‘Know your product, service the customer, improve the sales experience’
Hartley Peavey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Peavey Electronic Corp. said sales expertise, customer service and product knowledge are critical to survival of the music retailer today.
How should retailers proceed going into the future? Should the music retailers lobby congress?
“If you’re waiting for the government to come to the rescue forget it,” Peavey advised. “It’s insane to expect that you’re going to get help from on high. We’ve been spectacularly unsuccessful.”
Peavey’s stern comments came during a panel discussion at the 2014 NAMM Show. East Coast Rocker editor Donna Balancia was in the front row.
“I talk to dealers every day, but I want to spend a minute talking about survival for the retail music dealer.
“I went to my first NAMM show in 1954. I like to ask questions. ‘Mr. Dealer in this value chain what is it that you do? What do you add to the formula? What is your reason for being?’ (He’ll respond) ‘I have trained people,’ which is a lie 98 percent of the time.
“They ignore retailing 101. We’re all consumers. Every day we make decisions where to spend money. When you distill it down, what (the music retailers are) telling you is they’re delivery boys. The best damn delivery boys are the guys driving those big brown trucks if you compete with them, you will lose.
“So the answers are within you but only if you ask questions. By the way that’s the way you learn stuff, you ask questions. Every one of you retailers . What do you add to the value chain?
“I’m a big believer in education, we started our education program 30 years ago. You go in most retail music dealers they don’t know what the hell they’re selling. How are you going to sell things the customer knows more about than you?
“Your salvation is not with some congressional body, the answer to your future is within you. You’ve got to be willing to rise to the occasion. Music is one of the few things people will fight you over. If you happen to be a country music fan, and the guy sitting next to you is saying bad things about country music you want to give him a knuckle sandwich.
“You’ve got to make the experience of coming into your store a pleasant one.
“One of the things that’s wrong is we want to be everything to everybody. There is no way in hell you can know the features advantages and benefits of more than three or four products. Are you demo-ing your products that way?
“The internet is not going to go away. It’s here and it’s going to get more pervasive. Decide now what you’re going to do.
“Selling is not a noun. Retail is not a noun, it’s a verb. The government is not going to save your butt, they’ll kick it if you give them half a chance.
“Education on the retail music sales floor today, it’s at the lowest point ever. If we don’t do something to change that, I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“You’ve got to ask questions. As a music industry we have done a lousy ass job of promoting ourselves. We’ve gotta ask the important questions to allow us to survive. You better get back involved in selling with passion. We help people realize their dreams.
“A good salesman helps people realize their goals, objectives and their dreams. We’re in the dream business whether we realize it or not.
“Do things you can’t do by mail. Do installations. Do service. But here he is, in your store. He’s in your store.”
— Donna Balancia is editor of East Coast Rocker and California Rocker. Email her at editor@eastcoastrocker.com