Abt Electronics At its current location near Chicago in Glenview, Ill., for
nearly eight years, Abt Electronics is all about getting “big- ger and better,” said mobile electronics manager John Samp. The shop has kept growing, both in the physical sense and the offerings online. Being voted as a Top 12 retailer is a “a great stepping stone, great exposure for the company,” Samp said. “We strive for excellence, of course, and we always want to be featured as one of the best, if not the best.” To get customers involved in the voting process, Abt
went the personal, one-on-one route as well as social me- dia. The company already relies on social media sites to drive web traffic to its website, which features thousands of items for “those click-and-buy kind of people,” Samp said. “That’s the way the world has turned,” he added. “It’s going to be web shopping. Some of these DIY guys want to do it themselves.”
Continuously educating yourself about the industry,
networking and simply being honest with the customers are all recipes for Abt’s growth. “We have solutions from a couple hundred bucks to thousands,” Samp said. “Be- ing honest with the consumer is always the best thing. We’re here to educate you, get you what you need. Times are tough right now and people aren’t really spending that disposable income.” Although he always looks long-term, short-term is im-
portant to evolve and adapt to new trends such as OEM integration, Samp said. Abt recently began doing window tinting, as well. “We’re open-minded to whatever the next new big thing is,” he added.
Performance Audio Las Vegas
The Webb family brought some Southern Hospitality to
Las Vegas from Georgia and so far it has worked out pretty well. As a relative newcomer to the industry, Performance Audio Las Vegas places among the Top 12 retailers for the first time, a feat that Tami Webb admits came as “a total shock.” For her son Jon, mobile electronics has been a long-time passion, one in which he managed to also get his retired parents involved in as well. Never mind that Tami worked as a veterinarian for years and didn’t know much about the industry. “In Georgia, car audio was not my thing,” she said. “I ran a huge medical practice there and we had about 150 ani- mals a day.“ Still, some things translated across industries. “We had a little saying: ‘hire for attitude and train for exper- tise.’ It was a very customer service-oriented practice,” she added. Tami used a mix of walk-in customers, Facebook and the
store’s website, which also features a blog, to drive vot- ers to vote the shop into the Top 12. “A guy from another shop, out in Alaska, was the one who told Jon we were on the list,” Webb said. “When we found out we were totally flabbergasted.” Tami stressed quality of work and customer service as
the cornerstones for Performance Audio’s strong perfor- mance in such a relatively short time. “When customers come in, we always do a little more than they expect,” she said. “They tell other people about your business. Long- term, how many people are they going to tell? It really works. You’ve got to be consistent.”
www.me-mag.com 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68