Real World Retail: Retaining Identity Within the Brand

WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA

In the mid-nineties, Dallas Setyadi came to the United States from Indonesia and discovered his love for car audio in California. After attending Riverside Community College and earning a degree in business, Setyadi entered the mobile electronics industry.

“I was totally new to car audio and I taught myself how to do installations,” he said, adding that car audio magazines inspired him to take things to the next level. “I would go to competitions, look at their work, buy magazines, and I would learn from all the pictures. That’s when I started teaching myself, and I began doing installs in my garage.” After working independently for two years, he set his sights on Al & Ed’s Autosound.

He worked at five other locations, then arrived at the Ontario, Calif. location, which he eventually bought in 2016 and currently owns.

Setyadi’s shop does a lot of custom fabrication, as well as lights, bumpers, lift kits and vehicle security. As an Al & Ed’s franchise location, name recognition and brand, products and advertising are all part of what the store receives as a member of the franchise. Switching From Commission to Hourly Improves Staff Morale

The staff consists of Darren Sprayberry, who is the service manager and has been voted among the Top 12 and Top 100 Installers in the past; Adrian Preston, technician; Ludwing Monterroso, product specialist; and Franklin Pineda, product specialist. Setyadi himself is both a salesman and an installer.

Recently, the staff went from being commission-based to hourly pay. “Employees wanted it that way,” Setyadi said. “Some of them have been with us a long time and they are getting a little older, so they may not be as fast. Commission is great because you get more money, but it’s high-paced, rapid and tough. With hourly, they can take more time with working on the vehicle and the work is better. They help each other more.” Team members also receive bonuses, and three days of sick leave. As an additional incentive—for fun and to enjoy the holiday—the shop has a Christmas party every year for the staff.

The employees have been at the store a relatively long time, except for Pineda, who is a part-time product specialist who has been with the company for about a year. “Darren has been working with me for 24 years—as long as I have been at Al & Ed’s,” Setyadi added. “When I bought the store, he was already working at this location.”

If the store decides to hire someone new, Setyadi has a procedure he follows. “We have an HR person we hire outside the company, and she handles the hiring and also the payroll,” he explained. “If I need a technician, she would send out the ad and take the applications, then screen the applicant over the phone.” If they seem like a good fit, Setyadi handles the interview in person.

KnowledgeFest and Mobile Solutions Opens the Door to New Techniques

Staff training keeps the team up to speed on various technologies, and one of the ways they stay informed is by attending KnowledgeFest. “At KnowledgeFest Long Beach last year, we learned more about digital sound processors and tuning,” Setyadi said. At staff meetings once a month, Setyadi stated that he asks his salespeople to come up with something new that they’ve learned every month. At staff meetings, they also discuss any problems they’ve encountered.

“I can also learn from what they learned, and if I studied something on a new product that they don’t know about, then I can share it with them. We send our guys to Mobile Solutions, too. We’ve been sending more and more guys there to learn new things about the latest technology,” Setyadi said. “It can be as simple as making speaker rings,” he added, stating that Mobile Solutions introduced the staff to a newer plastic material that cuts more easily. “We can build rings with plastic accurately and within five or 10 minutes. We spend less time on it and we make more money.”

Much of the shop’s revenue comes from car audio and custom work, while marine audio continues to increase—especially during summer months, when it accounts for 50 percent of the shop’s income.

For special occasions, such as Black Friday, the store offers 50 percent off on all products. The sale goes a long way toward bringing in new customers and raising awareness about what the location has to offer.

Learning About the Client Helps Staff Offer the Best Options

Although winter tends to be a slower time of year for the shop, Black Friday brings higher sales, Setyadi said. “We do 50 percent off every product in the store. I can send out an email blast and say, ‘I am just doing this for this location.’” Customers pay full labor costs for installation.

The shop follows its own procedure for ensuring clients get the best possible care. “When they come in, the first thing we do is greet them. And then we ask what kind of vehicle they have. We go out to the vehicle even if we’re familiar with it.” Setyadi stated that this has a lot to do with understanding what kind of needs the customer may have.

“For example, say we see a baby seat in the back. Then maybe we can start

talking about video entertainment. Or maybe we can have a camera in the backseat,” Setyadi added, so the driver will be able to see the baby easily without turning.

“If the vehicle has real nice wheels, then we can sell them sensors or a 360- degree camera,” he said. “First we show them we care about their vehicle.”

By educating the customer about what’s available, Setyadi stated that, very

At monthly meetings, team members share at least one new thing they’ve learned about products or new techniques.

often, the customer discovers something they didn’t know was possible for their car.

