Theater Advice: Capitalizing on Tweeter’s Lost Opportunity

When specialty retailer Tweeter left town, this Texas CE start-up dug in its heels and made a stand.

David Huse, CEO of Theater Advice in Frisco, Texas, prides himself on creating unique, custom media rooms, like this one, for his clients.

May
21

By Erin Harrington
Filed in: News, CE Profiles, Big-Box Retailers
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05.21.2009 — It's often said, "When one door closes, another one opens." For David Huse, owner of Frisco, Texas-based Theater Advice, it was actually Tweeter's closed doors that ushered in opportunity.

Huse had been with the giant electronics specialty retail chain for about six years when its Texas locations tanked in March of 2007.

As Tweeter's top salesman in Texas, Huse was doing about $1 million in business each year. A groomed and seasoned pro, he was left with a career decision to make.

Doing Custom Better

Huse actually bought the Theater Advice Web site domain as a Tweeter employee. He was working on the site with a Web designer when he got word Tweeter was closing down.

One of the strongest catalysts for Huse's launching Theater Advice was his desire to offer "truly custom" work. Many of the big retail players wanted to get into custom, Huse contends, but really didn't know how. "I was doing large jobs, but these big guys can't always service their customers. They often had to hold the installs, come back to the store and re-schedule."

It was a problem for everyone, he says, for techs who wanted to get paid and for homeowners that had to reschedule and reschedule. "Making the customer happy is what it's about. When it took too long to get product, and I knew it was in stock down the street, I realized that if I owned my own company, I could buy it immediately and get it to the job site. I knew I could do it on my own."

Huse had hoped for the Tweeter severance package to come through, but it didn't. He dumped all his savings into the company and worked selling Hummers at a dealership for a year, doing all his installs on the weekends and site surveys at night.

He hasn't looked back since — although he is quick to credit the training ground Tweeter afforded him. "Tweeter was a great company," he states. "They had a passion for the business, and it trickled down to sales. You started off not knowing anything, and when you were done, you knew what you needed to know."

Having done site surveys for scads of homes during his tenure at Tweeter, he took in a lot. "I paid attention to ideas and saw so many different designs," he says. "Now, when I go into a room waiting to be created — a blank slate — I have a good idea of what I want to do based on all the homes I've been in.

Theater Advice LLC

Location: Frisco, Texas
Web site: http://www.theateradvice.com
Principals: David Huse, CEO/founder; Jason Hanifan, vice president, sales and system design; Thomas Rzasa, lead installer; Ellery Watson, programmer
Revenues: $600,000 (2008); $1.1 million (2009, projected)
Years in Business: 2
Number of Employees: 5
Specialty: Media Rooms
Top 5 Brands: MartinLogan, Halo by Parasound, Stewart Filmscreens, Pioneer Elite and Panasonic

Education alone doesn't cut it though. "You have to love what you do, especially in this business," Huse clarifies. "My passion for audio and movies was really magnified from working at Tweeter."

That passion continues to drive Huse and Theater Advice. His true love lies in designing media rooms, and that enjoyment shines through in the spaces his company has pulled together.

"I like to reinvent stuff, and don't like to do things people have already seen," he says. "I ask a million questions and tailor my designs to the individual customer, their family and their lifestyle."

Meeting Needs More than Budgets

Theater Advice installs run the gamut, from the very affordable to the very elaborate, but it focuses mostly on media rooms.

Huse may spend a week doing something small, like hanging a few plasmas, and then move right into a $1 million gig. "There's nothing I won't do," he says. "My deal, ‘There's no job too small,' is because small jobs often result in the most referrals. If I treat the small customer just as well the big one, he'll remember me." He adds, "I'm an A/V professional; I'll spend time with each and every customer regardless of how much money they're spending."

Meeting customer needs is the most important thing, not meeting customer budgets, Huse says. He contends that, often times, customers don't even know the project's scope until you meet with them. "Yes, you need to know their budget and their ‘Wish List,'" he explains, "but sometimes they need to spend more money they just don't know it yet. They might give you their budget, but have to spend more to get what they really want. You need to listen, and tell them."

A self-described "born salesman," Huse admits he loves sales, "the competition and the whole thing," but believes in selling customers what meets their wants and needs. "A customer can feel they wasted $4,000, but be happy if they spent $10,000," he says.

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Comments

Posted by Jay Stucki on 05/21 at 05:49 PM

Dave has helped me in the past with audio and video purchases- a good trusted source.

Jay

Posted by Kilroy on 05/21 at 11:49 PM

It’s nice to see that former Tweeter folks are landing on their feet. Even though Tweeter failed at a lot things, there were a lot of things they did right. One of those things was helping to create talented people. Heres to wishing Dave all the best in his current venture.

Posted by Former Coworker on 06/16 at 07:11 AM

David was always productive at Tweeter. That was not an easy task given the wide range of volume of the stores that he was schuffled to and from. Good to hear he is doing well. Top salesman in Texas??

