SEE ALSO: Home Automation Podcast Episode #70: A Custom Integration Industry Q&A With Eric Thies

 Transcript

Ron:  Everybody, Ron Callis here with another episode of Automation Unplugged. It is Tuesday, April 9th. It is a little bit after 12:30. Yes, we are recording and coming to you live on a day other than Wednesday, which is our typical day for going live. I've been a busy bee. I was out last week at the Azione conference and this week is a fully packed schedule so we fit in this show when my guest was available. We're going to be talking to Bobby Dodge from Pro Source and a great friend and, and fan of the industry helps lots of integrators and I think we're going to have a lot of fun talking to Bobby and but anyway, I've been very busy here in One Firefly land and so we got the show in and so I'm happy you're joining me. I am gonna jump over real quick over here to my Facebook page just to see if we are actually streaming live into the page. Those of you that have been with me for a while been with the show, you'll know sometimes technology behaves, sometimes it does not behave. So let me, let me just refresh and see if we are streaming. Yeah, there we go. It looks like we're live. Awesome. what I am going to show you, which is kinda cool before we jump in with Bobby. Let me click here. Look here. So last week at the Azione conference I had a great time spending time with all the dealers and Richard of course. And we actually did a fun project. We audited the 200 plus members of Azione for their online review profile. IE do they have Google reviews? If so, how many do they have? What are their grades on, you know, what are the review scores on Google, on Yelp, on Home Advisor, Facebook, Houzz. And we did a quick 15 minute presentation and I was very pleasantly surprised to see our friend Jason nod over at CE Pro cover that presentation. And it's right here. It's up on CE Pro. So if you guys want to, I know it sounds terrible, 142 Azione members flunk it's not that bad. It just means there's a lot of room for improvement. That's what I say. Whenever things aren't ideal, there's opportunities to improve online review profiles for the Azione members as they're, and by the way, their scores are still probably better than most of the industry. But anyway, if you want to read that, check that out on CE pro, the story, the headline is 142 Azione members flunk online review audits as rather sensational. Thank you Jason for that. And I've already started getting some rotten tomatoes thrown at me via email, so we'll see how the fallout is, but it is what it is. And it was a lot of fun working on that project. So let me bring that down. Oh no, it's not cooperating. Well, let me bring my guest Jimmy, Bobby. I just called you Jimmy. Let me bring Jimmy in. I mean, Bobby and who's Jimmy? I got Azione on the mind. So I'm thinking Jimmy Passkey. Alright. There we go. Oh no, my software is not cooperating. Bobby, you're stuck over here in no man's land. I see you wave your hands Bobby. I see you down there. Yeah, I see you. You hear me? But my software is not cooperating. All right, give me a second. Alright. As I said, sometimes technology does not behave. Let me see what we're looking at online. Starting to build an audience. Hey Chris, watching. Hey, there we go. It works.

Bobby: Ron, can you hear me?

Ron:  I can now. Now you're live. You're on the screen. My software had about a nice healthy 30-second delay. So for me, clicking the button took a little while for you to jump on the screen, right?

Bobby: Ron, who won that? Who won that contest last week? Was it Paul Buckner? When you saying who won, who had the best report card and who had the best report card?

Ron:  Well, in that CE Pro story, so of those I may be doing myself. Let's see if technology behaves. I'm going to put this on the screen with us. Alright, let's see here. Yeah, there's a way we can do it. Where, Oh, I'm struggling anyway. You can see it there. If we scroll down Jason actually published of those attending Azione members right down here, Residential Systems, Haas entertainment, Deboard Electronics, Play and Gourmet Atlantic security and custom audio of those attending Azione members. They had the best online review profile and so I definitely wanted to acknowledge them and it was great to see Jason, you know, publish that actually to the story, which is pretty cool. So Bobby, how are you sir?

Bobby: Doing great. It's finally starting to feel like Spring. Winter's coming to an end.

Ron:  Where are you coming to us from?

Bobby: I'm in New Jersey about 25 miles outside of Manhattan.

Ron:  Okay. And this is where you live? You live in New Jersey?

Bobby: Born and raised.

Ron:  Awesome. So Mr Bobby, some of our audience, despite you being a very well known character in our industry, believe it or not, they may not know you. So I don't know how that's possible, but let's help them get to know you. Okay. Told you you're going to leave this interview, you're going to be infamous for better.

