November 26, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the AV supply chain and explore how a modern distributor creates real value—service, strategy, support, and technical depth—not just logistics.
We walk through the roles of manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and end users, then dig into what separates simple “box moving” from true master distribution: repairs and fast turnaround, market compliance, bilingual marketing, brand management, and the ability to support dealers with real technical expertise.
We also break down the Canadian AV landscape, the impact of the Amazon effect on speed and stock visibility, and why training, networking skills, and Plus services help resellers scale into AV over IP, Dante, and modern installs with confidence.
We wrap with a great reminder that watts don’t tell the whole story—and why the right distributor helps guide customers to the right solution, not just the biggest spec.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone in the AV world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
The views and opinions expressed in this
podcast are those of the hostsand guests, and do not
necessarily reflect the officialpolicy or position of SFM.
SPEAKER_04 (00:10):
Welcome to Behind the Rack, your casual AV
industry hangout with hosts HugoChabinet, Franco Caruso, and
myself, Vincent Simono.
We dive into products, trends,and the occasional rants, all to
share, learn, and spark newideas across promadio, life
sound, broadcast, and systemsAV.
So grab your headphones, pull upa chair, and join us for some
(00:33):
honest, sometimes nerdy, alwaysfun conversations all happening
on the So what's happening,guys?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
You know, I think uh today we'd like to talk about
what's a distributor in the AVindustry and what's what's the
role of a distributor uh in therealm of AV and in the market.
Um so I don't know, let's let'suh let's let's talk about this.
SPEAKER_04 (01:14):
Yeah, I think I think um I think we've all we
all work for a distributor now,but we've all had a past history
in in distribution.
And I think um it's I'd I'd loveto to hear about the evolving
role of the distributor of theAV industry, of the AV
distributor as a whole.
(01:34):
Um But I I think we should startwith explaining who are the
different for all those whodon't understand what a
distributor is, who wants tokick that off.
I don't mind.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
I don't mind doing it.
Yeah.
I think there's four different Ithink there's four steps in the
supply chain that we need totalk about and just define who
they are and what role theyplay.
Um so I guess you're startingfrom the we'll call it from the
bottom up, you've got your enduser who's the person that's
buying the product at the end ofthe day.
They are then buying it from thereseller or an integrator, or an
(02:09):
integrator in our market.
That reseller or integrator isthen buying it from a
distributor, or directly.
Or direct, depending on themanufacturer, depending on the
manufacturer.
And that distributor is buyingit from the manufacturer.
So there's four levels.
(02:29):
I think we're gonna stick tothat lingo.
There's a lot of people thatintertwine those terms and use
them differently and havedifferent definitions, but for
today's conversation, talkingabout A V distribution,
manufacturer, distributor,reseller, integrator, and then
end user.
That's right.
SPEAKER_04 (02:48):
Yeah, great.
And just to clarify, uh on thereseller integrator side, so
depending on the product thatyou're buying, typically a
consumer product, typicallyyou'll get it at a reseller, and
that's usually like a it couldbe a big box store, it could be
a mom and pop shop.
Uh, and if you're looking forservices or something a little
bit more personalized or aproduct that's specific for
tailored for anotherapplication, it could be an
(03:08):
integrator or somebody who'sdoing the install or somebody
more specialized.
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
So yeah, typically integrator would sell solutions
that they would integrate intothe workflow of the customer,
and a reseller is more like a mucould be a music store, could be
even could be even a a best buy,or that those are called.
That's true.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:31):
Usually there's a physical transaction that's
being done at the resellerstandpoint, and the integrator
is also including services.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
Yeah.
unknown (03:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:39):
Good.
Well, I think that starts theconversation pretty well.
SPEAKER_03 (03:43):
Yeah, to understand for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (03:45):
Um and there's different types of distributors
on that point.
Um depending on the theindustry.
I think I think industry alsodictates a little bit about the
type of different distributors,right?
Yes.
Um, and can I go on a littlerant?
Yeah, yeah, go for it.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
I want to set some of the things.
SPEAKER_04 (04:03):
We've been waiting for a rant.
Yeah.
This is the Franco rant of theepisode.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
You know, when I speak to people and they're
like, oh, what do you do for aliving?
Oh, I work for a distributor andI'm brand manager and category
manager.
Oh, you move boxes.
I can't tell you the box pusherhow much that insults me and how
much it upsets me.
And that's where I go into thefour-step process.
Well, you see, you're an enduser, then there's the reseller,
and there's distributormanufacturer.
(04:29):
And I think it's because, youknow, like even when I think
back to my schooling in businessschool, like I can remember
vividly in the business classes,you have the picture of the
manufacturer with like thatbrown cardboard box making it,
and then the distributor box islike a warehouse full of those
brown boxes, and then the nextpicture is like someone holding
(04:51):
that brown box and smiling.
And yes, different industries,distributors have different
levels of um uh of importance,and they add different types of
value, and some industries theyare just holding stock and
acting as a logistics point inthat country, but in the A V
industry, the distributor hassuch an important role that
(05:16):
impacts the end user, yeah, andit impacts everyone else
throughout the supply chain, andthere's so much value that
should be added, that is added,and it's important, I think,
that we talk about that probablylater on in the episode.
Yeah, but it's so much more thanjust holding inventory.
So I just want to get it out ofmy system, or else I'm gonna get
(05:39):
irked the entire episode.
SPEAKER_04 (05:41):
Yeah.
No, I think I think even frombefore, I think my earlier days
going into the beginning 2000swhen I I started working at my
first distributor.
I mean, it it's it was um it wasa little there was always a
little bit more than just boxpushing.
Uh, the service was always Ithink that there's always um uh
(06:05):
room for improvements and stufflike that, but there's always a
push for um helping customers inthe end of the day, and then
it's finding those ways.
I know back then um service washuge, and I'm talking about like
post-service, so even repairs.
Um and when we got bought out,uh, that company got bought out,
(06:28):
they kind of closed that servicedepartment down, and it made
huge difference in terms ofcustomer loyalty and stuff like
that.
We lost a lot, like I think thatwe lost a lot of good customer
base who were loyal just becauseof the post uh after sales
service, whether it was advancedreplacements or even just
technical expertise, that wassuch a huge value.
(06:48):
And I think that's what's um Ithink that's what's important in
distribution.
Now that has evolved, obviously,but I back then it was uh even
just to that level was really,really important.
SPEAKER_02 (06:58):
And it's also important that the distributor
has a very good relationshipwith its manufacturers.
Yeah.
Because they are basically thespecial like for Canada.
I mean, the distributor role isuh is basically represents the
manufacturer.
So here at SFM, we havespecialists about shore
(07:18):
microphones, we have specialistsabout bird dog cameras, we have
specialists about all of ourproducts.
We assign a technical person tothis product.
So someone can pick up the phoneand call if he has an issue,
whether it's an end user or areseller having questioned
pre-sales question because hewants to put some products or
some solutions we we sell.
(07:39):
So I think a distributor is alsoone of the roles of the
distributor is to make sure thatthe the manufacturer has a good
stance in the country.
SPEAKER_04 (07:52):
Um, the I I think there's different types of
levels of distribu distributiontoo.
I mean, there's somedistributors that just are there
for logistics.
Yep.
And I'm not not to downplaythat, because I think there is a
huge role for that type of uhthat type of distribution.
But there's a depends on theindustry as well.
Exactly.
That's right.
That's right.
Very industry-based.
And then you have the secondarylevel that has, I think, a
(08:12):
little bit more services, addedvalue services.
And then you have what I'd callmore master distributors where
they are the brand, they're thefront face brand for for the
country.
And um I think that's that'ssuper important.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Typically, those master distributors would
handle, uh, and I'll let Francogo on a little bit more on this
because he's been working forour company for nine years, but
uh typically they would handleevery type of uh marketing
initiative that that arehappening in the country.
Uh, they would also handle forCanada, for example, traduction,
(08:48):
uh translation, sorry, becausewe have a French market and we
have an English market.
So typically it's going to bethe role of the distributor to
make sure that it complies withall the laws relative to French,
for example.
Yeah.
Uh also uh ensuring that we haverepair services for brands that
(09:08):
need repair, tech support, yeah,uh, and even finance, you know.
So that's that's a masterdistributor, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_04 (09:18):
That's right.
And and you bring up a goodpoint.
Actually, we're three peoplethat are in three different
departments in distribution, andit's funny, and we all play uh a
slightly uh different role,obviously.
Which very important, but Ithink we're also very um
intertwined uh and and workdirectly uh together.
Uh Franco, how do you how do youas a brand manager at a dish at
(09:40):
a distributor, how do you howhow do you differentiate
yourself from let's say anotherhow do you explain your role or
a distributor and the importancethan just box pushing like that
difference?
SPEAKER_03 (09:51):
Yeah, no, it's a it's a great question.
Uh first of all, brandmanagement, the way I explain it
to people is we're really thequarterback in the country for
that brand.
And what does a quarterback doon a team?
They make sure that theoffensive is doing their job,
you know, defensive, and at theend of the day, they're scoring
goals.
And that to me is beingsuccessful.
(10:12):
What does that mean?
Um, you're you're coordinatingthat delicate dance between all
the departments.
We've got someone from the taggroup here, technical
application group, technicalmarketing as well, you, Vince.
Uh, and it's making sure thatall the resources that the
distributor has to offer areworking together in order to
achieve that end goal.
(10:32):
That's the way I like to explainit.
Obviously, it's a lot morecomplicated, it entails so much
more uh um planning andstrategy.
But what's really cool about myjob and what I enjoy about it,
you know, we're talking aboutentrepreneurship and everything,
is every single brand has adifferent strategy.
Every single brand requires adifferent amount of resources.
