We are all in a business that revolves around gear, meaning a lot of techno stuff. But while most of our attention is focused on the technology, features and specs of gizmos and items involving electron flow and acoustics, there are other facets of the business that are often equally important — yet frequently overlooked. Just as essential to the equipment side is the people side and the service side.
The Soundco Side
Any business deal involves a relationship, which, depending on the circumstances, might be complex or fairly straightforward. Clearly there’s a huge difference between buying a couple rolls of gaffer’s tape and investing in a full-on line array. And likewise, the same applies to showing a customer how to set up a basic speaker-on-a-stick rig for a wedding rental versus providing console and system training to a client who just purchased a complete large rig for a church or facility installation. Yet in every case, the approach should be the same, treating every customer with respect and professionalism. And here the concept of karma kicks in: The good deeds you do will eventually return goodness your way. And that makes sense in any business framework, because word of mouth advertising can — and will — pay off in the long run.
If you’re the business owner, it’s important that this mantra is relayed efficiently to your staff. You may have the approach of friendly attitude, good service and putting out a little extra effort to make sure every customer is satisfied, but often your staff are the most visible part of your company, and what they do ultimately reflects on you.
On the product side, buyers may be dealing with reps, sales engineers and sometimes retailers. Of course, on the contracting (and often soundco) side, you may be operating as both a client and supplier, such as when providing components in the design for an end user’s system. This may complicate any application of broad-stroke rules, but the game remains the same. In fact as the installer, you are the first line of defense when any issues/problems arise, whether it’s caused by equipment failure (rare) or operator error (more common).
Here again, how you deal with these situations defines a lot about your company and how it’s perceived by clients. At the same time, dealing with occurrences such as operator error can often by reduced by making sure that the gear you selected in the first place was appropriate to the situation. Installing a complex multi-layered digital console in a elementary school cafetorium system is almost certainly a poor choice when the system operators are most likely to be kindergarten teachers or the school janitor.
The Manufacturer Side
The same principles apply to manufacturers. You have products to offer, but there’s more involved here. Let’s be honest, it’s all about the sale and making sure your customers have the information they need to help select the right gear is a major step towards that goal. But like the sound companies that have to deal with gear they might have installed, the manufacturers have an obligation to offer a level of support after the sale that meets or exceeds the amount of marketing effort put into making the sale.
Online materials — white papers, manuals, how-to videos, etc. — are a good step in this direction and can actually save money in terms of reducing service and support calls. Quick-start guides on product operation are a nice and useful touch — not everyone has the time and patience to sort through a 440-page manual just to check on a boot-up procedure or figure out how to route the walk music feed into the master bus.
We all also have to deal with certain inevitable brutal truths. Eventually any piece of gear will fail — not “if” but “will.” Sometimes, things do go south, and — especially in this industry where we’re often working during “non-business” hours — it’s nice to have some kind of downloadable troubleshooting guide, signal flow diagram, schematics and maybe even a service manual.
The other side of gear failure is parts availability. Users appreciate access to affordable in-stock parts (or referrals to reliable third-party sources), not only for the shiny toys you just bought, but also for slightly older and even discontinued products. It’s no secret that items like speakers and diaphragms do wear out/die over time, and parts availability is important.
As we move toward the digital age, items like downloadable software/firmware upgrades are essential, not only for console operating systems, but drivers as well. I recently needed to do a stereo back of room recording for a gig. No problem, and for this particular gig, I figured I’d use a outboard USB interface/preamp and neither of the two [manufacturer names withheld to protect the guilty] units I’d previously used most often offered updated drivers for either Windows 8 or Mac Lion. Not happy about that, but I was pleased to find new drivers for an aged, but still reliable FireStudio Tube that — despite being discontinued years ago — did the job. Bravo, PreSonus!
Help is on the Way!
Speaking of help, FRONT of HOUSE just released a version of the popular Event Production Directory in a convenient iOS format for your iPhone or iPod. (An Android version is in the works.) The EPD for iOS puts an enormous industry reference in your pocket and offers a powerful search function that can locate necessary companies and services for any aspect of the entertainment/event production biz — in a matter of thumbstrokes. Best of all, it’s a free download from the Apple App store. Check it out!
