|
Cardone, Solomon & Associates Inc., (CS&A) was launched in July of 1997.
Founders John Cardone and Michael Solomon began working together in July 1979 at the F.Edwin Schmitt Company in Elmont New York. John was hired by the Schmitt Company to replace Mike Solomon who had been tapped to move to Chicago to be employed by the Shure Microphone Company as the youngest Product Manager in the company's history.
John and Mike immediately struck a very close bond. With Mike's growing business background, he took John under his wing and tutored him with the hopes of developing his skills as a young business person.
Over the next ten years John and Mike stayed in touch with each other. They both gained valuable business experience working at different companies, and reunited in 1990 at German microphone manufacturer beyerdynamic's US office located in Farmingdale, NY. While at beyerdynamic, John and Mike were in the position to evaluate manufacturers representatives throughout the North East as well as nationally.
At one point, both John and Mike separately began to evaluate the next chapter in their professional careers. They were both thinking about starting a manufacturers representative firm. So when it was discovered that both were looking down the same path, John and Mike began putting their business plan together.
After careful analysis it was concluded that if another manufacturers rep firm were to be formed, there were many manufacturers with no previous representation that were looking to penetrate the US market with a new young representative firm. There were also manufacturers with product category redundancy within their existing representative firms product portfolios, or manufacturers reps whose core disciplines were not in sync with what the manufacturer wanted in their representatives. These too could benefit from a new and fresh approach.
This analysis became the genesis of CS&A's birth.
Given John's and Mike's background in the microphone business, and the contacts they accumulated over the years, it became clear that they would form a manufacturers rep firm that specialized originally in the professional and commercial audio industry.
It was also decided early on that once the company was launched, the company would not be structured as a traditional manufacturers representative firm. So the mission became to establish a company with the look, feel, and function of a Factory Direct Regional Manager in the region of the North Eastern United States.
They started out slow. It was just the two of them, their Office Manager Priscilla Drake Solomon, and only a few manufacturers. But as time evolved, John and Mike began to prove themselves. Soon, other manufacturers began to approach them and their line card began to grow. This growth created the need to expand. So they hired their first outside sales person in March 1999, and hence the growth of the CS&A team became a reality.
Fast forward to 2014. With over 65 achievement awards presented to CS&A, the company has grown to six offices covering the North East and a current staff of seven highly motivated team members. The company has expanded its line card beyond the audio side with state of the art well established manufacturers in all disciplines in the AV chain (Audio, Video, AV Routing and Switching, Video Conferencing, Digital Signage, Fiber Optic Transport Systems, Video and Computer Controlled Technologies).
CS&A continues to seek partnerships with manufacturers that have the vision, leadership, passion, engineering, prowess, and most important, a real pulse of the industry and a true desire to make their customers happy to do business with them.
CS&A's 2014 line card has evolved into the most synergistic, multi-disciplined, well balanced and focused in the industry.
|
