TEM165: A tale of two jewelers

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TEM165: A tale of two jewelers

A recent retail experience reminded me of what being on the receiving end of a selfish sales pitch feels like. Here are some thoughts on how we can avoid making people feel that way when we pitch them as musical entrepreneurs.

What You'll Learn:

  • A reminder of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a self-serving sales pitch

  • How a bad sales pitch feels like being on a bad date

  • A great example of a salesperson playing the long game: trying to not just make a sale but forging a mutually beneficial long-term relationship with a customer

  • The importance of a point of differentiation when pitching something successfully so the customer doesn't only fall back to price point as the deciding factor

  • The difference between contacting customers with their technical permission (a former customer) versus contacting customers who truly want to hear from you because your communications provide value to them

  • Why we can't use bad sales experiences to justify hiding from selling ourselves (because we don't have to do it that way!)

  • The value of always prioritizing long-term relationships with fans rather than short-term transactions

Links:

Want to help the show? Here's a couple of ways you can do that!

1. Help me get to my next goal of $100 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show: https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast.

2. My next iTunes goal is 150 ratings and 75 reviews. Take just a minute to leave a rating and review on iTunes to help me get there. Thank you!

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Drake Domingue

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.andrewhitz.com/shownotes

TEM Bonus Episode: Get a copy of "Seth Godin: Live at Carnegie Hall" completely FREE

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TEM Bonus Episode: Get a copy of "Seth Godin: Live at Carnegie Hall" completely FREE

Seth Godin spoke to Juilliard students about the state of today's music business and what it takes to succeed and he has graciously allowed me to transcribe it and offer it to the TEM audience as a free ebook.

Click here to get your free copy of Seth Godin: Live at Carnegie Hall from TEM Books

Seth gave a predictably mind-blowing talk and every single musician in the world needs to hear what he had to say.

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TEM is produced by Joey Santillo for Pedal Note Media

TEM94: The only true key to success (and yes there is one)

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TEM94: The only true key to success (and yes there is one)

There actually is one true key to success and this is it.

Topics Covered:

1:20 - 95% of the music business makes it incredibly easy to get along with them all of the time but your reputation is based almost entirely on how you deal with the other 5%

3:57 - Why it's so important to hold your tongue (and why that is incredibly true with any kind of written communication which has no tone and usually lacks context)

6:35 - The Gary Vaynerchuck 51/49 Rule

7:50 - The tale of a chamber group who ignored the 51/49 Rule, went for short-term gains above everything else and how it ended (Spoiler Alert: It didn't end well)

11:34 - The best advice I ever received from anyone about getting along with other people

16:21 - The importance of remembering that whatever gig you are playing is always important to the person who hired you, no matter the circumstances of the gig

Links:

TEM 92: Steve Dillon of Dillon Music on Passion, Becoming an Authority and Always Thinking
TEM 1: Ranaan Meyer of Time for Three
The Gary Vee Audio Experience

You can help me reach two specific goals I've set for TEM:

1. Help me get to $50 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show:  https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

2. Help me get to my goal of 50 ratings at iTunes by leaving a rating and review.

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM89: Do The Work by Steven Pressfield (Book Report)

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TEM89: Do The Work by Steven Pressfield (Book Report)

A Book Report on the incredible kick in the pants that is Do The Work by Steven Pressfield. This book will fire you up!

Show Notes:

5:34 - Overview of Do The Work by Steven Pressfield

8:26 - Our Enemies

1. Resistance
2. Rational Thought
3. Friends and Family

13:17 - Our Allies

1. Stay Stupid
2. Stubbornness
3. Blind Faith
4. Passion
5. Assistance (The Opposite of Resistance)
6. Friends and Family

19:32 - The Creative Process Broken Down Into Three Sections

1. Beginning
2. The Middle
3. End

Favorite Quotes from Do The Work:

"A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius for the madman. It's only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate."

"Don't think. Act."

"Start before you're ready. Don't prepare. Begin. Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation: it's not the difficulty of the project or the state of the market place or the emptiness of our bank account. The enemy has a resistance. The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nano second, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications, and 1 million reasons why we can't/shouldn't/won't do what we know we need to do."

"In this book, when I say “Don’t think,” what I mean is: don’t listen to the chatter. Pay no attention to those rambling, disjointed images and notions that drift across the movie screen of your mind. Those are not your thoughts. They are chatter. Chatter is resistance."

"We can never eliminate Resistance. It will never go away. But we can outsmart it, and we can enlist allies that are as powerful as it is."

