Kawai Holds 21st Keyboard Academy

Forty-seven salespeople from all over the U.S. attended the 21st edition of the Kawai Keyboard Academy in San Pedro, California, from August 8–11. Held alongside the Cabrillo Marina, the attendees were immersed for three-and-a-half days in the features and details of Kawai’s entire product line, including the Shigeru Kawai grand pianos, the “K” series uprights, the Aures Anytime pianos, digital pianos and the Novus hybrids.

More than 1,000 salespeople from all over North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America have now attended the Keyboard Academy over the past 20 years.

“As in the past, our Regional Sales Managers brought their experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to the forefront,” said Cory Callies, vice president of corporate strategy. “Each one of them has such a passion for Kawai and for the people that sell our products. They love this event almost as much as the salespeople that attend.”

In addition to classroom instruction, the cornerstone of the Keyboard Academy has always been generous amounts of hands-on time to help solidify the concepts and features of all things Kawai.

One participant commented, “Everything about the Kawai Keyboard Academy was first-rate.” While another said, “This was a wonderful experience — it filled in the gaps in my product knowledge but most importantly it was great to hear the passion of all the Kawai staff.”

“Kawai always sees an uptick in sales for the months following the academy,” Callies said. “Aside from building strong relationships with the folks on the front lines in retail stores, we have people telling us the Academy has changed the trajectory of their career in the music business. We believe the return on investment for both Kawai and our retail partners is second to none.”

kawaius.com