Bobby: Alright. So currently I'm the Northeast District Manager for Pro Source. I cover Boston, New England, New York Metro the Philadelphia markets in Washington DC. For anyone out there who's not part of a group that doesn't know Pro Source, Pro Source is the largest CE buying group in the industry by a dealer account and buy a sales revenue. I got into the industry shortly after high school. I had a passion for car audio. I got my first car. I wanted to get a really cool system. So I was researching and researching speaker head units. So I went in and worked with a local Hi-Fi high-performance car, audio shop near my house. And as we were designing the system and building the system and installing the system, I got a chance to know and meet the guys that worked there. And I, at the end of the day when we're done with the system, I said, you know, I'm looking for a job. I'd love to do this. This is actually a fun process of building the system and researching the products and getting to know the audio system. So they had offered me a job. So I took the job, I worked there for a few years. They also did home audio, but it wasn't really involved with the whole home audio side at the time I was doing primarily the car, audio and cell phones. I did that for a few years and then I got close with our cell phone rep from Verizon who would come in and visit us on a regular basis and they had an opening. I wanted her corporate stores down the road. So I switched up and went into the corporate world and worked for Verizon for a little while. But kinda got burnt out to retail and selling phones and kind of miss the audio and video. So then I went and worked for my dad's company. Actually. I called him up and said, listen, I miss this. Can I come work for you? And he took me, he took me in and I worked for him for a while and I had a really great time working with my dad and working with the team over at this place.

Ron:  What is your dad's business just for those watching that may not know your dad?

Bobby: So he, well, so now he has a different company. But that went back when I was talking when I first got hired with them, He had a a big integration from up in Northern New Jersey called Talk of the Town and they were also, he was a Pro Source board member for a while. So I had a chance to really get to know Andy and Dave and everyone from my time attending the meetings and conventions with him. And then the person who had my job was actually a West Coast person and they had wanted to move back to the West Coast, so it left an opening in the Northeast. So I had approached Andy and Dave and talk to them and said, listen, I would be really interested in maybe changing and working on that side of the business. So that was in 2012, so it'll be seven years in July that I'm with Pro Source and it's really been a great run and I really feel like truly blessed to be with Pro Source. We have a really good team of people. It's like, look, we're like a little family and you know, we do a lot for 10, 11 people that we have. We do a lot and I'm just proud to be part of the team.

"If you're listening to the recording, either listening to it via the podcast or listening to it on Facebook certainly feel free to post any questions or share this or like this. This is how this content grows. It's how your friends and neighbors and those in the industry will hear this content."

Ron:  Oh, that's, that's great to hear. And I want to dive into that. I'm going to give Chris Gamble a quick shout out. Chris is here watching and Chris says, Hey Ron, how you doing Chris? And real quick here Magnolia, she says, great headline. I think she's referring to when I had the CE Pro story stuck on the screen and people maybe saw that a few more minutes than I intended them to. I think that's what she's referring to. So thanks Maggie for watching. And by the way, if you're out there listening live, certainly pose your questions for Bobby. Let's see if we can stump him and make him squirm. Live on Facebook. Just kidding. Be nice. Don't say anything that would, you know, be hard to answer. And if you're listening to the recording, which are going to be most of you watching, either listening to it via the podcast or listening to it on Facebook certainly feel free to post any questions or share this or like this. This is how this content grows. It's how your friends and neighbors and those in the industry will hear this content. It's how we learn about each other. So definitely do that. And thanks for watching if you're out there. So Bobby question for you in terms of you joining Pro Source in 2012, you joined in a role called a district manager. Is that accurate?

Bobby: Yes.

Ron:  So can you explain to our audience like the structure of Pro Source and maybe at a higher level, what is Pro Source and then what does a district manager inside of Pro Source does, like how does that architecture work?

Bobby: So, Pro Source is a buying group obviously first and foremost, but on top of just the buying aspect it's also a networking and education group. So when you join the group, obviously you come into the group normally you will do about a million dollars in revenue per year is the minimum for entry into the group. You would have a good mix of group brands that you would work with. And then you would top of the financial benefit of being with the group. I think the most important part of being with Pro Source is making friends, getting into the round tables sitting through the sessions and getting educated. But it's being part of something bigger than just being on your own little Island. So yes, the financial benefit is substantial in most cases. People join the group that makes a lot of money. They get rebates, they get discounts, they buy their equipment cheaper. But making friends, coming to the meetings, being able to sit down with your vendor partners and plan out your year, you know, if you want support for events, if you need support, whatever it is that you need I think that's the best opportunity to come and meet people that you may not normally get to meet if you were a part of a binder. So I, I mean, so I think anyone who is not part of the buying group, they should talk to, to the binders, talk to us, talk to our competitors, see which is the best fit for you and your company. And join a group, become a better business person make friends and be part of the community. And I think that's really the big advantage of being part of.

