I attended one of the breakfast sessions at the NAMM show this year, and visited with a young man who had just opened his own music store, High Desert Music. He lives in a small town in Oregon, and there are barely enough musicians to keep him in business.
High Desert Music
More than anything else, this man needs to focus on creating musicians so that he will have customers. Not only will he have a thriving music store, he will be strengthening his community.
(Visit the Guitar Center Music Foundation’s website for more information about the benefits of making music.)
My first piece of advice for this gentleman was to form an alliance with all of the music stores and teachers in his area so that all of them can work together to create solutions. His market is not even close to saturation, so by working together, they will create enough customers for all of the local stores to share.
Then, it’s up to them how to create the customers. It needs to be a decision based on their own assets and skills. It could be that they need to better communicate the benefits of making music to their communities. It could also be that they just need to encourage more musicians to teach music. I also suggested that their schools work with Guitars in the Classroom because it greatly increases the number of guitarists in a community. But, however they choose to create musicians, it must be done for them to continue.
Who benefits?
The company – The company will not only gain customers, which will increase sales, they will gain support from the community and other local stores.
The other local stores – Other local stores will also gain new customers.
The community – The community will benefit from having more musicians. Music programs keep children off the streets, improve kids’ test scores, help keep the elderly active and healthy and generally keep a society safer over all.
The music industry – The music industry will also benefit from increased sales of musical instruments, in this particular scenario. The manufacturers need stores to create customers if they, too, are going to stay in business.
March 12th, 2009 - 9:53 am
Since I wrote this post, I’ve been really disappointed to learn how few companies are willing to work with their (so called) competitors to create customers.
If there aren’t enough customers, similar companies aren’t competitors, they’re just struggling alongside you. Neither of your situations will change unless you work together to change them.
So, stop looking at your business like you’re in it alone. Think about who else would benefit from working with you to create customers, and get them onboard!