Summerhays Music of Orem is one of the most well-stocked band & orchestra shops in the United States. From time to time, they have a surplus of instruments that present logistical problems for the store.
Knowing this was a recurring issue, I promoted these instruments to a specific group of Summerhays customers. By creating a small email campaign, I helped generate over $30,000 in revenue while clearing out excess inventory.
Defining the Ideal Target Customers
Many of the surplus instruments were either too expensive or too niche to appeal to a broad market. So, I turned to one of Summerhays’ biggest client groups: school music programs.
In many ways, school music teachers all run small businesses. As such, they have the biggest budget and need for large quantities of instruments. It also helped that I’d been working with them for a few years and earned their trust.
Deciding When To Market
Aside from deciding who the ideal customer is, deciding when to market to them was just as critical.
School music programs have seasonal needs. They typically do most of their buying during the summer and early fall, then take care of other needs throughout the year.
But springtime is when they need to spend the rest of their surplus budget. Otherwise, they won’t get as big of a budget for the next school year.
I’ll let Oscar from The Office explain it.
Creating Scarcity
As the saying goes, “scarcity sells”.
So for this campaign to work effectively, we created scarcity in three ways:
- A limited supply of instruments — The sale only involved select instruments the store had on hand. We weren’t taking orders for new instruments.
- Setting a deadline — Without a deadline, customers would put off the opportunity.
- First come, first serve — No one could “hold” an instrument from the list. Whoever sent a purchase order first would get it.
Sending The Emails
The sale started in April and went through mid-May. We sent out a single email at the beginning of the month. Then the orders started flooding in.
Halfway through the sale, we sent a second email with an updated list of instruments. We again emphasized that these instruments were going away fast.
We finally sent one last email a few days before the sale ended to hook the last-minute buyers.
Final Results
We only sent three emails to this list. But on average, each one generated $10,000, resulting in over $30,000 in revenue.
In the end, several schools ended up with great instruments at reduced prices. Plus, Summerhays management was happy to clear out excess inventory and make money while doing it.