Ron:  Here. I'm gonna attempt to throw up on the screen. I found that picture from our Facebook. There. You are looking all dapper in your suit. So this is from our One Firefly Facebook page. So I dunno, maybe I snapped that, but I don't remember. And there's one of the action shots I think we may also have here on our Facebook page. There we are. Look at this. This is from, this is from the One Firefly, One Vision party that took place on a Sunday night. That was fun. That was good. It was good stuff. So you, you guys did just come out of your the Nashville event and you have another event, another pro source event coming up in San Antonio. I know that I'll be there more to it. I had Oh, headliner, watch out, people headlining. Can you, can you give our audience a little bit explanation? What was the event in Nashville and who goes to that thing? And then Oh, it looks like Kendall is watching this. Such a fun event. Hey Bobby. And we'll say hello. And then just real quick here Chris says, buying groups are unknown in the UK common service. This buoyant market. I would take that district. Yeah, that wouldn't be so bad, man. A little bit of commuting there. But educate our audience. What's the difference of the event that happened in Nashville and what's this thing that's going to happen in San Antonio and who would go to either event?

Bobby: The national event is everyone's invited all, so there are three membership tiers in our group. There's the CI level of dealers, which is the majority of our group. And then there's the Power CI tier, which is about 75 of our largest customer integration firms throughout the, throughout the country. And then the pro level of dealers are mostly are retail and Internet, e-commerce dealers. And those are the largest dealers in the group. And those are some of the some of the biggest household names in the industry are part of that pro division. So companies like Worldwide Stereo and Crutchfield would be members of that pro-level of membership. So those are the three tiers that we have. So the national event, everyone's invited to it. And that's our largest show of the year. We have a vendor expo where you're able to walk the floor, see new products, talk to the executives. We have breakout sessions this year. We had a couple of really cool sessions on lighting. And it's really a company network. Like I said before, you make friends with people, you get educated and you come and see some, some really cool new equipment and plan out your year with your vendor partners. Then the show in San Antonio is our smaller, more intimate show and that show is for the power and pro-level dealers. Only. So that meeting is only probably about a hundred dealers in attendance at that show as opposed to the other show, which is about 400 dealers in attendance. So it's just a much smaller, more intimate meeting. You know, there's going to be round tables, there'll be one on one meetings with the vendors. There's going to be great presentations from people like you. And yeah, they're very similar but they're different in the fact that one's larger and wants more intimate. Those really the big difference between those two shows.

"

Ron:  Got it. Understood. Thank you for that explanation. If anyone out there has questions about Pro Source or the events, actually Let me throw up here. Just give me suddenly find out how to do this. Bingo, maybe I did it. Let's see here. I want to make that screen bigger, but it's not cooperating. There's your website and this is your vendor list. Is there anything that you would want to point out for our audience as it relates to Pro Source as a group and content that's on the site?

Bobby: So just if you're not part of a buying group, and if you scroll through this list of brands, if you're doing business with a lot of these brands, you're going to make, you're going to save a lot of money when you're buying this stuff upfront in most cases. And you're going to be able to participate not only in individual rebate programs but in group rebate programs as well. And as I said before, we're the largest as far as volume goes. Before I mentioned companies like Crutchfield and Worldwide Stereo. As a group, we're purchasing together. So when we have companies of that size in our group, we're able to achieve really in most cases the top targets for our dealers. So our rebate payouts in most cases are we're hitting, we're able to hit the top tiers in most cases, just work pulling together as 600 dealers and five and a half billion dollars in revenue. So that's a tremendous benefit to a lot of our, a lot of our dealers is the rebate payouts because of the size of our group and the dealers that are in it. So if you're doing business with a lot of these brands, call us up, talk to us. We'd love to have you be part of our group.

Ron:  Okay. Awesome. Now, are there any particular technologies, not that I want to get you in trouble with any vendors or maybe give anyone more love than they deserve, but are there any particular vendors that you want to call out and, or technologies you want to call out that particularly seem hot right now?

