Keith Dowd
“. . . a man of character who could be counted on to do what he said he would do, or what was asked of him.”
Christopher R Leader,
President and CEO Paradigm Electronics
My Successes have always been based on helping others succeed.
I’m a Sales Guy.
Selling can be a great and honorable profession. My Selling philosophy is: Selling is Guiding, Helping, and Teaching. And it’s a good sale when everyone involved wins and benefits. Good salespeople do not cheat or trick people. They truly care about their clients, and they make the purchasing experience fun, resulting in the client owning the products that are right for them. As a result their clients want to do more business with them.
I’m a Manager and Leader.
I’ve started, grown, and sold several businesses. And I’ve directed several Sales Teams - growing sales and revenue each time. Multiple times my individual sales successes led my boss to promoting me, so I could guide my sales team to perform as I did.
I’m an Educator.
In business and in life, if I can help someone - I try to! I make it a priority to help, mentor, and teach those who I work with, while at the same time I always learn from them too. It’s important that one of the benefits of working together as a team is we all grow and improve. That’s part of the fun of working as a team.
Those who have worked for and with me will confirm - I’m always ready and willing to help others.
“Keith has always focused on making sure employees and clients are educated and through that education made for better sales, better work environment, and lifted the level at which everyone worked and how they felt.”
Chris Sipes,
Midwest Regional Sales Manager
Paradigm Electronics
I’m an Ambassador
I believe that everyone who represents their company to the outside world - is an Ambassador of the Brand. We owe it to everyone behind the scenes to represent them and their hard work - professionally and appropriately.
MY WORK HISTORY
After graduating (Bachelor of Science in Business) I went to work at the best home-electronics store in KC: Beatty Electronics. Beatty’s was an innovator, doing custom in-home installations since the 1950’s and being the first Apple store in KC. I quickly becoming the top salesperson and then became the sales manager.
When Beatty’s closed in May 1986 I started Keith Dowd Audio, working out of my house, selling and installing high-end audio gear and doing multi-room, whole-house audio installations. Ladders, attics, crawlspaces - ya, I’ve been there.
In 1989 I opened Audioport ... a mid level through high-end audio, video and custom installation business with a retail store and showrooms. During my ten years running Audioport - we were recognized as THE place to go in Kansas City. During that time I was proud to receive the Madrigal Salesperson of the Year award - recognizing me as their best audio salesperson in the US.
In 1999 I sold Audioport and moved to Connecticut - becoming a regional sales manager for Madrigal Audio Labs. At the time - they built the best audio equipment and had the best sales organization in the AV industry. I wanted to work with, and learn from the best. A year later I was promoted to the National Sales Manager for the Mark Levinson brand. Two years later I was promoted to the Director of North American Sales for all Madrigal brands.
When Harman International dissolved the Madrigal division I went to work at AudioQuest as a Regional Sales Manager, once again growing sales every year.
Several years later I went to work for Tributaries as their National Sales Manager and did the same.
Then in 2010 I went to work for Paradigm Electronics as a Regional Sales Manager. After a year I was the top performing of the three US regionals, and remained so for 3 more years. My boss then asked me to take charge of the US Sales Team and “get the rest of them to do what you’re doing”. For 5+ years, under my direction, the US Sales Team was the top performing of the three sales divisions (Canada, International, USA). I reversed a sustained multi-year sales decline and grew sales every year. As I did with every other company I worked for, building on what I learned when camping as a Boy Scout many years earlier - I left Paradigm in better shape than when I arrived.