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Inc.com called her one of the “10 Greatest Salespeople of All Time.” For 13 years, Erica Feidner was a sales representative (later elevated to Executive Sales Representative) at the prestigious high-end piano maker, Steinway & Sons., where she sold over $40 million worth of instruments.
Feidner’s fascinating journey has been spotlighted across print and visual media, featured in Forbes, Canadian Business, Smart Money, Men’s Health, A&E, The Food Channel, CNN, and The Hallmark Channel. In this special episode, Eric Janssen speaks with Feidner about her long love affair with music and her approach to the art of sales.
The Ivey Entrepreneur Podcast is sponsored by Connie Clerici, QS ’08, and Closing the Gap Healthcare Group, Inc.
Transcript
You're listening to the Ivey entrepreneur podcast from the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for entrepreneurship at the Ivey Business School. In this series Ivey, entrepreneur, and Ivey faculty member Eric Janssen will anchor the session. Alright, I'm
Eric Janssen
I am here with Erica Feidner. Erica, thank you so much for making the time.
Erica Feidner
Happy to Eric. I'm just thrilled to have been asked to chat with you. So thank you very much.
Eric Janssen
Yeah. The topic of sales is really interesting for a lot of the entrepreneurs that are listening and a lot of the entrepreneurs that we have on, so it's nice to be able to go into a deep dive. When doing some of my research, Inc magazine had listed you as one of the top 10 sales people of all time. I'd love to know, in your own words maybe you could tell us a little bit about yourself.
Erica Feidner
I probably was as surprised and delighted as everybody else to see my name up there in such a distinguished company. I grew up in a family of seven pianists. We were all educators, and performers. I decided to combine that with business a while later. I got my MBA, which actually was a very big challenge for me, that was one of my biggest challenges in my life. I sort of was leaning toward sales and just been having a great time doing all of it.
Eric Janssen
That's great. Did you start your career in the music space or did you jump right out of your MBA?
Erica Feidner
I actually began teaching piano when I was nine years old, that was a great thing. It's actually one of my favorite things to do to this day. So my family, we're all musicians and pianists, so that was part of daily life, actually. We were all playing and we were all teaching piano, I was teaching piano at the age of nine, and so on. That was a big part of life but it didn't seem different to me, because that's all I knew. In the summers, we had 45 children from around the world, living with us to learn to play the piano, in my childhood home. When I was five, I think, we started the business. By the time I was nine or so, I was a founding member, I was a faculty member, I was a teacher, I was a student, I was a friend, I was the arts and crafts director, just many different positions, if you want to call it that. All of those experiences really played a big part in who I am today. It was just a wonderful thing to be around people and around music, because I was so focused on music for most of my life, in fact, Browns 11, attended the Juilliard School of Music, traveling five hours each way, alone from Vermont, where I was living. It really certainly was a big part of my growing up. I really felt that there was a gaping hole in my education and therefore, I sort of looked into the idea of an MBA. That was the biggest challenge I've ever had in my entire life, because it was very fun to be, but at the same time, I love to learn and so it was very, very helpful. I went and got my MBA from myself, because I wanted to be more grounded in my education and I was very happy that I did. Those different pockets of education and so on, have brought me to where I am. There are a number of things that I still do. I'm still teaching and I'm in sales, and I do speaking engagements and all that. It just feels like a natural evolution.
Eric Janssen
And that's great. In my reading, I found out that your parents, or at least your father was Dutch, correct?
Erica Feidner
Yes. My dad came to this country from SPM when he was 19 years old, with $150 in his pocket. Eventually he was a professor of mathematics at Bennington College where he met my mom, and things went on from there. But European flair, I think was a good part of our lives as well. I hate making generalizations but Dutch people tend to be known as very well educated, and go getters, and great with people, and good negotiators, and things like that, and I never really thought about it but I really think that that was a part of my education as well.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, it's interesting. I'm Dutch. My father was born in Holland, he came over when he was only a few months old. Our immediate family doesn't have some Dutch traditions but I don't feel like I inherited any of the definitely none of the language, but almost still, you know, tell stories about the way that things used to be when she was growing up in Amsterdam, so we share that in common.
