Difference Makers: Reliable Product Marketing

From Fan to Founder

WORDS BY JAMIE SORCHER

Scott Baughman took a lifelong love of car stereo and put down roots with his firm, Reliable Product Marketing.

It’s not an unfamiliar tale in the car stereo world. A hobbyist who loves car audio ends up working in his dream retail store. And so the story goes for Scott Baughman, founder and owner of Stockton, Calif.-based Reliable Product Marketing (RPM).

“I was the ultimate fan boy of the industry,” Baughman said. “I was the kid who would drive around to different car stereo stores to see what other shops were doing. I was the kid who went to every car stereo contest and every car show. I was just living the lifestyle. I eventually went to work for the shop that I bought all my stuff from.”

When he was working at Sears, the owner of the car audio shop in which he spent a lot of time came in and asked him if he wanted a job. “Two weeks later, I was working for the shop,” he said. “I was hired originally as a gopher. I had rudimentary installation skills, but a strong woodworking background, so I could fabricate and do things like that. I also had some sales skills from my days at Sears because they put me through some intensive sales and customer service training. “

While Baughman started in retail in the early ‘90s and worked his way up to managing the store, he ultimately ran his course at retail. “It’s a pretty typical story—and then you can either buy a store, open a store or become a rep. And I chose to become a rep,” he added. “I went to work for a rep company and then there was the big crash of 2007. I had an opportunity to open my own company, and now I am 10 years into it.”

Not just the “A” game

Reliable Product Marketing (norcalrpm.com) covers northern California (north of what is known as the Grapevine) up to the Oregon border. The southernmost city in the company’s territory is Porterville.

What Baughman finds both challenging and interesting is the unique mix of retailers. “The dealer base available to me is vast—probably one of the most diverse in the country,” he said. “We’ve got ‘stack ’em high, let ’em fly’ shops, flea market-style shops, guys who are selling at the actual flea market, mom-and-pops, multi-store chains and regional chains.” Along with these different types of stores are varying levels of ability which Baughman classifies as A, B, C and D dealers. “An A dealer is competent at selling product and offers a great customer experience. Or maybe that A dealer is a shop with a super cool fabricator who pumps out great work that ends up in the magazines all the time,” he said. “Then you go down the line. Maybe that D dealer is the kind of shop that tends to rip people off and has zero yelp reviews. The way my lines come together, I tend to deal with the A and B dealers. I currently don’t have a product mix that fits the C and D stores.”

Helping Retailers Move Beyond Comfort Zones

The qualities that Baughman looks for in retailers doesn’t follow a steadfast rule, he said. “I’m looking for an opportunity to sell my wares, and in the Bay area, I have some awesome dealers,” he said. “If a retailer is asking me to add them to the mix, they have to show me they’re going to add value to that market and to my business. Conversely, I’ve got some territories in the fringe areas like Porterville, for example, where I don’t write any business. There isn’t a whole lot going on down there. If someone stepped up, they could potentially become a dealer.”

Even so, Baughman remains selective. He recalled how much the 12-volt business changed even in the last few years. “When I was in retail back in the 90s and 2000s, some of the majors would come in and demand a retailer commit to buying a certain number of amps, boxes, and so on if they wanted to buy direct,” he said. “That has definitely changed. Certain vendors now open retailers without any buy-ins because in some markets that’s what you have to do if you want to get the business. The old guard way of doing things is changing.”

RPM represents a select group of vendors including the Orca family of brands—Focal, Mosconi, Gladen, Illusion and Blackhole—as well as Arc Audio, Wet Sounds, Nav-TV and Compustar.

Baughman is pleased with his lines and would only consider taking on another vendor if certain conditions were met. “The manufacturer has to have a marketable product,” he said. “It has to be something I see value in—and not just dollar for dollar. Because of the line card I have and the dealers I do business with, retailers have an expectation from me that I won’t bring them any junk or waste their time. There has to be a clear path to market—and it doesn’t necessarily have to jive with my existing dealer base.”

For example, he continued, “I am looking for a line right now that would allow me to get into those C- and D-type dealers. I am saturating my big guys and I will get to a point where I can no longer grow that business. So, I am actively looking for a line that isn’t super high-end, one that is cost effective and one that would allow me to go into those C and D dealers and have conversations with them that aren’t entirely different from the conversations I have with my A and B dealers.”

What Baughman wants to achieve is more than just opening a new account. He enjoys the opportunity to nurture and grow these types of retailers—and to hopefully help them move up to premium brands one day.

“I don’t just want to go in there and say, ‘Here’s an amplifier that is two dollars cheaper than every other amplifier you’re buying,’” he said. “I want to go in and say, ‘Check out this line. It’s priced right. It fits into what you’re doing but gives you some better dealer training and will give you a different opportunity, maybe more profitability, maybe it’s going to protect you from online sales. I want to bring them a different story than what they have with the 19 other lines they might already carry.”

In fact, Baughman said, helping retailers get out of their comfort zones is a specialty of his. “It’s something that I am relatively good at,” he said. “If you asked my dealers why they work with me or what I bring to the table, you would hear things like, ‘He helps me grow my business.’”

Baughman cited Wet Sounds, a premium marine product line. “It’s expensive,” he said. “There are guys who are putting eight to 10 pairs on their boats.

Just a few days ago, I went into a dealer I’m trying to get on board, and he said to me, ‘No one comes in my store asking for $2,000 tower speakers. There’s no way I can sell this stuff.’” Baughman asked the retailer to trust him.

“Customers weren’t asking this dealer for $2,000 tower speakers because he didn’t have any. It’s a build-it-and-theywill-come mentality. He came to the training a few nights later and then I got a text from him. He’s now asking a ton of questions. And that’s all I am asking of the dealers—to give me a chance,” he added. “I will help them grow their business, get them into profitable categories and into areas they may be uncomfortable or unfamiliar with, but it will ultimately be good for them.”

Continued Growth Through Training For RPM, there is one thing above all else. Baughman believes strongly in professional training. “I probably hold close to 30 manufacturer-based trainings a year,” he said. “I get every one of my major vendors to come into the territory and we will train four to five nights once a year.”

At the end of July, for instance, Baughman finished four nights of trainings with Wet Sounds which brought out 70 people. Compustar and Nav-TV trainings took place in August, and Orca is slated for this month.

A big turning point, though, came when Baughman collaborated with instructor Ken Ward of Educar. Ward’s popular OEM integration training program has been given at many industry conventions and events. “About five years ago, I saw what he was doing at these events and asked him what it would take to get him to come to my territory and do this training for my dealers,” Baughman said. “This was before KnowledgeFest had anything on the west coast. It took us a while to get the details together, but it was the first OEM integration training for dealers out in the field. It was $250 a head. We packed the room, and it was just incredible. It started the next wave for me.”

Dealers, Baughman added, really do appreciate the additional training once they commit. They’re hungry to learn more. “It’s different when it comes from someone else. It’s the same with your kids. When you tell them something as their parent, they won’t listen. But they’ll listen to someone else. Now, when guys call me and ask me how to do something, instead of spending hours on the phone, I tell him it’s best to come to one of the trainings,” he explained. “It’s teaching dealers to fish—not giving them a fish.”

Baughman is still learning how to fish every day, too. Being a smaller firm has allowed him to adapt and make changes quickly when it’s called for, especially with an ever-changing 12-volt industry.

“When I get that call from a dealer, it’s because he truly needs an answer and he is calling me because he is confident I can get that for him,” Baughman said. “I strive to be dependable and reliable— and that’s why it’s in the name of the company. I truly believe in bettering my dealers. That’s what it’s about. It’s playing the long game.”