To use an example from Gamber , say a six-year-old was signed up for beginner piano lessons . In his store , young beginning piano students were taught by Mary , and Mary had a few titles that she preferred for her lessons .
“ Before the [ first ] lesson , we ’ d say , ‘ Get here 15 minutes early and there are books we ’ re going to get you set up with so you can be successful .’ We would sell the books and then they ’ d walk into their lesson and they ’ d be ready to go and Mary would be happy that the kid had the right books . Mary didn ’ t have to sell the books and she didn ’ t have to explain , ‘ Why do I have a technique book and a lesson book and a song book ?’ It was done for her , and Mary didn ’ t have to wander out on the floor .” It ’ s a win-win-win situation for the student , teacher , and store .
Gamber says MI retailers should condition their students to understand from day one that the right materials make lessons more productive and successful , and that their store is the source of those materials .
Using established print materials also aids student retention , Gamber says , because it provides a measurable way of showing parents , who are likely paying for the lessons , that their child is making progress . You can tell the student ’ s parents , “‘ We finished book one and we did this and we finished this easy Star Wars book ’ and the parents are going , ‘ Oh , this is awesome ,’ because that is the only way they know if the kid is learning ,” Gamber says .
Of course , some parents may take issue with being told they must pay for lesson materials after having paid for the lesson itself . To this complaint , Gamber responds to them , “ Have you ever gone to college ? And did you have books ?” or even , “ Did you ever take a cooking class ?” The suggestion , obviously , is that most formal classes of any kind require students to buy course materials and music lessons are no different . “ As soon as you say something simple like that , they go , ‘ Oh yeah ,’” Gamber attests .
On the flip side of the equation , selling lessons to existing or prospective print customers , Gamber says there are a few things he has done that work well . For starters , find out which titles your teachers prefer to use and what they think are the best for different instruments and experience levels .
“ You can say , ‘ This is a book a lot of our guitar teachers use and they have a lot of success with what we do .’ I used to actually have , underneath the racks with the books , a space without a book that had the flyers for the guitar teacher above the books that they like to use ,” recalls Gamber . “ I would waste the blank rack space and have an 8 x 11-in . flyer and say , ‘ Here ’ s the teacher that uses this book ’ and some of the fun stuff he did and a link to the video on our website and all the info .”
When dealing with a new player who was in his store looking for a beginner level book , Gamber ’ s usual response was , “ A month of lessons will get you off on the right foot versus having
Pete Gamber
to come in six months from now and someone has to redo the way you ’ re putting your thumb around the neck of the guitar and now it ’ s in the way .” A third of the time , Gamber estimates , that person would immediately ask for more information about the teacher and program . “ I ’ d get a lesson signup just because I asked and it was because they came in looking for a book .”
It ’ s a simple thing to do and the worst thing that happens is they buy the book and leave . In that case , stuff a flyer into the book . “ Guess what I ’ d see in about a month ? Someone coming back in and saying , ‘ I was a little confused . Remember me , you sold me the book ? Thanks for giving me that flyer and I went and looked on your website and saw the teacher talk about what he does and do a little a demo ,’ and off they went ,” Gamber says .
This method can be applied elsewhere , too . Gamber notes he would make the same suggestion to people who came in looking to get their guitar tuned . After all , if someone doesn ’ t know how to tune their guitar , or other stringed instrument , it ’ s a pretty good indication they could use some lessons . Or in the rental department , do you have kids renting band instruments during the back-to-school season ? “ It ’ s a silly thing to overlook . You know these people know nothing , they ’ re going to be beginning band and a lot of them don ’ t even know you teach lessons and you may have rented a horn or they came in to buy a band book , so why not hand them a flyer on your sax teacher or woodwind teacher ?”
The big lesson , obviously , is don ’ t assume anything . Especially , don ’ t assume your students are purchasing books and that your print customers are purchasing lessons . As Gamber says , “ We never think of tying that together and it ’ s like separate departments . Even in small stores that only have three employees , somehow there is this mental division of ‘ that ’ s where the books are ’ and they just don ’ t connect .”
Michael Raine is the Senior Editor of Canadian Music Trade .
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