Erica Feidner
Oh, yeah. That's that's a big surprise. I had no idea.
Eric Janssen
Your background was primarily in music, you layered on business. How did you find yourself in sales?
Erica Feidner
I remember, while I was getting my MBA, I was a full time piano teacher. I was making what I call house calls, and so on and I loved doing it. I was really yearning to do something different, so I wounded up selling my teaching practice, much like attorneys do, or doctors do and so on, so I felt good about that and I was earning my MBA. I'm very comfortable about pianos. I remember being on vacation in Italy on the top of the mountain thinking, what's next in life? I wrote down the name of some piano manufacturers and Steinway & Sons is at the top of the list. I had approached Steinway & Sons and it was suggested to me to get some experience first and I completely understood that. It's just tough to get experienced when that's what you're trying to get in the first place. It was a smaller organization with very high end pianos that joined for about two years, I finished my MBA, chatted with Steinway again, and was put on the floor day one, and that just felt great, everything was a match.
Eric Janssen
Wow. This was the store in New York. It must have felt like such a surreal opportunity. I've seen only pictures of the of the hall, but it looks incredible.
Erica Feidner
It is absolutely stunning. The architects were the same architects that design Grand Central Station, and the building was recently sold. It's a landmark building, and I have to tell you, it was very difficult to believe that wasn't going to be part of New York, or the cannabis world or just the world in general, it was very difficult to learn that they were going to sell a building that it wouldn't be standing at all, any longer. Having grown up with 30 pounds in my house growing up, so that we could accommodate all the students practicing and so on in the summer. There was this beautiful showroom, with grand gear and all of that, and I loved it. I would use the word surreal and I would say for sure, it was that kind of a feeling because it was really a dream come true. At that were at that time, just five of us and I felt very honored to be one of them.
Eric Janssen
Did you feel like that was potentially part of what helped when you're sitting down with the client? The atmosphere that the building itself created was that part of the sale as well?
Erica Feidner
I would say absolutely. The presentation of a high end, luxury, good in general, is normally presented in a beautiful environment and so on. I think for sure, there were paintings of composers and just a lot of music and the history of music in the in the building. So yes, I would say absolutely, it was a big part of the presentation. On the other hand, there are so many people that would come in and say, gosh, I don't know whether I belong here and I've wanted to come in the door so many times, and yet I was intimidated. That was a big problem that struck me off. So I would try, you know, as a person when somebody came in, to greet them in a very sort of contemporary way and very excited and so on, so that we could break the ice because the building is very intimidating. It's beautiful but it was one of those things where you had to break the ice a bit when somebody walked in the door.
Eric Janssen
I think it's very common in sales, especially like new technology sales nowadays, if you come up with something new and exciting, it's actually not that difficult if you're a decent writer or okay on the phone to get a meeting with somebody but those people might not be serious, they're more interested in learning from youm picking your brainm spending time with you, even if they're never serious about ever really buying anything. You must have had a lot of window shoppers. You must have had a lot of people that came in that were just excited to see the space or wanted to come in and just take a peek. How did you figure out or did you even care to figure out who was serious and who was not?
Erica Feidner
Absolutely. Like many sales organizations, we had a rotation system. We also have a territory. Our territory was New York and Connecticut and New Jersey, general area, and the receptions would need to sort of get an idea of where they lived and then which sales representative would be helping that person. On the other end, if somebody's just looking around, and they were from out of town, it was still rotation, but it was in a different sense. So yes, absolutely. It's a very good question that you have here. A lot of our time was invested in greeting out of towners that were just there to look, and I'll tell you, for me, it's the same thing, because if somebody is coming in to learn about pianos and so on, it's a huge opportunity to encourage them to continue to be interested in piano or music. There are some people where I just took them aside, and I have a patent on how to read music, in one lesson, I would show them how to read music and off they went. It's always an opportunity. There are times when somebody came in and they said that they had no interest in the piano and that sort of thing and did they go home with a beautiful instrument? Absolutely. I think part of that is sort of for me, it was sort of finding a thread with the client in how to talk about piano and music in general and because it's very intimidating to some people. For instance, there was a gentleman who's about to buy a seven foot Steinway, it was about $1,000 and he said, I love his piano, I understand completely why I should choose it. He explained to me the craftsmanship and all that, and each piano is different and he told me that this one is fiery, and it's a very sort of French horn, round sound, and so on and understand that Erica, but I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed by a $1000 piano when I don't know anything about music, and I don't play. We talked about his family, and he had a daughter, and I made sure to get her a piano teacher in their hometown and with the gentleman, I showed him how to read music as well. It's one of those things we're doing what I'm doing can actually change people's lives and I know that sounds kind of lofty, and all that but really, that's what we're doing. Buying a piano isn't buying a piano to me, the whole experience is like none other or it should be and it's bringing, beauty and music into someone's life and how wonderful is that?
