Anyone work full-time at an A/V store? (1 Viewer)

[Thomas_Berg]

just wondering if anyone here is actually in the A/V field as their daytime job. i just got a job at San Antonio's major hifi store and i'm pretty much sure that this is what i want to do for good. does anyone else actually work in this field? if not, what do you do to support your addiction? :p)
i predict that buying at wholesale will be my downfall!

 

[Evelio Figueroa]

if not, what do you do to support your addiction?

I'm a night time truck driver hauling gasoline. Its no fun job, but it gets me the things I need.

 

[Thomas_Berg]

yup. i'm working as a inventory-stocker and stand-builder type person at Bjorn's right now. hopefully i'll move to sales this summer. regardless, it rules! i get paid to talk to people about HT while i stock and learn, learn, learn!! not much beats that IMO...

 

[Allan F]

I worked in the field (A/V sales) for years while I was in school. No longer though. Salesman accomidations directly from the manufacturer was definately the way to go. I miss it sometimes. Not enough money in it for me.

Allan

 

[Alex Prosak]

I worked in a A/V store for several years while in college. Getting deals on the equipment was nice but the money wasn't near good enough. I now support myself as a civil engineer. I may not get the good deals anymore, but at least I can afford to buy the equipment I want.

 

[Brian Corr]

I work full time in telecom but also sell/consult for a custom installer. It's the best of both worlds - get HT product at wholesale and make some extra money but have the benefits and stability of a full time job.

 

[george kaplan]

Thomas,
Please take this in the spirit intended. Unfortunately, I have to say that with 2 exceptions, I am very unimpressed with the knowledge of the Bjorn's sales staff. Yes they have some good stuff (I got my rptv there), and the guy who does the isf calibration is good, but I almost always find myself knowing more about the products than they do. That's not good at a high-end store. Now, if I need help, I always look for one of the two knowledgable sales guys, and won't let anyone else help me. (Hopefully I could add you to my short list).
Maybe you can start telling them how great the rp91 is so they'll stock it, which they currently do not do. :frowning:
Good luck.

 

[Marc H]

I am.
Got into it back in '85 with the intention of ugrading my gear on the cheap.
Still doin' it, upgrading I mean. (Does it ever stop?)

 

[Thomas_Berg]

Maybe you can start telling them how great the rp91 is so they'll stock it, which they currently do not do.

i actually brought this to the stock manager's attention a few days back. i asked him why, if we carried low-end aka non-ES Sony DVD crap, do we not carry Panasonic's DVD line?! there are quite a few brands that i'd like Bjorn's to carry that we currently dont have.
george- i know a few of these salespeople that you speak of and, yes, i myself know more than they. however, i do know for a fact that everyone on the sales staff is required to attend many meetings/sermons each year to ensure their knowledge is up-to-date. maybe if i stay with the company long enough to get up into management i can bring about some changes for the better, but until then, i'm just the guy in the back.

 

[Evelio Figueroa]

yup. i'm working as a inventory-stocker and stand-builder type person at Bjorn's right now.

IC
I've been buying all my equipment there for a very long time. In fact, I'm going to pick up my VSX-49TX later on this week!! Its in the stock room with my name on it!! I think its the only 49TX back there!!
I was going to buy it at soundpros but a little problem came up. Two 49TX's was damaged by a careless forklift operator. They fell hard on the ground while still in the box. One of them would've been mine. I decided to go ahead and buy it at Bjorn's. Besides, if something happened with my 49TX, I rather take it to a local dealer for warranty work instead of boxing it back up and shipping it to California.

 

[George Martin]

Well, I sort of do. I work for a store that does mainly car stereo. We also do home frunishings and home audio.I run the car audio installation shop. With the rep firms that the company has I am able to get my home theater gear at cost or below the owner knows I am into HT so any classes or siminars that come up he sends me (Atlantic tech puts on a really nice one). The company has been doing research on selling installed HT systems which if we do I will be in charge of that area so I must say that this site has really been a big help in our research.
ONKYO TX-DS989
ONKYO DVM-301
ONKYO DX-RD511
JAMO CORNET 195
JAMO center7.2
DEF TECH BP 2.1x (4 ea)
custom built sub with 100 watt plate amp.

 

[Salvador]

this is going a bit of tangent but what is the REAL deal when bargaining with salesmen at home theater shops? At this one shop i asked the salesman what's the best price he could give me. He wrote down a figure and without saying anything a started my way to the door. As soon as i walk out the store he calls me back saying he could do "better".

I just want to know how it all works behind the scenes. Ok, so they buy it at cost then they work around the mark-up accordingly to each specific customer?

Since i'm not really sure how the minds of salesmen work, i'm just going to lay out the money (in cash of course) that i am willing to pay for and present an ultimatum. Simple yes or no tactic i guess, with no beating around the bush. Is that a good approach?

 

[Tim Kilbride]

I do work in the field full time...I've owned a pro-audio company for about 15 years and we do about 3-4 houses a year (installation of theater and whole house audio). We try to use the best of both worlds in our installations...good consumer pieces and good pro pieces. Seems to work out fine...

Tim Kilbride