ProSource Insider Spring 2017 by ProSource

Spring 2017

Elite Media Solutionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Secrets for Success The CTA Integrator of the Year Speaks Out!

Orlando Summit Report: The People, The Products, The Growth

Live From San Antonio: The ProSource Vendor Awards

A Security Tidal Wave is Coming. Is Your Business Ready?

Stargazing never sounded so good ...

FROM THE

PROSOURCE

By David J. Workman CEO/President ProSource

TECHNOLOGY INSIDER GROUP Managing Director CAROL CAMPBELL (323) 309.7673 • carol@TechnologyInsiderGroup.com

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief MAUREEN JENSON (310) 806.1507 • Mjenson86@gmail.com Managing Editor DOUGLAS WEINSTEIN (714) 865.5106 • doug@TechnologyInsiderGroup.com

CREATIVE

CEO CAT TOOMEY (317) 514.5546 • cattoomey22@gmail.com Graphic Design LEIGH MILLER

PROSOURCE™ 109 River Oaks Drive, Suite 150 Southlake, TX 76092 CEO/President DAVE WORKMAN (817) 428-5212 • Dave.Workman@Prosourceinfo.com Director of Finance & Operations JESSICA PASKON (817) 431-2240 • Jessica.Paskon@Prosourceinfo.com

THE CELESTIAL The CelestialSERIES Series The Celestial Series

Director of Membership SHERRY DANTONIO (562) 810-1706 • Sherry.Dantonio@Prosourceinfo.com Director of Business Development ANDY OROZCO (954) 562-3312 • Andy.Orozco@Prosourceinfo.com Director of Field Management TIM BASHFORD (513) 319-8228 • Tim.Bashford@Prosourceinfo.com Director of Marketing Communications KATHLEEN MARINI (708) 548-4273 • Kathleen.Marini@Prosourceinfo.com Published by:

Apply now to become a dealer for this exclusive line of loudspeakers. There’s Nothing like them on heaven or earth. Publisher of The Insider Newsletter TechnologyInsiderGroup.com © ProSource Insider 2017, All Rights Reserved

We Are Stronger When We Work Together The evolution of ProSource has brought new advances in member/vendor partnerships across premium brands, enabling our group to expand our purchasing volume to unprecedented levels. Adoption of new technologies and new product/service platforms “Talent wins continues to strengthen our alliance. But at the end of games, but the day, it’s about individuals – the people who manage teamwork and and run our member and vendor companies. Together, through personal contacts at our Town Hall meetings intelligence win and Summit events, we continue to build a stronger championships.” group by developing and building stronger partnerships. — Michael Jordan 2016 was another bellwether year for the group. Purchasing volume up – check. More Top 100 CE Pro dealers than all other groups combined – check. Dealer of the Year from the Consumer Technology Association – check. (Congrats to Brian! See his interview inside.) As you’ll read in our Summit Recap Section, we’ve increased our educational offerings at our Spring and Fall events. I think that education is a powerful tool for our members, as an educated group makes smarter decisions. You’ll also read about our focus on selling more premium audio products, as well as more profitable multi-room audio solutions. ProSource is the largest buying group in the industry. We have the very best members and the best vendors. But being the biggest is only part of our story. The real reason we are the best group in the industry is because we listen to what our members and vendors are telling us. We get incredibly valuable input from you and we listen very carefully to what you are telling us. Ideas about what your needs are and how we can improve as a group. We then do our research and define a set of realistic goals, and finally set a course for execution of our plan. So please continue to let us know how we can improve and work together to strengthen our alliance. As Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” We are all individuals looking out for our businesses, and I believe if our members continue to build partnerships with our vendors, based on individual people coming together and working together, ProSource as a group will continue to prosper.

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Spring 2017

DEPARTMENTS 3F ROM THE PROSOURCE by Dave Workman 8N EWS Welcome New Members; Digital Marketing Update; The Latest ProSource Team Members; The New PRO and Power Members; Money in Free TV; Welcome New Vendors 13

26 S ECURITY UPDATE A security tidal wave is coming. Is your business ready? 36 1 5 MINUTES WITH… Rick Huggins District Manager-West 38 P RODUCT SHOWCASE The latest offerings from our valued vendor partners

Introducing the A1E BRAVIA OLED TV from Sony

FEATURES

The new A1E BRAVIA OLED TV combines the infinite contrast and black levels of OLED with image enhancement from Sony’s renowned X1 Extreme processor. True reality comes to life with perfect black and color. Sony’s OLED TV creates exquisite, unprecedented contrast with over 8 million precisely and individually controlled self-illuminating pixels.

16 T HE SUMMIT REPORT FROM ORLANDO The people, the products, the business priorities 28 M EMBER SPOTLIGHT Elite Media Solutions highlights 40 years of success

Contact your local Manufacturer’s Representative to learn more about the revolutionary new A1E BRAVIA OLED TV, and to learn more about the award-winning Sony CIS program for custom integrators.

