How many times have you been saved by a company’s tech support? How about shipping turnaround time? Or maybe their warranties came in handy on a project? Those are the questions CE Pro hopes reader considers when they vote for the manufacturers that they think are the winners are for the 2024 Quest for Quality Awards.
This is our 14th year honoring suppliers with Quest for Quality Awards. Unsurprisingly, many names are familiar from past years as they’ve strived to maintain award-winning service; others have upped their games to join them.
Winning companies in platinum, gold, silver, and kudos were asked to provide commentary on what differentiates their service in a particular category, while other comments come verbatim from CE Pro’s readership.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees and be sure to spread some cheer to the distributors that won out the year as well.
2024 Quest for Quality Award Winners: Manufacturers
Customer Service/ General Communication
2024 Lighting Controls and Fixtures Report
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.Download your copy now!
Portal.io has been amazing with customer interaction. They are constantly reaching out to their dealers and making improvements to their software at a significant pace. They’ve gone above and beyond for me with setting up new products (usually in minutes), as well as integration to my company’s accounting and project management software. Their newsletters are great with communicating their future features and improvements coming down the road. Everyone I’ve interacted with at Portal.io has incredibly professional, helpful, and personable. I can’t say enough good things about them. —Reader comment
Our Partners are central to who we are as a company. We were founded upon being easy to do business with and ensuring our Partners’ success. We strive to create positive everlasting impressions by building relationships and catering to the unique needs of our Partners. Our goal is to find effective and creative ways to continue enhancing the Partner experience. —Dawn Boland, SVP of Partner Services & Technical Support
Had someone on the customer service team email me each day and provide me with shipping updates for an order that was taking longer than normal. I did not ask them to do this, but after our initial call she took it upon herself to continue to monitor and provide me with updates. —Reader comment
Category Kudos
Russound is a small, privately held company made up of many people who have been with us for years. Our mission since the very beginning has been to be the best supplier for our partners. That means we focus on creating a personalized experience. Every time you call, you get not only a live person to talk to but also someone who knows you, knows your account, and knows your business. —Charlie Porritt, CEO
URC builds unified service platforms and communication strategies to anticipate and resolve dealer issues as quickly as possible. We understand that efficiencies and successful installations are the lifeblood of our industry and vital to our dealers’ businesses. This 2024 Quest for Quality Award win affirms URC’s commitment to effective, unified communication and is shared across the organization. —Russ Hoffman, VP Training and Technical Support
WhyReboot always kept us posted on supply chain issues, model discontinuation, and new product availability. They even agreed to support products provided by us. —Reader comment
Technical Support
Platinum: Lutron
Taking care of our customers has been Lutron’s number one priority and company principal for more than 60 years. We are deeply proud to win a 2024 Quest for Quality Award for our customer-centric approach to doing business. —Ben Bard, VP, Luxury Residential Business
Gold: Snap One
Snap One and their support of Binary media products and Pakedge/Araknis network implementation is second to none. I’ve had half a day on the phone with those guys fixing pretty big programming errors on my part with zero complaints from them. Top-notch service. —Reader comment
Silver: WhyReboot
Support isn’t just a service we provide — it’s our passion and our expertise. While others may focus solely on the products they sell, we prioritize support above all else. Our unwavering commitment to our partners means that when they encounter an issue, they have immediate access to our dedicated team, regardless of the time or day. Our products are carefully selected and designed to ensure seamless integration and maximum reliability, empowering us to troubleshoot effectively and maintain uninterrupted service. Whether it’s the holiday season or a regular workday, our partners can always count on us for swift, knowledgeable assistance. —Bjørn Jensen, Founder
Category Kudos
This 2024 Quest for Quality Award serves as a powerful reminder of the trust and confidence you place in our team as well as our products. It motivates us to continue striving for excellence in everything we do. We are committed to providing you with the highest level of support and service, and we are truly humbled by this acknowledgment of our efforts. Once again, thank you for your vote of confidence. We could not have achieved this without your support. —Cory Ash, Support Manager
URC
URC builds technical support from the dealer perspective. We research and anticipate questions and proactively publish solutions. URC’s Tech Support Team is exceptionally focused on ensuring that all our dealers fully comprehend and can quickly install our control and automation solutions. This commitment is core to our brand, our products and, especially, to our support team members. It is a testament to their expertise and dedication which they exemplify every day. —Russ Hoffman, URC’s VP Training and Technical Support
