Out With The Old, In With The New

The end of every year is so many things: busy, critical to finishing the year well, a juggling act between business and personal life, too much traffic, tons of memories and well, trying to “get it all done” during the hustle and bustle. It’s supposed to be a time of celebration and reflection but squeezing that in is near impossible, HOWEVER, I submit essential. Maybe it will be the week after Christmas when some reflective time becomes available, but usually it's after the First. Whenever it is, and sometimes it's in little chunks (which makes it harder to manage), it is critically important to self-examine and put your business processes under a microscope.

Going into the new year from a sales perspective is what the title is all about.

It doesn’t matter how successful and skilled you are or aren’t, there is always room for improvement. There are things personally as a sales manager or owner and things as a sales specialist that you need to STOP doing. Guess what? If you don’t take the time to examine the results your actions created last year, the world you live in internally will continue status quo and that's OK if that’s what you decide is best. But the reality is that too few sales professionals and sales staffs take time to know, and that is counterproductive. It is counterproductive even if you decide to “stay the course” and not revise any of your protocol because you will be missing out on the invisible fuel that would make you excited and committed to change nothing. 

Changing nothing after an audit, whose completion leaves you feeling efficient and hitting on all cylinders, leaves out the purpose of mission, confidence, and momentum that a positive review would provide. In short, self examination has value even if it is to simply allow you to lay your head on your pillow peacefully. Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves; the years that were SO successful that nothing needed to be changed are in the minority, and truth be told, technology and consumer behaviors are always evolving. So even if you are in a position to like everything you are doing right, “the cheese always moves” and you have to find it again. There is no winnable argument against the need to improve, only well crafted justifications.

Last year was the most transformative years of my career because of my constant self-examination. By the end of 2024 I had people in my life that I knew either had to get on board with my business direction or be considered an obstacle to be removed. I had wished for compliance, respect and diplomacy in light of my resume, influence and capabilities but it didn’t happen, so Tammy and I embarked on a year of rebuilding and, thankfully, had the right people around us to end up in a great position to help our clients end up in a more prepared state for the future of luxury marketing sales. I knew instinctively that to achieve lead generation on an acceptable level moving into 2026, we had to be ready to accommodate several oncoming changes, including harnessing the tsunami of AI. 

We looked at the need to “customer service” better, “build a new a new CRM”, and “scale as an agency” and knew we needed to reimagine the flow of the way we did things. Thankfully, we have survived everything thrown at us and with the tireless and talented help of our GM Claudio (Clyde the Guy) and Lauren, the glue that organizes and holds so many things together, we are poised for, the Good Lord willing, an awesome 2026.

In the weeks ahead, we will be looking at the goals we have for 2026 and they include some of these exciting developments:

1. The finishing touches of phase one of Dash that will eliminate some of the growing pains and allow us to move into phase #2 development.

2. The development of the Web Widget, our version of my old Bridge Widget idea, which will now be tied to Dash, its automations and retargeting.

3. The development of “The PianoGame” which will be a match game to help consumers understand their best piano purchasing options.

4. The development of the Dash app will allow Sr. Management and ownership to monitor activity with mobility and sales associates to work more efficiently.

5. Maybe most importantly the availability of the “Keys to Success” educational program. The compilation of “best practices from the fundamentally sound masters of selling combined with the feedback from our best follow-up pros and our observations have allowed us to build a sales course that leads to a certification. For old school sales pros needing to embrace and understand the value of tech and social skills to new pros needing more psychological understanding of the consumer mindset and how to gain their trust, this course has something for everyone… including the author LOL.

The optimum gameplan for 2026?:

ORGANIZE - EVANGELIZE - ACTUALIZE

ORGANIZE: Get your first impressions in your lead gen Clearance List, Facebook and Website dressed up and commit to keeping them looking impressive. Build a catalog of links to articles, organic or shared, about you and/or your company selling or servicing the type of piano they mentioned. Other great content would be things going on at the gallery. Deliveries to residential and institutional places are fantastic credibility for prospects to see that will help bolster trust in you as a resource and part of the community. All of the aforementioned is nurturing fuel and who will they most likely buy from when they do? Make this protocol, not an intention.

EVANGELIZE: Show short videos and articles, or pieces of articles, to prospects about the value of playing the piano and music in general via texts and emails. Encourage and support investing in themselves and how music is the most healthy and happy purchasing decision. Get creative and be consistent. The mental health crisis is real and people need personal therapy and an outlet for expression and a means of healthy, personal recreation. Research the scores of articles on psychiatric and mental health benefits that what you sell provides, and remember that your competition is not just others selling what you sell, it’s everything in the space you are in that they can spend money on. Someone looking for a classic car may decide on a boat because it will help them relax and enrich their life more. Someone looking for a piano may opt for a pool table for the social benefits. You MUST sell the benefits of what you sell well.

ACTUALIZE: Our sales success is the result of quality activity. Be a doer, intentions don’t pay off. Learn to set appointments when there is no event in progress by selling the experience of visiting the gallery. Make it, a trip to see you, a valuable experience and the best option for them to learn in person, meet the pianos and spend time at the most friendly, fun and informative piano destination. A destination run by local people who are a part of and care about the community and placing more music in it. Leverage the past positives and name drop and use the “herd” theory. Make them feel like there is something they may miss out on that others have found invaluable if they don’t come to visit. 

Folks, we will only have floor traffic enough if you sell the value of the visit and create it!  Do this; don’t fantasize, have a plan and activity goals to hit to hold yourself accountable - actualize.

Let’s Work Together Toward These Mutually Beneficial Goals.

In the end, the definition of a good business partnership is one where both parties work toward a common goal. In this instance, that goal is growth. We want to grow one another's business and capabilities. To do this, both parties must hold up their end of the bargain. We must provide: opportunities to the best of our abilities, continually striving to perform at the next highest level, as do you. ROI requires good ads, a good conversion rate, visits, virtual and in person from the digital marketing. Your end of the bargain is: a sales staff dedicated to being organized and passionate in their friend-making and education of the prospects as you shepherd them toward their best buying decision. “Each time we are successful in providing people with more and better music in their lives, we make their life, ours and therefore the world a better place.” I believe that statement to be quotable. 

It sounds to me like learning to work together to accomplish this as much as possible is work worth doing. It is time to keep those things that are valuable, working and helpful, be honest about the areas in which we need to challenge one another and improve, and take our performance to the next level! Out with the old and in with the new! We have the tools, the product and the opportunity. Let’s out-perform our past and our competition and do more to find more pianos a new home than last year. It truly will make everyone’s world a better place!  

“Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.” Twyla Tharp