34 SAN ANTONIO Vendor of the Year Awards and meeting recap

For more details, visit sonypremiumhome.com 4K HDR X1 Extreme & HDR remaster

Use of this TV requires consent to Google Terms of Use and Privacy Policy 1. Select Android TVs are compatible with Google Home. (product sold separately)

12 S TATE OF THE BUSINESS Dave Workman reviews 2016 and dealers receive their awards for a job well done

©2017 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Motionflow, TRILUMINOS, X-tended Dynamic Range and the Sony logo are trademarks of Sony Corporation. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. Screen images simulated. SPRING|2017

A WARM WELCOME to the Latest Members of the ProSource Team

Rick Huggins District Manager - West

Samantha Summerville District Manager – South Central

CONGRATULATIONS to our new PRO Member and our additional member elevations! OUR NEW PRO MEMBER: MICRO CENTER, HILLARD, OH PRO MEMBER ELEVATIONS: • Acoustic Sound Design, Post Falls, ID • HIDEF Lifestyle, Harrisburg, PA • Sound Distributors, Las Vegas, NV • Starpower Home Theater, Dallas, TX

POWER MEMBER ELEVATIONS INCLUDE: • Audiolab Stereo & Video Center, Fairless Hills, PA • Audio Video Intelligence, North Easton, MA • Lee Hartman & Sons, Roanoke, VA • Natural Sound, Framingham, MA • Sundown One, Springfield, IL • Wipliance, Bellevue, WA

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR. Are You Ready? Recent media reports there will soon be free TV everywhere. How will the ProSource member capitalize on this? One such way is to look at the ATSC 3.0 big opportunity: • Roll Out Starts in 2018 • 4K Broadcast - full band width • Up to and including Dolby ATMOS surround sound • All Mohu Antennas 4K Ready http://www.gomohu.com/ • 54 million “4K” TVs were in consumers’ homes as of the end of 2016 (CTA data) • Another 8 million will be sold this year

•N ot a single one of them has an ATSC 3.0 tuner in them • Mohu will have a solution - Next Generation Airwave. You will have a reason to touch every customer you sold a “4K” TV to over the past several years • Opportunities: Mohu solution, ATMOS receivers, Speakers to support ATMOS, Installation services

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Welcome ProSource New Vendors “All new vendors are fully vetted by our committees to ensure that the general membership has the best opportunity to succeed with new products and services,” said Andy Orozco, ProSource Director of Business development. “ I’m very proud of the work our committee members have done in selecting new partners for ProSource. We are lucky to have such a wonderful group

of dealers volunteering their time for the benefit of all group members. The combined years of experience are an incredible resource for us. “Please welcome the following new partners to the ProSource family. Each stood out as not only having great products but also a willingness to go above and beyond when it comes to dealer support.”

ACOUSTIC INNOVATIONS, the industry’s premier designer, manufacturer and installer of all the elements of Theater in the Home environments for the last 25 years is a new member of the ProSource network. EM-ESL X

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NEWS

Dave Workman:

ProSource President and CEO on STATE OF THE BUSINESS We Are Growing Stronger Everyday! “I wake up every morning anticipating ways we can help our membership succeed, prosper and grow,” stated ProSource President and CEO Dave Workman as he kicked off the ProSource 2017 Summit in Orlando in March. For Workman growth is paramount as he told conference attendees that ProSource added a record 58 new dealers in 2016 to its existing 482, an impressive group total of 540 dealer members. In addition, Dave explained the group’s Dave Workman: “Succeed, prosper and grow.” 2016 in review highlights including that the “grow from within” philosophy produced seven member elevations, including four PRO Member Elevations. PRO members generate a minimum of approximately $10,000,000 in annual sales. The four members are:

• • • •

Starpower Home Theater, Dallas, TX Acoustic Sound Design, Post Falls, ID HiDEF Lifestyle, Harrisburg, PA Sound Distributors, Las Vegas, NV

There were also three Power Member Elevations. Power members generate a minimum of approximately $4,000,000 in annual sales • Wipliance, Bellevue, WA • Natural Sound, Framingham, MA • Audio Video Intelligence, Easton, MA “It is obvious that with ProSource it is all about quality membership,” said Workman. “ProSource’s membership includes representation of half of the CE Pro 100, our annual list of the highest-revenue integrators, as

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well as top volume dealers for manufacturers such as Control4 and Elan; and numerous 2016 award winners. “The list goes on and on, and I can’t think of a list that comes close to this so congratulate yourselves. We have a more stringent vetting process for members in this group than we have ever had before, and as a result the quality we’re bringing into this organization has been raised substantially.” Other 2016 success highlights Workman mentioned included:

• C ONTINUED FOCUS ON OUR STRENGTHS in the areas of premium TV, Audio and CI-focused brands. These categories grew for our vendor partners and members during the year. • A NNOUNCEMENT OF FIRST QUARTER DUES abatement for the membership. • O PERATIONAL SUCCESS in the form of a new member portal, new public website, EFT implementation completed for fast and secure member benefit payments. • G REATER MEMBER COMMUNICATION as a core responsibility of the District Management team. • G REATER FOCUS on quality education at the Summit and Spring Meetings. • F ORMING THE IoT COMMITTEE to research and develop a recurring revenue model for the membership.

The town hall meeting at the Summit is another favored event.

“ProSource has partnered with the finest collection of audio manufacturers of ANY of the Buying Groups.”