Eric Janssen
That's a great segue. I was going to ask you, what are people buying, when they buy a piano? What is it that they actually are buying?
Erica Feidner
Well, certainly they're buying an instrument, I'm not sure whether you want me to focus on that. For me, I don't even think about the sale, I really think about saying hello to the customer and welcome them into the Steinway hall or wherever and actually just independent now, so I go to different showrooms and so on. Really making an experience for that person that is going to be memorable and educational and it's really not about the sale at all. I don't want to say it's secondary but that's kind of how it feels to me. I guess when they come in, we need to get they an experience and hopefully one that they will remember forever, whether they buy something or not. If even if they don't buy something, if you've planted that seed of joy of music with that person, don't even tell their friends and their friends are going to come in and choose a piano. No matter what you're doing, there's always some kind of connection or some benefit to everybody. Everybody wins when you take care of the customer.
Eric Janssen
Even the prospective customers, even the ones who never actually buy?
Erica Feidner
Those are the kind of people where you just know they're not going to buy a piano. They keep coming in from time to time to play the piano. I don't think that person is annoying. I see that person is someone who loves music, and gets to know me and tells their friends who are also interested in music to come in and choose a piano.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, that's interesting. I noticed in the interviews that you've given, you're very careful not to say that you're not in sales, you don't want to say that you're a salesperson. Why are you so careful to make that distinction between either matchmaker or guide versus salesperson?
Erica Feidner
Great question. I'll give you an example of where I'm coming from and that is, before going into selling pianos, if you want to call it that, or channel matchmaking is I call it, when I was a teacher, and my father was a math mathematician, but also a pianist and a teacher, we all were and I just remember telling him that I was so excited, because I had been asked to join a team at Steinway & Sons, at the Mecca on West 59th Street. He looked at me, and said, with a with a disappointed face, but that's what it was and he said, Erica, you're going to be a salesperson, really? I just got this idea that of course, he wanted me to be a concert pianist, and so on and what was I doing? Many people, my father included, that was way back in 1992, something like that. The word sale or sales or sell, I've been known to say that it's a four letter word. I can tell you also that just like the world in general, I'm unchanging what I have to say about sales, because I think people are ready for discussing and, and sort of honoring the business of sales and the profession itself. So for me, selling now, my perspective is, there's a transaction, and we're gonna use that word and so on. I would just say that selling is honorabl. To get to the heart of it, when people are born, when they're little, when you want something if you want that candy bar, so you can do everything you can to figure out how to have mom say, yes, we're selling ourselves. In every respect, and I think that a lot of people are like, I could never be a salesperson but I think everybody has the ability if they wanted to, and if they need a little bit of help, well, hey, I am teacher, and it's teachable, so and PS, it's fun. It's really fun. You're around people all the time and it's a great vision.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, it's I feels like the tides are turning, or have been turning for some time. I am teaching right now, at the Ivey Business School, we're one of the leading institutions that are really considering investing heavily in educating our students in sales. Ot's nice to see that it's starting to be taken way more seriously than it used to be.
