By Clay Hankins, the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the
Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX metro and serving the Dallas Home Theater, Media Room and
surrounding
DFW area a/v markets.
Over the next few months, I am going to write about some of the products that we sell and represent. I think this is an important aspect of our business that may often times go over looked. I have spent considerable time and energy on picking manufacturers based on many things other than just the quality of the end product. Several other qualities must be included to "make the cut" into our stable of manufacturers, so to speak. The most obvious is the quality of the end product. For a projector, the
image has to look good. Speakers have to sound good. Receivers have to
sound clean. Those are easy. The other qualities are sometimes a little harder to identify. Here are some of those qualities.
1) Value. A company must produce a product that has good value to the end user. This is just as important in a entry level system as it is in a high end system. Let's look at a universal remote control, for example. The remote control brand that I like the most is Universal Remotes (yes, that's actually the brand name!) What I like about it is the simplicity of the remote for the end user. It is mostly icon based so the users just pick up the remote and press the button next to the picture of what they want to do. Simple as that. This is the only product that I try to "sell" someone on and it is because I truly believe it is worth the money. I can sell a cheaper remote, but that remote would not be worth the money saved when it added complication and frustration to then experience. Most of us use our a/v systems for entertainment and relaxation. I believe a simple to use remote is far more valuable than a cheaper one that ends up in a drawer unused.
2) Reliability. This is pretty self explanatory, but obviously, I don't want to represent a company that makes products that break a lot. I've worked with the manufacturers of the products we sell and they are all very reliable. All manufacturers have a product that will break on occasion, so we look for consistency in quality.
3) Customer Service. We also look for companies that have good customer service. If something does go wrong with a product, will the company back it up? Will they be helpful in troubleshooting the product? Do they offer a good warranty? Who does their service?
4) Aesthetics. Performance is a top priority of course, but if we're going to put something in plain sight, it needs to look good too.
Those are some of the areas that we feel are important and are sometimes not considered as much as profit margin. And although that is also a part of our consideration, it isn't the most important. I want my clients to have systems that perform well, are easy to use, and deliver value to them whether they spend a little, or a lot.
Posted
10-12-2011 8:38 PM
by
admin