Consumer-Facing Website
Platinum: Lutron
It’s an honor to win a 2024 Quest for Quality Award for Lutron’s luxury residential website, which provides a self-guided journey through premium lighting, motorized window treatments, and lighting controls. Home integrators can use this new resource to showcase Lutron offerings and inspirational content to support client education and product selection. —Ben Bard, VP, Luxury Residential Business
Gold: Snap One
We strive to support our Partners in their sales process by providing them with Brands that deliver the type of end-customer experiences their clients desire. In 2023 we focused on revamping our Triad Speakers site to align with our new generation of Triad products and are grateful for the positive feedback we received from our Partners. —Bike Howard, SVP, Digital Experience
Silver: URC
As a marketing team, we are committed to elevating the URC brand by creating an engaging, unified, omnichannel experience. The premium, luxury brands our end users prefer are inspiration for our consumer website. Movements, inspirational settings, energizing visual cues, and powerful images combine to create a powerful expression. Function is equally as important as form. So, an intuitive layout with minimal clicks and seamless transitions are some of the key creative elements. URC’s public website is the expression of our brand and our most valuable asset to engage homeowners and commercial leaders on behalf of our dealers. Our mantra, Think Beyond Everyday, permeates every element of our marketing strategy. —Ron Pence, Marketing Lead
Category Kudos
Since the launch of Crestron Home, we have made a concerted effort to launch crestronhome.com as a hub for our existing customers and potential new homeowners to learn about our platform and see how Crestron Home can come to life in their home in an engaging and digestible way. It is an honor to win a 2024 Quest for Quality award in this category and see those efforts be realized. —Brad Hintze, EVP of Global Marketing
Winning the 2024 Quest for Quality Award in this category is a testament to the Nice vision of creating “a world without barriers” and mission to “simplify everyday movements” by improving people’s quality of life. Our website is designed with that at the forefront as we deliver a premium experience to consumers, while also offering educational resources for dealers. Easy-to-navigate product pages, detailed selectable custom options, and extensive dealer resources all represent our commitment to customization, customer service, and simplicity. —Mark Owen Burson, Chief Marketing Officer
Sonance goes above and beyond! —Reader comment
Dealer/Integrator Website
Platinum: Portal
Portal.io has thousands of different products and vendors in their library. Many times, I have found hard-to-find product through Portal linking me to vendors I didn’t know existed. —Reader comment
Gold: Snap One
We continue to focus on understanding our Partners’ (integrators’) needs around learning, researching, selecting products, and building systems that deliver the end customer experience their clients need so that we can design our websites to serve these needs the best we can. —Bike Howard, SVP, Digital Experience
Silver: Lutron
Lutron prides themselves in taking care of the customer, and they are always eager to help in any situation. —Reader comment
Category Kudos
They are willing to go the extra mile. —Reader comment
URC
Industry-leading service of our dealer community is the core of the brand. URC continues to strive for best-in-class product and service information, proactive support tools, and intuitive ecommerce that help drive our dealer businesses and deliver client dreams. Engaging, two-way communication and AI-enabled tools are helping to evolve our service model. From our virtual inspiration home launched in 2022 to our AI-powered Virtual Assistant, our strategy to evolve the marketplace continues. —Ron Pence, Marketing Lead
Dealer Program/Incentives
Platinum: Snap One
Our Partner Rewards Program was created to benefit all Snap One Partners, regardless of where or what they purchase. We shifted to a points-based model and consolidated all previous programs, making it easier to track progress and earn points on both Snap One-manufactured products and distributed products. We also added several new benefits to help them add value to their business and grow as a company. —Janyl Mann, VP, Loyalty & Marketing Operations
Gold: Lutron
Lutron completely rebuilt its backorder status and notification system to accurately update fulfillment status of hard-to-find components. —Reader comment
Silver: URC
Convenient, beneficial dealer programming and support are part of our primary components of our sales strategy. URC’s dealer programs are built on a platform that recognizes the daily challenges and opportunities of running a successful CI business. Our field sales team plays a critical role by supporting new and existing dealers while activating the tools that make our dealers successful. Creating and delivering truly meaningful tools to fuel business and community success is a cornerstone of URC’s model. When our dealers win, we all win. —Lee Rambler, National Sales Director
Category Kudos
DMF Lighting
DMF definitely helped us get through issues with creativity and ideas. —Reader comment
Russound
Our products are designed for the professional Russound installer, which we fiercely protect with our Russound Certified Installer (RCI) program. It prevents any unauthorized internet reselling to ensure protected profit margins for our dealers. RCI now has more than 16,000 members. On top of that, dealers on our email list can look forward to receiving promotions and incentives throughout the year, which keeps our products at the forefront. —Charlie Porritt, CEO
