Unlocking Success: Why ‘Qualify the Customer’ Is the Hidden Key Every Screenwriter Must Know
Okay, this week’s post is a blast from the past and only comes about due to a recent revelation from a TV producer I know that she has started dating a dude whose mother’s sister is married to this guy:
This is Larry Thomas who in 2010 was named CEO of Fender, Inc:
Thomas, who was appointed a Fender director last year, previously served as chairman and CEO of Guitar Center Inc., a chain of music stores.
He joined Guitar Center in 1977 as a salesperson, rising to store manager, regional manager, general manager, president and, ultimately, chairman and CEO.
Okay, stick with me and I promise to make a point re screenwriting.
When I left Yale Divinity School armed with my Masters degree, I took what I thought was going to be a year off from academics to pursue my interest in music as a singer-songwriter. I ended up spending two years in Aspen making a living as a musician. Figuring if I stayed in Aspen, I would bliss out and never much amount to anything, I relocated to the Bay Area, somehow finding myself living in the Frederick Apartments in Oakland, California, my window looking out directly onto a highway.
I landed a gig as a salesman at the Guitar Center on Van Ness in San Francisco. The manager of that store was Larry Thomas. Yep, that guy pictured up top.
The store was this huge, funky open space jammed with electric guitars and amps. There was an accessories area along one wall. A tiny enclosed room for acoustic guitars. A keyboard room. A section for drums. Downstairs the P.A. equipment. Upstairs Larry’s office. Doors opened at 10AM. As soon as they did, on went the rock and roll music over the store P.A. — really loud.
I didn’t much care for the gig. But I learned a lot of what I know about business during my brief tenure there. Here’s an example.
Every Saturday morning at 8:30, the troops would straggle in for a weekly sales meeting. Understand that the sales crew was mostly musicians, so you can imagine what that looked like. In other words, some seriously…