Continued Workman, “We are also focusing our 2017 in areas of the country strategies on two new initiatives: The Membership the group sees as underCommittee and the Marketing Committee. The purpose penetrated.” He showed of the Membership Committee is to identify opportunities a heat map of member and areas to improve member services, engagement and representation in the health. Participants may U.S. that assist in the recruitment illustrated —D ave Workman, of high level dealers. The how even the ProSource President Marketing Committee will seemingly and CEO strive to provide feedback saturated to the ProSource 2017 areas—The marketing program. The West Coast, goal is to create demand Eastern seaboard and Florida—could be and drive sell-through of better served, as ProSource eyes raising group brands.” [For details total membership to 750 to 800 dealers as on the new ProSource part of a five-year plan. Digital Marketing plan see There is no growth without the solid this issue’s News section]. support of the vendors and Workman was quick to point that out, “ProSource is the The town hall meeting audio group! We have set the stage to sell at the Summit is another Dave Workman: ”Growth strategy of 40 to 50 new members better solutions for multi-room audio with favoured event. This anticipated.” partnerships with Bose, DTS, HEOS and no-holds-barred meeting is MusicCast. We dominate the upscale portion of the audio a time for honest discussion between dealers and vendors business but needed to round out our representation of and featured information on the 2017 recurring revenue brands in the higher-end pure luxury segment. ProSource model strategy. has partnered with the finest collection of audio Circling back to the growth though, Workman said, manufacturers of ANY of the Buying Groups.” PS “We anticipate a growth strategy of 40 to 50 more members

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PROSOURCE SUMMIT 2017 DEALER OF THE YEAR AWARDS This is just the beginning... Meticulous engineering meets legendary performance with professional-grade build quality right down to the hand-selected components. Contact your representative today and arrange to experience the unprecedented Research Series by Integra® North Central Region – Tom Priola, Primetime Audio/Video.

North East Region – Dave Gilbert, Hi-Fi Sales.

South East Region – Guy Ross, Synergy.

Mid-West Region – Kirby and Cindy Gaboury, Audio ETC.

South Central Region – Shawn Hansson, Logic Integration.

PRO Member Vendor of the Year – Tommy Kinstle of Crutchfield.

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS of PICTURE PERFECT SOUND

For 20 years, we’ve been meticulously handcrafting custom speakers and audiovisual treatments—and we’ve learned a lot along the way. But for us, it feels like just the beginning. Our passion for what we do is stronger than ever and we’re going to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible to bring our vision to life. Thank you for being here with us on every step of this journey. Cheers to being 20!

Now with: Shown: Edge Media Frame in Black Walnut with integrated Horizon soundbar

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W W W.LEONSPE AKERS.COM

IntegraHomeTheater.com www.facebook.com/IntegraHomeTheater ©2017 Onkyo U.S.A. Corporation. All rights reserved. All other logos, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Chromecast built-in is a trademark of Google Inc.

SUMMIT REPORT Jim Carroll:

VOICE RECOGNITION in Today’s World Jim Carroll, the CEO of the Connected Home Advisory and advisor to ProSource on the IoT (Internet Of Things) Committee, moderated a captivating panel on voice recognition now and pressing forward. His panelists included a fascinating group all involved in some aspect of voice recognition: Alex Capecelatro, founder/CEO, Josh. ai; Martin Plaehn, president/CEO, Control4; Dan Quigley, principal technical product manager, Amazon Alexa; and Dan Pye, corporate technology group, Harman. Carroll quickly pointed out that he was, “Excited to be on the stage with these thought leaders of voice recognition.” Indeed, the assembled group was quick to present their individual beliefs on where we are now and just how bright the future

Buzz Jensen inquires as to making money on voice recognition.

Jim Carroll, Connected Home Advisory; Alex Capecelatro, founder/CEO, Josh.ai; Martin Plaehn, president/ CEO, Control4; Dan Quigley, principal technical product manager, Amazon Alexa; and Dan Pye, corporate technology group, Harman.

might be for those dealers and integrators gearing up to bring some form of voice recognition control to their clients. Dan Quigley, principal technical product manager, Amazon Alexa, “The tech is at the nascent stage,

we are just starting to understand the complexities. There are some deep learning curves ahead in order for this understanding to occur. Amazon believes that voice will greatly improve the way people interact with technology.

We are at the stage where we were Said Alex Capecelatro, founder/ when touch screen technology CEO, Josh.ai: “If you are dealing with started.” VR you can use existing tools to tweak it. The system can be trained and we Said Martin Plaehn, president/ CEO of Control4, “Voice recognition works great on the “There is plenty of money to command side, but this is not spread around and there will a trivial process. It is rocket science. We have chosen to be plenty of money in voice.” spend our time looking at —D an Quigley, principal technical product where voice interaction is and manager, Amazon Alexa where do real families want VR in the house?” Commented Dan Quigley, “This are implementing tools to make the dealer’s job easier.” does represent a clear opportunity for the dealer who is going to be coming In light of the recent media up with the tweaks to customize the reports of Samsung TVs being able voice recognition for the particular to record what was going on in the homes, whether it is the kids’ names, home, the panel was pressed on voice peculiar accents, etc.” recognition having the same issues.

Said Dan Pye, corporate technology group, Harman. “Most of the systems are architected so there are a few ‘wake words’ so the customer is not being recorded unless he is giving instructions.” Added Martin Plaehn, “We are very tuned in to not impeding or destroying the revenue process for our integrators. We have 6,500 homes running Alexa now and we are learning a ton about personalization. We believe this will be a rising tide for the integrators.” Said Dan Quigley, “We can expand Alexa to be in smoke detectors, light switches, and so much more. With the Amazon Echo Dot it is very similar to how you guys were programming GUIs. We ship code every two weeks to the cloud. The homeowner will need you to integrate this into the home. There is plenty of money to spread around and there will be plenty of money in voice.” Concluded Alex Capecelatro, “Your clients can afford this technology throughout their 8,000 sq-ft homes. The new updates are to offer new innovation, not just change for changes sake. The system that you buy is staying modern. There will be new home commands you can ask it. There will be lots of reasons to go back and upsell the homeowner.” PS

CEDIA’s Dave Chic and Dave Pedigo.

