Professional Opportunities in The AV Industry for Salesmen

Merchants are responsible in the operational process from the preparation of offers, order and order processing to the invoice, which in most cases via a corresponding merchandise management or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, i.e. software for timely and needs-based planning and control of resources such as capital, personnel, operating resources, material and information and communication technology is handled.

In many cases, all the threads of the company come together with the merchants, they have to communicate with all departments in their own company and, depending on the market segment, they are also integrated into on-site projects or negotiate with business partners such as customers and suppliers and work for hand in hand with the field service Hand. In addition, they support product management as well as sales and, if available, consultants. In some cases, merchants are also active in technical customer service and take care of the delivery of spare parts, commercial repair processing, and are responsible for processing complaints.

Committed business people with appropriate professional experience can usually also be found in product management. The focus here is on the development, support and further development of product areas. You have to take responsibility for communicating and negotiating with suppliers. A constant analysis of the market and the competition is just as necessary as monitoring the business figures for your own product area. Product managers are responsible for product documentation and the planning of marketing activities. Within the responsible product area, sales are supported with technical questions and with the preparation of offers. Other employees and customers are advised and trained in handling the products. The product manager is also present at trade fairs and promotional events.

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It’s long overdue!

Marketing is really important. If you want to develop a successful company, your first priority should be marketing, followed by business expansion, and then sales. Marketing is the start of a critical expansion. That’s something your marketing department should take care of for you.

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Requirements

In addition to commercial training, it is primarily necessary to be able to use computers confidently, master common office software and use ERP systems. AV business professionals must have a solid understanding of and a keen interest in the technical products and solutions for which they are responsible in order to be able to create precise and well-elaborated quotations. Working independently and, above all, being able to work in a team is very important to many companies. A certain resilience would be an advantage, as things can get very turbulent at peak times. In repair and spare parts management, salespeople should be familiar with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems. Many companies already want some work experience. A confident appearance in German and English, both spoken and written, as well as rhetorical skills for negotiations and communication, are very beneficial for merchants. There should be a certain sense of one’s own success, as success-oriented payment or corresponding bonuses are not uncommon.

As a product manager, the technical knowledge in the areas of AV system integrator should be more in-depth and, at best, experience in product management. In product management, businesspeople have ascribed even greater creativity in dealing with people and initiative.

Average salary: $ 25,000 – $ 40,000 / year gross

What is the AES67 standard for audio networks?

Dante is not the only IP-based technology for networking audio-video devices for the exchange of audio signals. Ravenna, StriveAV, and Q-Lan (QSC), for example, belong to this category and AVB is also similar in some respects.

The question arises as to why it is not possible to exchange audio-video system integrators and signals across different technologies. AES67 should create a basis for this, at least with regard to the exchange of audio data and synchronization. AES67 was published as an open standard in September 2013 by the AES (Audio Engineering Society).

AES67 is, so to speak, a minimum consensus regarding the “packing” and transport of the audio signals as well as the synchronization. The standard entitled “High-performance streaming audio-over-IP interoperability” gives recommendations on how different systems can work together, i.e., are interoperable, by using existing standards and protocols. “High-performance streaming” refers to data streams with uncompressed audio signals that are at least CD quality (16 bit / 44.1 kHz). Latency times must be low enough for live applications, in no case greater than 10 ms.

Anyone who thinks at 10 ms that this network latency is far too long for live applications: Shorter latencies are also possible, especially when it comes to a simply structured LAN. AES67 is also suitable for larger and more complex networks with routers, e.g. B. in a studio complex with several buildings or the like.

The specifications in AES67 relate to the following points:

• the synchronization by distribution of the absolute time with IEEE 1588-2008 Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
• the media clock as a clock in the individual devices
• the transport of the audio signals after “packing” in the network using IPv4 and prioritization of the audio packets with the QoS mechanism (Quality of Service) DiffServ (Differentiated Services). The real-time transport protocol RTP is used with a maximum of 1440 bytes
• encoding and streaming, i.e. how the audio signals are digitized and packed into the packets that make up the stream
• the description of the stream with information on packaging time and synchronization, among other things
• the management of connections, i.e. protocols and procedures for establishing a connection between senders and one or more receivers

Devices with a Ravenna interface are AES67 compliant. Ravenna interfaces according to the definition of standard protocols and mechanisms from ALC NetworX can be used license-free by manufacturers. This is already happening at Lawo, Axia, Merging Technologies and Neumann.Berlin, among others. QSC’s Q-SYS devices from Designer software version v4.1 also comply with the AES67 standard and interest seems to be growing. Newer software versions of Dante devices are also compliant with AES67, but only under certain conditions.

Originally posted 2021-12-01 17:53:19.