Canadian Music Trade - February / March 2021 | Page 27

sales experience but is passionate and knowledgeable , you can teach them certain techniques , provided they have at least a good people-oriented personality . And we ’ re not talking about weeks of sales training – we ’ re talking about the basics . Number two , they need to be knowledgeable enough and have the ability to recognize what needs to go with that product . As a generic example ; I go onto the hardware store and ask to buy a can of paint . It makes sense that the sales person would not just sell me the correct can of paint , but would ask if I need brushes , a drop cloth , and anything else that would go with a painting project .
The chapter in the book [ Amaze Every Customer Every Time ] is , “ We don ’ t want them to come back .” That sounds crazy , and we do want them to come back , but we don ’ t want them to come because we didn ’ t tell them they needed something and they need to come back for that
particular project or purchase that they made .
CMT : In terms of those who are only in “ sales mode ” and go for the hard sell , versus those who are more relaxed and like to chat casually and take their time with the customer , are both approaches fine or is there a happy medium ?
Hyken : This is where it ’ s important ; if you ’ re in this business long enough , you ’ re going to recognize what the sales cycle looks like . You know , I love the layup ! The customer comes in and knows exactly what they want . That ’ s easy and takes a minimal amount of time . But I also know when somebody is getting ready to make a purchase and may or may not be shopping my competition , too . It ’ s not like they ’ re thinking about $ 18 purchase for a cable or a $ 25 purchase for a tuner , but what they ’ re maybe getting ready
to do is buy an instrument . That could be a guitar that ’ s a few hundred dollars or a keyboard that ’ s $ 1,000 or a piano that ’ s $ 15,000 . It ’ s kind of like selling a car . You ’ re probably not going to say , “ I need a car ,” and go out and buy the first car that you see . You ’ re going to learn .
So , as an owner or manager of the store , I need to recognize what the average sales cycle is . Number two , I need to recognize what the lifetime value of that customer is . Number three , I need to recognize what the average purchase is in each of these areas . When I can understand all three of those , I ’ ll start to recognize , on average , how much time it takes to make a sale of that particular type of product ; like the expensive musical instrument versus a song book .
So , when I start to understand all that and I start to teach my people all that , they ’ re going to be comfortable knowing that ,
“ Hey , I ’ m going to be spending time with people who aren ’ t going to buy and I am going to be spending time with people who are ready to buy , and I know that I have to do both .” But it is an education about the customer to the sales person that helps them understand that when that person walked out and didn ’ t buy , it ’ s not because they didn ’ t do a good job selling . We have to understand what mode they ’ re in .
I will say that if they ’ re looking online and they ’ re looking at the competition , whatever competition that may be , I ’ m going to assume that we ’ re selling something that is probably fairly close in price , or maybe exactly the same price . The person who can deliver the best experience — and that experience comes from not just being friendly , but I ’ m talking about an easy and knowledgeable experience in this world — is going to get that customer to say , “ I ’ ll be back .”
SELLING REPAIRS
are notorious for not being able to

Guitarists articulate what they want their guitars to do . They have a very precise idea of what they ’ re after , but they all say the same thing : ALOPWOB , which is guitar-tech talk for “ as low as possible with out buzzing .” As a technician , I had to find a way to translate this into actual , physical adjustments that would make the guitar play the way they want . After attempting a few strategies to satisfy their needs , I resorted to another technique , one that would circumvent dialog entirely : shaking hands .

While I said their name and looked them in the eye , I would pay attention to what kind of hands they have . Are they large ? Are they strong ? Do they have long fingers ? A handshake reveals not only the hands themselves , but the personality behind the handshake . The way a person shakes hands and the way they play guitar are related . Are they firm ? Are they friendly ? Are they gentle ? When it came time to working on their guitar , I would ask , “ If I were playing this guitar with those hands , how would I want it set up ?”
I know this sounds like a vague , touchy-feely way of approaching technical work , but you would not believe the number of times a guitarist came back to me and said , “ I don ’ t know how you did it , but you set my guitar up exactly – I mean exactly – the way I wanted it .” That little imagination exercise had a real impact ; one that guitarists could feel and appreciate .
On the practical side , I also contended with the fact that prices for repair services are in essence a tool for communication . Customers want to know , “ Around how much is this going to cost ? $ 100 ? $ 300 ? $ 1,000 ?” But every instrument is unique , and requires different particular steps for completing repairs , broadly called , “ setup ” or “ fret dress .” For example , sometimes a guitar would get checked in for a setup , but when I went to file the nut slots to the proper depth , they had already been done . They were perfect , and could not be made more perfect . It ’ s tempting to say , “ Great , I can get this done quicker , because there ’ s one less thing I have to do !” But instead I would look around to see what else I could do to give the customer their money ’ s worth . Every guitar has little things that need attention to make it as enjoyable as possible to play , and I found that if I looked for them , I often could find them . I used the image of the customer getting their guitar back , opening the case , and it ’ s just like Christmas morning . Their guitar is clean , everything works properly , and there ’ s nothing left to do but play music .
I found that this approach contributed to building a positive reputation , and resulted in repeat business . It ’ s one of those things that ’ s hard to prove , but intuitively makes sense . Remember , just because something is hard to measure , doesn ’ t mean it ’ s negligible . And often when a new customer checks in a guitar for repair , they are “ testing out ” the repair shop , and likely have a lot more instruments they will bring in if they like the results .
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE 27