There seem to be two schools of thought on having a perform-ance space in a music store: those who don’t have one but wishthey did, and those who have one but wonder if the space isworth the expense.

In the late 1960s and ’70s, during the glory days of the organbusiness, Conn Music Center was the biggest Conn dealer in the United Statesand one of the most successful organ dealers in the brutally competitiveChicago market. Owner Pete Wycoff created a beautiful store in a formermovie theater, preserving some of the original space to create The Wycoff

Theatre. I remember calling on him and thinking, “What a colossalwaste of space.”

It turned out that The Wycoff Theatre was one of the keys tohis success. Along with hosting organ concerts, which was a bigpart of selling organs, he had his teachers present student recitalsin a professional venue. Still, the hall was empty 98 percent ofthe time.

THE STEINWAY HALL MODEL

I rene Besse of Irene Besse Keyboards in Calgary, Alberta, mayhave the most impressive performance facility of any modern

piano dealer. Her concert hall seats 310 and features profes-sional light and sound, an Internet connection, a giant videoscreen, a balcony, and chandeliers. Still, managing a hall thatsize presents its own set of problems.

“We are seriously looking at hiringsomeone full-time to run the hall,”she said. “It is well-appointed but notbeing utilized to its maximum.”

“We had 135 events last year thatranged from teacher/student recitalsto profess ional concerts ,” saidCharles Rempel, president of CharlesPiano in Albuquerque, N.M. Headded that he’s convinced that theactivity leads to referrals and sales.

Charles and Irene are following theexample of William Steinway, arguably the greatest musical instrument mar-keter of all time. When he opened Steinway Hall in New York, it instantlybecame the most important performance venue in the city and remained sountil Carnegie Hall opened. Steinway understood that by associating hisretail store with musical performances he could differentiate his companyfrom his competitors and build one of the world’s most recognized brands.

People perceive places where they experience things differently than placeswhere they buy things. Performance connects the dots between the instru-

ment and the experience, har-nessing the value of customers’emotional response to music.Apple and Whole Foods under-stand well the benefit of mak-ing a visit to their stores anexperience rather than chore.

Whether the performance isa professional concert or a kids’recital, the effect on your guestsis the same: a rush of warmfeelings triggered by the hor-monal release of dopamine tothe nucleus accumbens deep intheir brains. Clients will foreverconnect those feelings to theplace where they occurred. Themore often people visit yourstore and have a pleasant expe-rience, the less likely they willbe to shop anywhere else. Andthey are very likely to refertheir friends and neighbors,especially if you ask them to.

So, it makes sense to bringlots of people to your storeand make sure they have agratifying experience. Nothingbrings the masses throughyour door like hosting recitalsand events. The challenge isto do it in a cost-effective waythat stimulates your businesswithout distracting you andyour employees from your pri-mary task: selling.

THE OPPORTUNITY IN RECITALS

The most common in-storeperformance is the tradi-

tional student recital — animportant tool in nurturingrelationships with your bestteachers and their students.

THE CUSTOMER WHISPERER I BY GREG BILLINGS

Recital Hall? 15 Uses

Fifteen thingsto do with a recital hall — even if youdon’t have one

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While your community mayhave plenty of 200-plus seatchurches available, you canoffer a more intimate and inter-esting venue. At the SteinwayPiano Gallery in Madison, Wis.,a semi-permanent stage sits in acorner of the showroom. Theperformance space includes pro-fessional sound and lighting, avideo projector, and video-recording capability. It seats 40.It takes a little effort to set upchairs and rearrange displays,but an extra 1,200 square feet ofprime retail for a concert hallwould be very expensive.

Reifsnyder’s Piano inLancaster, Pa., also converts itsshowroom for recitals. “Severalof the teachers [who use ourspace] have worked with par-ents looking for new pianos,”said Bill Crabtree, owner of

Reifsnyder’s Piano. “They havegiven us names, levels of play-ing and introduced us at therecitals. We have made salesjust because folks had a chanceto walk around after a recital ina more relaxed atmosphere.”

Charl ie Hunt of MusicGallery in Clearwater, Fla., hasfound similar success with hispermanent, 140-seat hall. Hesaid it generates step-up salesand prospects at nearly everyrecital, and some teachers evendrive 50 miles to use the space.

