the car audio industry
04-26-2004, 07:35 AM
#41
Guest
Posts: n/a
who here is as intersted, and dedicated to the in dustry and thier respective xtores(as it seems consumers have un forunately stayed away from this post, too bad, i think their opinions are probobly the most important) as you used to be, say 5 years ago, i have never had aproblem with big box guys selling the same products as me, lets say im a rockford dealer and the shop has a big sale in their flyer, does that not benefit me as well with brand recognition, im tell you im within a 2 minute drive to both visions and fs, and 5 minutes from a&b, i couldnt imagine being in a better location, i wish they were closer than customers could cross shop without getting into thier cars, as a installer/saleperson, i have to believe that im better at selling then anyone at any other store, any i think that if given the chance i will outsell them anyday, call it arrogance or whatever, but i think that confidence set me apart, and i have to think that, competition makes us better and i have never agrees with the whole "not a level playing field" thing, that is why there is cadence,concept car audio, audiobahn, etc, they are our exclusives, our lifeblood if you will, its only a skewed playing filed if you allow it to be, the most usefull selling tool we have is our mouths and it can kill us as easily as it helps us to live
04-26-2004, 08:17 AM
#42
0 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 37
well, so far i'm just a consumer. i did co-op for 5 months in a shop in high school, and am hoping to go to Mobile Dynamics soon. I still have some brand loyalty (rockford was my first amp, and it worked well so i love it. JVC was my first HU, and i loved it so i'll likely get another.) This also works the other way.. my brother had an Xplod headunit, and the display would freeze up on cold days, it skipped easily, and took forever to read burned CDs.. maybe the line has improved, but will i consider an Xplod deck, or even a $400 or $500 Sony deck? No. the one my brother had was $350 and just below the "flip around, full panel display" ones that were tops at the time. It disappoints me that a company who is so well known in other markets (home audio, their old high end car stuff, Play Station) would produce a line to sell almost solely on image/price with such crap quality. I'm the type of person who does read a lot online, lots of reviews, a couple forums, lots of magazines. I've also educated myself in electrical stuff, and I've been in stores where i've felt like i know more than the salesperson. Maybe it's just the town i'm from (Cornwall) but i wasn't terribly impressed with the shops there.
Maybe i should start a new thread for this, but any tips/advice for an aspiring professional installer?
Maybe i should start a new thread for this, but any tips/advice for an aspiring professional installer?
04-26-2004, 08:23 AM
#43
1000 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,783
I'm a buyer, not a sales person.
I appreciate honesty and people that can listen. I will walk away from people that won't listen to my needs.
Selling me product involves having a conversation where both people learn something. The saleman learns what I need, I learn about the product being offered. Anyone thinking they know it all misses out.
I agree with you defro, a good sales person doesn't need to have the best price.
I got poor service from a box store, so I went to an independant that catered to my needs.
I look for information, and I'm will to pay for it by supporting the shop that gives that to me.
There you have it, you've heard from a consumer that has never been in the industry.
Adam
I appreciate honesty and people that can listen. I will walk away from people that won't listen to my needs.
Selling me product involves having a conversation where both people learn something. The saleman learns what I need, I learn about the product being offered. Anyone thinking they know it all misses out.
I agree with you defro, a good sales person doesn't need to have the best price.
I got poor service from a box store, so I went to an independant that catered to my needs.
I look for information, and I'm will to pay for it by supporting the shop that gives that to me.
There you have it, you've heard from a consumer that has never been in the industry.
Adam
04-26-2004, 09:09 AM
#44
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 241
PEI,
Judging from your name, I would assume that you like nice things and are willing to pay for them. IF you told them "I want a BMW, but want to pay KIA pricing" they would have laughed you out of the BMW dealership. Many customers do that right now with car audio unfortunately.
Guys want the rock bottom low price, and don't want to pay for anything else. Stores have a hard time getting through to these guys, so they either get better at selling, or sell an inferior product (maybe not quality, but bang for the buck) than the big box guys to make money.
I think that some of the new brands out there have delayed the inevitable. If the market was mature and their were no new brands, I think that people would do the best they could to sell what they had. They would actually sell. If they ran the risk of losing Rockford to the guy up the street, they might be more motivated. Instead they add smaller periphery brands nobody really cars about until they get to the shop looking for a big name and get pushed into a small one (and those small brands require some sort of salesmanship, so why not do that for the big brands?).
Juan
Judging from your name, I would assume that you like nice things and are willing to pay for them. IF you told them "I want a BMW, but want to pay KIA pricing" they would have laughed you out of the BMW dealership. Many customers do that right now with car audio unfortunately.
