What do a 40-year-old music store and an online sales and marketing services company have in common? – The entrepreneur, Lisa Canning
My clarinet shop, my business
Musical instruments need to be assembled and played properly for it to hit the right notes; the entire production is a culmination of a tremendous application of design, talent, and precision. It’s a number of parts put in the right places, working together to create meaningful sound, which we all recognize as music.
I hold this imagery very close to my heart because I am a part of the music industry. In fact, I own a shop that sells and repairs clarinets and other instruments. Lisa’s Clarinet Shop has been around for 40 incredible years, and, just like the musical instrument it takes its name from, the shop thrives because of a high level of detail and precision that keeps things together to make the business work.
The way I perceived things wasn’t only useful for running my store, though. I was later able to apply this my reckind of imaginative framework to pull my business through the height of the pandemic. From having absolutely no search engine optimization efforts in place, I was able to quickly adopt a digital marketing strategy into my business process.
The boost in online visibility and business inquiries we received turned the tide for Lisa’s Clarinet Shop. We’ve been enjoying the benefits of predictable growth since then.
Not everyone in and out of the industry has been as lucky as we were, however. While we were all hit hard, not everyone has had enough opportunities to recover. Knowing this, I started Sales Maven, a digital sales and marketing services company that incorporates my recent experience running a business during a pandemic with a life-long passion for advising startups, to change that.
What made my entrance as digital marketing services provider successful?
My journey with Lisa’s Clarinet Shop has taught me to identify a number of aspects that help secure your future in the industry – like creating a quality product or service, cultivating a good reputation among clients and prospects, appreciating how important it is for employees to have an engaging work environment, and leading with passion and commitment.
It is with this insight that I established the bedrock of Sales Maven.
- Quality product or service
This is without question one of the most important factors in determining the success of any business model. If you offer your potential clients something that can’t be delivered or doesn’t satisfy their needs, then no matter how well you deliver it or how high its quality is, there will always be problems with customer satisfaction.
The best way to avoid this situation is by educating yourself as much as possible about the target market so that you are knowledgeable enough to offer a product of service that they’ll appreciate and value.
You should ask yourself if your product or service can provide genuine value to your customer. If the answer is no, then you need to go back to the drawing board and recalibrate. Key to doing this properly is aligning your sales and marketing departments.
- Excellent reputation among clients and prospects
One of the simplest ways to measure a company’s reputation is by asking people how they felt about their last purchase or interaction with said company. A good digital sales and marketing services company recognizes that their biggest asset lies within their client base, so they strive for excellence in this area.
In order to keep your customers happy, it is important that you meet their needs while striving to continuously provide new products or services that add value. The more needs you can fulfill for your customers, the better chance you’ll have of getting them to remain loyal and continually using your product or service.
- Engaging work environment
All great companies provide a good working environment for their employees that encourages them to be happy and engaged while at work. Whether it is through providing good training and development opportunities, giving your staff the chance to grow within the company, or by offering competitive salaries and benefits, you should always strive to make sure that you’re hiring the best possible candidates.
After all, if your staff aren’t fully committed to their jobs, then chances are you’ll see a decline in performance levels throughout the company.
- Leadership style
Last but not least, an important factor in determining whether or not a company is successful lies within its leadership style. A good sales and marketing services company knows how to manage effectively and use its resources efficiently.
All leaders should aim to be open, honest, and respectful while still making sure that they give their employees enough freedom to do their jobs. A leader should also know when to take charge of a particular situation and how and when to delegate certain tasks where necessary.
From proactive community building to helping businesses thrive
Lisa’s Clarinet Shop is not just a point of convergence for musicians and the musical instrument trade that accounts for my business. I always bear in mind that my shop is a place where like-minded people come together.
In fact, I try to make it a point to take this interest farther through proactive community building activities that I initiate regularly. After all, if music industry professionals worked with a common goal in mind, then we could promote our craft and build a stronger community.
The first thing to remember is that the community itself is more important than its content. What does this mean? It means that while members are motivated by different reasons, their main objective remains always the same: to help others through their expertise.
So, if you think about it, the best way to motivate your community members is to help them help one another.
This is the main motivation of my company, Sales Maven. In the same way I made use of effective SEO strategies to help my clarinet shop grow its community and reach out to more people, I believe that Sales Maven can help businesses like yours connect with the audience that you are trying to build.
Coming together to create something meaningful
Earlier, I mentioned the importance of the interplay between various parts or elements to make music. I said that this describes the precision that is involved in making an instrument produce music. In truth, the same may be said for any business, like a clarinet shop, or an online sales and marketing company, for that matter.
Successful digital marketing requires you to sit down and identify the key elements that are needed to be put in place, and calibrate them to perfection, too. Certainly, there is a very particular technique to this, one that requires creativity, careful study, and a commitment to bigger business goals that were set early on.
We’re ready at Sales Maven to help you increase your business’ pool of high-quality prospects through digital marketing, and we truly understand where you are coming from as you aspire to create something meaningful and beneficial for your enterprise in spite of the rough economic situation.
If you’re a small business, your growth has most likely been put on hold due to the pandemic. Let’s change that. It’s quite alright if you don’t know exactly where you’re headed yet, but the good news is we know exactly where to begin and we can help you chart your course to success.