Driving people into a new shop

[Al Pachter Al’s Guitar Workshop]

Hi Garrett, I found it helpful to let my musician friends know about my shop. I am a fairly active local musician, part time. I also am a pretty shameless self promotor, so I generally tell as many people as I can about my shop. Initially I had to use Craigslist to let others know about my shop, but I also utilized a local FB group for musicians and I found a lot of customers that way. I’ve been open around 10 years now so I’m pretty well established, but I remember how good it felt on that FB group over time to get tagged in posts about musicians looking for guitar work. Now my name pops up much more than anyone else’s on those posts. Instagram is not nearly as useful for business development, although I did connect with one of the biggest guitar stores here through IG, and that store now refers many folks to me. Other than FB, the Loothgroup has actually become a fantastic referral source as there are a few on the loothalong who are local to me. One other thing, as my reputation grew, other shops began referring to me as well. Finally, I have been fortunate in the sense that when I opened there were 9 other shops in operation, all of which have closed due to various reasons. I inherited the vast majority of those customers so that has enabled me to stay actually much busier than I ever wanted to be, which is another story on how I managed to resolve that issue. Hopefully this helps you!

[Garrett Riley Riley Guitars]

thanks for taking the time to share that, Al!

Craigslist seems to have slowed down in the recent years since FB marketplace gained traction, But the Facebook group idea is certainly a suggestion I will put to work asap!

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

If you have a brick and mortar, it’s all about that Google Place page. You got one of them yet ?

[Garrett Riley Riley Guitars]

I do have one but until this month I was appt only with no listed hours. It’s been updated with new location, hours, pictures. there are around 15 5star reviews as well. I’ve also started a google ad campaign.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

How many other shops in a 30 mile radius ping for the search “guitar repair” ?

[Garrett Riley Riley Guitars]

about a dozen or so in Seattle proper (25 miles away) but only me and a few chain music shops that do setups in a 15 mile radius

[Dale Hyldelund Clipper Guitars: Repair & Restoration]

So my second cup of coffee is kicking in, here’s a long reply!

Piggy backing on what Ian said, it is ALL about a solid Google business profile with a plethora of reviews. It’s the only marketing I rely on and I’ve built my shop from the ground up with it. It falls under herd mentality and review culture; when people see a bunch of positive experiences their trust is almost instantaneous. “Guitar repair near me”, “luthier near me”, “Guitar repair Everett”.. All of these organic searches will lead to the most interacted-with and relevant business profile. To start, reach out to past clients about leaving you a review. Additionally, generate a QR code with a direct link to leave you a review, print it out, frame it, and post it up somewhere in the shop easily seen as clients head for the door. (I always point it out to clients with an “Oh, by the way..”)

Thanks to OpenAI, here’s a quick email template to send to your past/current clients! Also, depending on when the client was in last this might drum up some fresh business and get some “I’ve been meaning to reach out” replies. You could add in an ask about any new gear, how the instrument you last worked on is playing, etc. to initiate a reply.

Subject: Quick Favor: Share Your Thoughts on Our New Location!

Dear [Client’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. We’ve recently relocated our guitar repair services to a new and improved location. Your opinion means a lot to us, and we would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your thoughts on our services and the new space.

Your feedback is crucial, especially during this transition, and will help us ensure we’re providing the best experience possible.

Please click here to leave a review: [Include a link to your preferred review platform].

Thank you so much for your support, and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best regards,

[Your Full Name] [Your Business Name] [Contact Information]

Hope this helps!

[Garrett Riley Riley Guitars]

wow, thanks so much for taking the time making such a long well thought out reply. I really appreciate all the help with this. the repairs aspect is just part of life at this point and there aren’t as many hurdles, but the business owner part is a whole new world so this helps so much. I’ll be putting all of these into use promptly!

[Dale Hyldelund Clipper Guitars: Repair & Restoration]

No problem at all! That’s what this group is here for. Reading the other comments, it’s pretty awesome to hear what’s worked for others and what hasn’t.

Side note, If you haven’t joined one of Al’s Emotional Grounding for Looths, I highly recommend it! You can internalize a lot as a business owner and having to wear all of the hats will drive you mad sometimes; Al has some tips to prevent/manage that.

[Derek Phelps Guitartechworks]

I had a ton of awesome results w Google ads… it’s a bit of a study, but you can narrow down your audience and get web and store traffic through that approach…also a strong Instagram account can only help as well…

[Jean-Marie Prual Super Real Guitar Works]

I launched my business last year and started to rent a small space in september. I’m using Google Analytics to track my progress and time seems to helps, along with reviews. I think Google Analytics is interesting because it shows which terms show your website the most. I’m currently offering a 50€ gift card to one customer, drawn among all reviews of my first 6 month, and it helps harvesting these pesky reviews everyone needs ! My first customers have been people I already knew, but also people that trusted quickly what I had to offer (having a Instagram with nice pictures of instruments and processes seemed to help in my case). Now I’m trying to convince the guitarists that really care about their instruments 😉