Still, these events can easilybecome routine, and turningover space to outsiders can gethairy without a few simplecontrols. Craig Gigax, presi-dent of Meridian Music inIndianapolis, has put a lot ofthought into managing the120-seat Munger Hall, named

for a local dignitary.“A single staff person man-

ages the recital hall scheduleand is responsible for ensuringthat the hal l is set up andclean,” Gigax said. “We have acontract that specifies ‘cansand cannots.’ Teachers canview the schedule on our Website and request specific dates.”

THE TEACHER FACTOR

There are only two kinds ofmusic teachers who’ll use

your hall: those who providereferrals that result in sales andthose who don’t. (There is athird set of teachers who don’tprovide referrals in the short-term but may eventually.) Thereare also a limited number ofSaturday afternoons betweenThanksgiving and Christmasand between Easter and the end

of the school year. Therefore,it’s important to ensure theright teachers are in your facil-ity at the right time. One easyway to reward your most impor-tant teachers — those who’vereferred a student within thelast year — is to let them sched-ule their recitals 180 days inadvance, while non-referringteachers only get 90 days.

Sherman Clay PresidentTom Austin, who has a per-manent recital hall (or a con-vertible Steinway room) ineach of his stores, has a simplepolicy. “We either get refer-rals/sales or we get paid forthe room,” he said.

Jim Fishback, president ofFresno Pianos in Fresno,Calif., comes at it from a softerside. “We do not charge unlessthe teacher is not part of our

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partnership,” he said. “We askthe teacher to be a part of thestore, to sit down with us,learn a little about us and howwe can work together, andexplain how we thank teach-ers for the trust they show inus by referring students.”

Dennis Saphir at KurtSaphir Pianos in Wilmette, Ill.,has figured out how to rewardhis friends and partners. Hishall is booked through April2011 with recitals for referral-generating teachers.

RECITAL GUIDELINES

Because you can only havemeaningful exchanges with

a limited number of parents inthe short time before and aftereach recital, it’s important tolimit the number of guests ateach event. An audience of50–60 is ideal at our NaplesSteinway Piano Gallery. Havinga huge recital turnout maystroke the ego, but it’s a chal-lenge to personally greet everyguest and spend time with themost important people.

It is unreasonable to expectany 2 or 3 year old to sit quietlythrough an hour-long recital.We have found that theyoungest guests start to getpretty noisy at about 44 min-utes. We encourage teacherswith larger groups to havesmaller, consecutive recitals. It’sinitially challenging to get themon-board, but they eventuallycome to understand that every-one enjoys the recital more.

It’s important to make sureyour guests see your showroom,as well as your hall. Gigax fun-nels recital patrons through hisshowroom rather than using amore direct route. This assuresthat everyone sees his waresand that he gets to greet parentspersonally. Gigax understandsthat recitals may be routine tohis staff and the teachers butthat they are a big deal to the

parents and students.Recitals also give you, the

host, a perfect opportunity togive a three-minute speechwhere you welcome the par-ents, congratulate the students,praise the teacher, discuss thebenefits of music educationand talk about upcoming eventsat the store.

“We like to greet each recitalwith a ‘welcome’ and acknowl-edge each teacher for her workwith the students,” Hunt said.“We often joke that all pianosare for sale and this is not amuseum, and we talk aboutthe benefits of having a goodpiano. We have a flat screenshowing various SteinwayDVDs before each recital.”

“It’s amazing that by doingthis, you are no longer thesalesman and become a friendof the teacher,” Fishback said.

Modern technology has made

preserving and delivering theexperience easier. At SteinwayPiano Gallery in Madison, myson, Grant, has been makinghigh-definition video recordingsof student recitals and postingthem on a limited-access Website. Parents love it.

15 OTHER RECITAL HALL USES ...

But for those who have builta recital hall, the question

remains: How can this valuablespace be used in the 60 hours aweek and 30 weeks a year whenno recital is being held? We useour hall for Steinway PianoSociety concerts, films and clin-ics, but that only fills a dozenextra dates. Here are a few otherthings we do, along with greatexamples from other dealers.

