Karl Miller wrote:

>I believe that a large part of classical sales is educational in
>nature.  I guess we have different expectations.

I would hope both of us would have the expectations of making sufficient
monies and having a great time.  Concerning education, I do differ with
Karl.  The primary reason new enterprises so often experience business
failure is the lack of knowledge and focus on the business; most new
owners tend to focus more on the product or service they love.  Naturally,
excellent customer service will often result in customers posessing more
knowledge, but that's just part of basic good service.  Having the goal of
educating customers places the owner/manager in the wrong business.  Also,
I think many customers would not take kindly to this type of approach.

Karl is not the first list member to mention "turnover" of classical
recordings to that of popular ones.  I don't know why we make this
comparison since popular music is an entirely different market.  The ideal
turnover rate is the length of time it takes to identify, order, receive,
and stock additional product from the supplier.  That's nothing but a dream
with classical music.  So, we have to settle for something less.  But, I
don't agree with the perception that classical music takes a long time to
sell.  There are plenty of products out there which would "sit" for long
periods, but they don't because they are marketed, they are pushed.
Classical music is not marketed well by the "chains".  I've provided
examples in the past, and here's one more:  a local store pulled all its
Wagner individual opera box sets except for "Hollander" just prior to the
Christmas buying season.  Reason - the maximum shelf time had been
achieved.  Is it possible that this chain could come up with some ways to
enhance interest and demand for the Wagner operas? It's a serious quesion,
but it's midnight in my world - more later if anybody wants it.

Don