Posted by Curious on 06/21 at 09:17 AM

Still sounds like a tweeter salesman…..
“Huse may spend a week doing something small, like hanging a few plasmas, and then move right into a $1 million gig.” I’m having a hard time believing this. with only 1.1M in 2009 revenue, this will equate to 2-3 jobs. with only 5 guys, you must be turning down a lot of work. how much of this “million $” job is electronics and programming and not construction and decorating. can you provide a sample equipment list for a $1m job?

Posted by BS master on 06/22 at 03:37 PM

Why did this guy get his own spotlight article?

Quotes from his website..
“We at Theater Advice carry close to a hundred brands so our selection is vast.”
this article-
“Theater Advice, by design, offers a limited selection of products” Make up your mind.

Website-
“We here at Theater Advice are system designers and not salesmen.”
this article-
“A self-described “born salesman,” Huse admits he loves sales” - sounds like a salesman…

Website-
“The first step is your FREE in home consultation. We do not charge for this service as any professional shouldn’t,” Really? I bet most REAL professionals would disagree. How much did Tweeter charge for these?

“All jobs must be paid in full before staging product and scheduling an installation date. This policy is no different than any other company” - Wrong again…..

“Your labor carries a 6 month warranty” - pretty skimpy for a “pro”

“Most companies are owned and operated by venture capitalists that quite simply do not understand this industry and more importantly the customer’s needs.” I think the term “most” is a bit of a stretch…

I agree with Curious - this guy has a lot of big dreams, but with this kind of mentality will not last very long.. Salesmen do not usually make great business owners..

Good luck with that mortgage payment..

Posted by Dave Stevens on 06/23 at 10:28 AM

To Dave Huse:

People who know me and read my posts know how critical I can be. All I can say is that in my opinion, your attitude and business model is as close to perfection as I can imagine. I run my business exactly the same way.

Ignore the negative comments/posts. These people have no imagination and don’t understand the concept of paying an employee before paying themselves, or an employee making more money than the owner because they’ve earned it.

I wish you the best of luck even though I don’t think you’re going to need it. When you love what you do, nothing is impossible.

Thanks Erin for a great article regarding someone who thinks “out of the box.”

I have no love for Tweeter and never worked for them.

Posted by David Huse on 07/22 at 02:44 PM

I will just stick up for myself here and make it easy and this will be my one and only rebuttle as I do not wish to argue with people I do not know underneath my own article. And if you cannot tell by my article, I really do not care what my peers think. I do things differently and am proud of that.

First Issue. 1.1 million is an estimate and a projection, could be three times that and after this last month it looks like exactly that. And about 50K is electronics, I specialize in “Custom Rooms” and can manage many projects at the same time. Rest assured if I get too busy for me I will hire people, there is no shortage of people looking for work right now, I get a resume a day.

Other issues in order.

I carry hundreds of brands yes. I only sell a few or recommend a few but if customer wants or needs something that I do not love, I will tell them the truth and get them what they want. Thanks for the clarification as to what it says but it makes perfect sense to everyone but you. I do what my customers want and need in the end and its nice to have the access to the products.

I am a great salesman but not shady. I design a proper system within normal budgets for each customer. My sales comes in my honesty, it does not feel like selling as much as consulting.

Tweeter did not charge for consultations and neither do I. Charging for something you have not provided is just a way to force them into doing business with you so they can get that back. I am confident enough that I will get the business either way and I usually do. I will continue to do this and “other professionals” must be those all around the country now calling me asking me what I am doing differently after reading this article. Is that who you were refering to?

My payment policies and warranty policies are my business and not one of my customes have ever had a problem with this. They trust me, I am sorry if you are having problems in this area?

Thanks for your assessment but I am doing just fine. This was one of 5 magazines I have been in in 6 months if you would like to read more and will have a spread in Electronic House in news stands in September. This salesperson makes a fantastic business owner. Funny you assume to know my background. Enjoy your successes as I have mine and my many to come.

To all others thank you so much for your kind words, I appreciate it more than I can tell you and promise to never waiver from my customer service standards.

David Huse -

Posted by Dave Stevens on 07/23 at 07:03 AM

Dave,
Stick to your guns… Your business model has worked for me for over 20 years and I could care less what other people think.

Just keep doing what you’re doing, and you too will see all the rest fall around you.

Once again, I wish you only the best and disregard/ignore all of the unimaginative negative commentary…

Dave Stevens

Posted by Andy on 08/20 at 02:58 PM

I’ve know this guy for about 9 years now. He’s been my friend and we have done business together. When I think of David, one word comes to mind - INTEGRITY. This is the guy who did a complete custom set-up/install for a mutual friend of ours at no-cost simply because he “couldn’t stand that it wasn’t done properly.” This guy genuinely has a passion for not only electronics, but for people. Spend 5 mins with the guy and he is trying to find different ways to help you.

Semper Fi,

SSGT
SEO Specialists
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