RETAILEREXCELLENCE Cyber Service Folkmusician.com stays small, sees big <strong>growth</strong> Early on, Robert Fear learned an important lesson about the value of staying small. Three years after founding his e-tail company, Folkmusician.com, he had eight people on staff <strong>and</strong> a booming business. Then, the 2002 dock strike cut off his newproduct supply. He couldn’t fulfill orders <strong>and</strong> almost had <strong>to</strong> close shop. “With a business that had been going at a pretty good rate, it was really hard <strong>to</strong> recover from a few weeks of no sales whatsoever,” said Fear, who runs the company with his wife, Amelie. The Reno, Nev.-based e-tailer, which specializes in m<strong>and</strong>olins, came back from near-death as a leaner operation. Its staff shrunk <strong>to</strong> just FOLKMUSICIAN.COM Reno, Nev. PRINCIPALS Robert <strong>and</strong> Amelie Fear FOUNDED 1999 EMPLOYEES 2 STORES 1 ANNUAL REVENUE < $1 million 36 I MUSIC INC. I DECEMBER 2012 the husb<strong>and</strong>-<strong>and</strong>wife team <strong>and</strong> one part-timer. And while Fear acknowledged that he’d like <strong>to</strong> rebuild his workforce eventually, the benefits in stability <strong>and</strong> profitability are clear. “We’re older <strong>and</strong> wiser now,” Fear said. “We’ve stayed small for that particular reason. I’m going <strong>to</strong> be very cautious from here on out.” COMPETING THROUGH SETUPS page on Folkmusician.com’s website A details in painstaking but accessible language the different adjustments the company makes when setting up a m<strong>and</strong>olin. Everything from the bridge <strong>to</strong> the frets <strong>to</strong> the action gets tweaked before an instrument goes out the door. More than any other fac<strong>to</strong>r, Fear attributed his company’s stability <strong>to</strong> this service. He even called setups “the main thing” that drives his business. “I’m honestly not aware of any other dealer that’s doing the level of setup work that we are,” he said. The setup page has been linked <strong>to</strong> every individual product page on the site <strong>to</strong> ensure shoppers recognize the service. Still, Fear admitted the page doesn’t go deep enough for his tastes. “As time permits, I do plan <strong>to</strong> elaborate on it, even possibly adding videos <strong>and</strong> such,” he said. The setups can be a lot of work — much of which Fear does himself — but they’ve become Folkmusician.com’s calling card on- line. “People are not contacting us r<strong>and</strong>omly,” he said. “They’re very aware that they’re going <strong>to</strong> pay a little extra, but they want <strong>to</strong> for the setup work. The vast majority of cus<strong>to</strong>mers who call in are well-aware of what we do <strong>and</strong> know me by name.” ONLINE OVERHAUL Fear can keep up this level of service, he said, because other key areas of his business are so “au<strong>to</strong>mated <strong>and</strong> streamlined.” He plans <strong>to</strong> build on that strength with version five of his website early next year. Cus<strong>to</strong>mer reviews <strong>and</strong> stronger cross-selling <strong>and</strong> up-selling features are on the upgrades menu. Fear wants “<strong>to</strong> get as close <strong>to</strong> Amazon as we can,” he said. Just don’t expect <strong>to</strong> see an outside programmer. Since the beginning, he <strong>and</strong> Amelie have h<strong>and</strong>led Web development by themselves. “We’ve done everything, <strong>and</strong> I really think that’s key <strong>to</strong> our survival,” he said. “We really studied <strong>and</strong> figured out how <strong>to</strong> do it. That allowed us <strong>to</strong> go ahead <strong>and</strong> grow. If we had <strong>to</strong> pay someone, it wouldn’t have happened.” <strong>–</strong>ZP
Robert Fear DECEMBER 2012 I MUSIC INC. I 37
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