"We are smart enough to change when necessary and learn new products and technologies that are introduced,” says Gary Dunaway of McFadden Sales, by way of explaining how the MI sales representative firm has reached its 75th Anniversary this year. Dunaway recently spoke with MMR about the company’s evolution, his own history at McFadden, and what he sees coming down the pike for his organization.
First, A Little History…
“Bill McFadden started McFadden Sales in 1938 as an independent sales representative firm,” explains Dunaway. “In 1939, while attending a trade show in Chicago, he met S.N. Shure, who was selling a build-it-yourself radio kit. Bill thought this would be an ideal product to offer rural Ohio merchants. Over the years, as Shure grew with communication microphones and phono products, McFadden grew as well. Years later, long after he was retired, Mr. McFadden told me that first chance meeting with Sidney Shure was about the best business day he ever had.”
In 1974, McFadden sold the operation to then-president Richard Wood, who continued to solidify the company’s reputation in the MI trade: “Dick Wood was instrumental in building on Shure’s audio category by adding other sound companies to the mix,” says Dunaway. “Prior to the ‘70s, McFadden had largely been an industrial electronics rep firm. During Wood’s tenure, McFadden represented both consumer and professional audio companies such as Harman Kardon, JBL, Teac, Tascam and others.
“In 1983, Jim Hager purchased the company from Dick Wood and was very keen on operating separate divisions, each with their own managers with P&L responsibility and direction planning. During the ‘80s, the three divisions combined – Industrial Electronics, Professional Audio, and Consumer Electronics – employed 25-30 people. I purchased the company in 2001 from Jim Hager. He had just sold the Industrial division to the employees that made up that group, so I was buying the Pro Audio and Consumer Electronics divisions. We immediately started a phase-out of Consumer Electronic lines and devoted all of our efforts to Professional Audio and Musical Instruments.”
McFadden Mission Statement
Gary Dunaway maintains that the guiding premise at McFadden has remained constant since the days of its founder: “To provide, maintain, and sell the best available products into our territory with an emphasis on building long-term, profitable business relationships, reinforced by honesty and ethical business practices.”
Building such long-term partnerships is dependent on providing unparalleled service. “We take a great deal of pride in providing exemplary service to each of our customers and for each line we represent,” Dunaway states. “It is something we constantly strive for, and we are always looking for ways to improve our operation. We have 11 employees covering a six-state territory, so everyday we have feet on the street somewhere doing whatever is necessary to move our brands forward.
“In the professional audio world, we think about our product mix as a signal path. From the source to the speaker, or whatever is at the end of the chain, there are so many products that can be plugged into the path. We try to find non-competing brands that fit those plug-in points and offer them to our customer base. In the world of Musical Instruments, which is a heavily accessorized category, we are able to offer products that complement and work with the guitars, keyboards, and other stringed instruments we represent.”
Celebrating the Past, Looking to the Future…
“The 75th anniversary is a great accomplishment for any company,” Dunaway says. “I have been so fortunate to have great employees with tenures from three to 25 years… Everyday I look at the portraits of the previous owners that hang in our office and say a silent ‘thank you’ for the opportunity they have given me and this company.”
But McFadden Sales is hardly basking in past accomplishments and is keeping a keen eye towards how to better serve their partners and how to preserve and build upon the company’s already stellar reputation: “Beyond today, we will continue to provide the level of service to manufacturers that got us to this point. We are smart enough to change when necessary and learn new products and technologies that are introduced. We are all over social media as a way to keep in touch with our customers with news and training tools plus a look at what we are up to. We are very active with our Facebook page. It is updated constantly with announcements and news and it continues to gain followers. We have also developed McFadden TV, a YouTube channel for training videos, new product looks, and trade show specials. We typically shoot a fair amount of video at NAMM and edit it down to a four to five-minute program for those that didn’t attend the show. Additionally, this past year we launched McFadden Radio, a 24/7 internet radio network that lives on Live365.com. We extend the opportunity to our customers to get airplay for their own projects on McFadden Radio as well as music that we program ourselves. There are so many talented artists among our customers that are anxious to get their music out to broadcast; we invite them to take advantage of McFadden Radio. With each of our employees contributing their favorites, we have a pretty diverse playlist.
“It is a goal of mine to position the company for the 100th Anniversary. That includes hiring the right people, having the proper systems in place and being aligned with manufacturers that share our vision. I have some younger people here that have all the qualities necessary to lead McFadden to year 100 and beyond. As the music and professional audio industries grow and evolve, we will be there.”