Sonance
Sonance is always there, they always answer, and they always are willing and eager to help. They are by far one of my favorite companies in this industry. —Reader comment
Dealer Protection Policies
Platinum: Snap One
Snap One offered upgrades when some items were not available. —Reader comment
Gold: Lutron
No matter what touchpoint, or who you speak to, Lutron’s experience is second to none. —Reader comment
Silver: DMF Lighting
DMF has always gone above and beyond to get us products when we need them including when the lens melted after the painters covered them and the homeowner was stressed about getting new ones in ASAP. —Reader comment
Category Kudos
Origin provided free upgrades to the next up available model when specified product was unavailable. —Reader comment
URC
URC understands the challenges our dealers face in the marketplace. Our strategies and policies are focused to aid our dealers with efficient, effective solutions. Part of this is standing with our dealers and providing product protection that is meaningful and easy. Ensuring ease of programming, product reliability, systems performance and streamline processes aids us and our dealers in providing best-in-class experiences… before and after installations. —Lars Granoe, VP of Product
Lead Generation
Platinum: URC
In 2022, URC’s Marketing Team launched a marketing automation platform to address the needs of end users and help drive the businesses of our dealers. Built on a unique automation platform with proprietary development, URC has directed over 6,200 leads to our high-performing dealers. End-user journeys connect service with need, whether residential or commercial, and check-in throughout the decision, installation, and post-installation phases. —Ron Pence, URC’s Marketing Lead
Gold: Lutron
Lutron always exceeds my expectations. Providing free color samples for their dimmers helped to secure a project we were quoting. —Reader comment
Silver: Snap One
Snap One helped in designing surveillance systems and responded to all my questions and concerns. —Reader comment
Category Kudos
DMF Lighting
DMF Lighting sent their director of sales to accompany me (authorized dealer) to present lighting as a category to my company to architect, builders, designers for two whole days. Resulted in multiple new opportunities and projects. —Reader comment
Russound
The nice thing about being a 56-going-on-57-year-old company is that we have leads that come directly to us from end users who have trusted and followed us for years. We have users with systems from every generation — 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, you name it — and they constantly reach out to us looking for our latest products and upgrades. We frequently get emails from users who have moved into a new home and want to find a local Russound dealer. We pass those leads to our dealers in the RCI program. That’s the nice thing about being a Russound dealer — we know and value our customers. —Charlie Porritt, CEO
RMR Support
At OneVision, we provide the CI channel’s most comprehensive and flexible remote support and RMR platform. Our solutions empower integrators to restore work-life balance, eliminate the constant distractions of inbound service requests, and generate recurring revenue all while simultaneously elevating the client experience. What makes us different is our commitment to providing the most integrator-centric remote support and RMR platform on the market. We believe the relationship between the client and the integrator is sacred; that’s why we adhere to strict white-labeling standards, ensuring that OneVision as a brand remains completely invisible to end users. Additionally, our flexible platform allows integrators to fine-tune a solution to the unique needs of their business. And our vendor-agnostic approach means that integrators can be confident our team will be here to support their clients 24/7/365 no matter what hardware products the integrator chooses to install. —Jason Griffing, Director of Product
Employees are very proactive in helping and respond quickly. —Reader comment
Silver: Snap One
We continue to innovate how we can help create support RMR for our integrators including the launch of Control4 Assist this year, while continuing to improve Parasol annually. Both are great support solutions for the market. —Graham Jaenicke, Vice President of New Ventures
Category Kudos
Josh.ai
Since Josh.ai was founded in 2015, we have positively disrupted the custom industry by proving that software innovation has recurring value in the smart home. It is rewarding to win a 2024 Quest for Quality Award for the updates that we launched at CEDIA Expo 2023, which increased flexibility for our dealer’s businesses while decreasing the barrier to entry for customers. Our team is proud to offer an industry-first approach to ongoing software management that reflects the unique nature of our dealer’s businesses and ensures they are compensated for their continued service. —Casey Levy-Tulloch, Director of Business Development
Sales & Marketing
Platinum: Lutron
Lutron is constantly seeking new ways for designers, integrators, and homeowners to experience our offerings in the field. One recent addition to our sales and marketing toolset is the Luxury Experience app, which brings the Lutron showroom experience to your iPad. Customers can interact with Lutron products virtually from anywhere to visualize designs in their homes. We’ve loved hearing the positive feedback on this new resource and appreciate our dealers for electing Lutron to win a 2024 Quest for Quality Award for these efforts. —Ben Bard, VP, Luxury Residential Business
