70 Ways To Grow Ci Biz

CEPro Advantage Series 70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business
70 Ways
to Grow
Your Custom
Installation
Business
In this Advantage Series paper,
we present 70 ways to grow
your custom installation busi-
ness based on the advice and
experiences of 220 industry
professionals.
CEPro
Advantage
Series
2008 EH Publishing.
CEPro Advantage Series 70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business i
G
rowing your custom installation business
isnt easy, especially when you are a small business
operator (sBo) pulling wire and installing systems
in the day, then coming home and balancing the
books at night.
there are many ways for custom installers to grow their
businesses, in terms of size, reach and revenue.
Here are 70 ways to grow your custom installation business based
on the experiences of other custom installers gathered at a recent
industry event. the 220 industry professionals have advice that
will help you grow both at the executive level as well as the in the
trenches.
the 70 growth tips are broken down into four categories:

n
marketing & Advertising

n
managing Employees

n
Vendor relations

n
service Departments
CE Pro Advantage Series
70 Ways to Grow Your
Custom Installation Business
CEPro Advantage Series 70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business 1
Marketing & Advertising Tips

1 FormaPeerGroup
Harvey mackay, author of the best-selling book swim with the sharks without Being Eaten
Alive, advises integrators to fnd two to three other dealers of similar business size in separate
geographic areas to exchange ideas. He recommends meeting twice a year to share your balance
sheet, marketing tips, management and more.
2 CreateaComprehensiveClientQuestionnaire
mackay uses the example of the 66 Questions he espouses in his book, which ask prospects
to answer questions about their birthday, educational level, marital status, occupation, kids,
political party, hobbies, vacation habits and more. the more you know about your client, he
contends, the better likelihood you have of getting the business.
that information should be used to humanize your sales technique, with things like personalized
gifts. mackay says that between 60 percent and 80 percent of the time you are talking to
your customers, you are not talking about business. if you collect this information, he says it
eliminates the cold call, because your sales staff already has knowledge about the customer.
3 SendPersonalizedBirthdayCards/Gifts
toYourTop20Customers
mackay challenges dealers to be creative. For example, he once sent an oversized tennis racket
to a person with a personalized poem. Brad gibbs of c-n-Hear integration in campbell,
calif., purchases personalized DVDs and cDs for clients as a leave-behind gift. Peter cook of
Automation Design & Entertainment in Portage, mich., has given gifts as diverse as a book on
quilting to a bag full of doggie toys and treats.
4 SendaThanksgivingHolidayCard
one way to distinguish your holiday card from the others that your customers may receive is to
send a greeting for thanksgiving as opposed to christmas or Hanukkah, according to mackay.
5 GainBrandAwarenessfromaLocalMagazine
AdCampaign
ray Lepper of Home media stores in midlothian, Va., uses an ad campaign in a local city
magazine as a brand builder. He says it also will put pressure on your competitors to spend more
marketing money.
70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business
6 RunAdsinBuildingPublications
michael Pope of Audio Video interiors in medina, ohio, has had success with a one-year
advertising campaign in his regional builder/architect magazine.
7 TargetDoctorswithAds
Peter cook of Automation Design & Entertainment in Portage, mich., garnered 20 leads last
year from an ad campaign in mD news, a publication targeting doctors.
8 DontDisregardtheYellowPages
while many integrators decry the yellow Pages as people who are price shopping, si Lewis of
Hidden connections in Alameda, calif., says the high demographics in his area help make the
yellow Pages appealing for generating leads. it also works for tom Alleva of sound ideas in
Armonk, n.y., who places his company under the stereo and home theater categories.
9 UseDirect-MailCardPacks
mike crow of Audio Video Design in raleigh, n.c., has had success participating in card-pack
mailings where he includes a direct mail postcard with 25 other companies, ranging from closet
organizers to hot tubs. the card pack is mailed to people in high demographics.
10 ForgetHomeShows
randy Vaughan of Ambassador Enterprises in Portsmouth, Va., advises dealers to forget home
shows for consumers. they are no good, unless you are speaking, he adds.
11 ShareAdCostsinNationalPublication
murray Kunis from Future Home in Los Angeles recommends locating other integrators from
different geographic areas and sharing the cost of a national ad in a high-end publication.
12 SponsoraLittleLeagueTeam
mitchell Klein of staytuned in newton, mass., says this type of marketing is inexpensive,
creates goodwill in the community and can generate leads.
13 BuyLocalCableTVTime
Vaughan of Ambassador Enterprises in Portsmouth, Va., is looking into purchasing advertising
on cable tV. we think it will be good for us, he says.
70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business: Marketing & Advertising Tips
14 IncludeShowroomCostsinMarketing
Lepper of Home media stores believes a showroom has a huge effect on upselling ability.
He recommends that the cost to maintain your showroom be considered part of your marketing
budget.
15 CheckYourDemographicsBefore
BuildingaShowroom
Getting around in traffc in Los Angeles is a nightmare. According to Kunis of Future Home, if
