Empress Audio & Marine

By continuing to build upon a solid foundation, Empress Audio & Marine demonstrates that a business with a reliable structure can persevere and thrive in the face of difficult times.

FAST FACTS

Main Location: Pascagoula, Miss.

Number of Locations: 3

Square Footage: 5-7,000

Type: Traditional Retail

Number of Employees: 21

MAIN FOCUS: 50% Car Audio40% Marine Audio10% Window Tint

KEY STAFF

Owner: Floyd Seal

General Manager: Raymond Ladner

Story by: Rosa Sophia

For almost 46 years, Empress Audio & Marine in Pascagoula, Miss. has been offering 12-volt products and services. Prior to that, owner Floyd Seal installed vinyl roofs in vehicles—but the mobile electronics industry soon became his focus when he was offered work installing car radios. “As things progressed, my business went into retail and we basically became an audio store. Now we’re 90 percent retail and about 10 percent expeditor work,” he said, adding, “We’ve been in car audio since 1975.”

Today, the 21-employee business has three locations including the main Pascagoula store—one in Gulfport, and one in Mobile, Ala. which opened in September 2018. The main location has about 7,000 square feet, and the smallest store offers 5,000, with all locations having plenty of space for sizable bays and a showroom. Each store covers a wide variety of categories, including car audio, marine audio and powersports, window tint, motorcycles and lighting. The marine

side has grown the most in the last five years—from about 10 percent of the shop’s revenue to roughly 40 percent. “It’s easier to do higher numbers in marine because the ticket sizes are so much larger for us,” Seal added.

Around the end of January, the shop focuses on advertising marine audio offerings. “We’ve created a market,” Seal said. “Five or six years ago, there were very few nice systems on boats here. We started building them, and people came in. Now we have a lot left to grow.”

Business Structure Ensures Stability

Instead of having managers at each store, Seal said it’s just himself and his general manager, Raymond Ladner. Although the business once had store managers, sales managers and install managers, he noted this changed during the 2008 recession. Out of necessity, the business learned to adapt, doing more business with less people—which also aided in keeping things going during the

current pandemic. “We raised commission rates, and it’s worked out well,” he added. “We have a very efficient staff.”

With about five salespeople—including Seal and Ladner—and six technicians, the company has continued to produce impressive numbers, he said, adding that the only comparable experience occurred after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Additionally, technicians will help out on the salesfloor if necessary. “That’s happened a lot recently, especially in the last 60 days,” Seal said. The company offers a 401-K and a rewarding commission scale.

“At KnowledgeFest, we networked and listened to some of the guys. As a result, we went to a billable hour about two years ago, and our team loves it. If the job calls for two hours, you might say, ‘I bet I can knock this out in an hour,’ and they still get paid two hours billable labor anyway,” Seal explained. “Our productivity has increased considerably. It was a side-effect we weren’t expecting.”

Employees tend to stick around for the

long haul, according to Seal, who said the longest-tenured employee has been with the company for 31 years. Others have been with Empress for 18 to 20 years. However, he stated that while the business doesn’t have a lot of turnover, finding the qualified help is still difficult, as it is with many other shops.

High Standards Met Through Strict Installation Procedures

Monthly or once per quarter—depending on how overloaded the stores are—the company will hold a staff meeting or share a meal together. “We’re really burned out right now,” Seal said. “On Saturday afternoons, we close at four, so we’ll do conference calls with staff at other stores to address any issues, mostly related to pricing changes or things going on with vendors.”

Seal said while the difficulties are few, he feels this is mainly due to running a very strict business with the main focus of upholding the company’s long-standing positive reputation in the community. “I’m very hard to work for,” he admitted. “At the same time, [what’s expected] is understood [when someone joins the team]. We don’t have a lot of issues. We’re all on the same team, and we’re just trying to do it right the first time.”

Technicians are expected to do a checklist inspection of the vehicle prior to working on a project, and after the job is complete. The process is applied to boats, as well. “If we see a crack in the dash, for example, our policy is to call the customer and ask them whether or not they were aware. When they say, ‘yes,’ we continue with the job,” Seal said. “If a tech makes a mistake like cutting a door panel, and if we have to buy a new one, I’ll pay for half and the technician will pay for half. We live and die by our reputation, and we’re very strict. If something goes wrong, what does that do to your reputation? If they come back, the customer would be saying, ‘I sure hope they get it right this time.’”

Empress doesn’t follow a specific technique in terms of sales, he added, though some of the salespeople follow top-down selling procedures. “We focus on selling the customer what they need,” he said. “I don’t care if they are buying something

for $500, or if they’re buying a $5,000 system. I just want to help them find what they need for the money they’re willing to spend.”

