Growth Through New Promotions (2014 Summer NAMM)

Brian Reardon of Monster Music had his best sales month ever in March—better than even his best holiday months. During the NAMM Retail Summit at 2014 Summer NAMM, he explained his method to Joe Lamond, NAMM's president and CEO. Reardon used a radio promotion that targeted his core guitar customers, resulting in a sales-generating message that carried over through the summer.

"I started hearing over and over again—repeatedly—older male customers who were so dissatisfied trying to buy guitars from the big-box stores," Reardon said.

"[Our radio promotion] was a personal message. I wrote this. I recorded this. It was in my own voice. I spoke directly to this consumer. And the point was, 'You are welcome here.'

"The things that resonated in the spot were things like, 'Sometimes, guys just wanna come in and talk about guitars.'

"And I had guys day after day coming in and saying , 'I'm that guy! I wanna talk about guitars.' And they'll talk about guitars for a long time. But they usually buy something at the end of the day."

The promotion cost Reardon $500 per week and got him 25 radio spots. The result? His March sales were up 50 percent, and his guitar sales doubled.