By Bruce Genricks, Managing Director of Electrosonic SA
Crestron has taken the decision to open their own sales office in South Africa. This is part of Crestron’s international strategy of direct distribution in every region.
Electrosonic SA has been distributing Crestron products in Southern Africa for the last 20 years. It is sad to see such a long and fruitful relationship coming to an end, but as we all know, change is inevitable.
Electrosonic SA's Managing Member, Bruce Genricks and his colleagues Rupert Denoon, Jason Johnstone and Abrie du Plooy had the opportunity to attend the 12th annual ISE trade show in Amsterdam in February and made the most of it.
The pre-show events consisted mostly of training. Product managers Rupert and Jason represented Electrosonic SA at Crestron and Kramer dealer conferences respectively. The purpose of attending these conferences was to gain first hand product training on the latest products, as well as doing a walkthrough of the stand so that they could confidently represent the brands during the actual show.
In 1993 Electrosonic SA launched an eight page AV and Lighting newsletter and called it Pro-Magazine. “High-tech meets education” was printed in bold as the intro paragraph of one of the first articles. An extract from that story reads: “In the training centre itself, the 120-seat main auditorium is equipped with a Panasonic data projection system, which allows the projection of anything from printed pages and 35mm slides to overhead transparencies and even three-dimensional objects”. It continues: “Panasonic 67cm colour television sets and VHS VCRs have been installed…”
One of the biggest challenges in AV system design is the colossal gap between a client’s wish list and the budget. I have witnessed many a twinkle-in-the-eye disappears when the bottom-line figure is the main decider. It requires careful planning, and a broad product knowledge, to provide a solution as close as possible to the initial request, but also satisfactory to the bank manager.
