What’s Happening

Future Forecast

How can retailers stay ahead of the game? Industry professionals discussed recent trends, store culture and connecting with consumers during KnowledgeFestWest.Live.

WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA

Keynote addresses at KnowledgeFest have always focused on current events, issues and trends. This year, although two events were held entirely online, each keynote provided industry perspectives and useful advice for business owners and other professionals to take and apply to their shops.

During the Friday keynote for KnowledgeFestWest.Live, Dave Elkin of DOW Technologies shared how the company has responded to product shortages and challenges within the past year that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Elkin advised listeners to focus on what they are able to control instead of what they can’t.

Working on the business, he said, involves taking a step back and perceiving it from the eyes of the customer. While economic impacts and difficulties in the market certainly affect businesses, retailers can still work to improve and make positive change.

During Sunday’s keynote address—the CMA Live KnowledgeFest Roundtable hosted by Ben Woo—Chris Cook, president of MEA, said his biggest concern are the shops currently struggling to get better.

“If you can’t market yourself, you won’t be successful as a retailer or as a human being. I don’t worry about businesses like Five Star Car Stereo or Traffic Jams Motorsports—I worry about the 1.5- to two-star stores that are trying to improve,” he said, adding, “What keeps me up at night are the retailers who can be better…but choose not to be.”

Incorporating the ADAS Category

During the past year, experts in the industry have continued to recommend shops expand into ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). During Saturday’s keynote address, “Aftermarket Safety: Should You Dabble or Dive Deep?”, Cook interviewed Steve Witt of Driver Safety Technology. Witt noted that one of the biggest things retailers should keep in mind is that many consumers still don’t know they can incorporate these technologies into their vehicles.

Because of this, Witt said, “I want to encourage the retailers who are listening to look at how you could become the experts in your market.” The first step, he said, is to become very intentional and build a strategy. “Start to create that culture and create that awareness.” Stores, he added, must let customers know they can acquire blind spot detection from them, blind spot cameras and lane departure, to name a few technologies.

“Start the promotion even just locally,” he said, “and that will start to build the awareness.” He explained that such promotions will “dovetail” with big automakers’ efforts, as well as online advertising and content marketing focused on these products.

Of course, technicians need to know how to install these technologies, and Cook asked Witt if he felt that educating installers would be a hurdle to overcome. Learning how to work with these technologies, Witt explained, is no different than applying oneself to learning anything else new in the industry.

“Think about 25 years ago when highend amplifier and speaker manufacturers said there’s big business in subwoofers,” he said. “What did we do? We had to learn the fabrication and principles of

building a good subwoofer box. We had to understand it. The safety category is the same. It’s a learning curve, but once you’re over that learning curve, you can make these routine installs in the bay and profit greatly from being an expert in the market.”

Witt added that he feels resources and education are largely the responsibility of the suppliers. DST has been working with Kris Bulla and MECP to help develop and make available some base-level knowledge, he added. “We will have a very intensive training and certification program. Without that, retailers will struggle and customers will be disappointed.”

Additionally, selling ADAS technologies is a bit different, he said. Salespeople who focus on car audio are accustomed to selling products “to make people happy and make driving joyful,” Witt noted, adding that the safety category requires retailers to look at their selling strategies and even their store culture.

The technology makes a vehicle safer to operate, whether it’s a family vehicle used by teenagers or adults, he said. “It’ll also help keep insurance premiums lower because there will be less accidents. The overall insurance market will be more friendly. We even have some insurance companies now offering incentives with some of this technology.” These focal points, Witt added, means the selling strategy is a bit different because the reasons to purchase are different.

At KnowledgeFestWest.Live, DST presented a “soft launch” of the new Omni View 360 Surround View Camera System, according to Witt, who invited listeners to visit www.driversafetytech.com and fill out the contact page to receive more information from the company.

Adapting to the Year’s Challenges

To kick off Sunday’s KnowledgeFest Roundtable, Ben Woo introduced listeners to the panelists: Chris Cook, president of MEA; Dean Beyett of Five Star Car Stereo in Clearwater, Fla.; Jeff Smith, the director of training and events for AAMP Global; and Ron Venable, general manager of Traffic Jams Motorsports in Buford, Ga. The panel discussed how difficulties resulting from COVID-19 forced the industry to adjust, and Cook noted the biggest adjustment for the Mobile Electronics Association:

“We’re sitting here because of an adjustment we had to make, and that’s to go virtual,” he said. “We knew it was important to stay in front of retailers.” Additionally, MEA helped early on by providing resources to retailers (www. meahelp.com), including assistance with PPP loans, and business and crisis

management. “We had to look inside and say, ‘What should we do?’ I’ll be the first to say I don’t like this virtual format, but because the only other option is nothing, it’s great to have,” Cook added.