"Do research early or late. Don’t stop working. Never do research in prime working time."

"Research can be fun. It can be seductive. That’s its danger. We need it, we love it. But we must never forget that research can become Resistance. Soak up what you need to fill in the gaps. Keep working."

"Suspend all self-judgment. Unless you’re building a sailboat or the Taj Mahal, I give you a free pass to screw up as much as you like. The inner critic? His ass is not permitted in the building. Set forth without fear and without self-censorship. When you hear that voice in your head, blow it off. This draft is not being graded. There will be no pop quiz. Only one thing matters in this initial draft: get SOMETHING done, however flawed or imperfect. You are not allowed to judge yourself."

"Let’s talk about the actual process—the writing/composing/ idea generation process. It progresses in two stages: action and reflection. Act, reflect. Act, reflect. NEVER act and reflect at the same time."

"When Michael Crichton approached the end of a novel (so I’ve read), he used to start getting up earlier and earlier in the morning. He was desperate to keep his mojo going. He’d get up at six, then five, then three-thirty and two-thirty, till he was driving his wife insane. Finally he had to move out of the house. He checked into a hotel (the Kona Village, which ain’t so bad) and worked around the clock till he’d finished the book. Michael Crichton was a pro. He knew that Resistance was strongest at the finish. He did what he had to do, no matter how nutty or unorthodox, to finish and be ready to ship."

"Start again (before you are ready!)"

Links:

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
John Beder: Episode 83
Dana Fonteneau: Episode 85
Ranaan Meyer: Episode 1

There are three ways you can support TEM!

You can help me reach two specific goals I've set for TEM:

1. Help me get to $25 per episode on Patreon by pledging as little as $1 per episode to support the show:  https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

2. Help me get to my goal of 50 ratings at iTunes by leaving a rating and review.

And finally, a huge thank you to Parker Mouthpieces for providing the hosting for TEM.

Produced by Joey Santillo

Are You Willing to Hear the Word No 2,994 Times?

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TEM87: Peter Meechan on controlling your own career, unintentional networking and finding your niche in the music business

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Here are the show notes for Episode 87 of The Entrepreneurial Musician Podcast featuring Peter Meechan.

Listen via:

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Peter Meechan is a professional composer from England who now resides in Canada. He has had compositions performed by the "President's Own" Marine Band, Edmonton Symphony, Black Dyke Brass Band and many other world class ensembles.

Topics Covered:

  • 5:32 - Pete's indirect journey through music and how he came to become a professional composer

  • 10:42 - How a bar at his university led to some incredibly effective (and unintentional) networking that still pays off for him

  • 18:30 - The great story of how saying yes led to him cold-calling one of the most famous trumpet players in the world, Rex Richardson, which in turn led to a commission

  • 26:43 - How he has come to find his niche as a composer of brass music (in spite of not being a brass player himself) and why it's important to intentionally pursue things within the business that people are actually paying for

  • 37:52 - How many artists have a hangup about marketing their art and why they shouldn't (at least you shouldn't if you're genuine)

  • 45:15 - How we all know colleagues who suck at social media and it can be a turnoff about it in general (but that it shouldn't be) and how the world is still very young in the entire social media experience and how we're still figuring it all out

  • 54:48 - Why he chose to self-publish his music rather than go the traditional publisher route (Spoiler: the old business model made absolutely no sense for him as a composer) and about a traditional publisher he heard about recently that is offering much better terms for composers moving forward

  • 1:03:57 - The importance of controlling your own career and making your own destiny (and why that's a little daunting)

  • 1:09:50 - Why the resource he recommends to all aspiring entrepreneurial musicians he speaking to everyone who is doing what you're doing

Links:

Favorite Quotes:

  • "Humans, as a whole, we're very good at spotting someone who is full of it. The guy who's talking BS. We instinctively pick up on it...And equally we pick up on someone who is incredibly genuine and someone who is incredibly passionate. We don't sit there and think about it. It's just an instinct. And I think the whole making people believe in you and what you do has a whole lot to do with that as well."

Help me get to my $25 per episode goal on Patreon and get a mini-consultation with me!

And you can help me get to 50 ratings on iTunes. Thanks to everyone who has already left a rating!

Thanks for all the help spreading and supporting TEM. It means the world to me.

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM82: "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" (Book Report)

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TEM82: "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" (Book Report)

A brief overview of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, a book that changed how I view marketing and even informed the art I make.

(If you have a book you would like for me to read and feature in a future Book Report segement, please email me through the email link in the upper righthand corner. Thanks!)

