Audio Advice Acquires ZoboTV, Adding Third N.C. Store

Audio Advice, the premiere home systems integration firm in Raleigh, N.C., has acquired ZoboTV, a leading shop in Charlotte.

“We always thought that having both Raleigh and Charlotte would be a really great combination,” Audio Advice president Scott Newnam tells CE Pro.

Indeed, Audio Advice began its foray into Charlotte in 2009, opening its first store there with the help of two local integrators who agreed to close their respective businesses and join the new shop.

The new store, as it happens, was right down the street from ZoboTV until recently, when Zobo moved to the tony South Park area of Charlotte.

Audio Advice will keep both Charlotte locations.

“Our belief is that a successful model in this business is going to be one where there is critical mass in the market,” says Newnam. “How do you get that kind of scale where you can provide 24/7 service, have enough vans that everyone recognizes you, [and] have a large showroom that demonstrates lots of automation, audio, video ….”

That is certainly not the stuff of mom-and-pop shops, which will continue to struggle, Newnam surmises.

A major benefit of a large-scale operation is the ability to offer 24/7 service, which Audio Advice offers to its client base, now 20,000 customers strong.

Audio Advice pays technicians to be on call during off-hours, and overtime if they need to roll a truck.

“We don’t get that many calls on the weekends or evenings, but they’re usually important,” Newnam says, citing cases of lightning strikes and security system snafus. “That’s difficult to do with a two- or three-person operation.”

The large scale also allows Audio Advice to staff up with licensed security installers and electrical contractors.

Newnam explains, “We’re not asking them [customers] to bring an electrician in, to bring in a security dealer. We’re telling them we can do everything in the [demo] room.”

In addition to building scale, Newnam believes that multiple locations will give Audio Advice even more credibility than it already commands.

“We can show them [customers] that we’re expanding,” he explains.

This at a time when so many small (and large) A/V businesses are struggling, and consumers are questioning the long-term viability of their chosen CE specialist.

In Audio Advice’s case, Newnam says, “Customers can look at a system and say, ‘That’s a great system’ and look at our business and say, ‘They’ll be around in the long term.’”

Now Audio Advice will powwow with ZoboTV to share best practices. Already, Newnam sees some ZoboTV innovations that could benefit Audio Advice.

For example, he says, “They’re more promotional than us. We really have never done promotion. They’re always doing things on the radio, doing iPad giveaways ….”

Newnam also likes the say that ZoboTV implements “solution selling” especially focused around content. As we have reported, ZoboTV showcases content-related vignettes such as the music-lover’s room and the movie-lover’s room.

Audio Advice was founded in Raleigh by Leon Shaw in 1978, who currently serves as chairman of the company and spends a lot of time playing with digital toys and volunteering for Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA). With his Harvard Business School background, Newnam runs the company's operations as president and CEO.

ZoboTV was founded under a different name by Jay Faison about 10 years ago. Faison went on to launch SnapAV, a developer and distributor of custom electronics products such as mounts, screens and racks. The acquisition will enable Faison to focus more energy on SnapAV.

Former ZoboTV general manager Scott Osborne bought a bar in Cabo.