Erica Feidner
It's considered a very honorable profession these days. Seeing these universities and so on, such as Ivey is terribly exciting to know that you're actually teaching sales, because, like I just mentioned, I do believe it's teachable, it would take somebody with expertise to teach it. I think it's fantastic that there are organizations that are focusing directly on sales, because there are people like me, whose experience is only organic. I didn't ever take a class on sales, even when I was getting my MBA. Yes, there was marketing, but that was very different. It's something that is a great profession and lots of fun. As I mentioned, it's teachable. I'm just thrilled that sales in general and leadership and entrepreneurship are all getting the attention that they deserve. That's one of the things that I'm moving into my own life is to speak with executives, or at colleges and universities, with classes, classrooms, and so on, about sales and about how to sell at someone, and it's terribly fun. It's very exciting.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, people are keen to learn things that are actually going to help them right away, that they can turn around, walk out of the classroom and start to use right away. It's exciting for that.
Erica Feidner
I think also it's important that people know that what we're doing is we're not teaching tactics. I really believe that we should talk more about how the client thinks and from the customer's perspective, and it sounds obvious, I know it sounds obvious, but it isn't, -it's about the customer less so about the product and less about yourself. First the delivery is important, but really focusing on what the customer wants and needs and then off you go.
Eric Janssen
So if you were to teach, I'm send a student to meet with Erica and if she's interested in even selling piano specifically, what would you teach her? I ask because when I look at, like all the different reasons why salespeople are successful, I think a big piece of it is having conviction in what you're selling, truly believing that it's helpful for the client or the prospect. There's a huge element of domain knowledge or expertise, which I know, you have probably more than a lot of other people that are selling pianos out there. How would you go about teaching that? Or would you not teach that part? Would you teach something different entirely?
Erica Feidner
It kind of really does kind of depend on on the audience, but one of the things that is terribly important, you mentioned the conviction, and expertise. Now, I'm always learning more about how a piano works, and so on it's just a lifelong thing. I would say the most important thing is really underscoring the idea of integrity. Without that, you really have very little, but with it, you build up a great reputation and, from there, it's like a platform, if you really move forward with integrity, at every touch point, it's difficult to teach, I would say, but it is a very, very important element. As far as sales and that sort of thing, if it were an individual course, I would go in one direction, but as a group, I think probably the best way to go about it is to ask questions like, what is it that you want to learn and what you know what's on your mind and then tell a story or get an example and and show them a solution to that question is very important to show. For instance, if it's an experience that I've had with a client to answer a question that a student has, that's in my opinion, the best way to go about it, because it's real, and people can relate to it and it's true.
Eric Janssen
You're known as the piano matchmaker. If someone sits down how do you find the match for them? What's your process? How do you find it?
Erica Feidner
That's a really fun question, my favorite. When I was at Steinway & Sons we had an inventory of 400 pianos. There were grand pianos, vertical pianos, the Steinway second line called the Boston piano, now the third line called the Essex piano, and so on. For me, I made certain that every day I would know the inventory backward and forward. Because I grew up around channels, and so on, I just have a knack for knowing essentially, who a piano is, because they have their own personalities and PS, they have their own serial number. Some of them look the same so what I would do is to get to know a piano very quickly, that's just something that comes naturally to me and very fortunate and then I look at its name, also known as its serial number, and that sort of goes into a bank in my head. Every day, I would make sure that I knew the inventory backwards and forward, and which pianos was selected and what cameras are coming from the factory that weren't ready yet. I would go downstairs and I would crawl under the pianos to get to the ones that had just come in, and give them a try because I remember, there were a couple of times where a piano hadn't been prepared, they would spend, eight hours in a row before it goes on the showroom floor but I was able to hear the personality of that channel through any idiosyncrasies that were showing up and there were a couple times where clients would choose a piano that was really not prep, but they understood with me, who that piano was and why it would be the best selection for them. I would say knowing your inventory is terribly important. It doesn't sound like a big deal but when it comes to pianos, it's a huge deal. Because every piano is really different and when the customer comes in, usually they don't know that. So they're thinking, okay, to be honest, gonna go on the window, and we need a six foot and we want a wood finish, okay, well, wood finish piano can't go in the window, because the veneer is photosensitive. We'll talk about placement and that sort of thing as well but to open a can of worms and tell the customer that every piano is different. They would look at me like, what are you talking about? And did you just complicate this process? Yes, it does complicate it, but at the same time educating the customer I would not let it get to go home unless that person really understood why that particular piano was the perfect match for that person, or that family or that room. It's not that pianos change that they don't but you know, placement in the room, I know it has a little bit of an effect. I hope that isn't the question. Again, it's a wonderful experience.