Gold: Crestron
Our engineering teams work tirelessly to refine our solutions from early development of new technologies to system updates of our platforms, and it’s the job of our sales and marketing teams to communicate those value propositions to the market. Our marketing content is top-notch, and our sales team has truly stepped up their game to help our dealers and customers navigate each of their needs on an individual basis. It is a well-deserved honor for these groups to be recognized for their contributions in the 2024 Quest for Quality Awards. —Brad Hintze, EVP of Global Marketing
Silver: Nice North America
This 2024 Quest for Quality award win not only secures our status in this category for the fourth year running, but it also bolsters our commitment to delivering exceptional support to our partner community. We rely on our partners as the custom installation professionals to uphold our standard of excellence and provide our collective customers with a best-in-class smart home experience. That’s why we continue to build and invest in resources like training and certification programs through Nice University and the Nice Partner Portal, customizable marketing assets, product photos, lifestyle images, and videos that support the work of builders and integrators. —Mark Owen Burson, Chief Marketing Officer
Category Kudos
URC
While marketing fuels the brand, it also acts as a scout for sales. Marketing provides advanced communication to help end users understand the benefits of a smart home or commercial environment. URC’s comprehensive marketing tools are designed to communicate seamlessly and enable our sales team to drive more opportunity and expand our dealer community. At URC, our field sales team is among the best in the industry. I value partnering with each of our sales team members and rep firm executives. —Ron Pence, Marketing Lead.
I think we have more boots on the ground than many of our competitors. Not only do we leverage our PR and advertising partners to help tell the story of Vanco’s true value, but we have expanded our sales team to include some of the industry’s top talent. Vanco is committed to building relationships at a personal level with our rep firms, dealers and integrators in the commercial and residential spaces and keeping the lines of communication open. —Mark Corbin, President
Shipping Policies
Platinum: Snap One
We had a clearly defective Recessed Motorized Tab tension ALR Screen. It was very expensive. After a short phone call and photos emailed to Snap One, they overnight shipped a brand new screen without any cost to us. Additionally, we were given a credit (without asking) to our account towards a future purchase. —Reader comment
Gold: Origin Acoustics
Our mission is to always put our customers first by fulfilling and shipping their orders as accurately and quickly as possible. We understand that our customers often don’t have the ability to store inventory and need products just-in-time for any project, so our shipping policy of 24–48-hour fulfillment on in-stock items, and free, standard 3-day shipping in the United States ensures they’ll have what they need when they need it. Our warehouse teams, managed by Kenneth Hilton and William Adair, pride themselves on ensuring that shipments arrive safely and undamaged. This lets our partners focus on what matters most, which are happy end users with some of the best-sounding speakers in the world. —Phillip Dupree, Director of Operations
Silver: Russound
We have very generous policies that we’re glad resonate with our dealers in a time when quick shipping is vital. We also keep shipping at the forefront of new product design. A smaller product footprint helps keep packages as small as possible, reducing costs and improving efficiency. A great example of this is our ultra-compact AVA2.1 and AVA3.1 Mini Audio Receivers. They were designed based on dealer feedback and are now shipping. —Charlie Porritt, CEO
Social Media Presence
Platinum: Lutron
We are thrilled to win a 2024 Quest for Quality Award for Lutron’s social media presence — a testament to our renewed effort to inspire, guide, and celebrate a broader audience of customers, prospective customers, end users, and partners. We’ve enjoyed the real-time dialogue with our followers that is uniquely enabled through this channel. —Ben Bard, VP, Luxury Residential Business
Gold: Sonos
I feel that Sonos made a great improvement over 2022. —Reader comment
Silver: Josh.ai
We are dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of cutting-edge technology in our daily lives. Through collaboration with our installation partners, we curate compelling content on our social channels, spotlighting innovative work and transformative experiences. Alongside community-generated content, we take pride in keeping our audience informed about our latest products and features, as well as offering informative tutorials for seamless interactions with Josh. —Max Fiore, Marketing Specialist
Category Kudos
Last year, Kaleidescape moved from a dealer-direct social campaign effort to deliver broader awareness focused on the value quality entertainment can offer consumers. From launching our first-ever Kaleidescape consumer video, to our Filmmaker Spotlight series in addition to Kaleidescape Insiders, a video series for all things Kaleidescape, our goal was to bring value to our dealers with engaging content to drive customer demand. —Amanda Davis, Director, Marketing & Sales Enablement
