Maverick creates specialist units
Distributor undergoes quiet transformation in the wake of its failed ProInstall venture
Maverick has admitted its failed installation business ProInstall cost the distributor millions and the company has undergone a quiet transformation over the past nine months.
Channel veterans John Weatherhead and Nick Harding, founders of Maverick and directors of Maverick’s parent company VPH, have been helping behind the scenes at the AV distributor since June, following the collapse of ProInstall.
Speaking to CRN, Weatherhead said: “ProInstall hurt us. Unfortunately the market wouldn’t pay the price we were charging and I wasn’t prepared to drop our quality to meet the price.”
The firm’s new direction has its roots in a strategy Weatherhead and Harding came up with in the 1980s when they ran distributor Frontline.
“We created six specialist distribution businesses that sat within the main Frontline infrastructure and combined the power of a broadliner with the focus of the specialist, which is exactly what we have created at Maverick,” said Weatherhead.
Maverick is now the umbrella company under which sits Hotlamps, a projector lamp distributor, Screen Expert, a projection screen distributor, VisualiserPro, a visualiser distributor, and Convergent, which merges AV, IT, and voice and data products.
All four are distributors with their own business managers and sales teams, but they receive support from Maverick. Resellers can choose to phone the Maverick sales desk or to speak directly to one of the divisions.
Weatherhead added that Convergent is the key focus. “Convergent is the future of Maverick and I believe other distributors will follow suit with similar offerings,” he said.
Sam McMaster, managing director of AV VAR Questmark, said: “Maverick seemed to have lost its way. There was no leadership or innovation at the company.
“Now it has been reinvigorated and the new strategy is great. It is definitely the right time to launch Convergent.”