Mommy and Daddy Still Love Each Other

When I sign a contract with a supplier it’s a marriage. We’ve generally known each other for a very long time. We run into one another at parties and events. Then there is that spark. It is undeniable. We share a couple of meals. Maybe get together in a big city like Chicago. Next thing you know, The Farm and Shure are making beautiful AV babies all over the region and raising an integrator family together.

The challenge with some marriages is that sometimes mommy and daddy can’t live together anymore. And this marriage happens to be somewhat less than monogamous. One mommy didn’t like one of the other mommies very much.  

The Farm is the only independent contract sales and services company in the US serving Q-SYS. We are it. The only one. Add to that the fact that Q-SYS is launching a microphone soon, it just couldn’t work out. We knew it. Q-SYS knew it. Shure most certainly new it. Someone had to decide. It has nothing to do with how well the products work together in your install. We all know that is fantastic. We all know how great the people are from both great companies. And we know we worked hard every day getting it done for our manufacturers.   

Shure changed our company. Many of you are rightly concerned on our behalf. Some companies like ours have not survived the departure of a major brand like Shure. Shure made huge financial and trust investments in The Farm. We love them for it. We always will.  Our other brands love them for it because we’ve been of better service to our entire product suite due to this investment. Better service to everyone.  

A couple of small things happened between 2018 when we signed the Shure contract and now. Our industry changed and we were in a unique position of having some capital to invest right when the pandemic hit. We fulfilled our promises and brought on additional staff. Our company truly changed from sales-first to service-first. Service is the new sales. I have said it many times. We live it. We make things work. We promise to make them work. We sign contracts promising “THIS FREAKIN’ STUFF IS GONNA WORK.”

We invested, grew, and established the critical mass it takes to survive the loss of a contract with one of our biggest clients. Not our biggest client, but a big one.   

QSC and now Q-SYS remains our raison d’etre (I had to look that up). During the next 30 days, prepare to get sick of press releases filled with exciting information about your friends at The Farm. We ARE your friends! So please pretend you didn’t know we were expanding and bringing on some amazing new talent and a big new product line to serve you! Act surprised and don’t ruin the party.