Rising from the Ashes

WORDS BY LAURA KEMMERER

When the owner and founder of a company unexpectedly passes away, the question of what to do next becomes a crucial one. For Wayne Smedile, Principal of California-based Paragon Sales & Marketing, that meant stepping in to take over the business.

Paragon Sales & Marketing was originally founded by William McKinley, more commonly known as Bill, in 1999. Just over two years ago, McKinley passed away at a consumer electronics show, and Wayne Smedile, long-time business associate, stepped in.

Founding Principles Continue to Shape Paragon’s Future

“The way the company has gone since I took over has definitely changed a little bit [in terms of] direction,” Smedile said.

“But it’s still founded on certain principles that I agreed with and that I believe in.”

For Smedile, these principles include: to be in touch with clients, and to be faceto-face with them; to provide immediate and outstanding service; and to be able to deliver value, with an emphasis on meeting the customer’s needs. This also includes keeping abreast of understanding what those needs are, and knowing customers well enough to anticipate their future needs and wants.

McKinley was extremely dedicated to Paragon, and he had been planning to retire within the next three years, which would have been around 2019. Smedile emphasized that he has been honored to take over McKinley’s business, describing McKinley as a well-respected man of integrity.

“That’s how he ran the company, and that’s how I run the company,” Smedile said. “That’s part of our formula for success.”

Utilizing a Hands-On Approach to Training and Education

Smedile’s own background prepared him to step in to take over the company when it was necessary. He worked for 10 years for a retailer, specifically as a shop manager. Smedile then went on to work as a sales representative for Alpine Electronics for around 13 years, gradually moving into owning his own automotive specialty customizing business for a year and a half.

His career also includes some time in sales in other industries, but he eventually found his way back to the car audio industry. Smedile worked with McKinley for three years before McKinley passed away.

One of the things that makes Paragon Sales & Marketing unique as a company is that many of the team members have a strong technical background, according to Smedile. This aids in training and education.

“They understand the vehicles we work on today, and they understand the technical skills,” Smedile said. “We can sell customers DSP products and literally come into their store and walk them through the applications of it, all the way down to setting up and tuning, and that’s a big part of the car audio business today.”

A number of shops have not embraced this, according to Smedile, due to the significant investment in training and education. Paragon seeks to bring those things to these businesses, as well as providing leadership in the future of car audio.

On top of this, Paragon also represents a number of other premium products, including Orca Design and Manufacturing, and AudioControl, which was one of the first companies the venture began to work with, among others. Most recently, the company added Opal Solutions as a training and supply company for those working in 12-volt.

In terms of on-the-ground training, Paragon also offers mobile options to help make shop trainings more available. The business handles a lot of one-on-one training, as well as in-store

training with retailers. “We spend a lot of time with them helping them to learn how to set up cars,” Smedile said, going on to add that Paragon always has a training emphasis in mind.

“We think the next generation of those to get in to the mobile electronics industry will be completely new to it, so we want to be on the forefront of that,” Smedile noted. “We want to help the industry on that side of it.”

Studying Demographics to Meet the Needs of the Market

In his time with the company, Smedile has found that there have often been holes in the market in which there was an insufficient number of dealers, and while those needs have been met, it draws attention to needing to address these issues as they arise.

Smedile noted that when he worked for Alpine, the business would take a look at a given market, and would decide that if there wasn’t a dealer in a 20- or 30-mile area, it was something that needed to be addressed.

The company endeavors to bring the product closer to the customer. Smedile recommended that approach to the business, as well as taking a closer look at the demographics in any given market. Two retailers right down the street from one another could cater to two completely different markets within the same area.

“[It’s about] market distribution, evaluating that, and not only finding new business opportunities, but better serving the market for the manufacturers,” Smedile said. “Most of all of them want additional sales and more growth.”

Focused on Training, Growth and Building Relationships

Looking ahead, Smedile hopes to continue to expand on training as well as helping retailers become better trained at what they do and also eventually becoming better staffed.

Smedile also noted that a lot of retailers are relying on those already in the industry to facilitate training. The problem with this model, however, is that those numbers are dwindling, due to some leaving the industry—among other reasons, he said.

To keep his team on the cutting edge of future developments, Smedile encourages team members to stay involved with as many industry-related opportunities as possible, and to stay on top of it. He also emphasized that there is a lot of interpersonal sharing within the company, which includes four sales reps, Smedile himself and an employee who works in administrator position.

“McKinley had some of the best relationships with customers I’ve ever seen,” Smedile said. “That’s the direction I’m taking and encouraging all my guys to take as well. Get to know these people and have long-term relationships. It’s not about a quick sale today. It’s about helping them see their business in 10 to 20 years and have a relationship with them and planning to do business with them for the long haul.”