Once he knows the customer’s budget, Seal educates them on what’s available within their price range. Often, the customer starts by looking at a lower-cost Rockford Fosgate marine speaker, Seal added, but will listen to a JL Audio product and decide to spend more. “I don’t try to upsell. We just listen to the customer.”

Embracing the Internet to Increase Revenue

While it’s a controversial topic, Seal chose to use Internet sales as a tool to grow his business. Currently, Empress has its own online store on the business’s website, and it also sells on Amazon. The Empress Audio & Marine website is nowhere near finished, Seal said, but locals will order online and schedule installation. “We sell very little on the Internet,” he added. “We are authorized by some vendors to sell online. We aren’t

strong in e-commerce, but we have the opportunity to grow it.”

Four years ago, Seal said the business’s numbers began to flatten. Rather than allow the Internet to take business away, he chose to embrace it. He added that some of his friends didn’t agree with his decision. “It wasn’t popular with my general manager or my salespeople at first, but here’s the way I saw it—if you’re going to grow your business, I think you have to be competitive with the Internet.”

As a result, Empress Audio & Marine will install products that have been purchased on the Internet by customers, even though there are both pros and cons to this policy. “It is frustrating when people bring in things that you didn’t sell, and they want you to put it on,” Seal said. “But don’t be negative about it. We will install that product. We make that customer.” Part of the procedure involves bringing the customer to an understanding that the shop could have saved them money on both product and installation.

In fact, customers will often return the Internet-purchased product and buy from Empress. Installation rates drop when the client purchases product from the shop, Seal added.

When the customer comes in with Amazon-purchased product, Seal said he doesn’t push them in any one direction— but he will ask them why they chose to purchase online. “They’ll say, ‘Convenience.’ Most people are buying on the Internet for convenience.” He added that he doesn’t think it’s about the cheapest price anymore, but rather about the ease of ordering. “They’re home, they buy it online and they bring it here to get it installed. Then I’ll ask, ‘Did you use Prime?’ If they say yes, I say, ‘That’s great, because you can send it back.’ Customers will often send product back and buy from us.”

The most important aspect, he noted,

is the local customer service. “We make sure you get the right equipment, we design the system, and if you have a problem, it’s our problem,” he said. “You won’t get that with Amazon. We’ve taken the reason for anyone to buy on the Internet out of the equation.”

Seal believes selling online helps lend credibility to the business. “Customers can shop what you have online,” he explained, adding that an employee at the Mobile, Alabama shop manages the online store. The user-friendly software allows for easy updates or price changes. Empress Audio & Marine will even offer do-it-yourselfers advise and expertise. While they might be able to get such advice from Crutchfield, Seal said, he’d rather they get it from his own store. “This is why our business is growing. It’s about relationships.” However, the negative aspect of selling products on Amazon

is having to deal with returns. “It’s just an expense of doing business online.”

Focused On Continuing Present Growth

Mississippi hasn’t experienced the complete COVID-19 shut-downs as deeply as other states, according to Seal, which likely accounts for continued business since the beginning of the pandemic. “We’ve been consistently busy,” Seal said, adding that they’re nearly out of product in many cases. “Our numbers are up across the board, from marine to car audio to tint. I think some of those categories are growing.” The recent government stimulus definitely helped, but Seal noted that a few other factors contributed. “We have shipyards here and oil

refineries,” he said, adding that someone who owns a boat and works at a refinery isn’t necessarily going to stop spending money. “A lot of shops around the country were made to shut down. And once you shut down, even for two weeks, much less than two months, it’s hard to get rolling again,” Seal added. “I recently hired a good technician out of New Orleans because the shop where he worked had to shut down.”

As for continued training, Seal added that the wide availability of online training due to COVID-19 has been a boon for both his business and the industry. With so many clients, Seal said there hasn’t been much time to attend product or vendor trainings. “Training is an area we’re very weak in,”

he added, noting that he hopes more online trainings will be recorded for on-demand viewing to fit more rigid schedules.

Despite the pandemic, he anticipates a record year ahead. He also hopes to add new product to displays, and he expects the demand for larger floating screens—similar to the Halo9—will only continue to increase in the industry overall. The newest store of the three, located in Mobile, Alabama, is currently doing well. “We were having good growth even before the stimulus money. We’ve had an increase almost every year for many years. In the near future,” Seal added, “I just want to focus on making these stores the best they can be and continue to grow.”