Before I dive into the meat of this opinion piece, let me clear something up in case anyone’s unfamiliar with the term: “trunk slammer” is a pejorative used by AV installation pros to describe itinerant jobbers — often solo operators — who lack many of the things you’d typically associate with a professional AV installation firm.

What’s missing? A showroom, an office, industry certifications, maybe even commercial insurance — or, depending on the case, actual skill.

I know that sounds like I’m setting up a straw man, but I assure you, it’s not uncommon for trunk slammers to pitch their services with the ol’ chestnut: “I can do it cheaper.”

And if you hang out in online haunts like the AV Install Nightmares Facebook group, you can see firsthand what “cheaper” tends to look like.

Now, since I said at the start that this is an opinion piece, here’s my opinion:

As a distributor or brand rep, should you sell to trunk slammers?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: If you care at all about your brand’s image or how you spend your time — also no.

Why?

Because when you’re dealing with itinerant jobbers, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.

Best-case scenario: The annual sales volume you get from a solo installer working out of a van will never be worth the time you’ll spend answering basic questions they should already know, chasing them to pay their bill, or processing RMAs for sketchy warranty claims.

Worst-case scenarios: There are several.

One is that they botch an install so badly, their client calls you — the brand rep — and expects you to fix it. After all, your product is in their horror show of a setup.

Another is when a trunk slammer used to work for one of your reputable dealers. They leave — usually under questionable circumstances — and launch their own “I can do it cheaper!” operation. Now you’ve got a rogue ex-employee running around undercutting your real dealers and dragging your brand name through the mud.

That’s when your actual dealers start calling with questions like:

“Why are you selling to this clown?”
“Why should we keep buying from you if you don’t care about the quality of your dealers?”

Some of these lessons I’ve learned the hard way. Others, I’ve had the fortune of learning by watching someone else take the hit.

This is exactly why many technical product lines require dealers and their staff to be trained and certified. We need to know that you know what you’re doing. Otherwise, who knows what you’ll do with our gear?

Years ago, a friend of mine — who owns another distribution company — called me for advice. He asked about a trunk slammer I knew from our old sales days at A&B Sound.

He was blunt: “Is this guy for real?”

Why was he asking?

Because this trunk slammer had just installed 12 zones of audio and video distribution — back in the analog days, no less, with L/R RCA and Y/Pb/Pr component video. He planned to control it all with an array of IR repeaters and a learning remote.

I say planned because, as you might guess, none of it worked. And he was now begging for tech support to help him un-mess his Frankenstein.

The only thing more important than fixing problems is avoiding them altogether. If someone wants you to open them up as a dealer, interview them. Get a clear picture of who they are and whether they belong in your dealer network.

Being selective will save you countless headaches later.

From where I stand, trunk slammers and DIY hobbyists have one big thing in common: they can both buy their gear from Amazon.