Guys want the rock bottom low price, and don't want to pay for anything else. Stores have a hard time getting through to these guys, so they either get better at selling, or sell an inferior product (maybe not quality, but bang for the buck) than the big box guys to make money.
I think that some of the new brands out there have delayed the inevitable. If the market was mature and their were no new brands, I think that people would do the best they could to sell what they had. They would actually sell. If they ran the risk of losing Rockford to the guy up the street, they might be more motivated. Instead they add smaller periphery brands nobody really cars about until they get to the shop looking for a big name and get pushed into a small one (and those small brands require some sort of salesmanship, so why not do that for the big brands?).
Juan
Originally posted by PEI330Ci:
I'm a buyer, not a sales person.
I appreciate honesty and people that can listen. I will walk away from people that won't listen to my needs.
Selling me product involves having a conversation where both people learn something. The saleman learns what I need, I learn about the product being offered. Anyone thinking they know it all misses out.
I agree with you defro, a good sales person doesn't need to have the best price.
I got poor service from a box store, so I went to an independant that catered to my needs.
I look for information, and I'm will to pay for it by supporting the shop that gives that to me.
There you have it, you've heard from a consumer that has never been in the industry.
Adam
I'm a buyer, not a sales person.
I appreciate honesty and people that can listen. I will walk away from people that won't listen to my needs.
Selling me product involves having a conversation where both people learn something. The saleman learns what I need, I learn about the product being offered. Anyone thinking they know it all misses out.
I agree with you defro, a good sales person doesn't need to have the best price.
I got poor service from a box store, so I went to an independant that catered to my needs.
I look for information, and I'm will to pay for it by supporting the shop that gives that to me.
There you have it, you've heard from a consumer that has never been in the industry.
Adam
04-26-2004, 01:01 PM
#46
Guest
Posts: n/a
IMO those who believe the consumer has dragged pricing down into the dirt are mistaken.
Retailers and their salespeople have. It is a poor salesperson who resorts to selling on price but it is an easy hot button for a lot of consumers.
Back when CD players started at $399 I sold as many as when they started at $199. It was not the consumer that said - hey I want it for $379, it was a retailer who was unable to offer any other reason for selling than to give the guy a discount. From there it moved to the retailers pressuring manufacturers. "Gee I would like to sell your 50x2 amp but this other 50x2 amp is $60 less my cost so..." So then the manufacturer has to figure a way to sell 50x2 for $60 less.. And so on...
Now of course not all manufacturers followed this trend but all of the "big names" did. They had to.
Of course, with electronics being one of the very few industries where things actually get cheaper every year there is bound to be a gradual reduction in the price of a product as it's technology ages. Seems these days though it is almost a race to see who can offer the new technology the cheapest first. $59 DVD players made by "TotalGarbageCorp" are a perfect example of this.
The consumer merely benefits from the industries own self destruction.
Retailers and their salespeople have. It is a poor salesperson who resorts to selling on price but it is an easy hot button for a lot of consumers.
Back when CD players started at $399 I sold as many as when they started at $199. It was not the consumer that said - hey I want it for $379, it was a retailer who was unable to offer any other reason for selling than to give the guy a discount. From there it moved to the retailers pressuring manufacturers. "Gee I would like to sell your 50x2 amp but this other 50x2 amp is $60 less my cost so..." So then the manufacturer has to figure a way to sell 50x2 for $60 less.. And so on...
Now of course not all manufacturers followed this trend but all of the "big names" did. They had to.
Of course, with electronics being one of the very few industries where things actually get cheaper every year there is bound to be a gradual reduction in the price of a product as it's technology ages. Seems these days though it is almost a race to see who can offer the new technology the cheapest first. $59 DVD players made by "TotalGarbageCorp" are a perfect example of this.
The consumer merely benefits from the industries own self destruction.
04-26-2004, 01:48 PM
#47
OldOneEye, thanks for your reply and I understand what you were saying however I believe that you are a little mislead. Head over to Nissan and check out the Xterra, I'm sure that you will find it is much more than just a Rockford manufactured amp, let's say a Rockford Fosgate labeled sub and speaker system, oh and an amp and well yes, the cd player as well.
Here is your reply. "As for Rockford building stuff for Nissan, you don't seem to understand the relationship. Rockford builds amplifiers for them, and that is pretty much it. The head units are made by Panasonic or Clarion, and the rest of the speakers are made by Onkyo. It is really a matter of branding (making Rockford another Bose for example). I have actually seen the Nissan assembly line at RF, and the regular product line is many times bigger."