(10:55):
Um, and every single brand has adifferent market.
So it's a really uh I find itexciting.
I you know, to wake up everymorning and come into work and
change your hats a thousandtimes throughout the day, that's
what makes it so fun andexciting.
Not every single day is theexact same, every single day is
(11:15):
different, which is a lot offun.
Um, so from the brand managementscience standpoint, you know,
we're really that liaisonbetween, you know, most of our
brands are obviously uh locatedin the United States.
So I like to explain it as we'retheir arm in Canada, we're their
liaison, we're representingthem.
So even internally, right, weare then taking their messaging
(11:36):
and strategy, explaining it tothe internal marketing
department that we have here atSFM, making sure that the
strategies are aligned, makingsure that we're planning
efficiently.
You know, if they're planning aproduct launch, do we have all
the assets?
Do we have everything ready togo?
Are we on the same schedule?
Is pricing ready?
Do we think of our inventorystrategy correctly?
How much inventory are webringing in?
(11:57):
We're dealing with procurement,we're dealing with absolutely
everybody to make sure, like Isaid, that that team reaches the
goal at the end of the day.
Um, so it's a lot of balancing,it's a lot of uh negotiating
externally and internally aswell.
And you really are running yourown little business, which is
you know, I find so much fun.
I love that part of it.
(12:17):
Um, and that freedom andflexibility and trust that we
have to ensure that the brand issuccessful, I think is the most
important part because, like Isaid, every single brand is
different.
Yeah, then you take every singlebrand, you break that down,
every single province isdifferent.
Yeah, every single market thatthat brand caters to is
different, right?
So there's so many differentrabbit holes that you can get
(12:40):
into.
It can become so technical, sodifferent.
Yeah, but our job at the end ofthe day is to make sure that
we're representing the brandcorrectly and that we're
successful with the brand at theend of the day.
So it's uh it's a lot of fun.
I enjoy it.
Uh, it's changed definitelythroughout the last couple of
years.
Um users are a lot more, Ithink, demanding, a lot more
(13:03):
educated, exactly savvy, a lotmore educated.
Um, and our job is to ensure notonly the success of the brand,
but you'll only have success ofthe brand if your reseller or
integrator is successful.
Yes.
Right?
So it's what type of tools dothey need to be successful?
What type of support do theyneed?
What type of extra marketing dothey need?
(13:25):
It's so important that we listennot only to the end users, but
we're also listening obviouslyto that next step.
We're talking about those foursteps.
Our direct link is thoseresellers and integrators.
Um, and like I said, everysingle brand has a different
market, different type ofreseller, and every reseller has
a different need.
So our job is to kind of figureout this puzzle and make sure
(13:46):
that the machine is as oiled aswell as possible so that as many
people as possible are happy.
So it's uh it's I I love it.
I enjoy it so much, andhopefully that shows.
That shows definitely.
But it's uh it's a puzzle everyday to figure out what's needed
and to make sure that we'readding value throughout the
entire chain because they callit supply chain for a reason.
(14:10):
Every single step isinterlinked.
Yeah, so that end user will havethe impacts and will feel the
difference if everything fromthe manufacturer is properly
translated throughout the chain.
Yeah, and that's the the mostimportant part, right?
Is the messaging clear?
Is it consistent?
Every single country isdifferent.
SPEAKER_04 (14:29):
I was actually gonna bring that up because we're
talking about uh howdistributors are different and
stuff.
And when you're the face, uhyou're the liaison for the
Canadian, I was just gonna saythat the Canadian business is
completely different than theUS.
And I think sometimes I I I'vealready have been in situations
(14:49):
where you can tell that the eventhe US manufacturers, like,
yeah, that's a completelydifferent business.
We we don't even know thefootprint.
And even in when you're inCanada, territorially, it's
different brands sometimes.
Like sometimes on the West,they're very specific on a
certain brand, or and it it'svery uh it's a very unusual
word, definitely a differentbreed in terms of in Canada, and
(15:12):
sometimes manufacturers um thatcome from outside of Canada
don't always understand that,and that's another reason why
they'd want to choose adistributor who takes care of
all the uh marketing and the anda distributor that's capable of
of also educating themanufacturer.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
I think that's really important as well.
It's not that, yes, some mighthave more knowledge than others
about that country that theywant to expand into.
Um, but the first thing I dowhen there's a new brand that's
being presented or or we'relooking at is evaluating, okay,
what's their knowledge of theCanadian market?
What are some of the gaps?
And let's let's talk about it.
Um, you'd be surprised how manypeople, you know, they look at
(15:51):
at the map, and this is reallyrudimentary, right?
You look at the map of theworld, you see Canada, it's
massive.
So, what's the first thing youexpect?
Massive amount of people,massive amount of sales, right?
And then when you startexplaining numbers, you know,
how the entire population ofCanada is smaller than a single
(16:12):
state in the United States, justthat one fact is like okay, I'm
starting to understand now.
Just because we have thismassive amount of land, we have
all these different hot pockets,you know, we're not we're not
heavily, it's not the density isnot high.
No, but we have those major hotpots throughout the entire uh
country where there is businessbeing transacted.
(16:33):
And it's it's about educatingthem, it's about explaining to
them that what's happening inMontreal, Quebec is very
different than what's happeningin Toronto and Ontario, even
though we're six hours away.
Yeah, you compare that toVancouver, completely different
as well, right?
The integrator strategy inVancouver is very different than
Montreal.
Yeah, the production houses,very different strategies,
(16:56):
different markets, uh pricepoints are also very different.
That's right, yeah.
Uh, I mean, obviously, we're allin business.
We're not gonna hide the factthat we need to talk about
profitability.
And that's our role too, as adistributor is making sure that
our integrators and resellers,as well as end users, are making
as much profit as possible andthat they have the tools they
(17:16):
need to do that.
Yeah, um, so it's uh it's abouteducating, it's about explaining
to them the different strategiesand just making sure that
they're able to cater to theCanadian market in the in the
right ways to make sure thateveryone's successful.
SPEAKER_04 (17:29):
Yeah, that makes sense.
What about you?
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
And in your opinion, I mean, what we mentioned a few
things that have changedthroughout the let's say 15 last
years, but what has changed whathas changed the most in the
distribution chain uh in thepast 10 years or what what's
your let's say the the mainthing that changed everything?
SPEAKER_04 (17:52):
I think I think it would be like in your department
where the level of service hashas um been even more in-depth.
So now I think you guys arecoming up with plus services,
yes, and offering all these typeof uh add-on services to help
dealers qualify certain projectsand and and and have that added
(18:16):
where I never I didn't see thatin the past.
Uh there was always the the postsales, but uh yeah, I think uh I
think that that for me it alwayshas been the uh the biggest
change.
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
To me, I think it's um as I mentioned earlier, uh
the customers are more educatedthan than ever.
Yeah, because of there's morepodcast talking about gear,
there is more internet is nowprevalent.
I mean, uh even AI, uh so nowcustomers are making and users,
let's let's use the right word,and users are making very
(18:51):
informed decisions.
And sometimes if it's a brandnew product, that us, the
technical team, didn't even havetime to put our hands on it.
So I don't I don't know what Idon't know.
I I can't know what's yeah,what's the feature of this new
product if it came outyesterday?
Same goes for the integrator.
SPEAKER_04 (19:10):
He may not have the time either to kind of get up to
speed roll the sometimes.
SPEAKER_03 (19:16):
We do and we're dealing with you know 40 plus
brands, whatever the number is,and we're already trying to keep
up with the amount of knowledgethat we need to then train the
reseller integrator and even enduser.
These end users are looking athundreds of brands.
These resellers and integratorsare not only dealing with a
singular distributor in Canada,they're dealing with multiple.
(19:36):
Yep.
So you take you know the 40, 50brands per distributor, whatever
it may be.
I'm using that numbertheoretically, you multiply it
by 10 distributors, there's alot more options now.
And I think that's for me fromthe brand management side uh and
and uh market side, competitiveanalysis-wise, there's a lot
more options in the market todaythan there were 10 years ago.
(20:00):
And the end user are aware ofall those substitutes that are
available to them.
So uh I think to me that'sprobably the biggest change.
Yeah, which relates to theaspect of them being a lot more
educated, um, and and you know,they're asking the tough
questions, which is really goodfor our industry.
Yeah, our industry, you know, wewere talking about technology
(20:22):
and how fast it's changing.
Uh I mean, guys, look what wecan do over a cat six cable now.
It's incredible when you reallytalk about this in another
podcast.
We'll talk about this in anotherpodcast, but we can do over a
single cat six cable, thecomplexity of it, the
technicality of it.
The end users are are pushingproducts to their limits.
(20:43):
Yeah, they're trying differentways of doing things.
I mean, I think in the firstpodcast, you had said, you know,
two plus two equals four, butthree plus one also equals four.
Yeah.
And end users are realizingthat.
So they're they're tryingdifferent combinations, they're
trying different designs,they're doing different things
with products, they're pushingthem to their limits.
So we need to be ready to answerall those questions.
(21:03):
And that's where pre-salesupport comes in.
Post-sale support, yeah,extremely important.
Being an authorized servicecenter, this makes a huge
difference.
This is something thatpersonally I feel like we don't
market enough, we don't talkabout enough.
We add so much value.
I mean, take it uh, you know,we're take our DJ brands, for
(21:24):
example.
A lot of our products that wedistribute, people are making a
living off of.
And I think that's somethingthat we need to keep reminding
ourselves, whether it be throughmarketing, through business
strategy.
We are controlling people'slivelihood with the products
that we sell.
Yeah, right.
Not only our own livelihoods,but their livelihoods as well.
(21:44):
So when you have the opportunityto take something that's making
you X amount of money during theweek or on the weekend, have it
repaired within 24 hours.