The skills of his team add a unique quality to the store and encourage wordof-mouth referrals. “I like to think that we get a lot more repeat customers and referrals,” he said. “We rely on that because we do really good work. We send our guys to training to better ourselves.”

Customers trust the name of the franchise because it’s been around for over 60 years, Setyadi said. “We make sure the customer is happy. We make sure we do good work, and they get a lifetime warranty. We sell them what they need and what they want.”

Al & Ed’s Company Vehicle Proves to Be Best Marketing Tool When they have time, the store takes part in car shows. However, Setyadi stated it’s not clear what kind of return on investment this has, if any. “I can’t expect sales from a car show. I don’t see a direct correlation between an event and revenue. We went to an off-road show in Orange County, and we didn’t make a dime out of that,” he said, adding that he plans to implement strategy in the future to

From left to right: Darren Sprayberry, Ludwing Monterroso, Dallas Setyadi, Franklin Pineda and Adrian Preston.

try to find out more about how customers found the shop—something he has yet to do. When they do participate in a car show, they try to bring along a customer’s vehicle. If they can’t do that, Setyadi said, they bring the company vehicle, a Jeep that Setyadi purchased expressly for the shop. “Customers will usually call from the phone number on the Jeep.” So far, this is one of their best marketing tools. Customers often call and state that they saw the shop’s build photos on Instagram and videos on YouTube, which has drawn customers from outside the local area.

“We do more custom labor than actual sales up front. Right now, on Facebook, we share photos and what we’ve done, what we do, but we don’t really do too much advertising on there,” he said. “People are coming in from seeing the pictures. Usually, I handle posting. The employees will help by picking photos and sending them to me.” Off-Roading With Al & Ed’s Autosound Ontario As a way of leveraging the off-roading market, Setyadi will invite clients to join him on an outing. Most of the shop’s off-roading clients are Jeep owners.

“We also do lift kits,” he said. “We have a lot of customers who buy a Jeep, and bring it to us to do a lift kit, bumper and accessories, but they’ve never been off-roading before.” If they say they’re new to off-roading, Setyadi will offer to take them out and show them how it’s done. “Sometimes we’ll even send out an email saying, ‘Hey, Al & Ed’s is going to have some off-roading fun.’ Then other people show up and meet us there,” he said. They usually go to Big Bear, which is a public trail that locals use for off-roading purposes. “The customers drive their own vehicles and they follow us.” Off-roading with new customers also has other advantages, Setyadi added. “If there’s something wrong with the lift kit, we know right away and we can fix it.”

Increased Focus On Off-Site Marine Work May Lead to New Venture

Although the shop has been doing marine audio for about 12 years, two years ago they began doing off-site work, according to Setyadi. “Right now, we don’t have another crew to go off-site. We use our guys from the shop, so I have mixed feelings on that. It’s great. We get the job, but it does cost us more money and time. Profitability is not as good as when the job is at the shop, but at least we get the jobs we don’t normally get. It’s going to lead to bigger things in the future. We are selling Diamond Audio, Rockford Fosgate, Cerwin-Vega and Alpine.” Once word starts to spread, Setyadi stated that the next step would be hiring a team who would work specifically on marine projects. “The Ontario location would stay the same because it’s more retail, but I am considering opening another Al & Ed’s focusing just on marine and powersports. I haven’t made any moves yet because it’s still too early for me. I don’t want to move too fast.”

To combat this, the shop offers unique custom installs. “We produce better work. The customers coming into our store will usually say, ‘I want that,’ and

Although the staff pay was once commission-based, they recently moved to hourly pay, which has encouraged more collaboration and a less stressful work environment.

Because the shop offers lift kits and accessories for off-roading vehicles, Setyadi connects with customers who are new to this pastime by going off-roading with them after the install. It also gives him a chance to make sure there are no issues with the client’s new lift kit.

marine industry is going to be bigger,” Setyadi added. “Powersports is big right now, but the downside is that manufacturers are starting to build plug-and-play packages. A customer can buy it and install it themselves. It doesn’t require our skills. We’re making our money on installation and on our specialties.” it’s not about which one is cheaper. They can’t get a custom installation from the Internet.”

He added that he’s seeing the trends in how the industry is changing, and customers are becoming more knowledgeable about the driver safety category. Recently, the staff discussed blind spot sensors. “We don’t usually sell a lot of them, but one of our salesmen learned a lot about them, so we brought a couple in and we’ve been selling more of them. We are starting to get more into vehicle safety,” he said, adding that sales will probably continue to increase for this category.