Eric Janssen
So that's fascinating to understand from the product side, you literally would start your day by going to the basement, I guess, and just picking through the inventory.
Erica Feidner
Every day, we had an event at the factory and they were probably 300 pianos that were collected from all over the country, other dealers, they would have 300 pianos all lined up, and they wouldn't finish moving them in till midnight, the night before the quote sale happened. I am known to have been crawling around at midnight with these pianos and once in a while, I would see a mouse. I really wanted to get to know the pianos and I only had a few hours to get to know somebody's piano. What I did just to make sure I knew what I was doing is I did a couple of things. I already knew what the client wanted, as far as size and finish and price range, because I rarely spoken with them. There were some walk ins, but they're also appointments that you did with your clients. So I knew that and then you know, once I know the pianos, I would match them up. So I'll take a little yellow, stick them and say, okay, these are the two or three pianos, ones over there, ones way over there, I think they're a great match, take a look and then sorry to say, but we don't have time, we're just gonna have to choose one. There's a lot of pressure for everybody. It was very exciting too. I love getting prepared, I guess that's the word, I was very prepared. I had a client list, I had serial numbers mapped out, and I forgot to say, I had my own notes, if you want to call it that. I would have the list of the models now as far as size, and finish any age, and that's fine but then I would rate the pianos from one to 10, on whether they had a versatile sound, or if they were shy, or whether the cow sings beautifully, or whether it's a drier sound, all these factors. It's kind of like choosing a wine. Many people said, no, this is kind of like choosing a wine and it is. It's very fulfilling and great fun running around in this huge room with all these pianos and customers.
Eric Janssen
That's amazing. Did you ever have any sad pianos that you just you didn't get along with and so therefore, you never recommended them to customers that just sat there for years at a time?
Erica Feidner
I have to say that there is a foundation in a piano that I call and is known as the sustain. That's really essentially how well the soundboard in that particular piano is performing. I really would only choose the top 5%. Somebody said, well, who's gonna sell the piano, it's not that the other panels are bad, it's certainly not, whether it's Steinway, or Fazioli, or Brezhnev, each one has its own beautiful attributes. Then there are some that have even more so those are the ones that I would use. If a piano didn't have that, well, then we wait. Now that's a big risk, because maybe they were shopping somewhere else but that doesn't happen. If you really help the customer and educate them, and they know that you're going to find out for them, I should show you an example. I remember sitting at my desk, and I got a piece of mail. So I opened it up. Here, Erica RPM teacher thinks that you're really good at choosing great pianos, and we're looking for a walnut five foot one and there was a jack in there, that there was a jack for $1,000 and what we can do is we can reserve a candle, and then have the customer come in. Either choose it or not, it was just so funny. There was a five one wallet that was out of this world. It just happened to be other times, you know, we would have to wait and that was frequent to if you really work on your reputation and you do the right thing every time and you educate other piano teachers who you know, they have their their own ego too and what if you educate them and they become part of it, then it's everybody's having a good time. I just remembered that something has happened a few times but it just made me so happy that somebody really trusted me. Eventually, of course I did. I will not let a piano go on unless the customer understands. So, yeah, it's great fun.
Eric Janssen
One more question then I'm going to wrap up. You talked a lot about how you get to know, I understand now how you became such an expert, I understand your process for getting to know the pianos, what was your process for getting to know the customers and really understand what they wanted?