Wow, let me tell you, that'simportant.
And I've gone through thatmyself, being a DJ, bringing the
equipment here.
I spoke about how I, you know,got the job here was by meeting
Wayne at the window.
Yeah, but that is so important.
(22:06):
It is to have your cue buttonfixed within 24 hours.
That is something that is soimportant.
And that's what end users arestarting to realize now, right?
It's not only okay, who did Ibuy it from, but who do they buy
it from and what's the supportthat comes with that product
after I've purchased it?
Yeah, so that strategy, thatthat um way of thinking is a lot
(22:28):
more uh is a lot more, I wouldsay, common now amongst end
users than it once was.
SPEAKER_02 (22:35):
Yeah.
In the same kind of uh ID, Imean, something I've noticed in
the past 10 years on thereseller level, because I I I've
been working for a reseller forresellers for 20-something years
before joining a distributor.
Uh is I mean, yes, price isalways important, but I remember
(22:56):
20 years ago I had to cutpricing to make the sale, maybe
because I was a bad salesman, ormaybe because the market was
asking for this.
These nowadays, I mean, yeah,pricing is still a question.
Uh, but am I gonna try to savethree dollars by buying it
outside of Canada or on the websomewhere?
(23:17):
Or I'm gonna try to buy it fromsomeone who seems to know what
he's doing, like a reseller oran integrator, at the list
price.
Because of course, this is kindof the elephant in the room.
I mean, the pricing.
Uh, as you know, manufacturershave list pricing or retail
prices that we as a distributorare trying to enforce.
(23:40):
Uh, when I say enforce, I meanwe're saying our resellers, you
should sell it that price.
But the reseller can decide whatwhat price you want to sell it
for.
But I have noticed thatresellers and integrators are
now trying not to cut pricingtoo much anymore.
Uh, so that's something I'venoticed.
And maybe the end user is moreaware of the value of the
(24:05):
knowledge that's behind thatprice or even the average value
that's gonna come.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:10):
Well, that comes with increased visibility too,
right?
Yeah.
Ten years ago, I mean, we hadinternet, but it wasn't as
in-depth or as competitive as itis today.
The end user knows all the pricepoints, and they're already
evaluating where they're gonnabuy it from, even when you think
they're gonna buy it.
And then at the snap of afinger, they've changed their
(24:30):
mind for XYZ reason.
Yeah, they can get it quicker,it made it even more expensive,
it's in stock, right?
Even the fact now, I was talkingabout this with um with a couple
of clients, and we're talkingabout e-commerce and and the way
websites have changed and allthat.
Uh, and there's a hotconversation of you know,
showing your inventory status ofa product online back in the
(24:54):
day, there was none of that.
There was a it might be instock, or if it's not in stock,
we'll get it for you in one totwo weeks or whatever.
There was no live inventoryindicator that is super
important nowadays becausepeople are making a decision
based on that, right?
So I think the way people aremaking decisions as well.
So I, you know, I said savvinessand education and and the amount
(25:17):
of knowledge they have today isimportant, but I think the
decision-making process of aconsumer has also changed
drastically, yes, yes, which hasalso impacted us, right?
So we're talking about supplychain and how everything's
linked from the manufacturer allthe way to the end user.
Well, it's the same thing theother way around.
That's right.
End user all the way back to themanufacturer.
(25:38):
Yeah, so it's um yeah, can uhconsumer behavior, uh, the
psychology of it has changeddrastically.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
And let's be honest, I mean, Amazon has changed a lot
of this with its uh with itsprime service, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (25:53):
Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
You can get it, and I don't want to talk too much
about Amazon, but I mean it'sit's still a very important
player in the business ingeneral.
Uh I mean, the fact that nowpeople can get stuff that they
purchased yesterday today attheir door has also changed what
a customer expects from theirreseller or an end user expects
from their reseller, and what areseller expects from its
(26:17):
distributor.
Absolutely.
So this is where like the wholeteam, Franco's team and the
warehouse team, has to play abig role.
What do we keep in stock?
What has a good velocity?
I think that's the word theyuse.
Yeah, so velocity is the amountof bucks you're you're shipping
every day.
So this is very important.
And it goes even what are theygonna which products are they
(26:42):
gonna put closer to the door ofthe of the warehouse?
Because basically, if if theysell 16 a day, they're not gonna
put in in the back of thewarehouse.
So this is more on the logisticsside, right?
This is something a distributorhas to as to you know the role
that of a distributor.
SPEAKER_03 (26:59):
That's a really interesting podcast topic, by
the way.
So write write it down, but justtalking about warehouse
management software, yeah.
How we decide bin locations,velocity, dimensions, yeah.
That is so important.
SPEAKER_04 (27:13):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (27:14):
Um, it'd be interesting to get someone from
the warehouse and the operationsteam stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (27:17):
Even on the supply chain, yeah.
What fits in the container, howmany costs, like it's there's so
much uh yeah.
But on that, I mean I I thinkI'd like to think that
distribution to um maybe notall, but I think most are also
trying to help um grow theirdealer's business.
So I think everybody, abusiness, and it's the
(27:39):
definition of a business is tomake money, right?
And obviously you want to makemore money all the time, and
having fine ways to help growthe customer's business.
The customer, I I've I've beenon the dealer side and I've
worked with dealers for manyyears, and I know that they're
super busy, whether you're mom,pop, shop, or a bigger
corporation.
You're always, always on thereactive side.
(28:03):
Yeah.
And I think so is I thinksometimes the distributor is
too, but I think uh as a role asa distributor is to be on the
proactive side, offer educationservices, like you know,
webinars, uh, training sessions,certifications, um, and helping
them understand, like helpingthem uh understand the new
(28:25):
products uh that are coming ontomarket, how it can help um solve
issues and applications thatthey're maybe facing, they don't
know that there's a solution outon the market.
Um, and little things like howAmazon has helped, you know,
finding ways to make the processof buying through a distributor
(28:45):
even more efficient for thecustomer.
If he's on the job site, nowwith apps that you can just
click on, yeah, I need two boxesof Cat 6, click, click, and it's
shipping to my house.
Um has to be that.
SPEAKER_03 (28:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's forced us to to change the ways
we do business as well.
Yeah.
And think of our strategy goingforward.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (29:06):
Always keeping that at least trying to keep excuse
me, the the customer in mind,anyways.
And on the services side, haveyou seen how like I mean with
plus, how do you how do you findit with uh the whole plus
services?
SPEAKER_02 (29:18):
I I think um uh it's it's slowly picking up.
I mean it's it's picking up, butuh the way we organized uh our
technical team is ever I mean,we're more than 10 10
individuals on that team, and uhpretty much uh every individual
has a specialty.
And uh I've personally starteddoing uh installations at end
(29:43):
user sites on behalf of resellerwith resellers and integrators.
That's something new for me.
Uh uh, so this is for resellerswho are trying to get into a
certain vertical.
Let's say I'm just gonna talkbroadly about a reseller that
was.
Doing only video.
Now we want when I say video,I'm video editorial.
(30:05):
You remember my specialty ismore like post-production.
And now we he wanna try, or hehe has a customer because most
of them have audio and videodepartments.
But this reseller wants to getinto audio post.
He's not gonna get into audiopost overnight.
He's gonna need some type oftraining.
And this is and recently that'sa story that happened like last
(30:27):
week.
Uh so I helped them to not onlyspec out what the end user
needed, but also going there toinstall the equipment with them
to basically they are ghosting.
The word ghosting, I don't knowif we can use that, but when
when a technical person ghostsanother person, he's basically
learning in the field.
(30:48):
Shadowing, sorry, yeah, thanks.
So ghosting is somethingcompletely different.
Shadowing, that's the word.
SPEAKER_03 (30:54):
I'm pretty sure Hugo answers all his emails.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
So uh yeah, so he's basically the reseller is
shadowing me during my install.
So so by offering plus services,we can help uh reseller that
have an appetite for a newmarket or a new I wouldn't say
vertical, but a new field, andwe can basically help them
(31:20):
making their way into that newfield of special specialization.
SPEAKER_04 (31:25):
And what about plus?
Like, can you tell us a littlebit more about plus in terms of
what are those add-on?
Because again, when I saw Plusfirst come out, I was intrigued
because I've never seen thosetype of services ever in our
industry at all.
And I I found it really, reallyinteresting.
Um can you touch up on this?
SPEAKER_02 (31:45):
I can touch a little bit on this.
Uh uh, I'm I don't have thewhole list of services, but I
can I can tell you a few.
Uh basically, we can program forthe customer, we can deploy for
the for sorry, we can programfor the reseller, we can deploy
for the reseller, we cansupport, train.
(32:07):
There's at least six or sevenservices we can offer.
Unfortunately, I was notprepared for that question,
sorry about that.
Uh basically it's takingresellers by the hand to help
them offer more services.
That's right.
Um bear in mind that we stillwant them to specialize, but we
help them specialize in becausethe goal is not to do all of the
(32:32):
installation for them forever.
That's right.
SPEAKER_04 (32:34):
The goal is to help them for invest for those who
want to invest into growing andand stuff like that, that's
where you guys can come in andeventually we train their tech
to program, deploy, and so on.
Yeah.
So the the the the willingnesson the res of the integrator
(32:55):
side has to be there, or ifyeah, yes.
SPEAKER_03 (32:57):
Okay.
And that's where you knowtraining is so important.
Because I I think a lot ofpeople when they think training
or knowledge is just like, hey,this is the the product, this is
what it could do, and that's it.
Yeah.
But when a distributor talksabout training, I, this is my
per personal opinion, I trulybelieve that the training also
(33:19):
encompasses sales training as towhy then the end user needs the
product.
It's not a it's not an awarenesstraining.
