To safeguard the high standards of this survey, please abide by the following longstanding policies:
(1) For your grades to be valid, you must grade a vendor on at least 8/16 parameters. Grading on fewer parameters will disallow your entire string of grades, because it suggests that you are not familiar enough with a particular vendor to be able to grade him.
(2) Strings of "0" across the board are automatically disallowed, since this is not a rational response (even the worst vendor isn't that bad!)
(3) Grading only a single vendor is disallowed, since this amounts to "stuffing the ballot box," especially if the grades are super high.
(4) Please consider all grades you award carefully. While strings of 4.5's for any one vendor are not automatically disallowed, they are very much discouraged. I don't know of a single vendor whose performance across all 16 parameters is so super-excellent, it would warrant 4.5's for each and every one of them.
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27th annual survey measures partnership behavior of industry vendors
A total of 199 dealers from 40 US States plus Canada graded, on average, 13 vendors on 16 distinct performance aspects - 5 of them product-related, 5 dealer profitability-related, and 6 dealer support-related. Taken together, the results permit us to infer the quality of the partnership between industry vendors and independent specialists/custom integrators, as it is experienced by dealers.
To be included in the survey results, a vendor had to be evaluated by at lest 15 dealers. This year, 64 companies, competing in 8 divisions (H.A./Electronics, H.A./Speakers, Home Video/Displays, H.V./Screens, two Custom Installations, one Wire&Cable and one Car Audio group) cleared this hurdle.
The OVERALL Winner in each of the 8 groups was determined by computing the average of the 16 individual parameter grades.
No. 1 OVERALL-H.A./Electronics group: Peachtree Audio. A first time Overall winner, Peachtree finished in the top three of its group 11 times, including 3 first places.
No. 1 OVERALL-H.A./Speakers group: Magnepan. This is the third year Magnepan has captured the Overall winner's trophy, this year finishing in the top three 13 times, including 7 times in first place.
No. 1 OVERALL-Home Video Display group: Epson. The company has now taken 5 annual Overall winner's trophies, this year based on a total of 15 top three places -- 10 first, 3 second, and 2 third.
No. 1 OVERALL-H.V./Screens group: Stewart Filmscreen. This company has been the Overall winner in the H.V./Screens group for an unprecedented 14 consecutive years. This year, they finished with 15 parameter first and one second place.
No. 1 OVERALL-Custom Installation/Advanced Control Systems, Lighting, Media Management, Automation (CI-ALMA) group: Savant Systems. Also a first time Overall winer, Savant Systems, this year, finished in the top three 11 times, including 6 times in first place.
No. 1 OVERALL- Custom Installation/Distributed A/V, CI Speakers, Power Management, Accessories (CI-DAV-SPA) group: SpeakerCraft . This years "comeback company," SpeakerCraft battled back to first place Overall in the group after having slipped to 4th place Overall last year. In the current survey, SpeakerCraft finished in the top three 15 times, including 5 first places.
No. 1 OVERALL-Wire & Cable group: AudioQuest. This is the 4th time at the Overall top in the group for AudioQuest, and this year it is based on 13 parameter first places.
No. 1 OVERALL-Car Audio group: Memphis Car Audio. Memphis finished first Overall for the 9th year, this year based on 15 top three finishes, including 13 first places.
Some vendors were rated outstanding on some, but not on all, parameters. The following are our RUNNER-UPS:
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H.A./Electronics Companies
Bryston - 6 top 3, including 4 first places, No. 2 Overall
McIntosh - 6 top 3, including 1 first place, No. 3 Overall
Classe - 8 top 3, including 4 first places, No. 4 Overall
Integra - 5 top 3, including 3 first places, No. 6 Overall
H.A./Speaker Companies
JL Audio - 12 top 3, including 7 first places, No. 2 Overall
GoldenEar - 8 top 3, including 2 first places, No. 3 Overall
Def. Tech. - 5 top 3, including 1 first place, No 4 Overall
Klipsch - 1 first place
Home Video Display Companies
Runco - 12 top 3, including 4 first places, No. 2 Overall
Elite - 13 top 3, including 1 first place, No. 3 Overall
Sony - 4 top 3, including 1 first place, No. 4 Overall
H.V./Screens Companies
Draper - 10 top 3, including 1 first place, No. 3 Overall
C.I./ALMA Companies
Lutron - 8 top 3, including 3 first places, No. 2 Overall
Kaleidescape - 7 top 3, including 3 first places, No. 3 Overall
Crestron - 6 top 3, including 2 first places, No. 4 Overall
RTI - 6 top 3, including 2 first places, No. 6 Overall
Sonos - 1 first place
C.I./DAV-SPA Companies
Leon Spkrs. - 10 top 3, including 5 first places, No. 2 Overall
Triad Spkrs. - 7 top 3, including 2 first places, No. 3 Overall
Snap AV - 11 top 3, including 5 first places, No. 4 Overall
Wire & Cable Companies
Tributaries - 16 top 3, including 3 first places, No. 2 Overall
Car Audio Companies
JL Audio - 16 top 3, including 3 first places, No. 2 Overall
Pioneer - 1 first place
Dealers also voted for the company offering the Best Price/Value in each group. Those first places went to:
H.A./Electronics Companies: Integra
H.A./Speaker Companies: Paradigm (for an unmatched 22 years)
Home Video Display Companies: Panasonic
H.V./Screens Companies: Screen Innovations
C.I./ALMA Companies: Lutron
C.I./DAV-SPA Companies: SpeakerCraft
Wire & Cable Companies: Tributaries
Car Audio Companies: Memphis Car Audio
Finally, the survey analyzed the Problems dealers faced, the Opportunities they found and capitalized on, and the ways in which they Raised Awareness for their Businesses. An attempt was then made to relate this to the Level of Business dealers reported for calendar year 2011.
The complete 40-page report is available in electronic format at a price of $159. To order, please CLICK HERE
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2013 Supplier Loyalty Test survey form UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The latest survey form will open in most common browsers, on most tablets, and will be posted here as soon as programming is complete. We are now in the TESTING STAGE. The survey should be posted soon. Thank you for your patience. |