Meeting customers at the Control4 booth. The Samsung booth at the Summit.

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Dave Peet and Mike Dyer, Sound United.

Jeremy Burkhardt updating the crowd on Origin Acoustics.

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SUMMIT REPORT

company

Deborah Smith:

SELL More Stereo!

Deborah Smith: “Integrators of today MUST have a detailed plan of attack on how to effectively market audio.”

“The time is now,” said Deborah Smith, of The Deborah Smith Group, long time industry icon and authority on audio sales. “We have to revitalize profits with a plan to dramatically increase sales of high margin stereo components. “You have to plan for selling high performance audio as you would lighting, shading or anything new. Audio has become a ‘business as usual category’ and it is not,” stated Smith to an enthralled ProSource crowd. Indeed, the industry has become complacent to an extent, as networking and streaming devices have taken center stage, with high performance audio not being in the forefront as it once was. According to Smith, the retailers/integrators of today MUST have a detailed plan of attack on how to effectively market audio, just like any other category. She outlined her ten-point plan below:

TEN POINT PLAN TO SELL MORE STEREO ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Step Step Step Step Step

1 - Evaluate Product Line Up 2 - Adopt a Sales Approach 3 - Showroom Experience Strategy 4 - Upselling Without a Showroom 5 - Art of the Demo

▪ Step ▪ Step ▪ Step ▪ Step ▪ Step

INTRODUCING THE MIRAGE

6 – Evaluate Your Sales Staff 7 – Create Your Sales Training Program 8 – Create Your Sales Management Program 9 – Evaluate Compensation Plans for Stereo 10 – Marketing and Events

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Carole Masuck, Milestone AV Technologies; Charlie Boornazian, Epson; Will Swari, Milestone AV Technologies.

Christopher Devine of Bang & Olufsen.

SUMMIT REPORT

SELL More Stereo! Cont.

A full house during the Orlando Summit.

Smith went on to state that, “Audio as a category is not dead! How can you sell today’s audio gear if you don’t know what it is, how can your customer know if they want it? “There are plenty of great new talking points when selling audio to the customer. The following topics all provide the sales person the following entry discussion points when selling audio: High-resolution audio technologies, MQA and Tidal, Atmos, 4K and OLED and Turntables and Vinyl all spark conversations that can lead to sales.” The benefits of great sound everywhere throughout the home must be discussed, including the outdoors.

“The Audio Industry isn’t dead, the dealers just stopped selling it.” — Deborah Smith, The Deborah Smith Group

It is common knowledge to people in the audio and video industry, but many people still don’t know they can have music on their patios and in their gardens. Continued Smith, “You have to train your sales people to introduce audio to EVERY customer that walks through the door. A well-known US dealer was at one point the largest Yamaha dealer in the US. They accomplished this by training the entire sales force to say immediately, ‘and what sound system do you want to hear with your big screen?’ This of course opened the door for discussion, and you always start with the best system. You never truly know what people can afford, never undersell your customer. You have to take the time with every potential customer and do the following three things: Create desire for better stereo, educate customers that they can hear the difference and show that audio is the determining factor in the wow home theater experience, not the size of the TV.” PS

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The LeGrand/Vantage/QMotion team: Matthew Flurer, Aaron Severtson, Rob Doherty, Julie Hazard.

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SUMMIT REPORT Brad Malone:

PROVEN WAYS

To Reduce Drama, Eliminate Waste and Boost Profits Brad Malone, partner of NAVIGATE Management Consulting, explained how streamlined the business management initially was and how confusing it has become today. The historical perspective of management is this model that worked fine in the beginning… You Sold>Delivered>Got Paid! Brad Malone: “Your team’s performance must be continually measured.” But this changed as you added in such positions as marketing and business development operations and install and service then administration…with procurement, accounting and HR. Then it became scores of other areas including company strategy, mission statements, and company culture and so many subcategories underneath these that until you have charts that only look exceedingly like strands of spaghetti intermittently linked; confusing and complex at best. Malone went on to highlight a variety of problematic common practices we “When management see today (but not with you, Ha!). • E ach group measures its own success by its own standards and metrics (and sees no need to change) • “ Blame” mentality prevails – “it’s them, not us” • L ack of capacity planning – even though summer “comes every year” • H urry attitude – don’t have time to follow “the process” – but then have to redo • N ot truly understanding the “downstream” ramifications of our actions • M easurement of activity and “busy-ness” vs. progress / performance • H igh attrition rate and a talent shortage results in higher cost of outsourced labor • T aking our best Lead Technicians and making them Project Managers • M anagement manages to personalities – not standards – morale suffers • E mployees not aware of how company “makes” or “loses” money

manages to personalities, and not to established standards, morale suffers.” —B rad Malone, partner Navigate Management Consulting.

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IREVEL: John Bevier of Audio Plus Services.

Autonomic’s: Krista Bergman-Haughey and Jenn LaBollita.

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SUMMIT REPORT

Proven Ways to Reduce Drama, Eliminate Waste and Boost Profits Cont.

Malone helped the audience to understand how to combat these issues through effective business management, “Management is only effective if you can determine how good your performance is and to properly measure performance the organization must be aligned with key business metrics. A business metric is a measurement

objectives. For your project effectiveness you apply structured knowledge, skills, tools, techniques and resources to project activities to meet requirements. “Then pushing forward, for the process efficiency, you establish guidelines and standards to activities necessary to design, develop, fabricate, integrate, program, and deliver a quality solution. But nothing gets done without a great team! Your team’s performance must create functional competence and aligned motivation structure, and allocate and utilize human resources to confidently produce the required results.”