It's teaching them how to deploythe product to your point from a
technical standpoint, yes.
But why does the end user needthat product and how will it
help solve their needs?
SPEAKER_04 (33:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:40):
And three, it's really just making sure that
they have all the tools tosucceed.
And that training has to cover awhole scope of of um of subjects
because different integratorswill have different strengths
and weaknesses.
SPEAKER_04 (33:56):
Exactly.
Yep, exactly.
Right?
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
So one integrator might need more of the technical
side, one might need more of themarketing side, and that's okay.
How do I market this product?
Yep.
And like you said, you'reguiding them, you're shadowing
them, you're teaching them sothat they could at the end of
the day offer more services,increase their profitability,
which in turn helps the brandget more awareness, more
(34:21):
penetration in the market, andthen the whole chain is
successful.
So it's so important.
That training aspect needs tocover more than just product
awareness.
Yeah.
It needs to cover every singleaspect.
SPEAKER_02 (34:33):
And you know what?
One thing that I think lots ofAV the AV integrators have in
common is a certain lack ofknowledge for network, uh uh,
network knowledge or networktraining.
And that's something I seepretty much everywhere.
So in the AV industry?
In the AV industry, unlessyou're an IT integrator, which
(34:55):
is basically your job, you yougotta know that.
Right.
In the AV business, the the AVbusiness as it one thing that
has evolved a lot in the past 10years or 15 years, yeah, is the
prevalence of the CatSix skill.
SPEAKER_03 (35:06):
So we're talking about the famous Cat 6 game and
what you can do.
But it's true, yeah.
That is now your foundation,it's the foundation to the house
that you're building.
SPEAKER_04 (35:13):
It's crazy how another industry started
bleeding into the AV industry,yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And uh now the AV industry, andlike you said, it's like I
remember when I first started, Iloved you know, my component
cables and all that stuff, thethe basic stuff, and now it's
like, oh, I gotta learnnetworking, you know, and
without networking.
What's a VLAN?
What's a subnet?
(35:33):
Yeah, that that that for that'slike the minimum.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, you really have to getinto networking, and I know
there's still uh dealers outthere that are still on the
fence, you know, they're they'redoing the basics, but getting
into VLANs and stuff like that,especially going AV over IP,
Dante and all that stuff, thatis that is huge, and they're
still on the fence.
SPEAKER_02 (35:54):
But it's it's interesting how those industries
uh maybe I can add that we offerthese kind of trainings, so
that's another part of our plusservices.
We have a training called IT forAV, and maybe that's gonna be
another topic, like IT ingeneral in our business.
That should be a topic for forour podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (36:12):
But we have so many topics, we'd be doing this full
time.
I don't think my boss could ourday job, but yeah, I think I
think we could do this fulltime.
SPEAKER_04 (36:20):
I think when I was hired too uh for the technical
marketing position, I think thatwas such a cool um that's a cool
name.
SPEAKER_02 (36:28):
Technical marketing specialty.
SPEAKER_04 (36:30):
You know what?
You know what?
I I I had heard about it more onthe IT side, and I had
understood it and I said thatmakes total sense.
And then on my past my past uhlife when I was doing more on
the system design side, I I wasrealizing that depending on the
people you're talking to,sometimes you have to rethink on
(36:51):
how you're talking.
And you know, nerds you can talkspecs, and then you know, you
can kind of get an idea, andthere's some others where they
can't see that vision, right?
Just by talking specs, you stillcan't see how how am I getting
from point A to point B.
And that's when in in myposition, I'm able to um really
(37:11):
translate or better articulatesome of that and tell that
vision first, show that vision,and then how to bring that back
into a product or uh based on aspecification and stuff like
that.
So the vision and then bring itback to a product or a solution.
And I think that too haschanged, and there's not much of
it out there where it's like youknow, it's getting I think in
(37:34):
the AV industry we're all aboutyou know, tech, tech, tech,
tech, tech specs and stuff likethat.
And it yeah, in some instances,you know, like watts and stuff
like that on the speaker side,everybody just wants the bigger
watts, the but it's not alwaysabout that.
And I think education is huge.
And um, if I if I can bringanything to the into the market,
it's translating ideas intoproducts and and solutions.
SPEAKER_03 (37:58):
Well, and that changes when you're speaking
also to the reseller slashintegrator.
That's right, but also to theend user.
That's right.
Right?
That messaging has to change.
SPEAKER_04 (38:07):
It has to, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
And that's where you add so much value is okay,
what's the strategy?
Who are we going after?
What are we trying tocommunicate?
What's the thing?
And who are we communicating itto?
Yeah.
Because that who will change themethod, it'll change the
strategy, the frequency, thereach, it'll change everything.
Exactly.
So that's where, you know, we'reso lucky to have you too.
SPEAKER_04 (38:26):
What's the story?
SPEAKER_03 (38:27):
What's the story?
SPEAKER_04 (38:29):
And what's in it for the customer?
At the end of the day, I thinkit's uh I think w whether we're
in marketing or service or or inbrand management, I think at the
end of the day, and I'd like tothink that all distributors are
like that, but what what's in itfor the customer and how can we
better enrich the customer sothat he can further uh help uh
help the end user.
SPEAKER_03 (38:48):
Can I tell a funny story to wrap up this podcast?
So we're talking about thesupply chain, right?
Distributor, sorry,manufacturer, distributor,
reseller, and the end user.
When I bought my first pair ofspeakers, I walked into the uh
the reseller that I was buyingall my equipment from.
(39:11):
And uh I was I was young, I was16 years old.
I had uh a lot of cash ready, Iwas so excited, wasn't sure if I
was making the right decision ornot, you know, spending two,
three thousand dollars onspeakers when before that I was
renting rusted speakers from aguy down the street, and I was
ready to buy my first pair ofspeakers.
So I walk into the reseller, andat this point, I'm 16 years old,
(39:34):
no business school, no schoolingwhatsoever, didn't understand
who a distributor was, what thatwas.
I thought that the speakersmagically just appeared at this
reseller's store, and that'sthat, right?
I walked in, bought it, andleft.
And I walk in and I'll neverforget this.
Um I walk in and I did my myresearch at the time, you know,
(39:56):
as much as I could.
I want a portable amplifiedspeaker that does 2,000 watts,
nothing below 2,000 watts, youknow, because that's what that
was the number that was in myhead.
Yeah.
And uh not sure it even exists.
I I I'm not even sure it existedback then.
Yeah, back then now today Icould tell you it does, but back
(40:17):
then I'm not even sure.
I want something 2,000 watts.
I think the average back then,honestly, was a thousand watts.
Again, we're talking watts now.
And the employee that I knewthat usually helps me out is
talking to some other guy.
And uh the other guy who I don'tknow, never met this guy in my
life before, walks over to meand there's a wall of speakers.
(40:38):
He goes, Why do you wantsomething that does 2,000 watts?
My hairdryer does 2,000 watts.
Watts mean nothing.
And I'm like, Who is this guy?
Why is he getting angry at me?
What's what's happening?
Who are you?
It ended up being AndreLamouche, who's one of our sales
reps in Quebec, who works forSFM at the time and still works
for SFM.
And he was visiting his dealerwho I was purchasing from.
(41:00):
Oh wow.
And so I I always tell thatstory because it's so true.
Like, I didn't know I was an enduser, I thought it was just
watts, watts, watts.
Yeah.
And he's explaining so muchmore.
Well, what size woofer do youwant?
What type of room?
What's the application?
You know, you have to look atSPL, it's not just about watts.
And so he was explaining thisall to me when he wasn't even
(41:21):
the person selling me the box,it was the reseller that was
there.
And so I tell that story becauseit just shows how the entire
chain shows the importance of adistributor, the importance of a
distributor.
SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
Because you frankly, this guy has a lot of experience
even back then.
Yeah, because he he's been inthe business for 40 years plus.
Yeah.
So he he he basically wasprobably more informed than the
reseller or the the young guyyou were buying it from at the
time in the in the shop.
So you know that I think thatstory just kind of ties up.
SPEAKER_03 (41:54):
Pretty cool, everything.
You know how the distributorshelping out the reseller who's
then helping out the end user.
And uh at the end of the day, Iended up buying speakers he
wanted me to buy, which were thespeakers he was like.
Because he's a good salesman.
Yeah, he was a very goodsalesman.
Uh, but I'll never forget thatday.
It was so funny.
I'm like, who's this guy gettingangry at me?
I'll never walk in here again,you know?
And um, still, you know, stillvery good friends today, and I
(42:18):
don't regret that purchase.
So now you're in the show.
Does he remember that?
He does.
Yeah, okay, good.
He remembers that story, andit's it's crazy to think.
You know, this was I don't know,17 years ago.
Wow.
Whatever, and now we you knowhow things happen, it's scary.
SPEAKER_04 (42:32):
Life can be scary sometimes, but are you still
looking for a pair of uhportable uh 2000 watts?
I know I die not.
I know I know a guy, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (42:39):
I know a guy that can get me some, so uh we're
good.
Um, but yeah, that's that's afunny story that I like to tell
because uh to think that I wasbuying you know from that
reseller and not to think youknow we service the reseller.
Yeah, it's crazy how things inlife happen.
But yeah, Andre Lamush for you,everybody.
SPEAKER_04 (42:58):
I'm gonna say this, and I think we're gonna say this
often on this podcast, but theAV industry is super small.
Super small.
Holy smokes.
Yep, super, super small.
So, with that, thanks forhanging out with us on Behind
the Rack.
We hope you picked something upnew, had a laugh, or at least
nodded along with one of ourrants.
Uh, if you enjoyed today'sepisode, make sure to follow us,
(43:19):
hit that like, and share with acolleague or even a fellow AV
fan and help us spread the word.