What I said was this. "They had pretty much plateaud with their sales to retailer, so they announce to us that they have signed a deal with Nissan to provide Rockford gear to select Nissan vehicles. Now again no doubt here, if it works, expect to see even more Rockford gear in even more Nissan vehicles - this takes $ away from the retailer and places those $ square in the pockets of the manufacturer. How long will it be before Bose - no highs - no lows - just Bose loses their agreement with GM in favour of Alpine or Pioneer for example?"
Make no doubt about it, the manufacturers what we deal with on an everyday basis are always looking at new avenues of doing business, not just across the board with full product lines and accessories, but new avenues for wholesale as well. I as a business owner understand this entirely and totally understand why they are doing this. Can I still upgrade that stock Rockford Nissan or Bose GM system, well yes I can.
Dave and I sound alot alike. Not one of my staff is on commission. Commission is in the best interest of the salesperson and not the customer. I used to be a highly successful commssion salesperson. Now as a owner of two stores I have succeded in what I wanted to do and continue to help the customer make an educated and informed investment in their equipment. My only hoe is for my competition to continue doing business as usual, for they send me more business than they could ever imagine. Dave is right, there is very few people in this industry on the sales side that actually know what they are doing, and even fewer that are highly successful at it. I have succeded with what I have done here at my stores which is what I wanted to do for Dave's employer. In that case it was just not the right time.
Here is your reply. "As for Rockford building stuff for Nissan, you don't seem to understand the relationship. Rockford builds amplifiers for them, and that is pretty much it. The head units are made by Panasonic or Clarion, and the rest of the speakers are made by Onkyo. It is really a matter of branding (making Rockford another Bose for example). I have actually seen the Nissan assembly line at RF, and the regular product line is many times bigger."
What I said was this. "They had pretty much plateaud with their sales to retailer, so they announce to us that they have signed a deal with Nissan to provide Rockford gear to select Nissan vehicles. Now again no doubt here, if it works, expect to see even more Rockford gear in even more Nissan vehicles - this takes $ away from the retailer and places those $ square in the pockets of the manufacturer. How long will it be before Bose - no highs - no lows - just Bose loses their agreement with GM in favour of Alpine or Pioneer for example?"
Make no doubt about it, the manufacturers what we deal with on an everyday basis are always looking at new avenues of doing business, not just across the board with full product lines and accessories, but new avenues for wholesale as well. I as a business owner understand this entirely and totally understand why they are doing this. Can I still upgrade that stock Rockford Nissan or Bose GM system, well yes I can.
Dave and I sound alot alike. Not one of my staff is on commission. Commission is in the best interest of the salesperson and not the customer. I used to be a highly successful commssion salesperson. Now as a owner of two stores I have succeded in what I wanted to do and continue to help the customer make an educated and informed investment in their equipment. My only hoe is for my competition to continue doing business as usual, for they send me more business than they could ever imagine. Dave is right, there is very few people in this industry on the sales side that actually know what they are doing, and even fewer that are highly successful at it. I have succeded with what I have done here at my stores which is what I wanted to do for Dave's employer. In that case it was just not the right time.
04-26-2004, 05:36 PM
#48
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 241
Take a look:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=38641
Speakers out of one of those systems
I did misspeak, it is in fact a RF sub. The head units look alot like what comes in a regular Nissan (and even the radios branded as "Bose" in fact only have Bose drivers and amps, but Clarion radios on the older ones. I don't think RF supplies the head units for the speakers.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=38641
Speakers out of one of those systems
I did misspeak, it is in fact a RF sub. The head units look alot like what comes in a regular Nissan (and even the radios branded as "Bose" in fact only have Bose drivers and amps, but Clarion radios on the older ones. I don't think RF supplies the head units for the speakers.
Originally posted by MR2NR:
OldOneEye, thanks for your reply and I understand what you were saying however I believe that you are a little mislead. Head over to Nissan and check out the Xterra, I'm sure that you will find it is much more than just a Rockford manufactured amp, let's say a Rockford Fosgate labeled sub and speaker system, oh and an amp and well yes, the cd player as well.
Here is your reply. "As for Rockford building stuff for Nissan, you don't seem to understand the relationship. Rockford builds amplifiers for them, and that is pretty much it. The head units are made by Panasonic or Clarion, and the rest of the speakers are made by Onkyo. It is really a matter of branding (making Rockford another Bose for example). I have actually seen the Nissan assembly line at RF, and the regular product line is many times bigger."
What I said was this. "They had pretty much plateaud with their sales to retailer, so they announce to us that they have signed a deal with Nissan to provide Rockford gear to select Nissan vehicles. Now again no doubt here, if it works, expect to see even more Rockford gear in even more Nissan vehicles - this takes $ away from the retailer and places those $ square in the pockets of the manufacturer. How long will it be before Bose - no highs - no lows - just Bose loses their agreement with GM in favour of Alpine or Pioneer for example?"
