Monday Morning Match is a quick post – maybe a quote, inspirational story or idea – intended to spark some motivation inside each of you so your week gets off to a fantastic start on Monday morning.
The Grammy Awards celebrate and honor “outstanding achievement in the music industry.” The annual awards, presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, have been passing out trophies shaped like gramophones since 1959 in all genres of music from rock to pop, country to heavy metal, hip hop and folk.
As the show progressed, it was fun to follow the #Grammys hashtag on Twitter and see the love and dislike for different groups, singers and presenters. There was a lot of “who is that?” queries as new singers took the stage and there was plenty of “Oh God, not ______________” as well.
It’s no wonder there are hundreds of radio stations and millions of options now on iTunes and satellite radio. Just think of all those sections of the old record stores you never used to visit because it wasn’t your type of music.
Just like sports, politics, foods or hobbies, there are different tastes for all appetites and everyone really does march to the beat of their own drummer.
The Song of Sales
Whether you’re selling music, multi-family homes or multi-million dollar homes, one thing is for sure…
You’ll never please anybody if you’re trying to please everybody. (Tweet that!)
Elvis Presley didn’t have many fans among the Glenn Miller followers just like Jay Z or Kanye West most likely aren’t favorites of the Motown crowd. You probably won’t see lots of Mumford & Sons listeners at the Taylor Swift concert while Metallica headbangers won’t be caught downloading any Allison Kraus and Union Station anytime soon.
If you don’t like the song or the singer, the solution is really simple.
Change the channel!
As a salesperson, you have the unique position of being the artist. You also get to be the deejay and the program director, the producer and the promoter. It’s your job at every level to capture your audience and have them “humming your tune” but if they happen to stop listening, you better be ready to head back to the studio and capture a new audience.
According to the National Association of Realtors, there were just under 5 million homes sold in 2012. Even with almost 1 million REALTOR members of NAR and an estimated 500,000+ more licensed real estate agents in the US alone, that means there was still plenty of sales to go around for everyone.
Real estate isn’t much different when it comes to spreading the success but just like in the music business, for every multi-platinum album there will be a one hit wonder. The long tail of iTunes shows there will be several thousand songs that sell less than 100 downloads while very few will reach the level of an Adele or Justin Bieber level. For every top-producing “Rock Star Realtor” there are thousands that won’t sell a single home this year.
Who is Your Target Audience?
Are you hoping that you’ll be a cross generational artist like The Beatles or Johnny Cash or are you looking to dominate a specific market like Selena did with the Latino crowd or Bob Marley did with the reggae culture?
You shouldn’t try to serve the first time home buyers and the luxury neighborhoods unless they are the same market. If you’re not in Beverly Hills, Manhattan or Miami Beach, chances are those are two totally different channels.
Figure out what you’re really good at and in 2013, get better at it. Determine who your audience is and write more songs that you think they’ll like. Collaborate with other artists similar to yourself and don’t allow yourself time to envy other performers. Instead admire them, learn from them and look for ways to work with them the way that Elton John sang with Ed Sheeran or Sting appeared with Bruno Mars.
It’s amazing how much better the music sounds when it’s being performed by the right band in front of the right audience.
Build relationships, solve problems and have fun.
I hope you have a great gig this week. I’ll be listening.
Photo Credit: Derek Gavey via Creative Commons
Photo Credit: Masochismtango via Creative Commons