tinued to focus on the core principle that Chuck himself built the business on: quality customer relationships. “There’s no customer service playbook here, there’s no manual, no guide,” Adam ex- plained. “Our employees learned by watching how us Levins take care of customers. How we interact with customers is the benchmark. There’s a story about a writer — I can’t remember his name — who was heading to dinner with Chuck and Marge. Right before they left, a customer called needing a specific flute. Marge went to the basement, found it, and they dropped it off on the way to dinner. That’s the kind of customer service we’re still focusing on today. You need some random widget? Let’s go find that widget. I’ll get down on my hands and knees in the basement if that’s what it takes. We’re going to find that widget because you came here for it, and we have it. Let’s make sure you can get your job done. “No two days here at the shop are ever the same,” Adam continued. “Every day is a little bonkers with shipping problems, damaged boxes, you name it. But the ques- tion always remains: How do we serve this customer best? How do we make sure the gear they receive makes them as happy as the day they first walked in? Sometimes the tension between the smart move and the right move is real.” Alan expounded on that tension. “I don’t always do the smart thing, but I always try to do the right thing,” Alan said. “Someone once asked me how I sleep at night with all this aggravation. I told them it’s not my conscience keeping me up. I may not have gone by the book, but the customer was happy and it worked out better that way. But today you have customers who don’t want that back-and-forth. Someone calls and says, ‘I want this trumpet — I saw online it’s going to make me play every note perfectly.’ And you have to say, ‘Look, people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make even the worst gear sound incredible. Let’s have a real conversation — what kind of music do you play?’ But some customers today don’t want that. You’re trying to get the information needed to point them in the right direction. A lot of people will ask because you’re supposed to know, but then they don’t want to hear the answer if it doesn’t match what they read online. That makes it tougher.” Alan and Adam both agreed that while Adam has enjoyed working AI into the business’s day-to-day operations, putting a guitar or a trumpet in someone’s hands is
something that can’t be automated. “That interaction — playing off the cus- tomer and working with them to find the right thing — is unique and special, just like playing in a band,” Adam said. “It makes me even more excited about what we do. It’s such a human experience. That’s what we want from everyone here. We hire characters; we hire people. You can know everything there is to know about drums, but if you can’t talk to a person, this isn’t the place for you. Your head has to be spinning at all times because there’s always something going on. One minute you’re helping a church outfit
their entire space, and the next you’re help- ing a kid buy their first instrument. Then [legendary D.C. funk bassist] Sugar Bear walks in needing a custom bass. It’s all of it, all the time. When that phone rings — and it still rings — you’ve got to be ready for whatever it is and serve that customer as best you can.” Alan recounted one specific moment when that customer-first mindset turned a small sale into a lasting example of how the business is rooted in relationships. “One example of serving the customer the best you can led to me staying late one
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