MI Pro

Although the art of re-invention is central to the popular music business, it is something of an oddity in business – and virtually non-existent in MI business. Thus Audio Technica’s activities of the past three years have stood out as something of a showcase when it comes to re-branding and then re-examining and tweaking that branding on a regular basis.

Behind it all is AT’s senior marketing manager, Harvey Roberts, a man with an unimpeachable pedigree, having worked in similar ways with both Fuji and Psion before joining the Leeds mic operation.

Since giving the Audio Technica brand a complete facelift in 2006, Roberts and his team have been analysing every aspect of the business, even going as far as running an anonymous survey through Music Tech magazine late last year. The results were pretty encouraging.

“We wanted a warts-and-all perspective of how we are seen, by both end users and retailers,” explains Roberts. “Obviously, we get feedback from the sales team that is pretty accurate, but that will never reveal any little home truths. It’s all very well sitting in your office and believing this or that, but every now and then it’s better to get the information first hand.”

Interestingly, from the dealers, the prime reasons for recommending a mic were the customer service available, product availability and speed of delivery. Audio Technica was encouraged to see that it came top in these areas.

“Over 80 per cent said our customer service was ‘good’ or ‘very good’ – 52 per cent saying ‘very good’,” says Roberts. “This proved to me that the product is not just the microphone, but that and everything around it.”

At this point, a lot of companies might have been tempted to say: ‘well, that’s all right then’ and carry on. Audio Technica, on the other hand, saw it as an opportunity to strengthen its positives.

“Some of the changes we have made have been on-going, such as restructuring the field sales team and co-ordinating them with a team member in the Leeds office – all of this was happening anyway, but it still fits the scheme in that it is important to have the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.

“On top of that, we have extended our opening times for the customer service department to be more in line with the hours the retailers work – 8am to 5:30pm – and we will be opening over Christmas in future, just as the retailers have to. The Christmas break can be as much as two weeks and it is a busy time in the shops with lots of queries and even returns. Forcing the dealer to say ‘I’m sorry, there won’t be anyone at Audio Technica until January 3rd’ simply isn’t good enough.”

Further to that, the entire office-based sales team is taking an NVQ in customer service. Some might argue that sales people need good customer skills anyway, but it transfers to the office workers, too. It’s no-one’s job to simply answer the phone and then pass the buck.

Then there is the new regime of weekly calls to check on back orders, a new website (partly beta tested by the UK retailers). It all goes towards making Audio Technica an accessible company and not one that, through the sort of growth that all companies aspire to, becomes slowly more corporate and faceless.

“We are a family company at heart,” insists Roberts. “So, yes, you’re right to say we aim to be more accessible. This comes from asking ourselves why we do something and how customers see us.”

Taking this into account, the Music Tech survey put AT at the top as regards mic companies’ websites. “The figures weren’t good, though,” he admits. “A third of respondents said the site was adequate or poor, so this is why we have gone out to make it better, more user-friendly, more interactive and with easier, broader search functions. Users customise their pages to fit their interests and specialisations. I’m really pleased with the results.”

Despite this, Roberts says there will be further tweaks and additional functions to the site over the next year or so.

Perhaps the most significant fact of all of this, however, is the fact that none of it has happened in a vacuum. Each element has an effect or an influence on every other one, co-ordinating the sales teams, warehousing, IT and customer service to bring an integrated system to dealers and end users, while all the time projecting the image of a single, considerate company.

“It’s nothing ground-breaking,” says Roberts. “It’s simply making the best use of what we have and making sure that it works together.”

AUDIO TECHNICA: 0113 277 1441