| Dealer Training Continues in PA & LA | Print This Article |
By Lane Baldwin
In the past two weeks, I've traveled to Pennsylvania and Louisiana to meet with (and train) the staffs of several dealers. For each trip, I was accompanied by the District Sales Manager (DSM) for that area.
In Pennsylvania, I was assisted by Ross Neifert, who has been with US Music for two decades. We visited five dealers, finishing with Guitar Villa in Quakertown, PA. In addition to some face time with their staff, we held a Meet & Greet to help kick off a special Eden Sale weekend. Now, to be honest, St. Patrick's Day (and a Friday to boot) probably isn't the best time to hold one of these, but the sale had been planned well in advance and we wanted to be a part of it before I flew home that evening. However, as I understand it, the weekend sale went very well.
One cool thing about the Meet & Greet was meeting Tim Moyle from the forum, where he's known as Bassman639. When we arrived, Tim was already there waiting, and he stuck around until we left some three hours later. While he was there, Tim snagged a great deal on a D112XLT - his second - to add to his growing inventory of Eden gear. It was great getting to hang with Tim; he's a wonderful person who makes me proud to be a part of the Eden community.
 Tim Moyle (Bassman639) and Lane with Tim's newly purchased D112XLT cabinet. |
 Lane and the staff at Zeagler Music |
The following week, I traveled to Louisiana to work with Jim Marince. Again, we visited several stores, offering training and waving the Eden flag. My new SKB Bass Safe arrived in time for this trip, so I was able to take my Washburn BB6. The Bass Safe protected the bass very well during all four flights (two each way). Many thanks to SKB for supplying me with the means to carry my own bass on these training trips.
On Saturday, we held an early training session at Zeagler Music in Baton Rouge. They brought the staff from the other location so that we could work with everyone at once. Because they were also holding a clinic featuring Maurice Fitzgerald (see separate report), they also brought the Eden inventory from the other store so they'd have everything under one roof for folks to check out. This also helped with the training as I had numerous products to work with.
In all, both trips were very productive. In addition to dealer training, I was able to visit a few potential new dealers with the DSMs. Of course, it's always nice to add a dealer to our list, especially in towns in which we are not yet represented. My thanks to all the dealers that participated in the training sessions. We appreciate your dedication to helping your customers make informed gear choices - especially when they choose Eden!