’ve probably doubled our business in the last 10 years, and yet particularly in the back end of the bu

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. He spoke with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond. (Kalt also owns music retailer Chicago Music Exchange.) Here are some of Kalt’s success tips for Reverb.com. (Watch the video to see the full segment.) Authenticity: “You have to tell your own story. You have to figure out how to be true and authentic to whatever you’re doing in your physical store. You have to figure

At the 2016 NAMM Show, Liz Reisman of Creative Music Center outlined five steps she took to create a retail dream team and reduce employee-management issues. During the NAMM U session, Reisman asked the audience to consider the biggest reason their staff wastes time, and suggested that it’s simply because they don’t have a reason to be focused. Here are Reisman’s best practices. (Watch the video for the full session.) 5 Steps to Building Your Retail Dream Team 1. Identify three goals for each team member. 2. Ask team members to write three goals for themselves. 3. Meet, share, com