Let’s be clear: we aren’t trying to take credit for piano dealers growing into new cities, but we do want to draw attention to a common denominator that they have in common: LeadFlow. They are all aggressively pursuing refining the art of talking consumers out of cyberspace and onto the showroom floor. They have come to the realization that more and more relationships that turn into piano sales start online and that, this is where a HUGE amount of their opportunities are coming from.
There are a handful of successful “do-it-your-selfers” that are harvesting a decent number of online opportunities and a modest amount in strong enough markets that they still have some floor traffic; but for the most part, piano dealers are experiencing a severe drought of new customers.
The manufacturers are keeping most of the AI and audience intelligence they gather to themselves in an effort to subvert as much business as possible. They have no qualms about going directly to the consumer, thereby cannibalizing their dealer network without apology. It’s actually a shame that the relationships between the piano builders and the sales professionals who have been promoting them and selling their products for years are experiencing a disconnect because of the lack of loyalty to the dealers from the suppliers, but not to worry. The manufacturers do not have a handle on the fact that no matter how good they think they can get at going directly to the consumer, solid, professional boots on the ground will always be needed to sell a HUGE percentage of fine pianos. They are essentially shooting themselves in the foot by not sharing tech advantages with the dealer network. Instead, they strategize to position themselves into enough direct sales to void the need for the network.
WARNING: While they, the manufacturers, are falling all over themselves attempting the marketplace power grab, the dealer network is shaking down into a dedicated and more tech savvy group of businessmen than ever before. They are an army of businesses, more and more proficient as time goes by, enjoying the spoils of attrition during this “survival of the fittest” sifting down. The need that a dealer has to survive and thrive will never be rivaled by employees at a company store. That paradigm is flawed in its lack of natural competition and free enterprise. Motivated independents with a personal investment will always outperform company sales individuals over time. It is good however that the manufacturers are learning how better to run galleries, because they are making it less and less desirable for new business people to enter the arena. In short, they’ll need to do the best they can to run their own stores. They are consistently making worse business partners as time goes by.
We are one of the first calls dealers make before they decide to move into a new market. They want to know not only the existing amount of online piano interest in the market they are considering going into, but also the potential growth for piano interest in the market. HUH? That is correct; based upon the successful history of our audience intelligence, compiled from the over 2 million leads we have generated since 2015, we can project the success of “look-a-like” marketing technology. We can tell a potential investor how the market could expand in the future based upon a conservative, appropriate or aggressive evangelistic campaign. A campaign that promotes the “idea of a piano” to targeted folks on social media who look like people that we know have been searching for and buying pianos in the past. In short, they, the expanding dealers, want to know how big the pond can be if properly restocked. These are the dealers, the forward thinking ones who have embraced some new tech skills from their sons and daughters, and hired bright young minds. They are teaching them how to sell, and are marching as a small and powerful band of operators, into a position of dominance in our industry.
They are the piano dealers who still have the “fire in the belly” enough to harness new technological ways in order to place more music in more people’s lives. We have been their catalysts, their fans, the beneficiaries of their ideas, their innovators, preachers, examiners, challengers and business friends. We have done what the manufacturers didn’t do – jump down into the trenches with them and help them fight like our lives depend on it. Which they do. We love and care about our dealers and are blessed to have moved into seven new markets just recently as they continue to expand in a shrinking industry.
When you are growing up, you try to learn who it is that would be best to have on your side in a dark alley, in a tight spot. As we forge on into more lead generation success and efficiency we have become “that digital marketing friend” for our clients and those to come. We are that friend. We can only take partial credit for the expansion of our clients into new markets because we are but one invited part of the team. We can however be thankful and proud to be included in the segment of the industry that is growing.
If you are wondering about how these dealers are doing it, the answer is “D”, all of the above. Suffice it to say that very few piano businesses that don’t endeavor to excel at digital marketing are in this group and of them, more of them employ us than any other marketing firm in the industry. That is most likely because we have generated more piano interest leads than any other single entity in the history of the piano business.
NO, we are not their secret weapon or the only thing they are doing right. They do many things right to achieve their expansion. Allow me to state that even after we do a bang up job of bringing piano leads to them, THEY have to follow up, organize and sell them. To get to where they are in a shrinking industry; they have done so many things right, but it’s more than a coincidence that we are one of the things SO many of them have done right. We would like to be the most efficient experience you’ve ever had with your digital marketing strategy.
Adding new locations in a shrinking industry is done with extreme commitment, planning and digital excellence. We can only provide the latter, but that we can do.
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it – Michael Jordan
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