11 QUESTIONS With Greg Beebe
Executive Vice President, Professional Audio, Sennheiser
Greg Beebe, Executive Vice President, Professional Audio, Sennheiser
In his 30 years of journey with premium pro audio brand Sennheiser, Greg Beebe has seen the
company grow leaps and bounds, expanding its footprint to many parts of the world. Today, the
brand is synonymous with reliable and unparalleled audio excellence in a wide range of
applications. In PALM + AV-ICN's '11 Questions' Series, Beebe, currently the Executive Vice
President of Professional Audio at Sennheiser, offers finer insight into Sennheiser's strategy
to continue its prominence in the pro audio industry, the key trends and technologies that
developed in the pro audio market in India in the last decade, the company's future plans to
focus on the ever-evolving and increasingly mature pro audio scene in the country, and much
more.
1. What is Sennheiser's strategy to focus on the professional audio business and maintain its
leading position in the industry?
Focusing entirely on professional audio after more than 50 years has indeed been an important
decision for Sennheiser, and one that was taken after a long review process. During this in-depth
strategical analysis, immense potential was seen for all of Sennheiser's four business units -
Consumer Audio, Professional Audio, Business Communications and Neumann. While Sennheiser would be
able to grow pro audio, business communications and Neumann using its own resources, the consumer
audio business would have more growth potential with a bigger, consumer partner at its side. In
Sonova, Sennheiser has found this strong partner.
With its new focus, Sennheiser can make even greater contributions to advance the art of creating,
recording and performing. Be it in the pro field of theatres, rental companies and broadcasters, or
in the fields of music and audio tools for content creation.
With regards to how we maintain our leading position in the industry - it almost sound too simple,
but Sennheiser has a deep passion for customer intimacy. We really want to understand our customers'
needs, pains, and gains. We are committed to working with our customers and partners to ensure that
we exceed the expectations of our end users. You can have new products and a great marketing
campaign but none of that matters if the customer is not satisfied. This is why we keep our
customers at the core of what we do.
2. How would you describe your day-to-day duties and responsibilities as the Executive Vice
President of Professional Audio at Sennheiser?
It is like wearing two hats. The first is running the business, and that involves everything from
working with our partners in the supply chain to ensure that we have the components to build a
product, all the way through sales, marketing, logistics, and development to ensure that we cater to
our customers and ideally exceed their expectations. All these require quite an extensive amount of
collaboration. The second hat that I wear is the head of the executive management board. This
involves taking group topics to manage the business on a global scale with key projects such as
corporate social responsibility and digital transformation. Thankfully, for me no two days are the
same.
3. You've been a part of Sennheiser's significant milestones. What, according to you, are the
three main milestones in terms of product development in the history of Sennheiser?
The first milestone I would say is in the late nineties. I was part of a five-person team who
brought the Evolution Series to life. Today, when we think about the Evolution Series - be it the
wired or wireless product, we take for granted that they were always there, but they were not. There
were five of us who worked really hard to transform our company to being a viable player in the
music industry. The second milestone is when we launched the wireless Digital 9000 Series in the
late nineties, which really showed the world how we could revolutionize the transmission of wireless
signals. It remains our flagship wireless product until today. I will not tell you about the third
milestone because it is yet to come. Stay tuned.
4. Sennheiser announced the expansion of the Evolution Wireless digital family. Can you share
with us something more about the expansion of the line and what activities on EW-DX can we look
forward to in India?
Besides the EW-DX, we very recently launched the EW-DP which is also part of the Evolution Wireless
Digital family. I'll answer the question from the perspective of the Evolution Wireless digital
platform. Our intention was to digitize our Wireless Evolution Series that was already at its fourth
generation. By digitizing the analogue system, it gives the end user more options for
interoperability, ease of use, and workflows. In terms of EW-DX activities, we have an incredibly
competent team who has done an amazing job of introducing the EW-DX in the India market. In our
business unit, we often quote a management guru Zig Ziglar who said, “Success occurs when
opportunity meets preparation.†The team in India has done such an incredible job preparing the
market for this digital wireless system. So, I think what you are going to see is an instant
acceptance from the market and the demand will continue to rise.
5. What is Sennheiser's philosophy when it comes to working with dealers and the dealer
channels and is there anything that the dealer channel can do that would be helpful to
Sennheiser as a company?