THE FOLLOWING ARE CONSIDERATIONS EVERY BUSINESS OWNER MUST ASK HIMSELF:

A great time on the links: L-R - Jim Shapiro, Greg Dixon, Nick Berry, Shawn Hansson.

Naim’s Emmanuel Le Quere.

1) How Does Waste Get There? How Do We Find It? 2) Hold Thorough Project Kick-off Meetings 3) Problems With Procurement and Warehousing 4) Inventory and Stage Jobs Correctly 5) Reduce the Number of Extraneous Parts Runs 6) Escalate Project Scheduling Issues Early 7) Maximize Legitimate Change Order Use 8) Conduct Thorough Commissioning and Testing 9) Inventory: Return and Liquidate Returned and Unused Equipment James Shapiro fires questions during the Summit conference.

of performance; an ‘indicator’ (KPI). It tells us how well the business is meeting its goals and provides information that forms the basis of mature decisions and helps team members gauge performance and progress. “You will be moving towards organizational maturity when your portfolio contains, strategy, capacity and capability and, you can identify, prioritize, manage, and control opportunities and projects to achieve business

The Sony booth.

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Concluded Malone, “There has to be a transparent sharing of company goals and progress. You must establish standards and measure quality hand-offs to your team. Be able to identify, value and eliminate waste while developing and improving the capacity and capability to perform. “Your team’s performance must be continually measured and monitored in an aligned fashion where you reward good performance, improve poor performance and cultivate a great team!” PS

Jay and Joanne Miller of Acoustic Innovations.

Sony’s Frank Sterns answering questions at the town hall meeting.

Joey Perfito talking to customers at the Paradigm booth.

Chris Trojnar, Harman Luxury Audio.

Keynote legendary football coach Steve Spurrier. SPRING|2017

SECURITY UPDATE

So, the next logical step is to secure the system where all of your devices live—the network! When life safety devices,

A SECURITY TIDAL WAVE IS COMING— By: Michael Maniscalco, VP of Product, ihiji

Is Your Business Ready?

Things have changed quite a bit since I owned and operated an integration company. And while many things have gotten easier, it seems like there are always new concerns. When it comes to security, our industry has been lucky to have flown under the radar for so long. But now, more than ever, it is time to take network security seriously. Let’s face it. Hacking is a $445 Billion market and growing. Search “smart home hacks” on Google - the first few results are from credible sources such as CNBC, CNN, Network World with headlines like “Suddenly hot smart home devices are ripe for the hacking,” “Alarm grows as smart-home technology and hacking risks proliferate,”

Client Security Report: Ihiji has announced plans to incorporate network security audits as part of its client-facing reporting capabilities.

and “Smart home hacking is easier than you think.” With all of this talk, it is important that you and your team know the basics of how to discuss security with your customers, offer security as a service, and secure your clients’ systems. There are varying levels of security and privacy concerns. At a basic level, we want to protect our privacy. Privacy is a losing battle, so the next step is to ensure you’ve guarded your identity and your assets. Identity theft protection is readily available, your credit card companies protect your financial liabilities and your personal property is protected with an alarm system or video monitoring.

loss and novel new solutions to protect your privacy and security. While security may not seem like the most important thing in your business right now, it will continue to become a growing risk to your business and customers. Today, there is no silver bullet and network security can get complicated, so what can you do about it now? First, you can begin paying more attention to the risks and solutions so that you can confidently discuss these issues with concerned clients. Next, you can begin to put best practices in place to protect your business, systems, and customers. Finally, you can invest in education to offer clients solutions as this cat-and-mouse game continues to evolve. Hopefully, I’ll see you at the educational seminars that ProSource and CEDIA are putting together to navigate this hot issue. PS

Ihiji Invision ConnectNinja: The Ihiji ConnectNinja allows technicians to more securely access client systems remotely without the need for VPN policy oversight or vulnerable port forwards.

medical devices, water cut-off valves and cars all live on your network, it is imperative that we keep the network fortified. There is a building groundswell which may lead to a security tidal wave over the next few years. There will be many new threats, government intervention, real property

Until then, the Consumer Technology Association recently released a security check-list that you can download for free. You can also request a copy of the ihiji whitepaper “10 Best Practices to Make Your Client Networks More Secure” by emailing info@ihiji.com.

Speco Technologies is always looking to deliver the most cutting-edge products and to continuously increase the value of our customer’s purchase. By extending warranties, including accessories, having UL listed products paired with all of our value-added services, Speco continues to be the leader in creating ways to give you more.

“There is a building groundswell which may lead to a security tidal wave over the next few years. There will be many new threats, government intervention, real property loss and novel new solutions to protect your privacy and security.” —M ichael Maniscalco, VP of Product, ihiji

1.800.645.5516 • specotech.com

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Elite Media Solutions ProSource recently sat down with Brian Gibson, President and Founder of Elite Media Solutions, Wellesley, Massachusetts to find out how he built a 40-year old business, assembled a winning team, and his advice to the next generation of integrators. By Maureen Jenson

Maureen Jenson: Congratulations on being named Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Integrator of the Year; what do these accolades mean to you and your team?

guesswork out of what to do in any given situation. We are proud that we pay our employees well above industry averages. It took many years to assemble a team that totally and without question understands what it means to be elite. MJ: How long have you been a ProSource member and why did you join ProSource as opposed to some of the other groups?