Bobby: Well, right now there's a lot of, from what I'm hearing, there's a lot of really cool home theater projects going on out there. So I know there's been one project recently completed in New York that re put out a full-scale JBL synthesis system. That system just is, I'm going to probably go out and visit that system that I was invited to go check that out and sit through it and listen to that. So I'm looking forward to that. So home theater is popular not just dedicated theaters, but also like those open lifestyle health theater systems where people are incorporating, you know, large screen TVs or projection screen TVs into a room and they have like a game room, a bar, different things that are going on in the room that's not just dedicated to the home theater, but it's more of a lifestyle room. So I'm seeing a lot of that pop up. Outdoor season in the Northeast obviously is in full swing as Spring's coming up. So a lot of audio video systems, a lot of TVs, a lot of outdoor systems. Our friends at Arigin acoustics have some new bollard speakers that are really popular and get calls on those quite a bit. I think they may actually got sold out on those for awhile. But those are really cool. So, you know, landscape lighting and outdoor speakers are really popular. And then another trend that I'm seeing is architectural speakers, a shift towards invisible speakers. So a lot of our guys, a lot of our dealers are working with designers and architects. And no one wants to see anything or anything was every day either gonna be hidden or not be seen. So invisible speakers have become very popular as well. So that, I mean, I'm starting to think design and aesthetics taking center stage over performance in some cases.

Ron:  That just triggered a thought. In the Nashville meeting your fearless leader Jim Rostow was on stage, he's an overview over all of AVB Dave workman's at a pro source, but Jim Ristau mentioned, and I believe the Pro Source channel is going to do this, a showroom remodel program. Is that active within the Pro Source space or is that just in the Brand Source space or Pro Source dealer that gets part of that?

Bobby: That's really that's more of a Brand Source program. But we're going to have one dealer participate.

Ron:  What is that process baked yet in terms of who's going to get selected to get us in design? Or is that still all up in the air?

Bobby: It's up in the air. So people will submit pictures and a form of why they should be selected for the makeover. And then, you know, our team, Sherry Dantonio, Dave, Andy, Tim, Jessica, they'll go through all that and as a team we'll decide on who gets selected to do the makeover. But that'll be really cool. We'll bring in a lot of our bands, their partners and all of our random brands to do the make-over. We'll film it, we'll photograph it, we'll take pictures of it. So it'll be a really cool project when that's done, and I get a lot of cool content out of it as well.

Ron:  Now last year, and correct me if the timing's right or wrong here, I want to say in 2018, Pro Source put a big emphasis on service and after-sales service. And I know that you announced programs with both One Vision and Parasol. Can you expand on that? What, what is that focus and how has that been received by the marketplace?

Bobby: It's been received very well. I know talking to Joey a lot, he is bringing on and onboarding dealers all the time. I hadn't talked with Ted from Parasol just last week. They're onboarding people all the time. So I think people see it as a way of shoring up business, making sure they're charging the right prices, you know, having a team of experts be kind of an extension of your service team to help guide you in the right direction and ensure that you're doing your, you know, your procedures and your service practices the correct way. I think that's the most important part of all thing is having the experts be on your team. So if you have a question, how much should I charge? You know, am I doing this directly? You can pick up the phone and call the people from One Vision or the people at Parasol and have experts being kind of an extension of your team. And I see that the same with marketing as well. A lot of people this year are saying that the economy may take a downturn. I haven't seen that yet. Everyone I've been talking to has said business is really robust right now and that there's, there's projects in the pipeline but people keep predicting that this year we'll, we'll see a downfall in business. And I think it's actually a way for people to maybe take some time and work on their business, whether that's shoring and sharpening up your marketing game, sharpening up your service game, but taking the time to make adjustments to your business so you could, you know, be more profitable. And when it comes to marketing if people do see a slow down and referrals and leads coming in, I think marketing's a perfect way to widen your net attract more customers? So whether that's freshening up your website and making sure it's SEO, configure, having videos, blogs, just making sure you're doing all the right things. So when people are online looking for you, they're finding here. I always stress the importance of working with One Firefly theme to sharpen up their marketing game cause I think it's going to be really important this year.

"I don't have the gut feeling it's going to be a big recession, but I think it's going to recede a bit. Inteagrators, as small businesses should do more from a marketing standpoint. I think any textbook would tell you that."

