Audiofrog, a boutique car audio company founded by Andy Wehmeyer, will launch a “university” for creating high end audio systems even in the most complex cars.
Beginning in October, Audiofrog, based in Pasadena, CA, will conduct in-house training for technicians and a separate class for sales professionals.
As Wehmeyer wrote in a recent editorial, “Clearly, modern factory systems are much better and much more complicated than they were thirty years ago when I started as a retail installer. Technicians now need additional skills, that’s for sure.” The classes are designed to address the need for new skills to match the advances in OEM audio systems.
Most importantly, Audiofrog U aims to create a path to new profits for retailers.
Audiofrog classes will be limited to only four attendees, “so that we can be sure people go home not just with new enthusiasm, but also with skills they can apply right away. We want to make an immediate difference in store performance and we’re committed to delivering on the promise of improvement. Every attendee will take home a calibrated acoustic and electrical test rig that they’ve learned to use so they’ll be up and running as soon as they get home. We’ll support them as they continue to build skills through dedicated priority tech support for Audiofrog U alumni,” said Wehmeyer.
The two Audiofrog U courses are: HiFi for Technicians and HiFi for Salespeople.
HiFi for Technicians is a three-day, hands on training that will focus on investigating OE systems, and designing and tuning appropriate upgrades. It will also address improving cooperation between technicians and salespeople in meeting consumer expectations.
HiFi for Salespeople will be a one-day training focusing on a new way to quickly and accurately assess a customer’s needs and to sell a great-performing upgrade that can be predictably and profitably integrated with the existing system.
“We recognize that there’s a real opportunity in the aftermarket to help retailers upgrade their ability to augment even the most complicated OE systems in a way that exceeds their customers’ expectations and to make a good living doing it,” said Wehmeyer. “Too often, we’re selling customers and ourselves short by using techniques that worked well in the 90s, but need to be upgraded for today’s cars and today’s customers.”
HiFi for Technicians will cover basic system design and tuning, testing OE systems and designing an appropriate upgrade, integrating the upgrade and advanced signal processing like phase EQ and upmixing. Most importantly, Audiofrog will present a new way to quickly asses OE system performance with the salesperson and the customer to ensure that the right system is designed, installed and properly tuned.
HiFi for Salespeople will include a sales-appropriate understanding of system design and OE system configuration, a process for teaching a customer about his system and what can be added successfully and a new way to collaborate with the technician who will ultimately be responsible for the design and performance of the system.
“I spent a long time working in a retail location,” Wehmeyer explained. “Getting the front of house and back of house to work together toward the common goal of pleasing customers in a way that’s predictable and profitable is the key to successfully selling and installing great HiFi systems. Too often this relationship is adversarial and too often people are focused on getting the other side to ‘do their jobs’. We want to improve that and we think we have the answer. We’ve completely rearranged the way we do business in order to finally make conducting these sessions possible.”
HiFi for Technicians will run twice most months from Monday through Wednesday. Cost to attendees is $2799.
HiFi for Salespeople will run once a month on a Thursday following a HiFi for Technicians session. Cost to attendees is $799.
Bundle pricing for both sessions is $2999 and designed for owner/operators.
Most meals are included, but hotel and airfare is not.
Significant discounts are available for Audiofrog dealers.
For more information, please contact Andy Wehmeyer at [email protected] or Manny Rivera at [email protected] or by calling +1 (707) 600-FROG. Also, check out www.audiofrog.com/u for more info and to book a session.
