How’d you get here?
I started out in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, but after about a year, realized I didn’t want to spend my career working at a test bench, looking at circuit boards.  So I got a degree in music theory and when I graduated, taught music full time at a guitar store in Urbana and also did electronic repairs for them.  I already had one foot in the music world and one foot in the electronics world.

When I started looking for jobs in music academics, I found one poor-paying job at a college in Northern California. One hundred twenty people applied for it.  That was kind of a wake-up call.

In the mid-70s, I read a popular career book, “What Color is Your Parachute?”. The message was: Figure out what you want to do, figure out where you want to live — then see what’s in the area that offers those things. I decided it would be easier to make my living in the electronics field, so I looked for a career in electronics that had something to do with music.

I’m from Illinois, so my first choice was Chicago. At that time, there were three companies that fit my criteria – Gibson Guitars, Shure Brothers and Slingerland Drums.  I went to Shure first because I bought a Shure microphone in 1968 when I was in a rock band...

What microphone was that?
It was a PE588 – a vocal mic with a ball grill and a switch on it.  It was a microphone that I used throughout my undistinguished rock and roll career in high school and at the University of Illinois.  In college, a friend of mine borrowed it and broke it, so I sent it back for repair to Shure in Evanston, along with ten bucks.  They sent me a brand new mic.  I remembered thinking, “That’s a cool company.”

I literally walked in the front door and said “I’d like to talk to someone about your company.”  Since Shure was (and still is) privately held, there wasn’t a lot of information about the company, but I did what research I could. I was asked what job I was applying for and I told them, “I’m not really applying for a job, I just want to know about your company.”  This confused them. I was sent to an HR person who asked me what I knew about the company.  I reported what I knew and the interviewer said, “You know a lot about Shure.  Maybe you should apply for a job.”

“Her boss liked me because Shure needed a pitcher for its softball team.”

I applied for a position as a sales trainee at Shure. The guy who interviewed me at Gibson Guitars was out-of-touch with the guitar market, and they moved away soon after, so I was glad I didn’t go with them.  Shure called me back for another interview and I met with two people.  One of them liked me because her son was named Michael and also played guitar. Her boss liked me because Shure needed a pitcher for its softball team. That’s how I got in…oh, and I was also qualified for the job.  I started in October of 1976 and I’ve had all kinds of positions here since.

“His philosophy was that you do good for society.  You don’t lie to customers … ever. And building long-term trust is more important than the sale.”

It’s a great place to work and being privately held, we’re removed from the quarterly profit pressures of the publicly traded world.  My own personal living philosophy agrees with Mr. Shure’s. His philosophy was that you do good for society.  You don’t lie to customers…ever.  And building long term trust is more important than the sale. That’s just some of the reasons I‘ve stayed here this long.

Let’s talk about the Applications Engineering Group.
We’ve done applications engineering at Shure since 1933. We’ve had different names for the department.  At one time, it was called Engineering Services.  Another time it was called Sales Engineering. We’ve always had this technical service and I still have technical bulletins from 1933, which, by the way, are still 100% accurate.  Some of these are posted online.

“ …It’s really easy for other companies to reverse-engineer products or make counterfeits, but impossible for those same companies to copy service.”

I realized in 1993 that it’s really easy for other companies to reverse-engineer products or make counterfeits, but impossible for those same companies to copy service. You have to have the right people.  And the right attitude. If we could create an amazing Applications Engineering department, we could build loyalty that no competitor could duplicate. And we have.

Think about it from your own perspective …

Yes, I’ve called companies for technical support and I either get lost in their automated system, I’m directed to a download page of technical information or no one calls or e-mails me back.
Exactly.  It’s frustrating.

“Talking to customers is the fun part.” 

Our feeling was not to do it that way.  Let’s look at the past ten years or so.  We get inquiries three different ways: phone calls, e-mails and FAQ sessions on the Shure site – all handled or managed by our team.   In 2001, we had 28,959 phone calls, 6,779 e-mails and 83,933 FAQ sessions that’s over 119,000 contacts.  In 2008, we had 2,445 phone calls, 5,870 e-mails, but 296,000 FAQ sessions. So we went from 119,000 total assists in 2001 to 322,000 in 2008.  A huge increase.

There are eight of us and we all have specialties.  I’m the head of the group but I pick up the phone just like anyone else. Talking to customers is the fun part. 

Are there questions you can’t answer?
Absolutely, but eventually, we’ll find an answer. 

“What I expect is that we know where to find the answer.  I have no problem saying ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you.’”

My specialty is the history of Shure, old mic product questions, wired mics and automatic mixers (because I helped to develop them).  I’m weak in the really heavy wireless questions, or the DSP products, but we have people who are experts in those.   Everyone here is also a generalist. What I expect is that we know where to find the answer.  I have no problem saying, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you.”  Then, we call the customer back.  Another point of differentiation here is that we’re completely comfortable saying “We don’t make that, but Sennheiser or Audio-Technica does” or “That (Shure) product may not suit your needs.”  

That’s one of the reasons the Shure brand is so strong, I guess.
Exactly.  I get 100 or 200 e-mails a year from people just raving about Shure because they get an answer, a response … real human support.

Right now we have nearly 3,300 questions and answers on our FAQ section.  Rick Waller and I review them regularly to keep them fresh. Even if our competitors initiated something like this today, they’d never be able to catch up as these 3,300 postings took us over nine years to create.

Got a good question and answer for us?
Here’s one.  Counterfeit batteries. You know about Shure counterfeits, right?  Mostly this happens online with microphones like the SM57 or the SM58® - the big sellers.  People see what looks like a great bargain but what they’re getting is a counterfeit.

But here’s a twist.  What we’ve been hearing lately comes from customers who’ve purchased a new Shure wireless system.  Let’s assume it’s authentic. They’ll say, “This is supposed to give me 8-10 hours and I’m only getting three hours of life.” 

In the past, we thought there were only two answers to that question:

One: There’s something wrong with the transmitter; it is drawing more power than it needs to, which is very  rare, or

Two: The battery was old when it was taken off the shelf and it had lost some capacity.

Well in the last month or so, we’ve learned that there are a ton of counterfeit batteries … Duracells, Evereadys … just name the leading brand.

Where are these sold?  Not Walgreens or Target...

Online. Typically not at the major retailers. They buy them online thinking they’re getting a great deal. They look like the genuine article, they’re branded like them but they don’t have the voltage and current capacity. But who gets the blame?  We do.

Our department bought a graphing meter which allows us to check a battery as it dies while using a wireless microphone – one hour, two hours, three hours and so on.  We send the graph back to the customer with the product to show them what’s really going on. 

You’re actually providing this to a customer who sends in his system and the batteries he purchased?
Yes, when necessary. In fact we just did one yesterday. If you looked at the battery close enough, you could actually spot the manufacturing differences … maybe the color was off a little or a word was spelled incorrectly. And that’s why they weren’t getting the performance they expected. 

We actually send the system, the graph, the bad battery and a good one back to the customer and ask them to compare.  The truth is, there’s about a very small chance that a wireless system would be drawing so much current that it would halve the life of a battery.

Well thanks, Michael. That’s news we can use.

Have a question?  Need to connect with the Shure Applications Engineering Group?
Call them at 847 600 8440, e-mail or visit the FAQ section of the Shure website.