Brian Gibson: We have been a member of CTA for many years, it is immeasurable the work that they do to for their members. Allowing our voices to be heard in Congress, alerting us to issues in the industry and putting together our industry’s largest event: CES. Receiving this award is pure validation that striving to be and do your very best at every step in the business process truly pays rewards. From conception to completion and especially post installation, Elite Media Solutions’ goal is to leave our clients knowing that they made a wise choice in choosing us. You would think that after 30-plus years in the business, we might sit back. But no, we spend countless hours each and every week honing the process, updating and documenting procedures, finding new ways to do our jobs more efficiently. We have added a dedicated client relation’s manager to ensure that we deliver what we promised from start to finish and beyond. We are one of the highest revenue-to-employee firms in the business today. To achieve such success is a 100% team effort; using documented procedures takes the

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BG: Being part of ProSource since 2008, we joined because we wanted to be with the largest, most progressive buying group in the country that would have an enormous impact on our business. Sure, it’s great to know that you are getting the best pricing out there and it does help our bottom line, but more importantly it’s the people that you meet from all across the country. These integrators have openly shared their struggles and victories. It has been especially useful for us when this network has not been in our backyard and is not our competition. Helping us to understand that we are not alone with our challenges while we continue to learn new ways to win at what we do. It truly is a family of dealers that care for each other and we are proud to be a member. MJ: Why is attending the ProSource Summit important to you? BG: Attending the Summit is such a great chance to strengthen and build new relationships. We learn about the newest technology and trends in the industry and see and talk with vendors in an environment that is not 100% sales focused. Summit truly gives us a chance to have “real” conversations.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT MJ: Like Marcus in one of your favorite TV shows, The Profit, you have said it is people, process, products…tell

Elite Media Solutions Cont.

field that they are coming from, but their work attitude, willingness to learn, and common sense. MJ: Tell us about why you have partnered with some of your vendors? What do they do to make your life easier? Please go into detail on some of the support you receive.

BG: Vendor relationships are a key part of Elite’s business model and what helps make our business thrive. As a dealer, we found that there is never an opportunity to award a vendor for going above and beyond…so we created the Elite Gear Award! We started the Elite Gear Award because outstanding partnerships play such an essential role in our success; we thought it right to honor those vendors who go the extra mile for us. Recently, Elite Media Solutions was Brian Gibson, “We are one of the highest revenue-to-employee firms in the business today.” proud to acknowledge Sony for their exceptional contribution to our business. (We actually us more about your people. How many employees implemented two awards to recognize our vendor and top do you have? And what is the best way to assemble a local rep firm, Jarmac Marketing, in an effort to show our top-notch team? appreciation for their outstanding help and support.) The Elite Gear, so named for the pieces that keep any strong BG: We currently have seven employees and we like to machine moving forward, recognizes the top vendor who hire people new to the business. We like to get them while showed superior business practice and commitment to they are still “green” and then we can teach them the Elite our core principal. way. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to other professionals is to not be afraid to hire an employee on a trial basis to make sure that they are good fit. Sometimes when interviewing it can be hard to tell if someone is going to fit into the culture of the company; the trial period can be crucial.

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THE WEEKEND PARTY PLAYLIST, THE MUSIC POWERING YOUR WORKOUT.

All of it is your sound, and it matters to us. Making it sound right matters more than ever.

MJ: When it comes to the in-the-field tech guys, how have you been successful in finding the best? BG: As I mentioned in the previously, most of our employees have been with us for years and they have been trained from the ground up. When we look to hire new employees, our focus is not the

YOUR ECLECTIC VINYL COLLECTION,

For decades, here in the U.S. and abroad, sound has been our passion. Each of these brands provide a unique approach at bringing sound to life. And it’s a privilege to bring them together into a single entity we call Sound United.

SOUND UNITED IS YOUR SOUND — LISTEN. The EMS team: Marc Lussier, Installer; Cindy Meisenheimer, Operations; Patrick Corcorcan, Programming & System Design; Brian Gibson, Owner & President; Kona Gibson, Chief Happiness Pup; Chris Heos, Programming & System Design; Olivia Gibson, Marketing & Client Relations; Sean Farrell, Installer.

www.soundunited.com

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Elite Media Solutions Cont.

MJ: Any good anecdotes with vendors? Any good save-the-day stories and shout outs to exceptional guys and gals? BG: I have a couple of good shout-outs for a few: We were wrapping up a huge theater job and upsold the client on the Sony 5000 projector—as they wanted the latest and greatest—and they were just being released. One call to Sony and we got one of the first ones! Since working with Control4 they have made a tremendous effort to cultivate a relationship with Elite Media Solutions. As we approached our first major Control4 job we felt anxious despite having two certified programmers on the team - One Tech2. Control4 didn’t waste a breath and had a Control4 programmer on site to assist. The experience working with Control4 has just been above and beyond what we would expect from a vendor. Finally, Access Networks has been wonderful. Selling great product is one thing, but backing it up with amazing support sets them apart from their competitors. When our techs call from the field, Access Networks is always quick to resolve the issue. We have not run into an issue that they could not solve on site, that day - which we love because that means less truck rolls for us.

No job is too big or too small.

MJ: Slow, steady, smart sustainable growth has been your road to success. In today’s instant society do you think newbies in our industry have the patience and understanding to follow that example? What advice would you give them? BG: I would advise them that “Patience is a virtue.” That they will need to build relationships and reputation continually; it is not an instant, but a constant. They must remember that these are things that need to be worked on every day. They must never give up!

Outdoor growth, EMS uses outdoor speakers from Origin Acoustics and Paradigm, and outdoor lighting from Coastal Source.

