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Business Lessons From NAMM 2018 And The Music Industry

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Last week, more than 100,000 people in the music business attended the industry’s largest conference and exhibition, known as NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants). The tradeshow is amazing, with hundreds of exhibitors showing off everything related to any facet of music. And, there were plenty of rock stars to meet and hang out with. Beyond seeing the latest and greatest the industry has to offer, one of the big benefits for the buyers and owners of music stores was education.

One of the educational events at NAMM 2018 was Retail Bootcamp. As I listened to the afternoon speaker, Larry Bailin, I was not all that surprised to learn that what the music industry is going through is actually happening in every industry. Throughout the rest of the conference, I heard a number of other speakers, all talking about marketing, social media, selling, and disruption. Next month, I’m going to attend a conference in my industry, the speaking industry, put on by the National Speakers Association. Just about every business speaker in the music industry could do their speech for the speaking industry – or the automotive industry, computer industry, etc., etc., etc.

The point is that all businesses are going through major changes, which come from technology, innovation, social media, and more. Here are three powerful lessons from the excellent NAMM speakers that we can use in just about any business:

  • Befriend Your Competition – I wrote about this concept in my book Amaze Every Customer Every Time, and I used the example of an independent Ace Hardware dealer who had been in business for many years without much competition in the area. Then, one day, The Home Depot decided to build a store directly next door. The owner of the Ace store took the manager of The Home Depot to lunch and discussed the differences between their stores and agreed to promote those differences to their respective customers. One of the music retailers I met at NAMM took one of his direct competitors to lunch. The story was almost identical. He found out the other store focused on school band instruments, and his store focused on guitars and drums. They made an agreement that he would send customers interested in renting band instruments to the “friendly competitor”, while that manager would send the rock and rollers to him. It was a perfect solution for both stores to co-exist and thrive in the same market.
  • Adapt or Prepare To Be Disrupted – This is a theme that came out again and again from several speakers. Larry Bailin preached this in his session. You must keep up with innovation. Your competitors are doing it. And if you don’t, those competitors are going to pass you by. They are improving their websites. They are finding easier ways for customers to do business with them. The way we do business is changing faster than ever. The customer’s expectations are not only based on their experiences with you and your competition, they are based on the experiences they are having outside of your industry. Are your competitors doing anything differently than you? Are there companies from other industries that are doing business differently? Can you incorporate these concepts into your business? Adapt them. Modify them to make them yours. If you let your competitor get too far ahead, they may disrupt your business.
  • Build A Video Presence – This was one of the more intriguing concepts. I’m a big believer of video. My friend, and fellow speaker, Mitch Joel, interviewed Norman Harris of Norman’s Rare Guitars. Norman’s guitars are world famous. Rock stars joke that they sometimes have a choice to either buy a rare guitar from Norman or buy a house. (I bet you can guess which a passionate musician would choose!) Norman realizes the value of video. More and more people (your customers) are turning to the Internet to consume video content. Norman and his team are putting together a video channel focused on guitars. Something like the Golf Channel, but for those interested in music. While putting together an entire channel of content may seem like a daunting task, putting a short video on YouTube once a week at least gets you into the game. Video is a powerful resource that shows the world what you have to offer and, if done well, will help a potential customer learn why they should start doing business with you as well as remind existing customers why they should continue to do business with you.

    Image © Shep Hyken

Change will never stop happening. It’s inevitable. But before you get discouraged by this, just realize that change is a good thing. It keeps us moving forward. Just remember that if you’re ever standing still, you’re probably going to get left behind. The only thing that can be considered wrong when it comes to change is not doing it at all.

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