By keeping manufacturing local, we did not have any issues at any point or anytime. —Reader comment
Software Support (CRM and Back-office)
Platinum: Portal
I can directly talk to many of Portal.io’s software engineers to implement features or even completely add them newly built by their team and get a response time on both the idea and even the finished product in the same day or, at latest, the same week or two. That’s unmatched by any other software out there doing a similar product with way less features for a much steeper price. —Reader comment
After our focus on building best-in-class software for the industry, customer success is our single highest priority. D-Tools’ team of 24 devoted, hard-working customer success team members work passionately to ensure that our customers are fully trained and use our software effectively and efficiently. The 2024 Quest for Quality award honors their undying effort and the positive impact they are having on the businesses that have selected D-Tools as their go-to productivity tool. Thanks for the opportunity to serve you, and please keep the feedback coming. —Randy Stearns, CEO
The biggest thing that separates us from our competitors in this category is our on-boarding process for new clients and the support we offer for all clients on a continued basis. Our on-boarding process consists of one-on-one screen shares with the new company and our on-boarding director Ryan Thomson. He walks our new clients from the settings to best practices throughout the software. Ryan will even suggest processes for the companies that don’t have processes for certain areas. After the on-boarding is complete our clients have unlimited access to phone and email support. Our support team goes above and beyond to help our client succeed. All of this is included in our price and we don’t charge extra for any of this. —Doug Greenwald, CEO/Founder
Category Kudos
OneVision Resources
Chiara at OneVision is always ready to help us improve our processes and efficiency. —Reader comment
WhyReboot
WhyReboot is always willing to help out even if they did not sell the product. —Reader comment
Supply Chain
Platinum: Snap One
Actually went out to their Partner Stores to find us items we needed when out of stock. There weren’t supply chain issues in 2023. —Reader comment
Gold: Vanco
A world-class approach to supply chain management is a vital aspect of customer success. Over the years, we’ve learned to be flexible and adapt to conditions as needed, whether that means expanding orders to ensure product availability, adding people, or sourcing our own chipsets. Having our most popular products, including audio amplifiers, extenders, and AVoIP receivers and transmitters always in stock and ready for delivery is how we excel. This is crucial in fast-paced environments like AV, where enabling smooth project execution and timely completion are paramount. —Mark Corbin, President
Silver: Sonance
Sonance kept all product in stock in 2023, there were no shortages of anything. —Reader comment
Training Programs
Platinum: Snap One
Building the opportunities and careers of custom integrators in our industry is at the heart of every effort made by our Education Team. We want to go beyond simply enhancing the knowledge and skill in the industry to inspire a love for life-long learning. That can sound a bit utopian, but it drives everything we do. —Rus Rasmussen, Senior Director, Worldwide Education
Gold: Lutron
Lutron exemplifies superior service across the board. —Reader comment
Silver: Russound
In addition to regional events, distributor trainings, and live and on-demand webinars that provide our dealers with a successful foundation in best practices and fundamentals, we have made it our mission to create a strong introduction to our new products. Our Product Training Center offers short, information-packed training videos on our latest releases. Our website also offers support with product materials and more. —Charlie Porritt, CEO
Category Kudos
At AVPro Edge, our training programs and warranty policies were both carefully created to best serve our amazing dealers. Premium audio and video over IP and video distribution solutions are critical to every project on which they are deployed, and these technologies require proper training for both sales and installation teams to maximize effectiveness. —Tom Devine, Director of Marketing
DMF Lighting
DMF has such a great network of knowledgeable and trained individuals, ready to help us super-green AV guys when it comes to lighting fixtures. —Reader comment
Josh.ai
Josh.ai continually goes above and beyond to support my team. —Reader comment
Warranty Policies
Platinum: Vanco
Quality and consistency are Vanco hallmarks. Our industry-leading 10-year warranty on all Evolution active products, alongside lifetime guarantees on Beale Street Audio products and our AV cables, continues to set the bar in how we create value for our customers and, by extension, end users who demand reliability in their AV systems. —Mark Corbin, President
Gold: Sonance
Sonance did not seem to skip a beat at all. Though I know things were getting dicey with their amplifiers for a bit, they seemed to pull through with no issues. —Reader comment
Silver: AVPro Edge
At AVPro Edge, our training programs and warranty policies were both carefully created to best serve our amazing dealers. Warranty policies are critical for integrators to achieve best efficiency in the field in the unlikely instance of a technical issue. AVPro Edge takes tremendous pride in the products we bring to market and the support behind each one of them. —Tom Devine, Director of Marketing
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