Despite everything, the industry has adapted and found ways to connect. “We did what we had to do. This time, we put together an event for folks on the west coast. After the first KnowledgeFest.Live, they said they wanted one held on their time zone.” He noted MEA is looking forward to being in-person in the future on the west coast for KnowledgeFest Long Beach.

According to Jeff Smith, product backorders and reaching core customers with important information have been key challenges during the previous year for AAMP Global. However, the company adapted by focusing on online training formats and creating a library of resources for dealers. He added that “it’s easier for me to get feedback from a dealer one-on-one, versus doing big broadcast trainings.”

During one-on-one trainings, Smith noted dealers are more likely to feel comfortable asking questions they might refrain from asking during a larger training session.

From a retailer standpoint, Ron Venable also underscored the difficulty with inventory. Fortunately, Traffic Jams Motorsports began the year with plenty of stock. Venable said eventually they began to run low.

“We’ve been busier than ever before,” he added. “You have the business, but if you don’t have the product, it gets hard to finish projects. It affected the way we buy. The minute you hear someone has the product you need, you try to buy as much of it as you can.”

Woo underscored how everyone in the industry has had to pivot without hesitation, to keep going in the hopes these difficulties would pass.

Beyett added that despite issues resulting from COVID-19, Five Star Car Stereo’s social media platform has been gaining traction and attracting even more attention from consumers. “A lot of people are consuming our content,” he said, noting that with weekend car shows and other events on hold, car audio aficionados continued expressing interest. “They’re going to where it’s at—and right now it’s on the Internet.”

Embracing Positive Store Culture

Having a solid foundation in place will help a retailer overcome difficulties, including those faced this past year. Five Star Car Stereo and Traffic Jams Motorsports have worked to remain in touch with customers.

“You have to keep an interest,” Venable said. “When we work on a car, we post pictures and give clients updates. This engages them more and they enjoy the updates, even if it’s something you’re doing in one day.”

When the shop posts the updates on social media, the client gets to see the post and so does everyone else, Venable added. “Content is king. It’s about the projects and the work, whether it’s window tint, a tire rotation, or the coolest audio system. You have to post it so someone can see it.”

Other panelists agreed staying on top of social media has to be part of the protocol and the business’s strategy to stay connected. Five Star Car Stereo has recently refocused on a show presented on Instagram called “Five Minutes with Five Star,” which Beyett said often

becomes an update for a client on the progress of their project. “We’ll show what we’ve done on the car in the install bay, and the customer will have already watched the video on Instagram,” he explained.

When it comes to store culture, Beyett said Five Star has a small team, which means everyone has to be on the same page. The goal is always to ensure every customer has the best possible experience.

For Smith and AAMP Global, brand culture is much more involved. “Everything has to work in unison and everyone has to be rolling in the same direction,” Smith said. “If a product launches and we don’t get information out to retailers, they won’t know a solution is available for the customer, and it becomes a fail on our end.” The entire team needs to work together in order to reach the end user, and help the retailer know how to educate their employees to properly sell a product, Smith explained.

On the retailer side, Venable said “everyone has to be well-versed in what it takes to be a Traffic Jams team member.” This past year, Traffic Jams Motorsports was the recipient of the Store Culture Award from Mobile Electronics magazine.

“When I’m trying to build a brand, it’s easier when someone is present who cares about the brand and store as much as I do,” he said. “You can’t have a brand or a store with high expectations and not mean it. The Store Culture Award was very exciting for us because we do believe our brand and culture is different from anyone else’s, and we put a lot of effort into it.” Venable added that the first time the store pursued an industry award, they lost, but “it fueled the fire and made us better.”

The panelists agreed that without a healthy, positive store culture, the culture will become toxic for the business. Cook said the aim of KnowledgeFest is to get industry experts—and those who’ve harnessed positive store culture—to teach what they know and share their information and resources to improve the industry as a whole.

“Every retailer, every businessperson and every manufacturer needs to do what’s best so customers are impressed with the industry and want to spend more money with us,” Cook said, adding, “Communication is important to developing good store culture. Take time to communicate. It’s a relationship between you and your employees that your customers will see.”

KnowledgeFest Responds to Industry Feedback

During the first KnowledgeFest.Live, Mobile Electronics Association offered 65 hours of content over three days. Chris Cook, president of MEA, noted during a KnowledgeFestWest.Live keynote address that this amount proved

to be too much at one time. “A lot of people went back and watched presentations after the fact,” he said. “Being able to watch them again and use these trainings as a resource is great.”

The presentations will continue to be archived to provide a central location for education, he noted. The second online KnowledgeFest provided about 45 hours of education, instead.

“We looked for the best way to deliver the content. This is just a different dynamic for learning,” he said, adding, “I’m looking forward to the next in-person KnowledgeFest event.”