Nashville Scene

Marketing Lessons from Nashville, TN

Last week my family journeyed to Nashville, TN to deliver the remains of my mother-in-law and brother-in-law and to celebrate their lives.

20110801_LovelessCafe_0861-1-EditThe celebration started with dinner for 14 at the Loveless Cafe.  It was real country comfort food - fried chicken, country ham, catfish, BBQ pulled pork, meat loaf, fried green tomatoes, collared greens, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and key lime pie.  And fresh biscuits to die for!

We had a small, short memorial at the grave site.  Only family spoke about good times with the departed.

Then it was party time.  Four of us headed downtown.  After a late lunch at the Flying Saucer (they have over 100 beers from around the world on tap) we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Then we headed over to Broadway where the action is.  It's mostly honky tonks with live country music with a few retail shops in between.  It reminds me of 6th Street in Austin, TX.

Our first stop was The Second Fiddle.  The band was good, but I was surprised how hard the lead singer worked the crowd for tips and CD sales.  In fact, he took a break, turned the singing over to his lead guitar player and walked around the place with his tip jar introducing himself and asking for tips for "the boys in the band".  He also orchestrated "chug-a-lugs" to push revenue to the club (I did not participate.  His name is Brad Anderson if he ever becomes famous.

The women went shopping and I hung out at the club by myself.  When they returned they said I just had to come over to Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

On the way to Tootsie's we were caught in a downpour.  To stay dry we ducked into a cowboy boot store.  Lynne, my sister-in-law, wanted some boots so she tried on a few pair.  She found a pair she liked, but said she didn't want to carry them home to Seattle.

Immediately the young sales girl turned to me and said, "You look like former military."  When I confessed she was right she said, "We have a 30% discount for veterans."  This sealed the deal and Lynne saved almost a $100.  The sales clerk was fast on her feet and obviously had a lot of room to negotiate, although she could have made the sale by offering free shipping to vets, out of towners, etc and made more profit for the store.  I'm assuming that selling cowboy boots in a country music city, surrounded by bars, selling to patrons who have been bar hopping allows the boot store to mark up their merchandise at 50% above retail so the 30% was insignificant.

We finally get to Tootsies.  It is packed.  We had to slither through the crowd to find a standing room only spot.  The "slithering" was more fun for me than the ladies in my group!  The band was fantastic.  At the front of the stage were two guitar playing lady singers and singing from the bar was a young guy, who walked up and down the bar while he sang.

No real marketing plan here either.  The guy singing from the bar took requests for $20 and all most every song was by request.  In fact a guy requested a patriotic song.  The singer said he did not know the words but could get the lyrics on his iPhone and read them while he sang.  Done deal - $20!

I guess all Tootsies needs is a great location and a great band to pack 'em in.

Until next time,

Chuck