Ron:  No, I appreciate that. And you'd been a great supporter of marketing as a topic for integrators to think about and certainly a great supporter of One Firefly since that's greatly appreciated. Want to give a quick shout out Sherry? I just had this on the screen. Sherry, what's up? Sherry's watching, she as soon Sherry will hang out in San Antonio. That'll be fun. And so in terms of marketing though, I mean I can tell you and some observations that I have there and that is I think, you know, I am also of the opinion it's a wait and sees in terms of the economy. I think that the economy here in the US specifically, and I think there are indicators around the country where some markets are starting to feel pressure. Some of the manufacturers, some of the big manufacturers are sealing, you know, seeing pullbacks, some of the major TV brands and electronics brands I've seen Q1 pressure in or where they've missed targets and and there's, you know, something's causing that. I know that you know, we witnessed ourselves even some, what I'm call some weirdness in like December, January. Although the last, you know, couple of months had been very strong for us. You know, we're trickled down from the integrator. So if the integrators feeling something, ultimately it lands down on us. And so one of the concerns is, or observations I have is that if a market's going to recede a bit, I don't, I don't have the gut feeling it's going to be a big recession, but I think it's going to recede a bit. It's likely you know, either integrators should or as small businesses they should do more from a marketing standpoint. I think any textbook would tell you that. I would certainly say that you're saying that. And then some integrators are likely to say, Oh, things are tightening up. I'm going to start cutting budgets. Oh, I'm going to cut marketing. And I've already started seeing that. And so I'm curious. Do you, have you encountered that? Or if someone, if you're having the conversation with an integrator specifically about marketing and the role it can play, what do you say when they say they're thinking about cutting it or, or stopping to do it as a solution?

Bobby: Big mistake. Cause I think all consumers are online. Everyone's on Google, everyone's watching YouTube videos. I think you need to step up the marketing game to attract new customers and find new people to your business. So if things slow down the traditional way, find new ways to find business. And I think social media, I think having a website, I think maybe even an outreach for upgrades, email, phone calls to previous clients things like that are, can be very helpful to bring up business that you may not get in the traditional way. So that's why I feel, like I said, I feel most important. I get the services that you guys provide are great, but I think the people that are on the One Firefly team become an extension of the integrators team. So they're able to provide what's working, what's not working. So has that happened to hire your own marketing person? You can hire the One Firefly team to help advise you and make sure you're doing all the correct things. And I think that marketing is for sure a benefit to every company, whether it's in our industry or not in our industry.

Ron:  Wait, we have Chris agreeing with us. Bobby, he says he just increased his 2020 budget. Now, Chris, correct me. I'm, I'm assuming you mean your 2019 budget or are you already designing or planning your budget for, you know, what does, how many months out would that be? Eight months out. Eight months would be 20, 20. If you could clarify that for us, Chris in the comments, that would be great. And I'll, I'll flash that up on the screen. So, Bobby, question you, you're calling on you know, I'm going to say lots of companies hundreds, maybe a hundred plus, I'm guessing. And what are some observations that you have of company best practices? Like when you're in, in all of these businesses every day of the week, you're either talking to them or you're visiting them and you see, you clearly see some businesses that are better off than others. And I'm saying even if you keep it to yourselves, you probably have opinions of things that certain businesses that are doing that clearly are helping them. And maybe other observations where people have practices that are harming their ability to grow. I think you going to just focus on the positive. What are some observations of some of the best practices?

"Some of the best practices I see from some of the most successful businesses in the industry are when they're doing really successful, cool events."

Bobby: Some of the best practices I see from some of the most successful businesses in the industry are when they're doing really successful, cool events. So they're bringing in cool food. They're bringing a good, like good drinks. They're making it fun. They're making people go sit through demos, but they're making it fun and there, they have a big audience of people who come in to see the store. They're if they're doing it right, they're merchandising the store the correct way with the right brands. And if you don't, even if you don't sell at the events, I think you bring people a positive fun experience when they are already down the road. They will come back and remember they had a good time at your place. And remember you said that you did, they put on a good event for them, you hosted them that the well gave a good drinks. Maybe you had some live music at the show, but you gave him a really fun positive experience. I think the events really work a lot and I think the people that do them on a regular basis and plan them out, market them well are seeing great success from the events. So I think that's one of the biggest things that I see out there are events.

