Many of you know Joe Lautner, who started in control and automation as a founder of Home Logic and has been a key driver of the ELAN brand since ELAN acquired Home Logic in 2007. Now we welcome Joe into a new role as the Director of Business Development at Core Brands, driving initiatives to build sales for our dealers. Check out our Q&A with him.
Q:What is your vision for ELAN in the marketplace?
Joe: The market possibilities for the Core Brands portfolio of control, audio, and power management solutions are nearly limitless. With my background, it’s no surprise that I see this as very control-centric, very ELAN centric. But seriously, consumers expect to be connected wherever they go in their personal and professional lives, be it to school, work, home, or on vacation. ELAN is the brand to make that happen, and a big part of my new role is creating opportunities for ELAN-driven solutions that create opportunities for our dealers.
Q: But your role is more than just ELAN?
Joe: Absolutely! ELAN is the connection at the core, but with our power and audio brands like Panamax, Furman, SpeakerCraft, Niles and Sunfire, we can create total solutions for any project. ELAN solutions range from simple media room control to whole-home entertainment and automation, even remote monitoring of vacation homes. We’re seeing more and more successful hospitality and light commercial projects. Helping us build opportunities in these markets is a growing focus of mine, as is the new home market. We’ve got some large multi-unit projects in the works and are developing materials and programs to enable our dealers to capture more of this business.
Q: You mentioned programs…
Joe: Indeed I did! Core Brands has one of the richest programs available to the custom integrator channel. Most categories and brands start at a 50% margin and go up from there. Our market-leading program is even stronger when you look at the portfolio of brands we offer. With ELAN at the core, we have a solution that can really help our dealers’ business. Let me know what I can do to help you. joe.lautner@corebrands.com