MJ: What advice would you give to your younger self if this was over 30 years ago and you were just starting out? BG: Add alarm security to your offerings to build recurring revenue. MJ: Can you share where you would like Elite Media Solutions to be in five years? BG: We would like to achieve 30% growth, with the same high “Elite” standards that we utilize now - quality products, amazing customer service! PS

EMS plans to achieve 30% growth in the next five years.

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ProSource Rocks San Antonio!

Dave Workman, CEO/President ProSource, “We’ve assembled the best dealer partners that our vendors can possibly do business with.”

Joey Perfito, Keith Dowd and Chris Sipes, Paradigm/ Anthem, “Growing our brands with the dealer members is a key element of joining ProSource.”

A packed house at the ProSource Spring Meeting in San Antonio.

ProSource PRO and Power level dealers met in May for their annual Spring Meeting at the La Cantera Resort, San Antonio, TX. Events included the annual State of Business address, business roundtable meetings, audio demo suites and vendor awards. Social activities included a wine and bourbon tasting, and a private concert with the legendary John Hiatt courtesy of Klipsch!

Bjorn and Shari Dybdahl and their son Kris of Bjorn’s Audio Video.

Joe Roberts, Core Brands; Andy Orozco, ProSource and Gordon Isaac, Core Brands.

Steve Silberman, Roon; Ernie Coulter, Control4 and Walt Stinson, ListenUp.

The legendary John Hiatt performing after the Vendor awards.

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15 MINUTES

with RICK HUGGINS ProSource Western District Manager Prior to ProSource, I was the GM of PMI Engineering and MSR Acoustics, based out of Novato, CA. We engineered ultra-high-end cinemas and listening rooms for both residential and commercial applications. Prior to that I spent five years with Klipsch Group, Inc., as Western Territory Manager, then Key National Accounts Manager including Fry’s Electronics and Newegg.com, growing the business double-digits each year. I started originally in retail at The Good Guys and spent five years with San Diego-based integrator Advanced Electronic Solutions. How did your previous work experience prepare you for your new role? Over the past 16 years I’ve been a retail salesperson, an installer, sold for integrators, worked on the vendor side, and managed companies, all of which gives me a unique perspective in helping companies get the most out of their relationships with the manufacturers and vice-aversa. With this variety of positions, I believe I have a unique and broad work experience in the CT industry that has prepared me for this role. What attributes do you bring to the table to get the job done? I am a maximizer - I genuinely want to be the best at whatever I do and I want to help my colleagues be the best at what they do. I’m a “numbers guy” which works nicely with trying to maximize profits. I am a big fan of “planning my work and working my plan.” So at the end of a call with me you’ll usually hear me repeat back what I need to do

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for you or what we discussed because I’m reading back my notes so I can work the plan.

Product and services you think dealers should be focusing on? Products and services with high margins. Why sell something at 20 points if a similar product is out there at 40-50 points? I was taught that first, sell “something,” second, sell “the right something,” and third, sell “the right, profitable something.” The third goal has more margin in it for you while still fulfilling the customer’s needs. By focusing on selling “the right, profitable something” I would easily see a 20-40% higher annual income compared to some other salespeople producing the same volume as me. A specific opportunity I see for making better margins would be in the audio streaming category, where ProSource has several higher performance options from the likes of Klipsch, Denon and Yamaha when compared with category volume leader, Sonos. What do you do in your down time? I really enjoy going to live concerts. And all types of music from classic rock to 80’s hair metal groups to alternative to rap and even county music. I see a lot locally, but I’ve flown my wife to Oklahoma to see Garth Brooks, flown to Texas for Austin City Limits, and every year attend BottleRock, a 3-day musical festival in Napa for the past five years. I go to at least a dozen concerts/music festivals a year.

Rick Huggins working at a recent event.

Why ProSource? First and foremost, it’s the ProSource team that I was interested in working with, as they are all highly respected. ProSource offers benefits to both the buying and selling sides of the industry, and the idea of working with a good team of people, working with many of the vendors I’ve known for years, and working to help dealers grow their businesses really intrigued me. Where specifically is your territory and main job focus? As Western District Manager, I cover seven states: AK, HI, WA, OR, ID, CA, and NV. I am here to help members in any way I can. My goals are to maximize members’ profits by helping introduce them to other brands, services and processes that can help their businesses and to grow the membership of the group by adding new members in the right markets. Biggest challenge(s) you see ahead? Remembering everyone’s name! I’m good at remembering the big picture, but if I have to ask for your name a second time, please excuse me. On a more serious note, I think my immediate challenge is to understand each member’s business so I can better recognize where I can be of benefit. Getting to know each dealer better will help me focus on individual solutions.

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE THE LATEST FROM OUR VALUED PARTNERS Acoustic Innovations Wallscape Acoustic treatment panels that are easily arranged for any wall size. Combining absorption, reflection and diffusement principles, the design-friendly panels are available in six shapes, three sizes and thirty-six colors.

Acoustic Innovations ProLounger The ProLounger chair offers exclusive ProSource members a value chair featuring many of the features of the Standard Seating line. The ProLounger comes standard with two arms, left arm facing, right arm facing or armless to create countless configurations.

Sony VPL-VZ1000ES Ultra Short Throw Projector Capable of projecting a 2500-lumen, 120-inch 4K HDR image with just 10 inches of throw distance, the VPL-VZ1000ES 4K Ultra Short Throw projector unlocks new possibilities for the custom integrator.

