TOTALLY SOUND
By Dave Roberts
"The guy who was writing our business plan
said that we had to spend a day figuring out the vision
statement for the business. I said no need, I already
know what the vision is - To be the most respected
production company in Western Australia."
It's kind of neat to find a story of a guy who finds
things, distils the essence of what he wants, and
then goes about making it happen. I've come round
to talk to the guy who basically IS totally sound,
and found not only a great business story but a few
snapshots about the way the guy lives his life. Like
for instance, I found out that Natalie was his first
girlfriend (in year 11) because he'd been waiting
to find one who was wife material.
Derek Peterson has been involved in the audio business
since 1986, when he went to Perth to study engineering
and hooked up with Purvisonic. Within a couple of
weeks he knew what he wanted to do, and so engineering
never got finished. Derek worked for Purvis for the
next four years and the two saw a lot of each other
while Natalie earned her nursing degree. The marriage
had been foreseen years ago, and sure enough the strategic
decision was made, we'd only want to bring kids up
in the South West, and the move was made to Myalup,
from where Derek commuted to work for GWN.
Being the audio guy for GWN was a sound move, allowing
Derek to build some pretty handy skills, and by 1995
he'd wound up as the station manager for the FM station
they owned. Business being what it is, the station
was sold in 1998 and Derek faced redundancy. What
to do? Build his own business of course.
Years before he'd made a very astute decision and
secured a really good partner, so Natalie pitched
in while Derek began to develop a business in audio
production. He'd already been mapping out in his head
how he could do this, that or the other thing better
and now was his chance to go after that. Of course
nothing happens overnight and it was 2001 before he
drew a wage from the business.
The marketing strategy has been really interesting.
Totally sound has basically never advertised, yet
even as a peripheral to his business area, I know
that he's got dominance in his field. That's been
achieved from two basic decisions. One is to always
do the work, even if it turns out to be harder or
more costly than first planned, to meet the customer's
needs with a great job. As an example, the first job
he ever did was a winner in marketing terms, but it
cost him $2 000 to do it.
The other is decision to work with the small part
of the population who will be purchasers of the business's
services. Ninety percent of the business's work comes
through venues, and Derek rattles off the names of
function managers, event co ordinators and others
who utilise sound, lighting and staging. These people
know just how to get to Derek and when they ask him
for an outcome, he works hard to ensure that they
get exactly what they want.
The original idea of an audio hire company looked
to be working out, but Derek saw that there was a
seasonality about it that was going to make cash flow
tight for long stretches of the year. In the South
West though, as the festival season finishes, the
conference season kicks off. Working out how to serve
these events properly has presented a much smoother
business model. Add to that, it brings him into contact
with people who need commercial level PA and lighting
gear. The three streams work well together.
Success has taken a little while, but the commitment
to doing it right is clearly showing through. As a
company who never placed an ad in the paper, Totally
Sound has won the South West Small business award
for the best marketing strategy. Moving on to the
state awards, they won best business, and to top it,
Derek has been named in this year's 40 under 40.
The last word has to go to the guy himself. Asked
about his single idea about how to do well in business,
he's clear that the answer must be to bite off more
than you can chew, and then chew like hell.
March 2005