A recital hall is an idealplace for a party. You mightthink your store is a boringplace of business, but most

people think a music store isfascinating. Three years ago,we started letting local chari-ties auction off an “Evening ofWine and Music at theSteinway Piano Gallery.” Forthe cost of a case of wine,some cheese and crackers anda pianist, we fill our Gallerywith 30 well-healed, potentialcustomers for an eveningwhen we would otherwise beclosed. Auction winners haveused the hall for birthday par-ties, reunions and even officeChristmas parties. We show aSteinway grand with the QRSQsync DVD player system torevelers and occasionally makean immediate sale.

A variation on the partytheme is the client develop-ment event, where an enter-prising financial planner willbring his clients to our Gallery.In this case, the host pays forthe wine, hors d’oeuvres andpianist. And he or she bringsan even more prosperous clien-tele to our Gallery.

Several dealers open theirhalls to local pianists for record-ing and to traveling pianists andsymphony players as rehearsalspaces. We’ve had a few of thesepianists volunteer to perform atour Steinway Piano Societyrecitals out of gratitude.

Community groups alwaysneed a place to meet, but it isimportant to keep them rotat-ing and not become anyone’spermanent home. “We allownon-profits to use our halls forevents, such as symphonyfundraisers and board meet-ings ,” said Peter Sides ofRobert M. Sides Family Musicin Williamsport, Pa. “Our gov-ernor gave a stump speechthere back in 2000, and thatgenerated lots of traffic.”

Any hall with a video pro-jector can show movies. We didlocal premiers for Ben Niles’“Note By Note” in each of our

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The Steinway Piano Gallery inMadison, Wis., hosts groups, suchas The Schubert Club (pictured),in its performance space

Irene Besse Keyboards in Calgary,Alberta, has even hosted weddings

in its luxurious performance hall

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Galleries, as did many otherSteinway dealers. A bandinstrument dealer could show“The Music Man.” (Don’t for-get the popcorn and MilkDuds.)

Community colleges andestablished music studios arethrilled to have access to a hallfor use as an adult communityeducation classroom. Theybring intelligent, motivatedpeople into a music store.

Halls are a great place forgroup lessons and social, play-for-fun programs.

Our hall also serves as arehearsal space for ourPhysicians’ and Pastors’ TalentShows. After the docs and padreshave rehearsed there a few times,they start to feel very comfort-able in our store. Other dealersprovide rehearsal space for allkinds of community events.

We conduct our annualYoung Art is t PianoCompetition in the hall andmake it available for othercompetitions. Other dealersagreed that hosting competi-tions is a great way to meetnew teachers and students.

Hunt at the Music Galleryin Clearwater uses his hall formorning and eveningKindermusik classes duringthe week and Suzuki classeson weekends, exposing hisGallery to important futurecustomers.

If you’re not open for busi-ness on Sunday morning (andwho is), a new church canmeet in your recital hall for itsfirst six months. This is a goodway to build your reputationin the church community andmake friends for life.

Skip Daynes at Daynes

Music in Salt Lake City makeshis beautiful hall available touniversity piano teachers whogive lessons to their mostadvanced students, enhancinghis relationships with bothteachers and students.

Barbara Wanless at SteinwayPiano Gallery in Milwaukeeremodeled her basement into arecital hall and presentslunchtime brown bag concertsfor local businesspeople.

Saphir uses his hall for spe-cial product promotion displays,in which performances areoften an important part.

Besse has even used herhall for weddings. Now that isa golden memory.

And f inal ly, CharlesGorling, general manager ofthe piano division at Tom LeeMusic in Vancouver, BritishColumbia, uses his company’s

240-seat hall for all of theabove and posts videos of theevents on Tom Lee Music’sown TLM Music Channel,courtesy of YouTube.

A recital hall can bring peo-ple through your door, but it’slike a message sign: I can be veryuseful and effective if used prop-erly but a terrible waste of effortif neglected. Whether in a dedi-cated room or fluid space, musi-cal performances in your storewill enhance your business andstrengthen your relationshipswith students, teachers andfuture customers. Music has amagical effect on people, andmusical performances in yourstore can have a magical effecton your business. MI

Greg Billings whispers to customers at theSteinway Piano Gallery in Bonita Springs,Fla. He welcomes questions and commentsat greg@steinwaynaples.com.

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