All Articles Tagged Reps

Julie Jacobson | 12/21 09:07 AM, 0 Comments

What got custom electronics professionals really riled this year? What were some of the most biggest and most controversial stories in the home-technology industry in 2011? CE Pro has compiled a list of those stories, including comments from our readers (in blue; edited for clarity, grammar and length). It used to be that the economy was the biggest home-technology story of the year, but not for 2011. This year, we believe CE pros had the most to say, fear, rejoice and otherwise emote about these 8 Biggest CE Stories of… View this story

Arlen Schweiger | 10/28 08:29 AM, 1 Comment

The custom electronics industry seems to be shifting at warp speed these days, and it’s not just the integrators and manufacturers that need to keep pace with the changes. Despite much talk in recent months about manufacturers eschewing or trimming sales representative forces, reps continue to play a key role in the industry food chain, which is why technology education was a big topic addressed during the IPRO Conference. Sixty-five attendees (45 reps, 20 manufacturers) were at the annual event of the Independent Professional Representatives Organization, held in New Orleans.… View this story

Chad Geartner | 10/07 08:23 AM, 0 Comments

With the recent rep changes and group alignments being made by manufacturers, many rep companies find themselves with either not much to eat or way too much, leaving money on the table. Manufacturers have been conducting a balancing act between having fewer in-house sales staff vs. independent reps to streamline their distribution. This will again change because “things fall apart.” It’s cyclical. Just ask a veteran independent rep and he will tell you calmly like a seasoned gentleman that manufacturers have infamously done this balancing act decade after decade. For… View this story

Dave Humphries | 09/06 07:34 AM, 12 Comments

Those who are considered industry veterans have the advantage of seeing repetitive patterns and the constant evolution of our industry. When we have prosperity, we are all smarter, and expert marketers who are justly reaping the rewards of our efforts, and we are great team-players. We entertain, we reward, we encourage others to join in the euphoria of our successes. When sales plummet, for all of the reasons that we seem to review daily, our concern for our financial and corporate futures take precedence. We yearn “for the old days”… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 09/02 02:01 PM, 1 Comment

CE Pro has been inundated with phone calls and emails concerning our recent coverage of companies terminating or consolidating their independent rep networks. The comments mostly go like this: Why does CE Pro always write about the bad news? How about some good news for a change? My company is hiring reps. Why don’t you do a story on that? Generally we get this from newer vendors, which almost always launch their sales organization with independent reps if they can get them. So that’s not really a story … unless… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 09/01 05:59 PM, 13 Comments

It’s been a rough couple of months for independent A/V reps. Now CE Pro has learned from several sources that D&M subsidiary McIntosh Labs is issuing pink slips to most of its reps. Roughly five [update: exactly eight ] existing reps will continue with the line of high-end audio components, while the others will be replaced by factory-direct representation, sources say. McIntosh isn’t alone. Just this week, speaker manufacturer TruAudio announced it was terminating all of its independent reps except for one, following news that Nortek's AVC Group (Elan, Niles… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 08/29 11:12 AM, 8 Comments

It’s been more than a year since Elan Home Systems, Niles and Xantech joined forces under one umbrella, The AVC Group, LLC, a division of Nortek's (OTCBB: NTKS) Home Technology Group. The three companies are finally formalizing a new structure of collaboration, starting with a consolidation of rep firms from 45 down to 15. We’ve seen some collaboration from the entities in the past, but it has been little more than a bunch of handshakes and a commitment to help each other. Today, The AVC (Audio Video Control) Group is… View this story

CE Pro Editors | 01/10 01:14 PM, 0 Comments

Dave Keller, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Panamax/Furman, has been named as chairman of the Manufacturer's Group (MG) of the Independent Professional Representatives Organization (IPRO). As chairman, Keller will lead IPRO-MG toward its goal of enhancing the independent representative and manufacturer relationship. "The IPRO firmly believes that the future of selling upper-end goods through the CEDIA and InfoComm channels is strong, and the success of our efforts is largely dependent on the triangular relationship between the representative, manufacturer, and electronic systems contractor (ESC)," says David Thomas, president… View this story