Make no doubt about it, the manufacturers what we deal with on an everyday basis are always looking at new avenues of doing business, not just across the board with full product lines and accessories, but new avenues for wholesale as well. I as a business owner understand this entirely and totally understand why they are doing this. Can I still upgrade that stock Rockford Nissan or Bose GM system, well yes I can.
Dave and I sound alot alike. Not one of my staff is on commission. Commission is in the best interest of the salesperson and not the customer. I used to be a highly successful commssion salesperson. Now as a owner of two stores I have succeded in what I wanted to do and continue to help the customer make an educated and informed investment in their equipment. My only hoe is for my competition to continue doing business as usual, for they send me more business than they could ever imagine. Dave is right, there is very few people in this industry on the sales side that actually know what they are doing, and even fewer that are highly successful at it. I have succeded with what I have done here at my stores which is what I wanted to do for Dave's employer. In that case it was just not the right time.
OldOneEye, thanks for your reply and I understand what you were saying however I believe that you are a little mislead. Head over to Nissan and check out the Xterra, I'm sure that you will find it is much more than just a Rockford manufactured amp, let's say a Rockford Fosgate labeled sub and speaker system, oh and an amp and well yes, the cd player as well.
Here is your reply. "As for Rockford building stuff for Nissan, you don't seem to understand the relationship. Rockford builds amplifiers for them, and that is pretty much it. The head units are made by Panasonic or Clarion, and the rest of the speakers are made by Onkyo. It is really a matter of branding (making Rockford another Bose for example). I have actually seen the Nissan assembly line at RF, and the regular product line is many times bigger."
What I said was this. "They had pretty much plateaud with their sales to retailer, so they announce to us that they have signed a deal with Nissan to provide Rockford gear to select Nissan vehicles. Now again no doubt here, if it works, expect to see even more Rockford gear in even more Nissan vehicles - this takes $ away from the retailer and places those $ square in the pockets of the manufacturer. How long will it be before Bose - no highs - no lows - just Bose loses their agreement with GM in favour of Alpine or Pioneer for example?"
Make no doubt about it, the manufacturers what we deal with on an everyday basis are always looking at new avenues of doing business, not just across the board with full product lines and accessories, but new avenues for wholesale as well. I as a business owner understand this entirely and totally understand why they are doing this. Can I still upgrade that stock Rockford Nissan or Bose GM system, well yes I can.
Dave and I sound alot alike. Not one of my staff is on commission. Commission is in the best interest of the salesperson and not the customer. I used to be a highly successful commssion salesperson. Now as a owner of two stores I have succeded in what I wanted to do and continue to help the customer make an educated and informed investment in their equipment. My only hoe is for my competition to continue doing business as usual, for they send me more business than they could ever imagine. Dave is right, there is very few people in this industry on the sales side that actually know what they are doing, and even fewer that are highly successful at it. I have succeded with what I have done here at my stores which is what I wanted to do for Dave's employer. In that case it was just not the right time.
04-26-2004, 05:46 PM
#49
OldOneEye, thanks again for the reply, what you have just posted unfortunatley helps to prove my point. No offence intended either, please don't take it as an insult. I was referring to the Nissan Xterra which does have a full Rockford system, what you have posted above shows even more Rockford gear, this time in a Sentra. It seems that Rockford has already started to grow their dealer business. (actually I already knew this)
[ April 26, 2004, 07:05 PM: Message edited by: MR2NR ]
[ April 26, 2004, 07:05 PM: Message edited by: MR2NR ]
04-26-2004, 05:56 PM
#50
Guest
Posts: n/a
ya know i moved from vancouver bc to kelowna bc, about 5 years ago, i left a store that i had alot of fun working at, but felt i was getting bored and burnt out, i came to kelowna to take the summer off, a friend of mine moved up a couple of months befroe me, well i goit bored and started working at a new shop, i got to assemble my own staff, tons of freedon was provided, and collectively we have turned this little store into a very fun, unique and profitable store, mr2nr knows the store and probobly the problems we overcame, everyone that worked at the store before us could never make it work, but we did, 3 guy who put blood sweat and tears into it, not because we had to but because we wanted too, this is the most fun ive ever had in car audio, and i can really see myself doing anything else, i guess i really have no point here but to say that i really appreciate my guys, and they appreciate me, and with a little desire and focus we were able to take this little store and turn it into a 4 full time and 1 part time shop, f**k i love this job, sorry about the sensless rant
