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Robin Walenta, president of West Music, has achieved multiple retail breakthroughs at her Coralville, Iowa-based chain operation. During Breakfast of Champions at the 2014 NAMM Show, she sits down with NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond to discuss everything from her company's breakthroughs in strategic planning and market development to her role as a female leader in the music products industry. Highlights from the video: On face time with customers: “I’ve heard that adage about work on your business, not in your business,” Walenta said. “I think you have to do a little of both. B

Daniel Haver, CEO of Native Instruments, oversaw his company’s rise from startup to music software pioneer. Since then, Native Instruments has entered the hardware market, undergone a major growth spurt and even influenced musical styles, including dubstep. During Breakfast of Champions at the 2014 NAMM Show, NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond looks at these breakthroughs with Haver, who comes from the advertising industry. Highlights from the video: On entering the music software market: “This whole digitalization of the whole advertisement-creation process, I was part of this,” H

Jim Odom founded PreSonus in 1995 to solve the problems he’d run into as a recording engineer and gigging musician. Since then, he’s had several product and technology breakthroughs, such as the StudioLive series. NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond speaks with Odom about his unique story, his breakthroughs and the future of gear during Breakfast of Champions at the 2014 NAMM Show. ​“Our products have to continue to be very simple to use,” Odom said. “They have to be smarter to use. They have to help you make great records, teach you how to promote your record, teach you how to make

David Kalt, owner of Chicago Music Exchange, had a viral video hit in 2012 with “100 Riffs (A Brief History of Rock N’ Roll).” Since then, he’s had more breakthroughs in video marketing and also launched Reverb.com, an online marketplace for buying and selling used gear. NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond discusses these initiatives with Kalt, along with his unique music retail strategy, during Breakfast of Champions at the 2014 NAMM Show. ​Highlights from the video: “The strategy was not to build multiple locations or replicate the store that I had acquired; it was to really figur

The last morning of the 2014 NAMM Show began with Best in Show. This session, moderated by Music Inc.’s Frank Alkyer, featured six music retail gear experts from Internet giants and independent powerhouses alike. These judges revealed their picks for the best products and services at the show—gear that’s certain to be a big deal in the year ahead. Watch the entire session.

As construction for our Lexington, Ky., store came to a close, I started thinking of ways to get the community to visit our newly expanded facility. However, most of the events we’d held in that store were poorly attended, and I was hesitant to spend a lot of money on a reopening celebration. I needed an attractive PR “hook” to get the local media’s attention, and I needed something enticing that would fill my store with people for $500 or less. Then an idea hit me while I was finishing lunch and chowing down on a chocolate chip cookie. Who doesn’t love chocolate? I needed to thro

Today's digitally armed consumers have adopted showrooming as part of the buying process. Using brick-and-mortar stores to check out products and later purchase them online is becoming more common and will influence 19 percent of all sales by 2016. Amazingly, 80 percent of retailers expect to be impacted by showrooming, but only one in 10 has a plan to combat it. Brick-and-mortar retailers have gone to extremes to prevent this. I once saw a retailer post a sign that said, “There's a $5 charge for looking, which will be credited to any purchase you make before you leave the store.”

Today's digitally armed consumers have adopted showrooming as part of the buying process. Using brick-and-mortar stores to check out products and later purchase them online is becoming more common and will influence 19 percent of all sales by 2016. Amazingly, 80 percent of retailers expect to be impacted by showrooming, but only one in 10 has a plan to combat it. Brick-and-mortar retailers have gone to extremes to prevent this. I once saw a retailer post a sign that said, “There's a $5 charge for looking, which will be credited to any purchase you make before you leave the store.”

Every year, my store, Damm Music Center, hosts a holiday concert called "The Best Damm Christmas Concert." This year, it's a week before Christmas. Everyone on my staff plays an instrument, but there's never a good time for us as a group to showcase our talents. The holiday concert gives us that opportunity. It legitimizes us as musicians and gear experts in the community. And each year, we get to play Christmas music as a band for 200–250 people. The concert gets promoted through store posters, our website, e-blasts and our Facebook page. It runs from 8–9:30 p.m. We host it at a

Every year, we hold a Rummage Sale on Black Friday weekend. We use it to clear out old inventory before year end and get people into our store. Attendance has been building since we started the sale three years ago, but this year, it was completely off the hook. From Friday through Sunday, the Rummage Sale created a feeding frenzy at the store, and we ended up doing three times our normal weekend business. My total outlay, including lunch for staff: roughly $600. Here's how we did it. Before the sale, I get signs printed by an online vendor for cheap—roughly $2 a piece. We print a

In less than one minute, Don Tegeler of Tegeler Music shares his big idea: Hold a benefit concert on Labor Day for your non-profit organization of choice. This year, Tegeler hosted a concert to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. "I do a lot of business from people that just came in after they saw the event," he says. "They wanted to support me because of what we did." Watch the video.

Music retailers often spend time analyzing their retirement accounts but forget about the value of their own businesses. In many instances, this may be your largest retirement asset. And unfortunately, many retailers who have thought about the value of their businesses have an inflated sense of what they're worth. Who can blame you? You've put your life into your store. But time, effort and capital infusions mean nothing unless they convert to bottom-line profits. The more bottom line profits (free cash flow) a business generates, the more attractive the business will be to potent