“The reason why people are so attract-
ed to customer reviews on those third-
party sites is because they’re willing to look
at both sides of the coin. So let’s look at
music for a second, and let’s look at a gui-
tar. So if you’re selling a guitar and you’re
smart about it – and you’re producing a
video or an article or review of the guitar –
well it’s dumb to just say why it’s awesome,
but most companies will say why it’s great
and they only want to talk about the good
elements of it,” explains Sheridan. “The
smart businesses that are thinking like a
Yelp [reviewer] are very open to saying,
‘Look, you’re trying to figure out if this Gib-
son XYZ model is a good fit for you, so let’s
look at who it is and who it’s not a good fit
for and by the end of this video, hopefully
you’ll be able to decide if this is a great
choice for you.’ That’s what the buyer wants.
They want to hear the good, the bad, and
the ugly. Most retailers don’t yet understand
that and so therefore they’ve caused buyers
to shift to third-party websites instead of
the main hubs of the brands and retailers
because they’re just not being unbiased
enough.”
Sheridan points out that in the last
two years, “for me” searches have exploded
on Google. An example would be, “What
is the best beginner acoustic guitar for
me?” This is exactly the type of information
customers want, and retailers are very well
placed to provide it. They have the diversity
of brands/products, experience, and ex-
pertise to answer these questions honestly.
But that doesn’t mean they have to be
negative; they just have to be honest using
the facts they have.
Here’s a great example from one
of Sheridan’s clients, Yale Appliance in
Massachusetts. They sell home appliances
like washing machines and dryers from
all the major brands. Try googling “least
serviced refrigerator brands,” and you’ll likely
see a blog post from Yale Appliance. Their
brilliant idea was to take the data from their
repairs department and give customers the
information they want. “What they do every
year – and this is a huge annual article they
do on their website – is they take the data
from the year and they say, ‘We sold this
many units from this particular brand –
Miele, Bosch, GE, whatever – we sold this
many units, we went on this many service
calls, and therefore here is the percentage
of units serviced.’ You can see the most-
MARCUS SHERIDAN PRESENTS AT THE NAMM SHOW
serviced and the least-serviced appliances
that they sell,” Sheridan explains. “Now, does
this piss off the vendor? Well maybe it does.
Now, if the vendor is doing well, maybe it
doesn’t, but you see, Yale has released their
fear of the vendor because they know they
have all the leverage. That one article gets
read 50,000 times a month. A month! I’m
not exaggerating. They were willing to do
things that nobody else in that retail appli-
ance space was willing to do.”
And that customer-focused article
doesn’t just generate online traffic; it gen-
erates sales. By being totally transparent,
Yale Appliance transformed their business.
During the NAMM U session, Sheridan re-
vealed that Yale Appliance had $37 million
in revenue in 2011 and hit $85 million in
2016 while spending $700,000 less per year
in advertising. They grew from one store to
two and their margins are up five per cent.
They can account for at least $10 million a
year in revenue coming from people who
first visit the website – and they don’t do
any e-commerce.
So customers want transparency
and honesty in comparisons, reviews, and
drawbacks. But what about the other two
pillars, cost and what’s best?
Cost is about more than slapping a
price on something, though not showing
a price creates uncertainty and customers
hate that. (Just think of how you feel when
you look at a restaurant’s menu online and
there are no prices.)
“Nobody has talked about the need to
discuss costs openly as much as I have over
the last seven years. It’s been one of my
major points of conversation, but it’s always
coming back to this: buyers don’t like to
be embarrassed and they don’t like to feel
stupid. They don’t want to make a mistake
and so they need to understand param-
eters. They want to know what drives the
cost up, what keeps it down, why are some
companies or brands expensive, and why
are others cheap? This is what they want
to know,” says Sheridan. “So it’s no different
than I might start off playing guitar and
the guitar that I get is $500 and then after I
get into it, the guitar I get might be $1,500,
and then once I get really serious about it,
it could be $5,000. But each time I do that, I
go through another process of saying, ‘OK,
help me understand the parameters. What
should I be looking for? Why is this one
$5,000 and this one $4,000? I just want to
understand.’ This is what’s most important
about price – not so much the specific
number. Ranges matter a lot, but ranges
in context of why is what we need to be
willing to talk about, and not be so stinking
embarrassed about it!”
The last pillar, “what’s best,” is, like
much of Sheridan’s advice, about under-
standing the psychology of customers’
web search behaviour. “When we search
for things, we always like to know what is
at the top of the food chain and work our
way down. We don’t start at the bottom. So
in other words, you’ll never search for ‘worst
guitars for beginners.’ Nobody has ever
searched that phrase, ever. They’ll search
for ‘best acoustic guitars for beginners,’” he
explains. “Once you’re able to see what the
best is, you’re able to work off that point
and say either, ‘I can afford it; it’s a good fit,’
or ‘It’s not.’ But at least we want to know
what that top looks like so we can work our
way down.”
To boil down Sheridan’s approach to
shaping a retailer’s web presence, it’s about
being in the mindset of a customer search-
ing Google. If they’re looking for a product,
what questions will they have? Now answer
those questions honestly. It’s that simple.
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor of
Canadian Music Trade
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