Erica Feidner
Ah, I get a really great question. As far as getting to know the customer, remember that in the summer, there were 45 kids living with us every week. There were probably 250 kids in and out of there. Every summer, we also had 10 day programs for adults from around the world. So we were around education, and people from all walks of life, all the time. You will know as a professor, that when you speak to people, you must speak with respect. If I'm teaching piano, I want to encourage them but at the same time, there are things that need improvement, and you have to find ways to say that. So I would say that as far as getting to know the customer, when I'm with them, or even on the phone, I listened very carefully to their voice but if they're sort of intimidated, or if they're nervous I will sense that and then go forward from there, or maybe they're really excited, and we don't have time to talk about pianos, let's just get them right on the bench. I think everybody has this ability, you're around people all the time, your whole life. In PS you're also selling at every touch point in your life. As far as getting to know the customer, no, it's not easy and have I honed it to an expert level? Yeah and I think a lot of it is just a natural thing and getting out. If you want to call it a buy on a person, then, that's that's really what I mean, I will know within five minutes, which panel somebody shoes.
Eric Janssen
I don't know how but let's say appointment is booked, I come in to see you in New York, you and I are sitting in a room together, we're having a conversation, how long until you start to like I want to appear in your brain, I want to zip open and peer into your brain, you're running through your catalogue of all the different pianos and the and the different serial numbers and like how long until you say it's one of these? Or do you even say that out loud?
Erica Feidner
To answer the question, I will know, within five minutes, it used to be about half an hour. As you go on in life, you get better at things. We have an idea of whether somebody needed a piano that was sunny, or had a very deep bass or, or Richard, other words that I use. I would definitely make sure that the customer understood that each pianos are different. I would show them on various panels. What kind of tone I'm hearing and a lot of people say I don't know anything about music, well, they may not think that they do, but everybody's voice is different. You can tell the difference there, even on the phone. It's one of those things where I tried to make it as simple as possible. It's my job to explain to a customer what a piano has to offer. There are times where a customer comes in and I will show them the piano I have in mind right away. Yes, that has happened. Why? Because maybe there's another customer looking at that piano right then and I'm really sorry that piano is meant to be for my customers. It's like, all right, that's your piano. You came to me because your friend recommended me that would be important. They've been referred to me or what have you. That's your account, let's reserve it and then I'll tell you why it's the right one, I wouldn't do that. We all have to respect each other. Maybe that customers just kind of looking at the cabinet or something like that but with the really good ones, I want that to go to my customers. There have been times for instance, there have been times where I've called customers and asked their credit card number over the phone to reserve the piano and then they come in, that I do all the time.
Eric Janssen
So that's an interesting commitment, you get a micro commitment to see if you understand them, you know what they want. Let's reserve it so that no one else takes it because I've got the perfect one for you.
Erica Feidner
I probably put it in the perspective of actually selling because to me, it's just a natural thing. So, yes, does it create urgency? Absolutely. The customer feels great about it, because I'm there on their behalf and I have found the piano for them and, that must be a good feeling, I would think. When they come into the piano, it's like a piano party. This isn't just for pianos, this is anything in life, you can make anything a party.
Eric Janssen
If you're gonna spend this much time doing it, and it's your job, maybe convincing is the wrong word but if it's your job to transfer the emotion and the passion that you feel for whatever it is, you're selling into somebody else, you better be excited yourself.
Erica Feidner
Exactly. If somebody's selling a commodity, then how are you gonna differentiate? You can't. But you can differentiate. Differentiate your own communication with the customer and that's what you can be known for, she made sure to take care of everything and the delivery, and then you make sure that you're known for your good work and that way people will come to you.
Eric Janssen
I noticed in that New Yorker article, they mentioned, having happy customers and them referring other people to you, or you made the point earlier, even when people may not necessarily be customers right now, they might tell their friends about a good experience they have or have had, and then they would send their friends in. By taking good care of people and actually caring about them, you've got this amazing referral system happening in the background.
Erica Feidner
Absolutely. My final years at Steinway, I was working by referral only, well, I wouldn't be taking the calls, so that was a big risk to think about taking, but it was less of a risk because I feel like I know what I'm doing and I had really built up a reputation and of course, the New Yorker story was a big one, it was really helpful to have that sort of as my calling card. By the way, the New Yorker story has just been optioned, which is known as sold to a world famous executive producer feature film. My life got so, it's just crazy, 18 years after the story came out. There's an executive producer who has done films like 12 years of slave, Slumdog Millionaire, Billy Elliot, the Iron Lady. This woman is amazing and she said that she couldn't get the story out of her head, and that she wanted to do a feature film.