Autonomic M-120e Mirage Digital Amplifier The M-120e provides simultaneous amplification for two local source inputs or two eAudioCastâ&#x201E;˘ network streams in as many as 96 rooms. Streamline your audio with the flexible, profitable Mirage Audio System eSeries, using the MMS-1e single-source music streamer and M-120e. Simplify audio installations in hard-to-reach rooms. Deliver high-resolution music up to 24-bit/192kHz, over Ethernet, and support popular streaming services over an existing network.

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE THE LATEST FROM OUR VALUED PARTNERS

Many artists only one Naim

Focal Sopra n°2 Loudspeaker Is a 3-way floor-standing loudspeaker that clearly inaugurates a new era for the “Premium High End” by taking into account all new performance criteria. Compact, modern, a pure design, character; all these are essential factors to ensure perfect integration into your client’s interior.

The best wireless all-in-one system

Luxul Epic Series In addition to being high-performing commercialgrade routers, the Epic series offers a platform for optimizing the user experience in smart homes, workplaces, and retail establishments. Delivered through Luxul and third-party applications on the Epic platform. The first is enhanced content filtering from Router Limits; remote management tools from Domotz to follow in Q2.

now Mu-so Qb (300 WATTS) *at* $899

Sony A1E Series TV True reality comes to life with perfect black and color. Sony’s OLED TV creates exquisite, unprecedented contrast with over 8 million precisely and individually controlled self-illuminating pixels.

now Mu-so (450 WATTS) *at* $1,399 Mark Levinson Nº519 digital audio player A complete, modern digital audio player for today’s music lover. It combines wireless and wired streaming with a slot-loading CD player, in an uncompromising package featuring Mark Levinson Pure Path system design in a 6000-series aluminum chassis.

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NEW

Control 4™

www.naimaudio.com

Distribution by Audio Plus Ser vices

PRODUCT SHOWCASE THE LATEST FROM OUR VALUED PARTNERS Naim Audio UK’s Naim Audio Mu-so, and smaller Mu-so QB, are luxury wireless music systems designed to transform your music into a multi-zone, whole house, high-rez sonic experience. Naim streaming, amplification and speaker technology combine to deliver the world’s finest musical experience from a footprint no larger than your client’s coffee maker.

Samsung QLED TV Exceptional picture realism with over a billion unique colors and 100% color volume created by Samsung’s exclusive Quantum Dots. As smart as it is beautiful, QLED TV senses which devices are plugged in and controls them with the Samsung OneRemote, giving you an incredibly intuitive TV experience.

ELAN HDMI solutions ELAN introduces HDMI solutions for advanced audio and video systems of all sizes. The new line maximizes options and flexibility. Auto-discovery with simplified configuration using ELAN’s Configurator means project setup is reduced to minutes.

Origin Acoustics Director D85 Fully pivoting 3-way in-ceiling speaker featuring an 8-Inch IMG woofer, exclusive DPSD™ tweeter technology and tool-less installation. The longthrow 8-inch woofer is able to fit into a standard 6-inch assembly; dynamic bass with less space.

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

PRODUCT SHOWCASE THE LATEST FROM OUR VALUED PARTNERS

E ILE P RFOR PH

CE • AN M

• AUDIO

Leon Speakers UX Series Leon’s thinnest, best sounding speakers, ever. New for 2017, they completely redesigned the UX series speakers to complement today’s ultra-thin TVs. Leon’s new series of soundbars and on-wall speakers combine the highest performance audio innovations in the slimmest cabinets ever.

R APPR

MartinLogan Masterpiece Series Includes four hybrid electrostatic floorstanding loudspeakers and two matching center channels. They feature Curvilinear Line Source (CLS™) XStat™ electrostatic transducers, ultra-rigid AirFrame™ Blade construction, and lowdistortion aluminum cone woofers. The top four models also feature powered bass sections with powerful Class-D amplifiers and Anthem Room Correction.

Don’t Build Low-End Sound Into Your High-End Home Choose a company thats been setting the standard for sonic excellence in whole-home audio for 35 years. The most award-winning and affordable speaker brands in the world: Paradigm & Anthem. Vanco Evolution HDBaseT™ HDR True 4K Extender Goes beyond any extender on the market. Passing greater distances of 4K Certified HDMI cables, the unit extends 4K/60Hz, 4:4:4 with HDR along with audio, Ethernet, and RS-232 at a distance of up to 230ft/70m over a single Cat5e/6 cable. The extender can pass 1080p/60Hz up to 330ft/100m. Combined with Power over HDBaseT Technology the EVEXHDB2 is the solution for full 4K with HDR applications.

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SpeakerCraft ATX100 Dolby Atmos In-wall Speaker Named “Loudspeaker of the Year” at CES, the SpeakerCraft ATX100 Dolby Atmos enabled in-wall height speaker helps turn any media room into an immersive object-based home theater experience.

Paradigm Persona 9H, awarded the 2017 CES Best of Innovation & The Absolute Sound Editors’ Choice Award © 2017 PARADIGM Electronics Incorporated. All rights reserved. PERSONA 9H is a registered trademark of PARADIGM Electronics Incorporated, registered in Canada and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s).

paradigm.com anthemAV.com

U N D I S P U T E D

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Get perfect color with 100% color volume and over a billion shades with our exclusive Quantum Dots. Connect your devices while removing unsightly clutter with our Invisible Connection.â&#x201E;˘ Samsung OneRemote automatically detects and controls your devices and content for an intuitive experience.*

*Compatible devices only. All devices must be on the same network and internet connection is required. ÂŠ2017 Samsung Electronics America, Inc. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Screen images are simulated. Some functionality may require internet access.