We'll be back with more stories,insights, and conversations from
worlds of pro audio, broadcast,live sound, and systems.
So until then, keep thecuriosity alive and we'll catch
you on the next time on Behindthe Racket.
And don't forget, like andsubscribe.
The views and opinions expressed in this
podcast are those of the hostsand guests, and do not
necessarily reflect the officialpolicy or position of SFM.
SPEAKER_04 (00:10):
Welcome to Behind the Rack, your casual AV
industry hangout with hosts HugoChabinet, Franco Caruso, and
myself, Vincent Simono.
We dive into products, trends,and the occasional rants, all to
share, learn, and spark newideas across promadio, life
sound, broadcast, and systemsAV.
So grab your headphones, pull upa chair, and join us for some
(00:33):
honest, sometimes nerdy, alwaysfun conversations all happening
on the So what's happening,guys?
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
You know, I think uh today we'd like to talk about
what's a distributor in the AVindustry and what's what's the
role of a distributor uh in therealm of AV and in the market.
Um so I don't know, let's let'suh let's let's talk about this.
SPEAKER_04 (01:14):
Yeah, I think I think um I think we've all we
all work for a distributor now,but we've all had a past history
in in distribution.
And I think um it's I'd I'd loveto to hear about the evolving
role of the distributor of theAV industry, of the AV
distributor as a whole.
(01:34):
Um But I I think we should startwith explaining who are the
different for all those whodon't understand what a
distributor is, who wants tokick that off.
I don't mind.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
I don't mind doing it.
Yeah.
I think there's four different Ithink there's four steps in the
supply chain that we need totalk about and just define who
they are and what role theyplay.
Um so I guess you're startingfrom the we'll call it from the
bottom up, you've got your enduser who's the person that's
buying the product at the end ofthe day.
They are then buying it from thereseller or an integrator, or an
(02:09):
integrator in our market.
That reseller or integrator isthen buying it from a
distributor, or directly.
Or direct, depending on themanufacturer, depending on the
manufacturer.
And that distributor is buyingit from the manufacturer.
So there's four levels.
(02:29):
I think we're gonna stick tothat lingo.
There's a lot of people thatintertwine those terms and use
them differently and havedifferent definitions, but for
today's conversation, talkingabout A V distribution,
manufacturer, distributor,reseller, integrator, and then
end user.
That's right.
SPEAKER_04 (02:48):
Yeah, great.
And just to clarify, uh on thereseller integrator side, so
depending on the product thatyou're buying, typically a
consumer product, typicallyyou'll get it at a reseller, and
that's usually like a it couldbe a big box store, it could be
a mom and pop shop.
Uh, and if you're looking forservices or something a little
bit more personalized or aproduct that's specific for
tailored for anotherapplication, it could be an
(03:08):
integrator or somebody who'sdoing the install or somebody
more specialized.
SPEAKER_02 (03:13):
So yeah, typically integrator would sell solutions
that they would integrate intothe workflow of the customer,
and a reseller is more like a mucould be a music store, could be
even could be even a a best buy,or that those are called.
That's true.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (03:31):
Usually there's a physical transaction that's
being done at the resellerstandpoint, and the integrator
is also including services.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
Yeah.
unknown (03:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:39):
Good.
Well, I think that starts theconversation pretty well.
SPEAKER_03 (03:43):
Yeah, to understand for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (03:45):
Um and there's different types of distributors
on that point.
Um depending on the theindustry.
I think I think industry alsodictates a little bit about the
type of different distributors,right?
Yes.
Um, and can I go on a littlerant?
Yeah, yeah, go for it.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
I want to set some of the things.
SPEAKER_04 (04:03):
We've been waiting for a rant.
Yeah.
This is the Franco rant of theepisode.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
You know, when I speak to people and they're
like, oh, what do you do for aliving?
Oh, I work for a distributor andI'm brand manager and category
manager.
Oh, you move boxes.
I can't tell you the box pusherhow much that insults me and how
much it upsets me.
And that's where I go into thefour-step process.
Well, you see, you're an enduser, then there's the reseller,
and there's distributormanufacturer.
(04:29):
And I think it's because, youknow, like even when I think
back to my schooling in businessschool, like I can remember
vividly in the business classes,you have the picture of the
manufacturer with like thatbrown cardboard box making it,
and then the distributor box islike a warehouse full of those
brown boxes, and then the nextpicture is like someone holding
(04:51):
that brown box and smiling.
And yes, different industries,distributors have different
levels of um uh of importance,and they add different types of
value, and some industries theyare just holding stock and
acting as a logistics point inthat country, but in the A V
industry, the distributor hassuch an important role that
(05:16):
impacts the end user, yeah, andit impacts everyone else
throughout the supply chain, andthere's so much value that
should be added, that is added,and it's important, I think,
that we talk about that probablylater on in the episode.
Yeah, but it's so much more thanjust holding inventory.
So I just want to get it out ofmy system, or else I'm gonna get
(05:39):
irked the entire episode.
SPEAKER_04 (05:41):
Yeah.
No, I think I think even frombefore, I think my earlier days
going into the beginning 2000swhen I I started working at my
first distributor.
I mean, it it's it was um it wasa little there was always a
little bit more than just boxpushing.
Uh, the service was always Ithink that there's always um uh
(06:05):
room for improvements and stufflike that, but there's always a
push for um helping customers inthe end of the day, and then
it's finding those ways.
I know back then um service washuge, and I'm talking about like
post-service, so even repairs.
Um and when we got bought out,uh, that company got bought out,
(06:28):
they kind of closed that servicedepartment down, and it made
huge difference in terms ofcustomer loyalty and stuff like
that.
We lost a lot, like I think thatwe lost a lot of good customer
base who were loyal just becauseof the post uh after sales
service, whether it was advancedreplacements or even just
technical expertise, that wassuch a huge value.
(06:48):
And I think that's what's um Ithink that's what's important in
distribution.
Now that has evolved, obviously,but I back then it was uh even
just to that level was really,really important.
SPEAKER_02 (06:58):
And it's also important that the distributor
has a very good relationshipwith its manufacturers.
Yeah.
Because they are basically thespecial like for Canada.
I mean, the distributor role isuh is basically represents the
manufacturer.
So here at SFM, we havespecialists about shore
(07:18):
microphones, we have specialistsabout bird dog cameras, we have
specialists about all of ourproducts.
We assign a technical person tothis product.
So someone can pick up the phoneand call if he has an issue,
whether it's an end user or areseller having questioned
pre-sales question because hewants to put some products or
some solutions we we sell.
(07:39):
So I think a distributor is alsoone of the roles of the
distributor is to make sure thatthe the manufacturer has a good
stance in the country.
SPEAKER_04 (07:52):
Um, the I I think there's different types of
levels of distribu distributiontoo.
I mean, there's somedistributors that just are there
for logistics.
Yep.
And I'm not not to downplaythat, because I think there is a
huge role for that type of uhthat type of distribution.
But there's a depends on theindustry as well.
Exactly.
That's right.
That's right.
Very industry-based.
And then you have the secondarylevel that has, I think, a
(08:12):
little bit more services, addedvalue services.
And then you have what I'd callmore master distributors where
they are the brand, they're thefront face brand for for the
country.
And um I think that's that'ssuper important.
SPEAKER_02 (08:27):
Typically, those master distributors would
handle, uh, and I'll let Francogo on a little bit more on this
because he's been working forour company for nine years, but
uh typically they would handleevery type of uh marketing
initiative that that arehappening in the country.
Uh, they would also handle forCanada, for example, traduction,
(08:48):
uh translation, sorry, becausewe have a French market and we
have an English market.
So typically it's going to bethe role of the distributor to
make sure that it complies withall the laws relative to French,
for example.
Yeah.
Uh also uh ensuring that we haverepair services for brands that
(09:08):
need repair, tech support, yeah,uh, and even finance, you know.
So that's that's a masterdistributor, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_04 (09:18):
That's right.
And and you bring up a goodpoint.
Actually, we're three peoplethat are in three different
departments in distribution, andit's funny, and we all play uh a
slightly uh different role,obviously.
Which very important, but Ithink we're also very um
intertwined uh and and workdirectly uh together.
Uh Franco, how do you how do youas a brand manager at a dish at
(09:40):
a distributor, how do you howhow do you differentiate
yourself from let's say anotherhow do you explain your role or
a distributor and the importancethan just box pushing like that
difference?
SPEAKER_03 (09:51):
Yeah, no, it's a it's a great question.
Uh first of all, brandmanagement, the way I explain it
to people is we're really thequarterback in the country for
that brand.
And what does a quarterback doon a team?
They make sure that theoffensive is doing their job,
you know, defensive, and at theend of the day, they're scoring
goals.
And that to me is beingsuccessful.
(10:12):
What does that mean?
Um, you're you're coordinatingthat delicate dance between all
the departments.
We've got someone from the taggroup here, technical
application group, technicalmarketing as well, you, Vince.
Uh, and it's making sure thatall the resources that the
distributor has to offer areworking together in order to
achieve that end goal.
(10:32):
That's the way I like to explainit.
Obviously, it's a lot morecomplicated, it entails so much
more uh um planning andstrategy.
But what's really cool about myjob and what I enjoy about it,
you know, we're talking aboutentrepreneurship and everything,
is every single brand has adifferent strategy.
Every single brand requires adifferent amount of resources.
(10:55):
Um, and every single brand has adifferent market.
So it's a really uh I find itexciting.
I you know, to wake up everymorning and come into work and
change your hats a thousandtimes throughout the day, that's
what makes it so fun andexciting.
Not every single day is theexact same, every single day is
(11:15):
different, which is a lot offun.
Um, so from the brand managementscience standpoint, you know,
we're really that liaisonbetween, you know, most of our
brands are obviously uh locatedin the United States.