Topics Covered:

  • 2:20 - Arts marketing is the exact same thing as marketing anything else

  • 4:30 - Law #1: The Law of Leadership

    • It's better to be first than to be better

    • Everyone knows Charles Lindbergh and no one knows poor Bert HinklerTime for Three is the first classical string trio with two violins and a bass to cross genres

  • 9:15 - Law #2: The Law of the Category

    • If you can't be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in

    • Amelia Earhart is not known as the third person to fly solo across the Atlantic but rather as the first woman (a new category)

    • Cirque du Soleil blended the circus, opera and ballet to create their own category

  • 11:50 - Law #3: The Law of the Mind

    • It is better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace

    • This doesn't contradict the Law of Leadership - The Law of Leadership just makes it easier to be first in the mind

    • Canadian Brass is synonymous with brass quintet in spite of coming many years after the Chicago Brass Quintet and New York Brass Quintet

  • 13:45 - Law #4: The Law of Perception

    • Marketing is not a battle of products but a battle of perception

    • Amanda Palmer is probably not the best singer in the world and yet she became the first artist to raise over a million dollars on Kickstarter

    • Hands on a Hardbody was an award winning Broadway musical that closed after just 56 performances so was not perceived as a great show in spite of the accolades

  • 17:00 - Law #5: The Law of Focus

    • The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind

    • David Cutler of The Savvy Musician owns the word "savvy" in the musical world

  • 18:40 - Law #6: The Law of Exclusivity

    • Two companies can not own the same word in the prospect's mind

    • Canadian Brass are known for wearing full tails and white sneakers. Many years later Dallas Brass tried to tap into that by wearing cowboy boots as their trademark but it never stuck because Canadian Brass already owned unique footwear in the brass quintet world

    • Like a political campaign, as soon as you are on your opponent's message you are almost certainly going to lose that election

  • 20:35 - Law #17: The Law of Unpredictability

    • Unless you write your competitor's plans you can't predict the future

    • Boston Brass made some very unpredictable changes to their show about 20 years ago (like singing barbershop quartet tunes) which differentiated their show from that of other brass quintets

  • 25:00 - Law #19: The Law of Failure

    • Failure is to be expected and encouraged

    • Sam Walton of Walmart fame used to say "Ready, Fire, Aim"

    • Cirque du Soleil had a show in 2009 called "Banana Shpeel" that lasted less than a year which cost them millions but they have gone on to premiere numerous hit shows since then

    • The only failures that are bad are failures you don't learn from

Links:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Parker Mouthpieces
Ranaan Meyer: Episode 1
The Savvy Musician's 10 Tips for 2017 with David Cutler: Part 1 and Part 2
The Brass Junkies: JD Shaw

It would mean the world to me if you felt like making a small donation to support what I'm doing with TEM. You can find out more at:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Joey Santillo

TEM58: Are you willing to change course? (TEM Short)

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TEM58: Are you willing to change course? (TEM Short)

This TEM Short features thoughts about my conversation with Lauren Pierce, bass player, teacher and entrepreneur, in TEM57.

Links:

Lauren Pierce - Episode 57

Want to help "keep the lights on" and make future episodes of TEM possible? Please visit our Patreon page to see how you can help:

https://www.patreon.com/tempodcast

Produced by Austin Boyer of FredBrass

How are you different?

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"The market needs a way to compare and contrast. And if you don't give them one they will default to price comparisons."

—John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing

Marketer John Jantsch makes a great point here. If there is not a way for your target audience to differentiate you from your competition, they will always default to the lowest cost.

There is a reason why graduation gigs for brass quintets don't tend to pay very well in areas where there are a lot of brass players. The artistic demands of such a gig are not very great. As a result (as Ron Davis explains perfectly in Episode 19 of The Entrepreneurial Musician), the various brass quintets around town are fungible. If any of them can do the job, the customer (that is the person hiring the quintet) will default to price point.

The players from the top symphony orchestra in town may very well charge $1500 or more for their services. If a group of very talented graduate students will do it for $500, the person hiring will probably go with the latter. That's because in the eyes of the customer, both groups will both do the same job equally well.

The take away is we need to make a case for why we are different than our competition in the eyes of our customers. In the case of playing graduations, this is probably not possible. But when developing our product (whether we are a chamber group or someone with a doctorate applying for university teaching jobs), we have to be sure to make it easy for our potential customers to compare and contrast us in a positive light.

If not, it will simply be a race to the bottom in terms of price point.