Keith: What’s been the biggest change you’ve seen in the past five years or so?

Loren: The trend toward the contemporary worship style. This demands more in terms of systems and expertise. You’ve got more and larger systems, and a higher learning curve that goes with it. Sometimes it’s just not possible for a pastor to “hit a switch and go” anymore. We provide an increasing number of systems with 56-channel consoles, with every channel in use. And now, some want more than 56 channels. We’re working with a church in Bloomington (MN) that’s looking for at least 70 channels.

Keith: Who does your system design work?

Spec binders still come in handy in the e-info era.

Loren: I used to do all of it, and I’m still involved. Gary Johnson, who’s affiliated with our company and based locally, now does most of the bigger designs. Some of our sales people do their own designs as well.

Keith: What qualifications are you looking for in staff members?

Loren: We look for people who have either been in the audio business for a while or who have at least some audio education. There are a couple of colleges in this area that offer systems related curriculum, such as Ridgewater College in Hutchinson, MN and Brown Institute in Mendota, MN.

A lot of our employees come from the church market, and as a result, they understand how churches work. Churches are different in operation than most businesses. With a church, you must work personally to gain confidences, and focus heavily on presenting things so they can truly understand what’s needed. And, it takes them longer to make a decision, because it usually involves a committee reporting to a board which reports to the congregation.

Many of our staff members are NICET certified, at differing levels. The bottom line is that they know their stuff and make sure everything is done properly. We’ve also had three employees that have benefited from attending Syn-Aud-Con seminars.

Our approach to education is fairly liberal. We will reimburse any employee fully for all relevant education. All they have to do is pass the course.

The business is run more as a family. Everyone is kept a part of what’s going on, we have frequent staff meetings where every project and issue is discussed by all of us. This is done with openness and honesty.

Keith: Do you still do system rentals?

Loren: Yes, but we don’t have a full-fledged rental department with dedicated staff. What we mostly do is provide our existing stock equipment for rental and demo loans to churches - taking existing inventory and putting it to good use for the company and for customers. And at the same time, we’re not seeking more rental business and are not actively pursuing it.

Keith: You specialize in sound and lighting systems, but are you looking to expand focus?

Vintage multicell horns stashed on a top shelf in the Kingdom shop, not gone and certainly not forgotten.

Loren: One of our employees in the Brainerd office has done CCTV, security systems, fire alarms, telephones, so we do have some expertise. But at this point we don’t think this is our forte. We have so much work to do with just sound and lighting that we have a hard enough time keeping up with.

Keith: Do you look to provide sound and lighting as package?

Loren: It really just depends on what the client wants. We keep our focus on what they’re requesting, and sometimes we end up doing more based upon an initial success. I talked with a church in Iowa last week about lighting only, but the client then turned the conversation to sound, so perhaps we’ll be working with them on sound at a later time.

Keith: How do you evaluate products?

Loren: We go to NSCA and LDI and check out new products. But before even thinking about using something new, we get a sample and test it thoroughly. We make sure the product does what the manufacturer says it’s going to do, and further, if we feel comfortable using it. For example, with loudspeakers, we do a lot of comparison, A-B testing, an SPL check, and then take the speakers out and use them in a real application such as an outdoor concert. They are evaluated against other models in this environment, using the same source material for all.

Other product types are handled much the same way. For electronic products, we’ll run them for a week with a commensurate load to see how they stand up. We’re unique in that we get sample pieces ahead of time to provide input. Audio-Technica does this with us a lot. Right now we’re checking out a brand-new A-T wireless system that the rep didn’t even know about, providing A-T with input that goes into the product.

Keith: Can you define the factors of success for Kingdom Sound & Lighting?

Loren: Anyone can say that they are a supplier of systems, and that leads to some of the more unfortunate aspects of this business.

Reputation is very important, and you have to build it over time. Being able to communicate is also very important, to communicate to an organization what they need and then convincing them what you’re telling them is indeed what they need. Further, you make sure they understand it, and then service and follow up after the job is very important.

We regularly check in with a customer a week after the system is installed and complete. We call and make sure everything’s OK, and touch base in general, asking questions.

Our philosophy is to make sure the customer is happy, to the point that they will refer us to others. Our business is based primarily on referral; we do very little advertising. Money for advertising and is put into service to make sure the customer is really indeed well served.

Something we do that’s unique – if an organization has a piece of gear they’ve purchased from us and there’s a problem, we guarantee that their system will be up and running in time for the next weekend service. Even if they call on Friday night or Saturday night, we’ll do everything possible to make it work. A Kingdom staff member is always available, via pager, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Cell phone numbers are given to customers, and we have an 800 number.