So I like to explain it as we'retheir arm in Canada, we're their
liaison, we're representingthem.
So even internally, right, weare then taking their messaging
(11:36):
and strategy, explaining it tothe internal marketing
department that we have here atSFM, making sure that the
strategies are aligned, makingsure that we're planning
efficiently.
You know, if they're planning aproduct launch, do we have all
the assets?
Do we have everything ready togo?
Are we on the same schedule?
Is pricing ready?
Do we think of our inventorystrategy correctly?
How much inventory are webringing in?
(11:57):
We're dealing with procurement,we're dealing with absolutely
everybody to make sure, like Isaid, that that team reaches the
goal at the end of the day.
Um, so it's a lot of balancing,it's a lot of uh negotiating
externally and internally aswell.
And you really are running yourown little business, which is
you know, I find so much fun.
I love that part of it.
(12:17):
Um, and that freedom andflexibility and trust that we
have to ensure that the brand issuccessful, I think is the most
important part because, like Isaid, every single brand is
different.
Yeah, then you take every singlebrand, you break that down,
every single province isdifferent.
Yeah, every single market thatthat brand caters to is
different, right?
So there's so many differentrabbit holes that you can get
(12:40):
into.
It can become so technical, sodifferent.
Yeah, but our job at the end ofthe day is to make sure that
we're representing the brandcorrectly and that we're
successful with the brand at theend of the day.
So it's uh it's a lot of fun.
I enjoy it.
Uh, it's changed definitelythroughout the last couple of
years.
Um users are a lot more, Ithink, demanding, a lot more
(13:03):
educated, exactly savvy, a lotmore educated.
Um, and our job is to ensure notonly the success of the brand,
but you'll only have success ofthe brand if your reseller or
integrator is successful.
Yes.
Right?
So it's what type of tools dothey need to be successful?
What type of support do theyneed?
What type of extra marketing dothey need?
(13:25):
It's so important that we listennot only to the end users, but
we're also listening obviouslyto that next step.
We're talking about those foursteps.
Our direct link is thoseresellers and integrators.
Um, and like I said, everysingle brand has a different
market, different type ofreseller, and every reseller has
a different need.
So our job is to kind of figureout this puzzle and make sure
(13:46):
that the machine is as oiled aswell as possible so that as many
people as possible are happy.
So it's uh it's I I love it.
I enjoy it so much, andhopefully that shows.
That shows definitely.
But it's uh it's a puzzle everyday to figure out what's needed
and to make sure that we'readding value throughout the
entire chain because they callit supply chain for a reason.
(14:10):
Every single step isinterlinked.
Yeah, so that end user will havethe impacts and will feel the
difference if everything fromthe manufacturer is properly
translated throughout the chain.
Yeah, and that's the the mostimportant part, right?
Is the messaging clear?
Is it consistent?
Every single country isdifferent.
SPEAKER_04 (14:29):
I was actually gonna bring that up because we're
talking about uh howdistributors are different and
stuff.
And when you're the face, uhyou're the liaison for the
Canadian, I was just gonna saythat the Canadian business is
completely different than theUS.
And I think sometimes I I I'vealready have been in situations
(14:49):
where you can tell that the eventhe US manufacturers, like,
yeah, that's a completelydifferent business.
We we don't even know thefootprint.
And even in when you're inCanada, territorially, it's
different brands sometimes.
Like sometimes on the West,they're very specific on a
certain brand, or and it it'svery uh it's a very unusual
word, definitely a differentbreed in terms of in Canada, and
(15:12):
sometimes manufacturers um thatcome from outside of Canada
don't always understand that,and that's another reason why
they'd want to choose adistributor who takes care of
all the uh marketing and the anda distributor that's capable of
of also educating themanufacturer.
SPEAKER_03 (15:28):
I think that's really important as well.
It's not that, yes, some mighthave more knowledge than others
about that country that theywant to expand into.
Um, but the first thing I dowhen there's a new brand that's
being presented or or we'relooking at is evaluating, okay,
what's their knowledge of theCanadian market?
What are some of the gaps?
And let's let's talk about it.
Um, you'd be surprised how manypeople, you know, they look at
(15:51):
at the map, and this is reallyrudimentary, right?
You look at the map of theworld, you see Canada, it's
massive.
So, what's the first thing youexpect?
Massive amount of people,massive amount of sales, right?
And then when you startexplaining numbers, you know,
how the entire population ofCanada is smaller than a single
(16:12):
state in the United States, justthat one fact is like okay, I'm
starting to understand now.
Just because we have thismassive amount of land, we have
all these different hot pockets,you know, we're not we're not
heavily, it's not the density isnot high.
No, but we have those major hotpots throughout the entire uh
country where there is businessbeing transacted.
(16:33):
And it's it's about educatingthem, it's about explaining to
them that what's happening inMontreal, Quebec is very
different than what's happeningin Toronto and Ontario, even
though we're six hours away.
Yeah, you compare that toVancouver, completely different
as well, right?
The integrator strategy inVancouver is very different than
Montreal.
Yeah, the production houses,very different strategies,
(16:56):
different markets, uh pricepoints are also very different.
That's right, yeah.
Uh, I mean, obviously, we're allin business.
We're not gonna hide the factthat we need to talk about
profitability.
And that's our role too, as adistributor is making sure that
our integrators and resellers,as well as end users, are making
as much profit as possible andthat they have the tools they
(17:16):
need to do that.
Yeah, um, so it's uh it's abouteducating, it's about explaining
to them the different strategiesand just making sure that
they're able to cater to theCanadian market in the in the
right ways to make sure thateveryone's successful.
SPEAKER_04 (17:29):
Yeah, that makes sense.
What about you?
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
And in your opinion, I mean, what we mentioned a few
things that have changedthroughout the let's say 15 last
years, but what has changed whathas changed the most in the
distribution chain uh in thepast 10 years or what what's
your let's say the the mainthing that changed everything?
SPEAKER_04 (17:52):
I think I think it would be like in your department
where the level of service hashas um been even more in-depth.
So now I think you guys arecoming up with plus services,
yes, and offering all these typeof uh add-on services to help
dealers qualify certain projectsand and and and have that added
(18:16):
where I never I didn't see thatin the past.
Uh there was always the the postsales, but uh yeah, I think uh I
think that that for me it alwayshas been the uh the biggest
change.
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
To me, I think it's um as I mentioned earlier, uh
the customers are more educatedthan than ever.
Yeah, because of there's morepodcast talking about gear,
there is more internet is nowprevalent.
I mean, uh even AI, uh so nowcustomers are making and users,
let's let's use the right word,and users are making very
(18:51):
informed decisions.
And sometimes if it's a brandnew product, that us, the
technical team, didn't even havetime to put our hands on it.
So I don't I don't know what Idon't know.
I I can't know what's yeah,what's the feature of this new
product if it came outyesterday?
Same goes for the integrator.
SPEAKER_04 (19:10):
He may not have the time either to kind of get up to
speed roll the sometimes.
SPEAKER_03 (19:16):
We do and we're dealing with you know 40 plus
brands, whatever the number is,and we're already trying to keep
up with the amount of knowledgethat we need to then train the
reseller integrator and even enduser.
These end users are looking athundreds of brands.
These resellers and integratorsare not only dealing with a
singular distributor in Canada,they're dealing with multiple.
(19:36):
Yep.
So you take you know the 40, 50brands per distributor, whatever
it may be.
I'm using that numbertheoretically, you multiply it
by 10 distributors, there's alot more options now.
And I think that's for me fromthe brand management side uh and
and uh market side, competitiveanalysis-wise, there's a lot
more options in the market todaythan there were 10 years ago.
(20:00):
And the end user are aware ofall those substitutes that are
available to them.
So uh I think to me that'sprobably the biggest change.
Yeah, which relates to theaspect of them being a lot more
educated, um, and and you know,they're asking the tough
questions, which is really goodfor our industry.
Yeah, our industry, you know, wewere talking about technology
(20:22):
and how fast it's changing.
Uh I mean, guys, look what wecan do over a cat six cable now.
It's incredible when you reallytalk about this in another
podcast.
We'll talk about this in anotherpodcast, but we can do over a
single cat six cable, thecomplexity of it, the
technicality of it.
The end users are are pushingproducts to their limits.
(20:43):
Yeah, they're trying differentways of doing things.
I mean, I think in the firstpodcast, you had said, you know,
two plus two equals four, butthree plus one also equals four.
Yeah.
And end users are realizingthat.
So they're they're tryingdifferent combinations, they're
trying different designs,they're doing different things
with products, they're pushingthem to their limits.
So we need to be ready to answerall those questions.
(21:03):
And that's where pre-salesupport comes in.
Post-sale support, yeah,extremely important.
Being an authorized servicecenter, this makes a huge
difference.
This is something thatpersonally I feel like we don't
market enough, we don't talkabout enough.
We add so much value.
I mean, take it uh, you know,we're take our DJ brands, for
(21:24):
example.
A lot of our products that wedistribute, people are making a
living off of.
And I think that's somethingthat we need to keep reminding
ourselves, whether it be throughmarketing, through business
strategy.
We are controlling people'slivelihood with the products
that we sell.
Yeah, right.
Not only our own livelihoods,but their livelihoods as well.
(21:44):
So when you have the opportunityto take something that's making
you X amount of money during theweek or on the weekend, have it
repaired within 24 hours.
Wow, let me tell you, that'simportant.
And I've gone through thatmyself, being a DJ, bringing the
equipment here.
I spoke about how I, you know,got the job here was by meeting
Wayne at the window.
Yeah, but that is so important.
(22:06):
It is to have your cue buttonfixed within 24 hours.
That is something that is soimportant.
