Tony Colwell
How Third Rock Music makes holiday guitar sales a gateway for lessons — creating lasting customers and more music makers.
F or Third Rock Music Center in Cincin- nati, the holiday season is about more than putting a new guitar under the tree. The store’s annual holiday promotion is designed to turn a purchase into a lasting musical commitment, pairing qualifying guitar packages with an incentive that gets students into the lesson room. Beginning Nov. 1, customers who spend more than $299 on a guitar package can receive their first two music lessons free when they sign up for lessons at Third Rock. The promotion also waives the store’s standard $25 registration fee, giving new students an opportunity to begin learn- ing without the additional upfront cost. “If you spend more than $299 for a pack- age, we also encourage people to sign up for students to take some lessons here in the store,” said Tony Colwell, owner of Third Rock Music Center. “And if you do that,
we waive our normal registration fee, and we give you the first two lessons for free.” CREATING MORE MUSICIANS Third Rock lets recipients use the free lessons when the timing makes sense for them, including in the spring or at the beginning of summer, and not just during the holiday season. “We offer no expiration on that,” Colwell said. “You can do it in the spring or you can do it at the beginning of the summer. We offer the first two for free, and we waive our normal $25 registration fee. That has worked out really well.” For Colwell, the promotion has become a dependable part of the store’s holiday strategy. Offered annually, the special has consistently delivered results for the business and its grow- ing community of students. Third Rock uses it as an opportunity to create a longer-term
connection between the customer, the in- strument and the local music community. “It helps business and it helps to get more students,” Colwell said. “We’ve offered that off and on for several years now, and it’s always worked. We actually had somebody who bought it who wanted to know if they could still have the promo two years later and we honored it.” When it comes to getting the word out, the store keeps its approach similarly straightforward. Third Rock relies heav- ily on the same community connections that drive much of its business throughout the year, supplemented by its website and social media channels. “We’re rather low-key about it, obviously word-of-mouth, but then we do tend to put the announcements on the website and we do Facebook blasts all the time,” Colwell said. MI
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