...

Kool-aid does not taste that good any more huh... :)

I don't sell much of it. No kool-aid here.

Sonos wouldn't sell to me years ago either so I just have never suggested their products and I'm quite happy. Don't support companies that turn their back on you; ahem, Velodyne.

Had a choice tonight of selling three Sonos Connects or 1 Nuvo P3100. I gave him both options but recommended the Nuvo.

Nuvo has treated me much better than Sonos.

Velodyne is EXACTLY the company I was going to compare it to had I written a longer rant. I sold them exclusively for subs until that fateful day. Never sold another, and have seen I think two in houses since then. I used to come across them all the time. I don't think Sonos is heading that way, quite the opposite, but their disregard for this industry is very reminiscent.

Nuvo needs to add:

1) Airplay or some other network based streaming, NOT bluetooth
2) WAY more streaming services
3) Stand alone units similar to the Play:3 and Play:5
4) not as important, but a Playbar alternative that sounds as good.

I have only sold the Nuvo system in one job and it worked well and I'd love to give them the business. I am hopeful they can fill in a couple of those gaps, namely the streaming from a phone and a lot more services.

I also have not spec'd another one since that day and I was a direct dealer. The Velodyne situation is a perfect example of the CI industry banding together to say FU and it needs to happen more often. Our buying power and consumer influence is often underestimated.

Im going to play devils Advocate here:

Sonos dealers pay money to "buy in" they are also the ones that have to deal with the repercussions of cross selling and possibly losing the line. Obviously this has been a problem for them to actually do something about this.

If anything they are "protecting" dealers that dont cross sell and to be honest this may be a step in the right direction and shows that they care enough to try and do something about it.

IDK..there are things that really urk me about sonos, LIKE THIS GOLD LEVEL DEALER PROGRAM GARBAGE. and like mike said they could care less about the amount you sell, only the number of households you sign up which in its self is complete crap. But Ive also come to love the simplicity and the amount of shear revenue it brings in from additional work, word of mouth and upgrades.

For the right dealers it is an absolute "cash cow" (i use that loosely) from the labor, speakers, wire etc.

To be honest, if they changed the whole number of households bs, I'd look at them differently. Until they change that, its hard to 100% support them. If I was running a similar business, I want dealers that push large volume of my product, not dealers that just try to get in and out with single unit sales.

Since i know sonos is watching this thread like a hawk....I think they need to hire someone from the CI business that is very passionate about sonos but also sees the flaws with it and their ci model.

If you are listening sonos, I am a very passionate small business owner that loves your products. I would love to work for you guys to help build a better CI program

Lets be honest here, your CI program is less then stellar,and borderline sucks

This! +1

I'm a Sonos dealer.  I don't even know what this statement means?   I've never been contacted, emailed, etc.  from Sonos.  I talk to my rep now and again, but that's because he's a friend of mine.  I get on the site, order my stuff….

What am I supposed to do about a Household?  


 

They have quotas to be met, if you don't you lose dealer status and must buy through disty, which means les margin than normal...

it depends on your area but every sonos dealer is required to sign up x amount of households to keep their dealership. I dont think anyone really knows what this number is but as long as your consistant on signing up new houses then you are OK. This gold level dealer program is total ass. Which also is dependent on your area, like in ours i need to sign up 15 new houses every 6 months to become a gold level dealer. THis is strictly based on new house signups and has nothing todo with the amount of sonos units you put in and how much you send to sonos.

Last quarter i signed up 14 new houses, but i sold IIRC 34k (+-) worth of sonos product and didn't make gold level. THAT is total CRAP