And that's what end users arestarting to realize now, right?
It's not only okay, who did Ibuy it from, but who do they buy
it from and what's the supportthat comes with that product
after I've purchased it?
Yeah, so that strategy, thatthat um way of thinking is a lot
(22:28):
more uh is a lot more, I wouldsay, common now amongst end
users than it once was.
SPEAKER_02 (22:35):
Yeah.
In the same kind of uh ID, Imean, something I've noticed in
the past 10 years on thereseller level, because I I I've
been working for a reseller forresellers for 20-something years
before joining a distributor.
Uh is I mean, yes, price isalways important, but I remember
(22:56):
20 years ago I had to cutpricing to make the sale, maybe
because I was a bad salesman, ormaybe because the market was
asking for this.
These nowadays, I mean, yeah,pricing is still a question.
Uh, but am I gonna try to savethree dollars by buying it
outside of Canada or on the websomewhere?
(23:17):
Or I'm gonna try to buy it fromsomeone who seems to know what
he's doing, like a reseller oran integrator, at the list
price.
Because of course, this is kindof the elephant in the room.
I mean, the pricing.
Uh, as you know, manufacturershave list pricing or retail
prices that we as a distributorare trying to enforce.
(23:40):
Uh, when I say enforce, I meanwe're saying our resellers, you
should sell it that price.
But the reseller can decide whatwhat price you want to sell it
for.
But I have noticed thatresellers and integrators are
now trying not to cut pricingtoo much anymore.
Uh, so that's something I'venoticed.
And maybe the end user is moreaware of the value of the
(24:05):
knowledge that's behind thatprice or even the average value
that's gonna come.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:10):
Well, that comes with increased visibility too,
right?
Yeah.
Ten years ago, I mean, we hadinternet, but it wasn't as
in-depth or as competitive as itis today.
The end user knows all the pricepoints, and they're already
evaluating where they're gonnabuy it from, even when you think
they're gonna buy it.
And then at the snap of afinger, they've changed their
(24:30):
mind for XYZ reason.
Yeah, they can get it quicker,it made it even more expensive,
it's in stock, right?
Even the fact now, I was talkingabout this with um with a couple
of clients, and we're talkingabout e-commerce and and the way
websites have changed and allthat.
Uh, and there's a hotconversation of you know,
showing your inventory status ofa product online back in the
(24:54):
day, there was none of that.
There was a it might be instock, or if it's not in stock,
we'll get it for you in one totwo weeks or whatever.
There was no live inventoryindicator that is super
important nowadays becausepeople are making a decision
based on that, right?
So I think the way people aremaking decisions as well.
So I, you know, I said savvinessand education and and the amount
(25:17):
of knowledge they have today isimportant, but I think the
decision-making process of aconsumer has also changed
drastically, yes, yes, which hasalso impacted us, right?
So we're talking about supplychain and how everything's
linked from the manufacturer allthe way to the end user.
Well, it's the same thing theother way around.
That's right.
End user all the way back to themanufacturer.
(25:38):
Yeah, so it's um yeah, can uhconsumer behavior, uh, the
psychology of it has changeddrastically.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
And let's be honest, I mean, Amazon has changed a lot
of this with its uh with itsprime service, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (25:53):
Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
You can get it, and I don't want to talk too much
about Amazon, but I mean it'sit's still a very important
player in the business ingeneral.
Uh I mean, the fact that nowpeople can get stuff that they
purchased yesterday today attheir door has also changed what
a customer expects from theirreseller or an end user expects
from their reseller, and what areseller expects from its
(26:17):
distributor.
Absolutely.
So this is where like the wholeteam, Franco's team and the
warehouse team, has to play abig role.
What do we keep in stock?
What has a good velocity?
I think that's the word theyuse.
Yeah, so velocity is the amountof bucks you're you're shipping
every day.
So this is very important.
And it goes even what are theygonna which products are they
(26:42):
gonna put closer to the door ofthe of the warehouse?
Because basically, if if theysell 16 a day, they're not gonna
put in in the back of thewarehouse.
So this is more on the logisticsside, right?
This is something a distributorhas to as to you know the role
that of a distributor.
SPEAKER_03 (26:59):
That's a really interesting podcast topic, by
the way.
So write write it down, but justtalking about warehouse
management software, yeah.
How we decide bin locations,velocity, dimensions, yeah.
That is so important.
SPEAKER_04 (27:13):
Yep.
SPEAKER_03 (27:14):
Um, it'd be interesting to get someone from
the warehouse and the operationsteam stuff.
SPEAKER_04 (27:17):
Even on the supply chain, yeah.
What fits in the container, howmany costs, like it's there's so
much uh yeah.
But on that, I mean I I thinkI'd like to think that
distribution to um maybe notall, but I think most are also
trying to help um grow theirdealer's business.
So I think everybody, abusiness, and it's the
(27:39):
definition of a business is tomake money, right?
And obviously you want to makemore money all the time, and
having fine ways to help growthe customer's business.
The customer, I I've I've beenon the dealer side and I've
worked with dealers for manyyears, and I know that they're
super busy, whether you're mom,pop, shop, or a bigger
corporation.
You're always, always on thereactive side.
(28:03):
Yeah.
And I think so is I thinksometimes the distributor is
too, but I think uh as a role asa distributor is to be on the
proactive side, offer educationservices, like you know,
webinars, uh, training sessions,certifications, um, and helping
them understand, like helpingthem uh understand the new
(28:25):
products uh that are coming ontomarket, how it can help um solve
issues and applications thatthey're maybe facing, they don't
know that there's a solution outon the market.
Um, and little things like howAmazon has helped, you know,
finding ways to make the processof buying through a distributor
(28:45):
even more efficient for thecustomer.
If he's on the job site, nowwith apps that you can just
click on, yeah, I need two boxesof Cat 6, click, click, and it's
shipping to my house.
Um has to be that.
SPEAKER_03 (28:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's forced us to to change the ways
we do business as well.
Yeah.
And think of our strategy goingforward.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (29:06):
Always keeping that at least trying to keep excuse
me, the the customer in mind,anyways.
And on the services side, haveyou seen how like I mean with
plus, how do you how do you findit with uh the whole plus
services?
SPEAKER_02 (29:18):
I I think um uh it's it's slowly picking up.
I mean it's it's picking up, butuh the way we organized uh our
technical team is ever I mean,we're more than 10 10
individuals on that team, and uhpretty much uh every individual
has a specialty.
And uh I've personally starteddoing uh installations at end
(29:43):
user sites on behalf of resellerwith resellers and integrators.
That's something new for me.
Uh uh, so this is for resellerswho are trying to get into a
certain vertical.
Let's say I'm just gonna talkbroadly about a reseller that
was.
Doing only video.
Now we want when I say video,I'm video editorial.
(30:05):
You remember my specialty ismore like post-production.
And now we he wanna try, or hehe has a customer because most
of them have audio and videodepartments.
But this reseller wants to getinto audio post.
He's not gonna get into audiopost overnight.
He's gonna need some type oftraining.
And this is and recently that'sa story that happened like last
(30:27):
week.
Uh so I helped them to not onlyspec out what the end user
needed, but also going there toinstall the equipment with them
to basically they are ghosting.
The word ghosting, I don't knowif we can use that, but when
when a technical person ghostsanother person, he's basically
learning in the field.
(30:48):
Shadowing, sorry, yeah, thanks.
So ghosting is somethingcompletely different.
Shadowing, that's the word.
SPEAKER_03 (30:54):
I'm pretty sure Hugo answers all his emails.
I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
So uh yeah, so he's basically the reseller is
shadowing me during my install.
So so by offering plus services,we can help uh reseller that
have an appetite for a newmarket or a new I wouldn't say
vertical, but a new field, andwe can basically help them
(31:20):
making their way into that newfield of special specialization.
SPEAKER_04 (31:25):
And what about plus?
Like, can you tell us a littlebit more about plus in terms of
what are those add-on?
Because again, when I saw Plusfirst come out, I was intrigued
because I've never seen thosetype of services ever in our
industry at all.
And I I found it really, reallyinteresting.
Um can you touch up on this?
SPEAKER_02 (31:45):
I can touch a little bit on this.
Uh uh, I'm I don't have thewhole list of services, but I
can I can tell you a few.
Uh basically, we can program forthe customer, we can deploy for
the for sorry, we can programfor the reseller, we can deploy
for the reseller, we cansupport, train.
(32:07):
There's at least six or sevenservices we can offer.
Unfortunately, I was notprepared for that question,
sorry about that.
Uh basically it's takingresellers by the hand to help
them offer more services.
That's right.
Um bear in mind that we stillwant them to specialize, but we
help them specialize in becausethe goal is not to do all of the
(32:32):
installation for them forever.
That's right.
SPEAKER_04 (32:34):
The goal is to help them for invest for those who
want to invest into growing andand stuff like that, that's
where you guys can come in andeventually we train their tech
to program, deploy, and so on.
Yeah.
So the the the the willingnesson the res of the integrator
(32:55):
side has to be there, or ifyeah, yes.
SPEAKER_03 (32:57):
Okay.
And that's where you knowtraining is so important.
Because I I think a lot ofpeople when they think training
or knowledge is just like, hey,this is the the product, this is
what it could do, and that's it.
Yeah.
But when a distributor talksabout training, I, this is my
per personal opinion, I trulybelieve that the training also
(33:19):
encompasses sales training as towhy then the end user needs the
product.
It's not a it's not an awarenesstraining.
It's teaching them how to deploythe product to your point from a
technical standpoint, yes.
But why does the end user needthat product and how will it
help solve their needs?
SPEAKER_04 (33:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:40):
And three, it's really just making sure that
they have all the tools tosucceed.
