Attending trade shows offers more than just product info; they’re also a useful tool for relationship building, which coupled with great service and reliability, is what she finds key to making a successful sale.
“Sometimes you have people who call in and tell you I just need it to be the lowest price. And you know they have spent two hours on the phone calling everywhere to save five dollars on a microphone,” she explains. “On the other side of the coin, I must say, either way, a huge part of what I do is having things get there exactly when they’re meant to.
“Tours spend very little time in one place. If a band has one show a night, in a different city every day, then you need to be precise in getting what they need there exactly on time.
“Likewise, if they have something break mid show or heaven forbid someone throws a beer on the console, they can email or call me at any time. I will do everything beyond my power to either advance replace or fix. We’ve sent an Atlas mic stand with someone on a plane one time to a band in Europe because they absolutely needed the MS 12CE and there wasn’t any to be found anywhere on a Sunday in that part of the world.
“It’s frustrating to get beat up on price although I understand it,” she continues. “It’s the fine balance between covering your costs, and you’re paying for service too. I would like to think that my clients know if they have an issue they feel cared for and safe. I feel they’re also my friends. When I had to go to travel to the east coast, I stopped in and met up with Welsh Sound, for example. I went out with James’s wife and daughter, and we went to see a concert together where James was working, which was so super fun.
“And then being out at Coachella, jobs or trade shows, you get to meet with people whom you’ve only met by phone. I feel like I know what is going on in their lives as they do mine. I’m not sure if that’s typical music touring industry or whether it’s a result of the world’s turn towards social media aiding this. Maybe a mixture of both.”
Does Peters find now that most of the sales come via the website, or is there still a lot of the leg work like cold calling and pitching to bands?
“All of the above,” she replies. “Facebook has been a fun marketing medium for our box sales and gets a lot of interaction. We have loyal repeat clients. I find myself getting referrals now (shout out to Ron Kimball (Bad Religion), Kevin Sanchez and Jason Bertok who give my name to everyone they meet), some pitching, some bidding. Having a touring side helps, if bands are out on tour, they get shot my direction from Jon Monson. Getting to work shows like Coachella, I meet new and old faces each year. We have a fairly active web store, Amazon and Ebay as well, although it’s constantly a work in progress in developing ways to bring people to the web store.
How important is social marketing?
“I update our social media, although sometimes I lag depending on how busy we get. It feels like it should be a full-time job. For the sales division, social marketing has been paramount, for Rat Sound at least.”