We view dealers as the conduit between the end customer and us. We can do a lot when it comes to
marketing and creating demand, but if there's no outlet for end users to acquire our products, then
we have accomplished nothing. Therefore, the relationship we have with resellers and dealers is
critically important. Through close partnership with dealers, we also have the opportunity to
educate them on our products. This is a fundamental step that I think many companies tend to
overlook - but there are many choices out there and we need our dealers to be able to magnify the
message of making the correct selection of products. Therefore, dealers are a fundamental component
of our go-to market strategy.
6. You emphasized on education and training. Can you elaborate on the steps that Sennheiser
is taking to drive the educating and training to the dealers and resellers?
Yes, we maintain a multifaceted approach towards training and education. Our product managers, who
are part of the project from the very beginning until the product is ready for market, are
responsible for educating our internal staff. We have a department called the Sound Academy team and
these are colleagues who are dedicated to creating content to educate our dealers and partners. We
provide dedicated training to our sales teams on how to train the dealers and additionally, we also
have Technical Application Engineers who can go into the field to conduct in-depth, hands-on
trainings on selected products in different parts of the world. Last but not least, we have user
generated content, which also helps to educate end users. To us, education is a key tenet of
success.
7. When you look at the size of Sennheiser's professional segment, what are you most proud
of, and what would you say sets the company apart, not just from direct competitors, but also
from all the companies in the professional audio and music industry?
I am most proud of the team at Sennheiser. It is easy to view work as just a job but what makes
Sennheiser different are the people and the passion that they bring, to progress the company and to
exceed the expectations of our customers. They say success can make you complacent, but in our case,
success drives us even further because we see the things that we do actually make a difference, and
thats what gives us energy to do more.
What makes the company stand out? The people stand out. We have a wonderful balance of highly
tenured people and younger people joining our company and bringing in a fresher perspective with us.
We are passionate to transfer our knowledge in creating premium products and we have people who are
spirited to bring these solutions to the end user.
What motivates our team is seeing our products on stage, in a TV studio or at a community theatre.
It gives us pride knowing that we have made a difference and have contributed to the art of
creating, recording or performing.
8. During Covid, did Sennheiser move the professional audio business to e-commerce sites as
well?
Yes, during the pandemic we started selling some products through e-commerce platforms in India. Our
successful e-commerce venture in 2020 and our growing online presence proved that some professional
audio products such as headphones and plug-and-play microphones can be sold on digital platforms.
However, for more intricate solutions such as a 12-channel wireless configuration with antenna
combiners and splitters, the help of an informed reseller is necessary to ensure that the end user's
requirements are met. Such specifications cannot be easily facilitated online and hence our offline
partners plays a vital role and they remain our top priority.
9. Do you feel India has a cost-conscious market compared to other countries?
The short and easy answer is yes, but it is not unique to India. In one of my earlier positions, I
was responsible for our business in Latin America and the market there is very similar to India.
There are markets that are more price conscious and that is why at Sennheiser we follow a good,
better, best approach. We have entry-level products available at an introductory price point. When
experienced audio professionals are ready to invest, we have a better solution to offer. And when
that audio professional is ready to take his experience to the next level, we also have the best
professional audio solutions to offer. We try our best to be approachable while staying true to our
brand value, which relies on quality.
10. What trends and technologies have you observed for the professional audio business in
India in the last 10 years?
I've seen a heightened level of understanding and appreciation for craftsmanship. I've seen the
desire to continue to expand and grow. I've also seen the trend to move to digital. I was at a
studio yesterday and there was Dante in all the rooms, so one could mix and mingle as one wishes in
different settings. I'm really proud to see how much the Indian market has advanced in a short
period of four years since I last visited.
11. What are your future plans for Sennheiser Group of Professional Audio business and growth
in India in the next five years?
India is one of our four focus countries, which I pay close attention to. I intend to be very close
to our team here who is doing an incredible job. I will continue to support them in terms of
advocating the Sennheiser brand and digitizing our workflows for end users. We want to ensure that
our products continue to be easy to use and interoperable. We want to take the workflow topic off
the table and make it easy for our customers to find a Sennheiser solution for all kinds of
platforms and events, be it a stage, a podium, or an award show.