D&M Combines Denon, Boston Sales Operations

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 12/15/2008

MAHWAH, N.J. — D&M Holdings is consolidating its sales rep structure as part of its integration of its sales and marketing operations for its Denon Electronics and Boston Acoustics brands.

Effective today, Joe Stinziano, who was sales and marketing senior VP for Denon, will also be responsible for Boston Acoustics in the U.S.

Bob Weissburg, president of D&M sales and marketing, North America, told TWICE that as of Feb. 1 Denon and Boston Acoustics sales rep organizations will be combined.

Currently the two brands use more than 30 sales reps, Weissburg said. About half of those reps will be retained to sell both Denon and Boston Acoustics lines. Employees for both brands will work with reps, which will give them "one organization in every [sales] territory." Notifications were sent by D&M to its sales rep firms earlier this month.

Weissburg said that D&M is also "evaluating McIntosh and Snell sales rep organizations at this time."

Speaking of Snell and McIntosh, as part of this consolidation all North American sales and marketing operations for Snell Acoustics will be integrated into those of McIntosh Laboratory under the overall supervision of Steve Mulnick, domestic sales and marketing director. Mulnick had those same responsibilities for McIntosh previously.

Phil Cohn, formerly senior VP of Boston Acoustics and Snell Acoustics, will assume overall responsibility for marketing and sales of Marantz and Escient brands in the U.S. Paul Tamberelli will assume the role of national sales manager for Escient, reporting to Cohn. Kevin Zarow will continue as marketing and product development VP for Marantz. Like the Stinziano decision, these executive changes take place on Dec. 15.

As for layoffs at D&M and its brands, Weissburg declined discuss exactly how many employees were let go, but explained, "We eliminated duplicate jobs and shifted responsibilities. There is a reduction in our work force, but none that we feel would have a negative effect on our ability to grow in the future."

He noted that the integration of sales and marketing was made, "to enable us to provide more focus on key brands Denon and Boston. This is the first time we had an opportunity to streamline our operation. The time to make the change is now to set ourselves up once the industry and the economy begin to grow again."

He commented that uniting sales and marketing for Denon and Boston "makes sense because the brands compliment each other. They are not competing."

The decision to streamline the business had nothing to do with D&M's takeover by Bain Capital in June, he said. Economic conditions "gave us the opportunity to make this decision sooner rather than later," Weissburg said. "We were eventually going to do this."

In discussing the current market, Weissburg said, "Business is soft, but not for us. Our share has increased through October."

When asked about the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) revised holiday sales forecast of flat sales for the industry (see story on p. 6), Weissburg commented, "If the industry finishes flat we should be toasting each other at CES."

He added, "I don't think anyone before October questioned [CEA's prior] prediction of 3 percent, but after October and November that doesn't seem realistic. There are still some bright spots — sales are going on and consumers are out in the market."