How to start up a band instrument repair shop in a rural area?
Okay everyone. This is a long string of answers. If you can offer info on one, most of or all of my questions I will be very appreciative. Any feed back would be of some help too.
My husband has been in the band instrument repair business for decades, yet he has always been the background of the business and have never had to make contacts and cold calls.
We are in a rural area with a lot of secondary schools. How should we/he approach the schools superintendent in a cold call to drum up business? I am a lot more out going but do not know anything about the business. Is there some trick that I could use to do his "dirty work?"
Also, like most repair men he does not have a degree or certificate or local cliente as we are hundreds of miles away from his old customers. How do we get around that?
There are two major band instrument repair and sales companies here but they are at least sixty miles away. How do we compete with them? Is there a secret to getting business through the interenet? He has been repairing for 31 years and is a professional musician here with some shows in the Branson, Missouri area.
He has a lot of American made instruments that have been meticulously repaired and are ready to sale. He was trying to sell them on eBay, but a few weeks ago he tried to sell (on consignment with Les Brown Jr) a 1936 selmer sax that belong to Les Sr and due to the low sales interest in that section had to sell for a lot less than it was worth. How does he go in selling the used horns here until he gets a clientele?
Last, how does he get music students, repairs and buyers to come to his beautiful yet well stocked shop to come here or let us deliver?