Affiliate Tips & Tricks:
A Collection of Great Ideas Shared by Fellow Affiliates

VIR's Marketing Department is always keeping a watchful eye out for ways to give our Affiliates the edge in their respective markets.
Below is a growing list of tips, tricks, ideas & suggestions to help grow your program. Have an idea to share?
Send it our way. You might just see it on this list next time you visit!

Cashing In on Gift Cards
If you've not yet invested into gift cards, you're missing a golden opportunity. According to a leading retailer's survey, gift cards have held the Number One spot on holiday wish lists for the past seven years. They are the most profitable square-foot of selling space in most retail stores. Customers using gift cards typically spend 20%-50% more than the face value of the card. The most common gift card amount is $25. More than 40% of gift cards are not fully redeemed. And nearly 40% of all gift cards sold were associated with retailers, followed by 30% for restaurants. Gift card programs are easy, cheap and profitable!
Employee Incentives
Two customers walk into the store. One is looking at a decent-margin guitar on the wall, the other wants to rent a clarinet. Who do you think your salesperson working on commission is going to greet first? If this scenario applies to your business model, you'll want to create some sort of compensation incentive. A number of Affiliatess spiff their employees a few dollars from the per-contract bonus. Even if you do not employ a commission-based sales staff, you may want to consider some sort of seasonal contest. Perhaps the employee facilitating the largest number of rentals gets a restaurant gift card? Or the person with the most add-on sales? Put yourself in their shoes and the ideas should come.

Educator Hospitality
Let's face it, the educator is the gatekeeper to your rental customers. With a word, they will either steer parents to or away from your business. We can't stress enough the importance of engaging the educators in your area on a regular basis. Traditional vehicles include weekly service calls to deliver accessories & facilitate repairs, being a corporate sponsor of the booster program, and attending their concerts & competitions. However, you should never rule out engaging them, socially. Invite them to lunch. Bring them lunch. Host an educator-only backyard barbeque at the park just before school starts. Put together a golf scramble. They're people, too, and have just as much steam to blow off as you (maybe more after trying to teach scores of children how to play a musical instrument! Inquire with VIR's Marketing Department as to whether or not your State's MEA is attended by our exhibit. If so, plan to attend. We pay for the booth space, badges, advertising and even an educator-appreciation dinner. All you have to do is participate and bring your educators!
Incorporate a Free Lesson
There are a number of benefits attached to your negotiating a First Lesson Free promotion with your lesson teachers (employed or sub-contracted). On the front end, it looks great on the rental brochure. Next, you're a hero to the music educators, as your first lesson can be nothing more than properly assembling the instrument, cleaning and making the first "quack" on the mouthpiece. Educators spend weeks getting all of their students to that level. For your lesson teacher, yes, their giving up 30 minutes of their time, but getting a potential new student on a silver platter. They should seize the opportunity and lock the student into private instruction on a weekly basis. It's win-win-win-win all around.
Accessory Packaging
Method books, reeds, cleaning kits, metronomes and music stands are among the highest-margin items in your retail offering. Through proper implementation of the Music Educator Survey and Accessory Silent Salesman, there's no reason why every rental customer shouldn't leave your store with an instrument, the book they need for class, a care kit, a music stand and more. Several Affiliates have created accessory packages tailored to the preferences of each school. It's an easy sale to the parent when you have the endorsement of their child's music educator. Here's an example: "What school does your child attend? Oh yes, Mr. Smith is the instructor there. When I spoke with him a few weeks ago, he recommended the Standard of Excellence Book One, 5 Vandoren reeds, a cleaning kit and a folding sheet music stand for home practice. If purchased separately, these items would cost around $65, but we packaged them together for Oak Grove Middle students for only $45." Clean and simple. Custom header cards are extremely affordable and can include your store branding and space for the school & teacher's name right on the accessory bundle.
Deterring Rental Returns
On average, nearly half of the instruments rented during the back-to-school season will be returned at or by the end of the school year. Surprisingly, when asked, many parents will affirm their child's participation in music when school resumes. So why are they returning their instrument? Because many do not realize (or remember from when the program was explained to them nine months ago) our program is equity-building. And by returning now, their account is closed, rent credit is lost and they start all over again at the beginning of the school year. So what's the answer? Quite simply, explain the situation to them! In additon to our Keep Your Instrument brochure, you should develop, then train & practice with staff, a simple & consistent script that is to be executed with all customers coming into the store to return a rental instrument. By educating the parents on the benefits of keeping their isntrument through the summer months (even if not played), they're preserving their equity going into the next school year. And less returns means more commission during the Dog Days of Retail.
Don't Forget Your New Hires
The back-to-school rental season is short, fast and intense. And then it's over. For retailers, focus is turned to the holiday shopping season. Then new products come in with the new year. And before we know it, we're almost on the heels of season again. As you bid farewell to some employees, you'll be welcoming new ones. Remember they've not been properly trained in the ways of the school music market. Make it a habit to get them enrolled into Veritas U, our online training university, so they may complete the core training courses and gain a solid understanding of the paperwork & procedures associated with our program. The last thing you want to do is train your staff at the counter in August! And Veritas U is not just for beginners. It's a great refresher for all of your staff. Take the core courses. Retake the tests. And get ready for another great season!
Pre-Fill Your Rental Agreements
What's the best way to train your employees on the paperwork process of a rental? Have them practice filling out agreements. What's the most time-consuming part of the rental process? Completing the rental agreement. Want to kill two birds with one stone? Gather your employees when your opening shipment arrives, pre-fill as much of a rental agreement for each instrument (instrument info, rental rates, etc.) and place the paperwork inside each instrument's case. Pre-filling the agreements now will save time later and allow staff members to work with multiple customers at one time. Moreover, the repeated exposure to the paperwork will make processing that first instrument rental less daunting.


Veritas Instrument Rental is a proud member of the VH1 Save the Music Foundation,
The National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians, The National Association of School Music Dealers
and The National Association of Music Merchants

©2014 Veritas Instrument Rental Incorporated