The Retail Print and Music Dealers Association (RPMDA) annual convention at the Seaport Hotel in Boston from April 24 to 26 was highlighted by a fun and casual atmosphere at manufacturer booths and provided advice that many consider a must for you to stand out. Almost 290 people attended the show, with more than 30 first-time guests. Fifty-nine exhibitors were on hand.
 Retailers and manufacturer employees alike offered rave reviews for the seminar titled “Company Culture & Success in an Ever Changing Industry.” The session, presented by George Hines of George’s Music, dominated talk at several lunches on April 25, the second day of the three-day event. “Consumers can go online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and find any product they want,” said Hines. “And they can find the lowest price if they spend enough time doing so. Product and price do not give us an advantage any longer over our competition. So what does that leave us with? Strictly, the
culture we have in the people who work for us and the processes we have. Culture is now your differentiation.”
“Our objective together is to define culture,” he continued. “And how do we measure that culture on both our customers and our associates to increase our success? This is the new value we will be dealing with in the next 10 years both in our stores and online. First, let’s start with a definition of culture. Culture consists of shared values and conduct that set the standard for how employees behave and how we interact both with our customers and associates.”
 Hines began by discussing the inverted pyramid, which he said he borrowed from retailer Nordstrom. On top of that pyramid are the customers, followed by the associates, the management, retail support, and at the bottom, the company president. “When I walk into my stores, I’m the company cheerleader,” said Hines. “It’s gotten to the point that when I walk in, [associates] are actually happy to see me. I really care about the people in my company and I think they care about me. I love the music industry.
Thirty-one years doing something you love is the biggest blessing I can get.”
Hines continued to talk about a customer bill of rights he provides and postcards he sends out to VIPs (very important players). Customers who spend more than $300 become VIPs, and are entitled to accessories discounts. Monthly follow-up postcards go out to those customers. George’s Music also has a 1-800 customer hotline that is “manned by real people.”
Hines is a big fan of operations checklists, when you go into a store and check off a list of several criteria. “We have eight pages that say what is going on in our stores and what we are expecting,” said Hines. “That includes cleanliness and everything else.”
Hines attacked the huge problem many of you have: finding good employees. Among the things he uses is the PASS test, which measures a propensity for a potential employee to use drugs, how well they will work with a team, etc. “We spend a huge amount of time on that,” he said. “We don’t want to have the culture diluted in any way. If they get past that, we do typically 1,000 to 2,000 interviews a year. We hire about 20 to 30 people a year. We get great quality employees because we’re doing so much pre-work.”
 If you like to provide online applications for potential employees, Hines recommended checking out the affordable Taleo at www.taleo.com—a process utilized by Starbucks—to make sure you’re getting the right application for your needs. “We’ve been using it for more than a year and about half of the people we hire are from the online application system. We get 60 to 70 online applications per month.”
Once George’s Music finds the right employee after an exhaustive process, that’s where the store separates itself from many in any industry. We’ll let Hines explain. “A lot of people say the [employee’s] first day is the worst day. We try to make the first day the best day. We make sure that when they come in on day one, they feel really good before they leave. What are some of the things we do? We have a welcome card we sign and send to their home before they start. Imagine if you’re that new employee. You probably gave notice at the old job and are waiting to start a new job. You get a welcome card signed by everyone in the office. If you’re married and your spouse sees that, it’s pretty good.
 “We also do a first-day celebration cake,” added Hines. “We do not have a celebration cake when they’re leaving. That’s not a good thing to celebrate! And on the first day, we have a welcome phone call from someone in the support staff. We have about 10 people working in retail support. When we hire someone, we get background information about their hobbies, what they play, etc. When the support staff member gets on the phone with that new [hire], they already know something about them.”
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