Strategy in TECH...
In a national conference call with sales reps yesterday, Onkyo announced a major restructuring of their sales organization. This overhaul involves consolidating their four major brands – Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite – into two newly-created divisions.
Recently, while researching the “analog renaissance” phenomenon, we spoke with an integrator who told us he had to scramble when he realized he was missing the trend for 2-channel analog and vinyl systems. But how could he miss this trend as it was clearly a result of customer demand?
“Don’t be so surprised,” a manufacturer told us. “Integrators have no idea on how to connect with customers and ‘sell.'” Is it true that integrator’s don’t know how to sell? Or is the sales process changing?
Control4 Corporation announced yesterday that it has appointed Bryce Judd as its new Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Judd assumes the role vacated by Jim Arnold who is said to be retiring after serving in the same position since 2007. The company says that Arnold will stay on through the end of the year on an “advisory basis.”
LG Electronics announced this week that it has devised a plan to dramatically pick up the rate of sale of OLED TVs. In fact, the company says they’ll triple the unit sales of sets based on the technology to more than 900,000 units in 2016 – a goal they’ve already begun to deliver on.
SpringDeck, an industry-focused marketing content aggregator, announced this week that they are expanding their model to offer custom integrators a free app to access their content database. In the past, integrators could only access SpringDeck’s extensive content stored in manufacturer-centric “libraries” by paying a fee. Now, through this special app called SpringDeck Lite, integrators gain this access for free.
Legrand announced this week that it is launching a cash rebate program for installers on 17 recently launched Nuvo speaker products. This sales incentive program is being offered both to dealers who buy Nuvo direct, and those who purchase Nuvo products through distributors.
Universal Remote Control, Inc. (URC) announced on Tuesday that its West Coast Sales Manager Marguerita Kiser has passed away after a brief illness. The company noted in a brief but solemn statement that it is in mourning.
Former Lutron executive Rick Schuett has joined Echelon Corporation as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, the company announced on Wednesday. Echelon describes themselves as a “control networking company for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).”
We’ve recently learned about a program at McIntosh Laboratory, Inc., in which the company approached select prominent individuals, such as famous musicians or other celebrities, and provided them with McIntosh products directly, without the involvement of its dealers. The program, according to sources, was launched by Linda Passaro, a former Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for McIntosh when it was part of D&M Holdings. Passaro was terminated in November 2011 by President Charlie Randall, but the program apparently remained in force for some time.
Last week, we broke the news on Strata-gee.com that McIntosh Laboratories, historically a strong supporter of specialty A/V dealers, had decided to open up sales through the Internet. This decision hit the existing, largely offline, McIntosh specialty dealers hard…many reaching out to us to express their frustration.
The same day our story was posted, McIntosh electronically distributed a letter to dealers from Dan Wakefield, VP of North American Sales for McIntosh, explaining the company’s decision.
