In my last blog, If you must go digital, I quoted Snell Vice President Bob Graffy saying, “We’re not in the audio business; we’re in the goose bump business.”
Assuming he didn’t mean that his job is to turn down the air-conditioning, he was referring to taking the act of listening to audio and transcending it to an experience.
Before I started The Audio Guy, I remember the first time I heard an “audiophile” system. I was auditioning speakers at a Hi-Fi store in San Antonio and their top line speakers were the Mirage Speakers and I heard the M1’s for the first time.
The sales associate put on Mary Chapin-Carpenter’s song, “I am a town” and my life changed right there. I had never heard music presented in that way and have since never listened to music the same way.
I still get a great deal of enjoyment out of seeing a client experience this for the first time after we’ve set up their sound/home theater system. It also happens to be the reason I enjoy this business so much.
It’s truly a business about passion. Not that everyone in the business is passionate about it because for some it’s just a business, but for me, there isn’t much else I’d rather be doing. It’s why we pick the manufacturers we represent, put together the combinations we do, and devote ourselves to delivering what we promise so that the end user can hopefully experience the same passion that we have for what we do.
Earning trust and building a relationship is a part of any small business and as challenging economic times lay ahead, relationships become more important than ever.
Again, the recurring theme here seems to be trust. You can buy just about any electronic gadget on line (though there are pitfalls inherent in that) or from most any a/v dealer. But when you find someone that you trust, someone that researches the answers to your questions, someone that you can tell is truly passionate about what they do; then you’ve found someone that you will be able to work with for a long time.
That’s the beauty of working with any small business owner that’s passionate and hopefully turn out for you, the end user, will produce a system and experience that will bring that goose bump experience to your home.
-Clay Hankins is the CEO of The Audio Guy, LLC located in the Dallas, TX area and serving the Dallas Home Theater and surrounding area markets.