Are there any demo tunes you'd want to hear?

[GWard21]

Hello everyone,

I have just joined this forum, so looking forward to getting to know you all.

I've been working in a piano shop for around a year now, and I can sell acoustic/digital pianos but I struggle when it comes to keyboards as I've never really delved into that side of things. We primarily sell Yamaha arranger keyboards and I will be practising on either a Genos 1, or an SX700. I have a basic understanding of how they work, but my question for you all is:

If you went into a shop, and wanted a member of staff to demo a keyboard, are there any tunes that you would want/expect to hear?

I understand that a lot of the styles are designed with specific songs in mind, so do you have any recommendations for songs to learn? So far I've put together a slightly dodgy cover of Children - Robert Miles, but I'm a bit lost on what other songs would be worth learning. I will need to learn 5-6 songs from memory to play on a variety of keyboards.

Any reccommendations will be appreciated! 

[ton37]

Hi, that's a hard one  Maybe search for a worldwide all times tophits, like this example: http://www.mediatraffic.de/alltime-track-chart.htm . Success and welcome tothis forum. 

[DrakeM]

You are correct each keyboard's styles are set up to do a particular song. So find songs you like and want to learn from the available styles on the SX700.

I suggest you learn songs you can play on both the SX700 and the Genos. Start to learn them on the SX700 but make sure the same style is also on the Genos. Anything you perform on the SX700 you can then demonstrate on the Genos and show the customer the difference between the two keyboards.

Drake

 

[DrakeM]

 I almost forgot ... Hello GWard and Welcome to the Party here at the PSRTutorial forum!

I have reworked over 261 of the brand new Genos 2 styles to work in both the SX700 and Genos keyboards and you can download them from this page here:

https://www.psrtutorial.com/sty/collections/drake.html

There is so much content posted for you around here that you'll probably purchasing a Yamaha keyboard for yourself. 

Cheers
Drake

[mikf]

You are probably going to find that arranger buyers are mostly over 50, maybe even mostly over 60. They mostly want to buy the arranger to play standards - stuff from the Great American Songbook, and well known pop from the 60s thru 80s. Billy Joel, Neil Diamond......you know the kind of stuff.
  I'm guessing you are a lot younger because I have never even heard of the song you mention. Don't play stuff that appeals to you, play what appeals to them. You might hate it, but they probably aspire to play Moon River and Crazy.
And don't think that by playing newer stuff you will appeal to younger buyers, because they seldom buy arrangers. Arrangers are great instruments in the hands of good players, but the buyers are 90% from the "I wish I had learned to play when I was younger, but now I am older I have the time and money" set.🤓
This is reality.
Mike

[GWard21]

Yes the song I learnt is a modern, dancey track. I chose it purely because I could already play it on the piano and there was a style that suited it well. It was more of a tester haha!

I've watched my colleagues do demos before but a lot of the songs are ones I've never heard before (one of the cons of being born post 2000 I suppose!) It's tricky learning songs that you do not know, especially as I cannot read music 

Thank you all for your suggestions and warm welcome.

[EileenL]

Most Demo's will consist of songs people will know and these will include many standards. Customers will ask questions so you will need to know how the instrument you are playing works. They may well ask to hear certain instruments such as Strings
Piano's, Organs, Oboe's and Accordion's, so you will need to know songs to play that use these. You may well be asked how you save things and Load new content.
Customers will be spending a lot of money so could ask you anything. Songs they may expect to hear will depend on the style you are using. Charmain is usually played to demo strings and a Waltz. Sweet Caroline may fit nicely with the style that will follow this. For Organs maybe a little Tico Tico.
  Watch some of the Demo's on You Tube by many Yamaha dealers and you will get an Idea.

[johan]

I would start with some of the songs that are on the Playlist of the keyboard (can be downloaded from the Yamaha website). This way you can explain the customer that he can download this playlist on USB and immediately have the same setting (registration) as you have used when doing the demo.

Good luck!

Johan

[KurtAgain]

Watch some of the Demo's on You Tube by many Yamaha dealers and you will get an Idea.

Eileen is right.

For example, watch this brilliant sales video for the PSR-SX700 by Tony from Bonners Music and you will find all of the tips mentioned above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpf4vA8gddg

Kurt

[mikf]

Yes, that's a pretty perfect demo for the typical arranger buyer from a knowledgeable and competent demonstrator.

Mike

[BogdanH]

hello GWard
Here's my take on this topic (which is similar to what Mike said).

Yes, you can mostly expect mature customers who actually have time for learning/playing the keyboard. But regardless of customer age (and related to your problem), there are two categories: those who already have certain experience with keyboards and those who buy for the first time (or for their children).

Those who already have the experience usually already know "specs'n'stuff" about keyboards (they watch reviews, read forums, etc.) and they will probably wish to try the keyboard by themself -means, give them space and time for that! If they have questions they will come to you (make sure you're nearby). I personally just hate if salesman is watching over my shoulder and makes suggestions all the time.
Actually I wouldn't expect that you would need to play something for the customer in this case. But you should definitely need to be familiar with "how keyboard works" (for example finding desired styles and matching voices for customer to try out) and differences between keyboards -to help customer easier to decide.

First time buyers (or buying for children).. they obviously don't know how to play. They're more interested on what keyboard can do -that is, how easy it is to play the keyboard. Means, you should play some relative simple well known melodies (accompaniment will do the rest), so you don't scare customer with "I will never learn that!".
And when I say simple melodies.. you definitely need to learn playing them good enough! I mean, if you're poor at playing, then you can hardly discuss with someone how good keybed particular keyboard has.

And finally, be honest: don't push... don't try to pull out the last dollar/euro from customers wallet (unless money is no issue: "I want the best"). Try to guess what customer actually needs and he will be thankful.. and he will come back when/if he decides for the next keyboard.

But in general.. yeah, you definitely need to learn playing well enough.. otherwise you actually won't know what you're talking about.. and customer will notice that 

Just my 2c worth,
Bogdan

[mikf]

Bogdan
I agree that very knowledgeable buyers seldom need demos. They may have questions on functions, but can play themselves. I thought this demonstrator seems to know exactly how to pitch these arrangers to a new buyer, or someone with some arranger knowledge looking to upgrade. I think the worst thing to do is to try to play demos for people if you are not a pretty good player.
But I  doubt many buy these middle or high end arrangers for their children. If they seriously want their kids to learn to play, they don't buy arrangers. If it's a fun purchase for kids they buy at the very cheap end.
Mike

[GWard21]

Thank you everyone who has advised so far, I will definitely take your advice on board!

Over the last year of working, I can definitely say that a high percentage of our keyboard sales are online, purely because you can just watch a video demo and hear the styles/voices through there and people don't want to travel anymore. However, when someone does come in and wants to view a keyboard, at the moment we have other salesmen who are very experienced and generally they will handle these customers.

I think my 'area' will be selling the lower end keyboards rather than the high end arrangers e.g. SX900/Genos territory, at least for now. But lucky for me, my work has said they will lend me a high end keyboard to learn on, so wish me luck!