SVG Sit Down: Dale Pro Audio’s Tim Brown Explains How the New DaleB2B.com Came About

The e-commerce site is specifically for broadcast and AV contractors, integrators, and dealers

Dale Pro Audio has launched its DaleB2B.com business-to-business portal, an invitation-only e-commerce site for broadcast and AV contractors, integrators, and dealers. The website allows access to more than 100,000 products; fast product search with auto-suggested results; navigation by product category; the ability to filter search results by what’s in stock; a “Request a Quote” feature for large-quantity purchases; responsive design compatible with smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers; and simple and intuitive checkout.

DaleB2B.com didn’t come about in a vacuum. The increasingly vast and bewildering array of product and solution options, coupled with the growing number of ways that broadcast audio and venue sound are being used and integrated, requires a more nuanced and channeled approach to interfacing with broadcast and AV-systems integrators, says Tim Brown, director, e-commerce, Dale Pro Audio. Here’s more of what he has to say about that.

Dale Pro Audio’s Tim Brown: “We have to adapt to how our customers want information.”

What’s the new DaleB2B.com about?
It’s another way for us at Dale to stay engaged with our customers. We’re a Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5 company, but, increasingly, our clients are working well beyond that, and they need input and practical information about products and technology anytime and quickly. That’s the strength of DaleB2B.com: they can order and budget projects without having to wait on the phone for a salesperson or an emailed response. It’s not a replacement for the one-to-one relationships we’ve always engaged in with customers or for DaleProAudio.com, but it’s a way to further engage our broadcast and integrator customer base.

What does it say about how broadcast and venue live sound are evolving?
That we have to adapt to the changing patterns of how people want information. Fifteen years ago, the people operating systems in broadcast and at the venues worked a certain way, but now there are younger people coming into those positions, and they’re looking for answers in line with how they’re comfortable communicating. We’re trying to be there for that next generation of audio professional. Interestingly, we still see people coming from the music-production and recording-studio businesses and moving into broadcast and integration, just like we did 20 years ago. But now they’re looking for product information in a whole other way.

Is the array of technology choices in broadcast audio and venue sound becoming a bit overwhelming?
Oh, yeah! It’s harder than ever to keep up. We have great relationships with the classic brands like Sennheiser, Shure, QSC, and Electro-Voice, but it’s critical that we know when new companies, brands, and solutions come to the market. For instance, RF Venue is a relatively new brand that offers solutions for wireless-frequency coordination that’s proving very helpful. Another is French company Trinnov, which has an amazing room- and monitor-tuning solution. There are new brands and products constantly turning up, and we have to try to keep up with them. But, hey, that’s what makes this business fun.

How are immersive-audio formats being integrated into DaleB2B.com?
Immersive solutions are best handled by engaging directly with our sales team. While we have the products themselves on both daleb2b.com and daleproaudio.com, getting a solution put together correctly requires the direct engagement of our sales and technical teams. It’s one more pathway [to] access our incredible team’s over-100 years of combined experience, to find the right solutions.