We were lucky to catch up with Stephen Shutts recently and have shared our conversation below.
Stephen , appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?
My clients are collectors of music memorabilia…autographs, stage worn clothing, gold record awards, etc from their favorite recording artists. My customers are loyal in that I provide authentic memorabilia at very affordable price points. My customers continually proclaim I helped build their collections.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My business grew out of a childhood love for collecting…baseball cards, beer cans, Charlie’s Angel’s and of course Elvis memorabilia. I was a teenage product of the 1970’s. In 1990 I turned collecting into a business during college. Upon graduation, with a disappointment in job offers I started buying, selling and brokering higher end memorabilia once belonging to Elvis and numerous country music stars such as Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline. In 2006 I marketed Elvis’s Audubon Drive home to a world renowned sale. I as well that year, purchased Elvis’s favorite roller-coaster…the Zippin Pippin in Memphis, Tennessee. Once again, gaining international press coverage. In the Fall of 2006 I purchased a lost Hank Williams handwritten song notebook at a yard sale. It consequently turned into a two year legal battle with Sony / ATV Publishing, which claimed ownership. The headlines caught the attention of Viacom / CMT and I was offered a reality show which aired in 2014 and 2015. It was called “Raiders of Rock”, which was co-hosted by Robert Reynolds, founding, former member of the Grammy Award Winning Mavericks. The business of buying and selling memorabilia has continued, but at times morphed into tourng exhibits with Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Playboy 50th Anniversary and more. Today memorabilia sales, authenticating and appraising continue with collectors worldwide and with celebrity estates such as Charlie Daniels and Jerry Lee Lewis.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Integrity. Never wavering on authenticity. It’s always better to be honest and struggle than dishonest and have financial success based on lies.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
I was offered the task of marketing and selling Elvis Presley’s Audubon Drive Home. Elvis rose to international stardom while living here in 1956 and 1957 (13 months). This was the home he and his parents lived in prior to Graceland. The home was valued at $286,000. I told the owners I would get them 1 million for home, due to Elvis’s ownership. After a landmark sale on eBay, in May of 2006, I sold the home to Mike Curb of Curb Records for 1 million dollars, nearly 4 times the tax appraised value.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.rockologyllc.com
- Facebook: Rockology
- Youtube: Stephen M. Shutts / Rockology
Image Credits
Chris Hollo