Canadian Music Trade - December/January 2018 | Page 20

DRUM SALES
Done Right
A Top-to-Bottom Primer on Acoustic Drum Retail
T
By Chris Brown
oday’s retail environment is less about the “hard sell” and
more about meeting the needs of the informed shopper.
With the unlimited amount of information available on-
line, many retail customers now enter our stores believ-
ing they have as much knowledge as the sales people
working there.
While this may be true in some cases, in most, you will find that
just because someone has a lot of information, it does not mean
they are able to filter it sufficiently through real experience like our
skilled sales people.
The average drummer has had maybe two or three drum sets
in their lives. They may have played on different kits while gigging,
but have spent no time actually working with those kits. Their
hands-on experience with different brands and different lines within
those brands will be extremely limited.
Our veteran sales people, however, are unboxing, assembling,
tuning, playing, and selling kits from different brands and series ev-
ery day. They have the experience to be able to explain to a client how
20 • CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE
DW’s True Pitch tension rods differ from those commonly found on
other kits and, more importantly, why this distinction should matter
to the drummer. (DW tension rods have a 5 mm thread as com-
pared to others who use 12 or 24 mm. This means DW has more
threads per inch and that allows the user to tension the head more
precisely.)
Choosing a drum set should be based less on the brand your
customer’s favourite drummer plays and more about what your
customer intends to do with the kit. Jeffrey Long, VP of sales and
marketing at Long & McQuade, instructs his staff to “ask open-ended
questions” like:
What style of music do they play?
are they playing at home or are they gigging?
what is their current kit?
what type of sound are they after?