Strategy in TECH...
Sonance announced this week that it has appointed well-known manufacturer sales representative firm Strateres as its representative for the New England region. This agreement includes the representation of all of the company’s brands, including Sonance, James Loudspeaker, and IPORT.
After several years of dizzying growth, the technology sector is now experiencing a notable downturn, as the post-COVID era has brought a combination of higher prices (inflation) and lower demand. In response, 2022 saw significant job cuts at major Big Tech brands that have continued on into 2023. That includes this Wednesday when Microsoft announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs – after a 1,000 job cut in October 2022 – another big blow to Tech.
But what about the more specific segments like consumer electronics and custom integration?
Trinnov Audio announced on Tuesday that it has created a new position at the company of Customer Support Manager and appointed Chrisanne Rhodes to the role. For a company offering highly sophisticated technologies and products, this new role is likely to be an extremely important addition to the company’s support of all levels of the market from dealers to end-users.
Sonance announced today that it has made tremendous progress in building out its new company-direct sales structure for the residential channel in Canada. Within days of launching the shift away from a national distributor based approach to an HQ-driven network, the company says it has already signed up multiple new manufacturer sales representative firms in key Canadian regions.
AudioControl, a manufacturer of specialty automotive and residential audio gear popular in the custom integration channel, announced this week the appointment of Fielder Marketing as its manufacturers sales representative firm for Northern California and Northern Nevada. Considered an important region for the company, AudioControl made the announcement which is effective immediately.
Bryston, one of the top high-end electronics and loudspeaker brands, announced the appointment of two new manufacturer sales representative organizations. The company says it has appointed Fielder Marketing for Northern California and Northern Nevada; and Nova Marketing for Minnesota, North & South Dakota, and western Wisconsin.
On Monday, a federal holiday, VOXX International’s Premium Audio Company (PAC) announced that Oscar Bernardo, its Chief Operating Officer, left the company on December 31, 2022. The company says – in this kind of strange, after-the-fact announcement – that Bernardo left to relaunch the Mirage speaker brand. Mirage is owned by VOXX International, which acquired it in 2006.
Parasound is a unique company. A long-time specialty segment stalwart, the company has been delighting audio enthusiasts for more than forty years! That is no small achievement when you consider the twists and turns of the specialty segment over that time frame.
And the credit for that success is largely due to the commitment to quality – and, frankly, just the bulldog temerity – of founder and CEO Richard Schram. So it is a development worthy of note that, yesterday, Schram announced his retirement from the company and its sale to a new owner.
Fidelity Imports, a U.S. importer and distributor of fine, upscale audio products, announced this month the appointment of Derek Kolterman as Director of Finance and Operations. The move is said to be the result of dramatic company growth driving the need for personnel expansion.
Sonance announced last week that it was transitioning its business model in Canada from one centered around a distribution model with an in-country partner responsible for all sales and servicing in the country to a new direct one where Sonance HQ will directly handle all sales and service of its products there. This week, we learn that the company has appointed a new National Sales Manager for Canada, responsible for implementing this new business model, building an all-new sales team, and managing their sales operations there.
That new executive is Toronto-based sales professional Brad Middleton.