Eric Janssen
Wow, that would be amazing. I'm staring at your picture in the article right now on it, I could see it, it would be a great movie.
Erica Feidner
Thank you. I understand that the mortality rate is very high for filming that sort of thing. It's exciting to be able to share my world with the rest of the world, which is the joy of music, and how it can enrich your life and especially for oneself, if you have an idea of different sound, and touching that sort of thing. It's just exhilarating, to play on different channels and to meet different channels. It's so much fun.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, I've got ever since I was a kid growing up, sort of middle class family. I always had dreams of owning a beautiful, baby grand piano that would be on like an elevated platform in my home that I would play one day. So I took lessons growing up. Since I moved away to university and started a family on my own, I haven't revisited it, but it's something that's sitting in the back of my mind. I know who I'm gonna come to when the time is right because there will be a time and I know who I'm going to come to.
Erica Feidner
That's great. I can't help but say, when you're ready, and PS, I can help you get ready and call me and I teach by Skype, it's really fun. So the other thing is, I don't know the age of your children, but children can learn to play the piano from the age of two. That's what I do. I do have some students that are two years old going in here for their piano fun, it's not even a piano lessons on piano fun. Be happy to talk with you about that at another time but once you get the piano slash music bug, there's no end to it.
Eric Janssen
We've tried to expose them to music early on. I've got a drum set at home, and I've got a little drum set for them and we bought little keyboards and things. First, it was over the Christmas holiday, where we brought them to a friend's house who had an upright piano and they were okay with the kids playing it. My oldest is four, my youngest is two and a half and you know how kids sometimes just get onto something, and I always just let them go for as long as they want to go and they were probably playing on the piano for 90 minutes. Just playing and playing and playing and playing and playing. I was looking at them thinking, this is interesting, I feel like maybe I should act on this and get them signed up.
Erica Feidner
You know, I have to tell you, Eric, I have chills right now, that happens when I get excited and when I'm happy about something. 90 minutes, it's really something I thought maybe you'd say, half an hour, 90 minutes is really, really something. I think that you're right to pay attention. As a pianist and a teacher, I'm suggesting that you really take a really good look at this because it sounds like they're ready.
Eric Janssen
Yeah, it's interesting. Often you want to put kids in things that let them release the energy, right? So you look at soccer, and karate and hockey and ballet and dance and all of these things but at least my mind wasn't immediately going to getting them into music this young. I will take your advice, I'm going to get them started in something this spring.
Erica Feidner
That sounds fantastic. You're a great dad.
Eric Janssen
Great. Well, this has been really great. I'll ask you one more question and if you don't have anything that immediately comes to mind, that's okay. I'm teaching hundreds of students this year who have never been exposed to any sales in their lives. I think a handful of them are actually going to go out and start their young sales careers. As someone who's been in the business, for as long as you have, and it's got a bunch of experience and a great track record, do you have any advice for someone that's just getting started in sales?
Erica Feidner
It sounds like a question. It's not an easy question.
Eric Janssen
Really hard question. I said the best the hardest for last.
Erica Feidner
I do have some kind of an answer, which is, be honest, and be yourself. I really think those two things and communicating with the customer. I'm not saying those are the only two things but those two things are really important. Of course, you have to know a lot about the product, and so on but you also need to know why that customer should have it and how they're going to benefit from it. So certainly honesty and integrity, those two things are so important, because you never know. I never thought in a million years, I'd be a salesperson, and be selling high end gowns, I never imagined that, it just sort of unfolded. It's a great way of life. I think most people want to be honest anyway. I think that's what I would say, just be honest and go forward with integrity.
Eric Janssen
That's great. Erica, it's been a lot of fun. Although we're not physically in the same place. I feel like you're sitting across the table from me. Thank you so much for agreeing to the time and I learned a lot. Thank you very much.
Erica Feidner
Oh, gosh, I had a blast. Thank you so much.
Introduction/Outro
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