IN THE TRENCHES I BY CYPH SHAH Hone Your Product Pitch
R ecently, I was surveying a project site when I had an encounter with another like-minded individual. I’ve been the project manager for permanent installations at our dealership — Astro AVL in Glendale, California — for about a decade now. This like-minded individual has been in the same game since 1983. When it comes to choosing the right gear to use on jobs we agreed on one simple premise: We’re less interested in the preliminary spec talk and more keen on sav- ing our evaluation for final product performance under real-world
potatoes. Dented, bruised and battered, they plugged it all in to show it still works. THE BETA TESTER CUSTOMER When a product ships as “al- most done,” the early adopter becomes the beta tester, car- rying with it some buzzkill firmware updates or, worse yet, recalls. This increases the potential for the early spread of polarized dissent on back-chan- nel forums. Understandably, not every bug can be flushed out during design and testing, but pitching firmware releases for critical fixes after the grand debut can kill consumer con- fidence and sales momentum. A little more due diligence can circumvent this entirely. FORWARD-THINKING FASTIDIOUSNESS Differentiate your product by im- proving on the failure points of products from your competitors. Think ahead on your own po- tential shortcomings. Don’t wait for complaints on your initial model and then use the fix as a selling point for the “Gen. 2.” My point is: Try not to sell the flavor short by smothering the steak in butter. Have confidence in the product to do the heavy lifting. Encapsulate the value be- fore giving out the ingredients. Too much data can be lost in the mix because the dinner menu is longer than the average attention span. Sometimes the sizzle and accompanying smell is all you need to hear your customer say, “I’ll have what they’re having.” MI
conditions. In fact, it’s genuinely all that matters. Oftentimes manufacturers and their constituents are so honed in on communicating tech specs that they overlook the importance of disconnecting from the engineering bullet points to align more with the purchaser’s digestion of information. How much of those specs will the client really retain after 10 minutes? MORE SHOW, LESS TELL When it comes to buyer meetings, my vote is to focus on the demo first. Let the product speak for itself. If the product wows the client, they’ll naturally ask how you achieved that end result. From there, they’ll be more likely to remember the material and production insights because they want to associate the magic sauce with the taste they just sampled.
“Aim to demo products in challenging environments to prove their mettle and leave an impression.”
THE FAILURE POINT OF FEATURES I’m not saying manufacturer reps should skip over speaking about the innovation entirely. Exciting product features are a key part of a sales pitch’s prowess. But let’s face it: If 10 qual- ity features are throttled by a poorly planned user menu, it’s going to make accessing those attributes a tangled trudge instead of a brisk walk. The result will be the features going
largely unused and overlooked, adding little real value.
TRUTHFUL TESTING Veteran DJs know that a set prepared in the bedroom rarely receives the accolades they imagined when played in the club for a live audi- ence. There are too many other variables in the room that dictate the response it will garner. If a manufacturer promotes design attributes that ultimately don’t translate well to real-world environments, the sales pitch will also result in a negative return. Aim to demo products in challenging environments to prove their mettle and leave an impression. A great example of this are a few social media videos Mackie circulated. They kicked over the brand’s Thump speaker onto concrete and flung it like a sack of
Cyph Shah is the manager of Astro Audio Video and Lighting in Glendale, California.
22 I MUSIC INC. I AUGUST 2026
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