AudioVisions: Doing it Best

Two years ago, Best Buy surprised many in the custom installation industry when it purchased AudioVisions, a high-end integration company based in Lake Forest, Calif., in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles.

Of course, the burning question ever since the buyout took place has been, "Why?"

In actuality, Best Buy got a lot more than an individual company when it plucked up AudioVisions for $7 million. It purchased the company's sophisticated, repeatable business process that can be used to sustain long-term growth in the custom installation industry.

In essence, the company's operational structure consists of separate "mini-custom installation companies," each of which uses certain shared resources, such as programming and engineering.

Those mini-companies (or project teams) breed extreme efficiency and profitability, highly satisfied clients, motivated and incentivized employees with career paths and, most of all, growth.

The AudioVisions business model, which also incorporates software that provides real-time cost analysis for every job, is the scalable platform that AudioVisions plans to use to expand its high-end custom installation business nationally (AudioVisions has already expanded to Northern California and the Palm Springs areas).

Lastly, the advantages garnered by AudioVisions from the acquisition are almost too numerous to name, including increased education, access to a large labor pool, an awesome benefits package for employees, support for the company's laid-back "Client Centricity" culture, and the ability to expand into IT service with help from one of Best Buy's other companies, The Geek Squad.

Creating Project Teams

AudioVisions executives did not just instantly invent its business model; it was honed over 18 years.



It was worked on by the company's executive team: Mark Hoffenberg, president; Robert Walpert, vice president of operations; Ted Taylor, vice president of sales; and Terence Murray, vice president of strategic development.

Founded in 1989, the company took years to develop its own proprietary design and project management software (called ProIntegrator) that supports its systematic approach to engineering, installing and integrating complex electronics.

For a short time, AudioVisions even sold the software to other dealers.

"Operationally speaking, we have developed a scalable business model built around project teams. In essence, we have created mini custom installation companies, if you will, but with the significant resources of Best Buy behind them," explains Hoffenberg.

The structural details of this scalable operation are simple. The company operates in "project teams." Each team has four to seven members, including a project manager, prewire/trim-out technicians and a finish technician.

The individual teams are expected to each deliver between $1.5 million and $3 million annually in revenue. Conceivably, the teams stay together from job to job, even though AudioVisions might move some people into different teams from time to time.

The project team stays on an individual job from start to finish, even through warranty. A job does not transfer to the service department until a year after completion.

Every morning, the project manager meets with his team, according to Walpert. Even if it's the beginning stage of the job, the finish technician is involved in the meeting because he might have specific wiring placement plans that he needs to mention.

Each team constructs its own racks. While the teams are their own individual "mini-companies," they share engineering and programming resources.