Comments on: Has MESA Changed the Car Stereo Industry?

By: MICHAEL MEZA

MICHAEL MEZA — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 21:05:29 +0000

In reply to Ray Windsor. When a Master takes charge, hardly anybody notices.

By: james

james — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 19:44:39 +0000

I don’t think anyone thinks they are a victim! As most of us has been in business for many years and are still here and doing well. Like others I have talked with many dealers who have applied and been turned down, myself included, and a few MESA members who have been members for years. MESA did start as a group for small dealers to take advantage of group purchases for better pricing. marketing , advertising , customer financing came later and as well as better business practices. MESA now is more of a special group for mid to large size dealers. Smaller dealers are now a afterthought and are not even considered by the group. Many MESA dealers are also feeling pressured into buying larger quantities than they are comfortable with causing problems with cash flow and then having to discount items to get rid of them. Some are on the verge of stepping away from the group. So all in all MESA may not be for everyone as they like any group have their problems. But I think what upsets most small dealers is they way the seem to carter to them, but when it comes down to reality they are not really interested in them. The group is for a mid to large size shop mainly for buying purposes.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 19:10:53 +0000

We – Like the Products we sell – need a ReBoot once in a while. Give your place a Real Old Fashioned CLEANING – dig out the Eddy Kay CD’s – watch some Zig Ziglar YouTube Videos – and get back in the game !!! Oh YES – and can we talk about MUSIC…. don’t let your employees play THEIR favorite music…. the showroom needs to be playing DETAILED – INSTRUMENTAL – UNIVERSAL – NON offensive – Tracks that show off the quality of what you sell – I don’t really enjoy listening to JAZZ all day…. but when any age customer comes in and hears that type of genre – they instantly feel like they are in a REAL MUSIC STORE. There is still an American fascination with your vehicle, your tunes and the open road.

Otherwise Give Up and Hang Out the CLOSED sign.

By: Ryan Gunter

Ryan Gunter — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 18:51:27 +0000

In reply to lee.

I’m sorry if there was any miscommunication about our application process and Membership requirements. I’d love to talk and clarify for you.
Give me a call or send me an email.

In fact, if anybody has any questions about M.E.S.A feel free to contact me.

Ryan Gunter
Executive Director
M.E.S.A.
303-809-0623
Rgunter@mespecialists.com

By: Emran

Emran — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 18:38:51 +0000

We joined MESA two years ago and it was by far the best decision we’ve made as a company. The knowledge, resources, and people in the program each make it better with every addition. We weren’t allowed in for a while due to territorial issues prior to being allowed in but that didn’t stop us from trying. To the dealer that posted first, keep trying, and be persistent and reach out to other MESA members to put in a good word. If you can bring value to MESA then MESA can bring value to you, That’s the beautiful thing about MESA, we all don’t look at it as a buying group but instead as a community of like minded individuals seeking to better the industry and provide resources to each other that help us all! Total revenue isn’t the precursor to becoming a part of MESA, it’s what you have to bring to the table that can better the whole!

By: Ray Windsor

Ray Windsor — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 17:21:54 +0000

Club membership is not what makes it work. Disciplined use of best practices (that the club members probably use). Building dynamite employees not waiting to hire one that has has been built somewhere else. Seek out vendors who will support you and your profit AND supporting them in return.

There can’t be any question that the MESA guys are for the most part damn good. MESA has excellent leadership. BUT the business and the business opportunities are bigger than MESA membership.

Ray Windsor, again…

By: Ray Windsor

Ray Windsor — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 17:14:37 +0000

NO. MESA has not changed the 12 volt industry. They have however increased the use of best practices among their members and vendors who likely as not would not have taken the initiative to learn best practices, use best practices and improve best practices. To be sure MESA acts as a force multiplier at the purchasing level. They are a well run, on purpose and disciplined, value add organization. Their members can take great benefit from the MESA leadership examples. That said…

There is no rocket science or magic. Just regular every day block and tackle stuff with the addition of leadership that is worth listening to. All of the things that MESA does for its membership can be practiced by any individual retailer of almost any size. It may be just a little harder for the individual BUT it is most doable. You can get the brands. You can have the website. You can do the marketing reach out. You can learn and practice dynamite salesmanship. You can be a great installer. You can focus on the brands that support you and your profitability. You can be a great business without MESA membership… ALL YOU GOTTA DO, IS DO IT !!!

You don’t have to be a victim just because MESA does not think you fit their criteria. Maybe you do maybe you don’t. BUT you gotta be the guy who takes charge. You can’t be the guy who waits for someone else to pull you along and then complain because they elected not to.

Try it. You’ll like it. I promise.

Ray Windsor
ray@raywindsor.com
949-228-2153

By: MICHAEL MEZA

MICHAEL MEZA — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 16:56:20 +0000

I agree with the above statement 33 years in the business and 1 million plus in sales annually. I have been given the Big cold shoulder?

By: lee

lee — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 15:49:31 +0000

We are a independent car audio and accessories dealer and have been in business for over forty years. We checked out MESA, called for more information and then filed out an application. We were lead to believe that MESA was for the small independent dealer to help with buying, networking and marketing, We were very excited and looking forward to joining MESA which would allowed us a smaller dealer to be on a more level playing field with the big boys. After waiting several weeks and not hearing anything we called up MESA and instead of the positive conservation we had with them before this time it was much different. We were basically told we were not large enough and they were not interested in us. There were no other explanation or we are sorry maybe in the future just a no whoever we were talking to hangup. I do know that we are not the largest but we do have a good looking clean and neat showroom, seven employees which three are dedicated to car stereo, remote start and customization. We buy direst from several of our manufacturers including Pioneer, Rockford, Alpine, Kenwood and Kicker to name a few and also use a few distributors. We have been a top 100 dealer, have had installers in the top fifty as well as last year we had $90,000 in sales. So I am not sure if MESA has changed the car audio industry only because we have not been invited into club.