And that training has to cover awhole scope of of um of subjects
because different integratorswill have different strengths
and weaknesses.
SPEAKER_04 (33:56):
Exactly.
Yep, exactly.
Right?
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
So one integrator might need more of the technical
side, one might need more of themarketing side, and that's okay.
How do I market this product?
Yep.
And like you said, you'reguiding them, you're shadowing
them, you're teaching them sothat they could at the end of
the day offer more services,increase their profitability,
which in turn helps the brandget more awareness, more
(34:21):
penetration in the market, andthen the whole chain is
successful.
So it's so important.
That training aspect needs tocover more than just product
awareness.
Yeah.
It needs to cover every singleaspect.
SPEAKER_02 (34:33):
And you know what?
One thing that I think lots ofAV the AV integrators have in
common is a certain lack ofknowledge for network, uh uh,
network knowledge or networktraining.
And that's something I seepretty much everywhere.
So in the AV industry?
In the AV industry, unlessyou're an IT integrator, which
(34:55):
is basically your job, you yougotta know that.
Right.
In the AV business, the the AVbusiness as it one thing that
has evolved a lot in the past 10years or 15 years, yeah, is the
prevalence of the CatSix skill.
SPEAKER_03 (35:06):
So we're talking about the famous Cat 6 game and
what you can do.
But it's true, yeah.
That is now your foundation,it's the foundation to the house
that you're building.
SPEAKER_04 (35:13):
It's crazy how another industry started
bleeding into the AV industry,yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And uh now the AV industry, andlike you said, it's like I
remember when I first started, Iloved you know, my component
cables and all that stuff, thethe basic stuff, and now it's
like, oh, I gotta learnnetworking, you know, and
without networking.
What's a VLAN?
What's a subnet?
(35:33):
Yeah, that that that for that'slike the minimum.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, you really have to getinto networking, and I know
there's still uh dealers outthere that are still on the
fence, you know, they're they'redoing the basics, but getting
into VLANs and stuff like that,especially going AV over IP,
Dante and all that stuff, thatis that is huge, and they're
still on the fence.
SPEAKER_02 (35:54):
But it's it's interesting how those industries
uh maybe I can add that we offerthese kind of trainings, so
that's another part of our plusservices.
We have a training called IT forAV, and maybe that's gonna be
another topic, like IT ingeneral in our business.
That should be a topic for forour podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (36:12):
But we have so many topics, we'd be doing this full
time.
I don't think my boss could ourday job, but yeah, I think I
think we could do this fulltime.
SPEAKER_04 (36:20):
I think when I was hired too uh for the technical
marketing position, I think thatwas such a cool um that's a cool
name.
SPEAKER_02 (36:28):
Technical marketing specialty.
SPEAKER_04 (36:30):
You know what?
You know what?
I I I had heard about it more onthe IT side, and I had
understood it and I said thatmakes total sense.
And then on my past my past uhlife when I was doing more on
the system design side, I I wasrealizing that depending on the
people you're talking to,sometimes you have to rethink on
(36:51):
how you're talking.
And you know, nerds you can talkspecs, and then you know, you
can kind of get an idea, andthere's some others where they
can't see that vision, right?
Just by talking specs, you stillcan't see how how am I getting
from point A to point B.
And that's when in in myposition, I'm able to um really
(37:11):
translate or better articulatesome of that and tell that
vision first, show that vision,and then how to bring that back
into a product or uh based on aspecification and stuff like
that.
So the vision and then bring itback to a product or a solution.
And I think that too haschanged, and there's not much of
it out there where it's like youknow, it's getting I think in
(37:34):
the AV industry we're all aboutyou know, tech, tech, tech,
tech, tech specs and stuff likethat.
And it yeah, in some instances,you know, like watts and stuff
like that on the speaker side,everybody just wants the bigger
watts, the but it's not alwaysabout that.
And I think education is huge.
And um, if I if I can bringanything to the into the market,
it's translating ideas intoproducts and and solutions.
SPEAKER_03 (37:58):
Well, and that changes when you're speaking
also to the reseller slashintegrator.
That's right, but also to theend user.
That's right.
Right?
That messaging has to change.
SPEAKER_04 (38:07):
It has to, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (38:07):
And that's where you add so much value is okay,
what's the strategy?
Who are we going after?
What are we trying tocommunicate?
What's the thing?
And who are we communicating itto?
Yeah.
Because that who will change themethod, it'll change the
strategy, the frequency, thereach, it'll change everything.
Exactly.
So that's where, you know, we'reso lucky to have you too.
SPEAKER_04 (38:26):
What's the story?
SPEAKER_03 (38:27):
What's the story?
SPEAKER_04 (38:29):
And what's in it for the customer?
At the end of the day, I thinkit's uh I think w whether we're
in marketing or service or or inbrand management, I think at the
end of the day, and I'd like tothink that all distributors are
like that, but what what's in itfor the customer and how can we
better enrich the customer sothat he can further uh help uh
help the end user.
SPEAKER_03 (38:48):
Can I tell a funny story to wrap up this podcast?
So we're talking about thesupply chain, right?
Distributor, sorry,manufacturer, distributor,
reseller, and the end user.
When I bought my first pair ofspeakers, I walked into the uh
the reseller that I was buyingall my equipment from.
(39:11):
And uh I was I was young, I was16 years old.
I had uh a lot of cash ready, Iwas so excited, wasn't sure if I
was making the right decision ornot, you know, spending two,
three thousand dollars onspeakers when before that I was
renting rusted speakers from aguy down the street, and I was
ready to buy my first pair ofspeakers.
So I walk into the reseller, andat this point, I'm 16 years old,
(39:34):
no business school, no schoolingwhatsoever, didn't understand
who a distributor was, what thatwas.
I thought that the speakersmagically just appeared at this
reseller's store, and that'sthat, right?
I walked in, bought it, andleft.
And I walk in and I'll neverforget this.
Um I walk in and I did my myresearch at the time, you know,
(39:56):
as much as I could.
I want a portable amplifiedspeaker that does 2,000 watts,
nothing below 2,000 watts, youknow, because that's what that
was the number that was in myhead.
Yeah.
And uh not sure it even exists.
I I I'm not even sure it existedback then.
Yeah, back then now today Icould tell you it does, but back
(40:17):
then I'm not even sure.
I want something 2,000 watts.
I think the average back then,honestly, was a thousand watts.
Again, we're talking watts now.
And the employee that I knewthat usually helps me out is
talking to some other guy.
And uh the other guy who I don'tknow, never met this guy in my
life before, walks over to meand there's a wall of speakers.
(40:38):
He goes, Why do you wantsomething that does 2,000 watts?
My hairdryer does 2,000 watts.
Watts mean nothing.
And I'm like, Who is this guy?
Why is he getting angry at me?
What's what's happening?
Who are you?
It ended up being AndreLamouche, who's one of our sales
reps in Quebec, who works forSFM at the time and still works
for SFM.
And he was visiting his dealerwho I was purchasing from.
(41:00):
Oh wow.
And so I I always tell thatstory because it's so true.
Like, I didn't know I was an enduser, I thought it was just
watts, watts, watts.
Yeah.
And he's explaining so muchmore.
Well, what size woofer do youwant?
What type of room?
What's the application?
You know, you have to look atSPL, it's not just about watts.
And so he was explaining thisall to me when he wasn't even
(41:21):
the person selling me the box,it was the reseller that was
there.
And so I tell that story becauseit just shows how the entire
chain shows the importance of adistributor, the importance of a
distributor.
SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
Because you frankly, this guy has a lot of experience
even back then.
Yeah, because he he's been inthe business for 40 years plus.
Yeah.
So he he he basically wasprobably more informed than the
reseller or the the young guyyou were buying it from at the
time in the in the shop.
So you know that I think thatstory just kind of ties up.
SPEAKER_03 (41:54):
Pretty cool, everything.
You know how the distributorshelping out the reseller who's
then helping out the end user.
And uh at the end of the day, Iended up buying speakers he
wanted me to buy, which were thespeakers he was like.
Because he's a good salesman.
Yeah, he was a very goodsalesman.
Uh, but I'll never forget thatday.
It was so funny.
I'm like, who's this guy gettingangry at me?
I'll never walk in here again,you know?
And um, still, you know, stillvery good friends today, and I
(42:18):
don't regret that purchase.
So now you're in the show.
Does he remember that?
He does.
Yeah, okay, good.
He remembers that story, andit's it's crazy to think.
You know, this was I don't know,17 years ago.
Wow.
Whatever, and now we you knowhow things happen, it's scary.
SPEAKER_04 (42:32):
Life can be scary sometimes, but are you still
looking for a pair of uhportable uh 2000 watts?
I know I die not.
I know I know a guy, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (42:39):
I know a guy that can get me some, so uh we're
good.
Um, but yeah, that's that's afunny story that I like to tell
because uh to think that I wasbuying you know from that
reseller and not to think youknow we service the reseller.
Yeah, it's crazy how things inlife happen.
But yeah, Andre Lamush for you,everybody.
SPEAKER_04 (42:58):
I'm gonna say this, and I think we're gonna say this
often on this podcast, but theAV industry is super small.
Super small.
Holy smokes.
Yep, super, super small.
So, with that, thanks forhanging out with us on Behind
the Rack.
We hope you picked something upnew, had a laugh, or at least
nodded along with one of ourrants.
Uh, if you enjoyed today'sepisode, make sure to follow us,
(43:19):
hit that like, and share with acolleague or even a fellow AV
fan and help us spread the word.
We'll be back with more stories,insights, and conversations from
worlds of pro audio, broadcast,live sound, and systems.
So until then, keep thecuriosity alive and we'll catch
you on the next time on Behindthe Racket.
And don't forget, like andsubscribe.
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