Ron:  What percentage of the, let's just say the year in the Northeast. So what percentage of all the companies you call on hold events? I mean that already strikes me as probably a very minimal number.

Bobby: Not that many, but the smart ones are doing it. And the, and the ones that are the ones that really are one of my priests are business and bring attention from the local community are bringing the people to their store and giving them a good experience. I'm going to be working on one shortly in the Hamptons. I'm with one of my dealers where we want to do kind of a lighting expo. We're going to invite in some of the new lighting vendors that we brought into the group and kind of do a mini expo at their showroom where they can invite their partners and their architects or designers and educate them on the latest in lighting technology, whether that's circadian lighting and all the new technologies that go along with lighting. So that when these people are planning their jobs with their clients, designers, they're up to speed and they know how to talk about the lighting and they know what's new in lighting. So we're going to bring in some lighting vendors to a showroom and now we're going to put on a really cool event. We're gonna see how that goes. But I think that'll..

Ron:  What are you going to, can you share any tips or tricks here? What are you guys going to do to get them to show up? You know, how are you going to invite them and, or the dealer, how are they going to invite them and how do they have some confidence to show up for the party.

"I think if you make it exciting, you can make it fun. You can make it worth their while they're going to come. So then I think it's just proper planning. If you plan properly, people will show up and will come and will have a good time and will buy from you."

Bobby: Call them up, email them, do some some online invitations, do some social media on it and just do it the old school way and just get people in and make it exciting when people want to come in. I think if you make it exciting, you can make it fun. You can make it worth their while they're going to come. So then I think it's just proper planning. If you plan properly, people will show up and will come and will have a good time and will buy from you.

Ron:  Chris just posted that clarification. He said it's 2019 budget is wrapped and spent and clearly Chris is on the ball cause he's already planning his 20, 20 budget shit. Even that, I don't start planning my 20, 20 budget until September. So good for you Chris. You're a ahead of the game, man. That is impressive. And and then what else does Chris say here? Chris says that he holds 12 events a year, says open those doors, share your knowledge, highlight your location and expertise. Sounds like, Oh, there you go. Chris says we need to invite influencers. So you need to get people that'll get loud on social and share out with their audiences. And that sounds like a, a great, a great method here for sure. Well Bobby believe it or not, we have been live for a good bit. We've been live for a little bit over 30 minutes and I am going to, I'm going to wrap up. I know you're a busy man and you have places to be and things to do and stuff to sell and customers to take care of. So it's been a pleasure having you on episode 71.

Bobby: Thank you for inviting me. I really appreciate it.

Ron:  Oh, it's my pleasure, Bobby. I look forward to hanging out with you and the Pro Source crew here in a couple of weeks down in San Antonio.

Bobby: Looking forward to it. I'll see you there.

Ron:  Alright buddy. Sounds good. Alright folks, there you have it. That was the one and only Bobby Dodge from Pro Source. I am going to share a couple of other pieces of info for you. Here is our lineup for the balance of this month. There are the dates we got Bobby. We had the gentleman from color beam Mike and then we have a very special guest at the end of the month. We have Brad Sugars. Brad Sugars runs the number one business coaching organization in the world. And I've read most if not all of Brad Sugar's books. And I ran across Brad on LinkedIn and one thing leads to another. I invited him to be on the show and he said yes. So red sugar's is an internationally known and respected business coach and author and he's going to be our guest here at the end of the month. So I'm super stoked to have all these people. And one more thing. Remember, One Firefly is on Instagram. If you haven't already, go to Instagram.com/OneFireflyLLC. Try to post all sorts of fun stuff about when Firefly and our team and our goings on in the industry. And definitely be sure to check us out there. And lastly if you have any questions for myself or for the team here at one Firefly or you can call us, you can also go to our website onefirefly.com. So until next time, everyone be well, have a great balance of your week and I'll see you on episode 72 next week. Take care everyone.

Show Notes

Bobby began his career in 2002 at a high performance car audio and home theater company in New Jersey. His initial passion entering the industry was in car audio but after a few years transitioned to the home side of the business. He joined the ProSource team in 2012.

Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.

Resources and Links from the Interview:

• Membership tiers with ProSource
• Partnership with Parasol and OneVision
• Pro members World Wide Stereo and Crutchfield

You can also learn more about ProSource at https://www.prosourceinfo.com/ Make sure to follow them on Facebook and LinkedIn.