you build a showroom in L.A., you will go out of business because the ultra-elite clientele will
not visit it.
16 PushTraffictoYourWebSiteandShowroom
you cannot put up a web site or build a showroom and be passive in your marketing.
Everything we do, from direct mail to print advertising, says, go to our web site, says Lepper
of Home media stores. then, everything on our web site says, go to our showroom.
17 AvoidAdsinHomebuilderAssociationNewsletters
A consensus of dealers simply says, they dont work.
18 OptimizeYourWebSiteforSearchEngines
Peter cook of Automation Design & Entertainment is working with a search engine
optimization frm to include more text with embedded keywords. He estimates the total cost to
redo his web site will be $6,000.
19 ConductFocusGroups
marilyn sanford of La scala in Vancouver, British columbia, hired an outside company to
conduct a focus group to help target their sales and marketing efforts. Lepper of Home media
stores gathered a focus group before he opened his showroom. they were brutal, but we did
everything [inside the new showroom] that they advised us to do, he says.
20 SendHandwrittenThankYouCards
cook of Automation Design & Entertainment sends one to every client.
21 HoldaWineandCheeseParty
At the conclusion of the job, Pope of Audio Video interiors has held wine and cheese parties
inside the clients home. the client is asked to invite all their friends and neighbors.
22 GetPublishedandSendReprints
marc Leidig of Ambiance systems in clifton Park, n.y., says the ability to show customers
that your installations have been profled in national publications lends credibility. He cites
Electronic House and Better Homes and gardens as magazines in which the company has been
published. Kunis of Future Home advises dealers to purchase reprints of the articles in which
they are published and mail the reprint to existing customers with a short cover note.
23 HoldaShowroomEventwithaManufacturer
showroom open houses are nothing new, but Pope of Audio Video interiors recently held an
evening event in conjunction with a manufacturer, Kaleidescape. He sent invitations to a mailing
list and had about 35 people show up. We sold fve Kaleidescape systems that night, he says.
24 CollectCustomersEmailAddresses
obviously, getting email addresses from your customers will help hone your marketing efforts.
Pope of Audio Video interiors says he gets more rsVPs to his showroom events from emails
than he does from direct mail.
25 MakeFollow-upPhoneCalls
Leidig set up a dedicated service department six months ago at Ambiance systems. As part
of that, the manager of the service department makes phone calls to individual clients to ask
how well their system is working. He says the upgrade sales from those calls have already paid
dividends.
At Home media, Lepper instituted a formal follow-up call procedure six months after the
completion of the job. the salesperson who sold the system makes the call.
26 JoinBusinessNetworkInternational
Bni, a business referral organization (www.bni.com), may have a lot of gutter installation
companies and other less-than-prime referral partners, but both marilyn sanford of La scala
and Peter cook of Automation Design & Entertainment report receiving good leads from their
participation.
27 OfferWholesalePricestoOtherTrades
si Lewis of Hidden connections sells plasma at wholesale to plumbers and electricians when it
is for their personal homes. they work with other builders and will talk about us, he says.
28 DressUpYourTrucks
Pope of Audio Video interiors recently bought two large 14-foot box trucks. they act like big
moving billboards. Lots of people tell us they see our trucks, he says.
29 PlantSiteSigns
while job site signs are ubiquitous in some industries, they are not as common in the custom
business. one reason is that the homeowners may feel uncomfortable with a sign indicating
that a home theater is being installed. (if that discomfort comes up, the homeowner might be a
good potential client for an alarm system.) Pope of Audio Video interiors, which offers security
systems, uses site signs.
30 EngraveYourLogoonTouchPanels
while its common for integrators to place a logo sticker on their A/V racks, most homeowners
dont want your company sticker on their keypads and touch panels. Leidig of Ambiance
systems has his logo elegantly engraved on a nameplate that he puts on touch panels. the
company he uses is called sculpt3D (http://www.sculpt3d.com/)
31 PutUpaPublic-UseWi-FiAntenna
tony grimani of Performance media industries in Fairfax, calif., recommends dealers look
into setting up a wireless antenna in a public space, like near a busy coffee shop. the wireless
network should be branded with your company name.
32 DoanInexpensiveWebSiteRedesign
scott Bourquin of rustic creek in Kingwood, texas, approached a professor at the university of
Texas in Houston who agreed to make the creation of the companys Web site a fnal project for
his students.
33 OfferDiscountsforHomebuilders
si Lewis from Hidden connections sells jobs to homebuilders in their personal homes at huge
discounts. I make sure those systems are fawless, he adds.
34 GiveaBuildersCrewFreeLunch
Peter cook of Automation Design & Entertainment often informs builders that their entire crew
has won a free lunch. He will then buy lunch for the builder and the crew at the job site. on
one occasion, the builder unsolicited went to his truck and pulled out three sets of house plans
for large 9,000- square-foot homes for cook to see.
Managing Employees

35 DontStealTechnicians
According to gary nedelisky of Quadrant systems in Portland, ore., technicians currently
employed by other companies and are actively seeking to leave that company tend to be poor
workers.
36 TeachatTradeSchools
Ken Erdmann of Erdmann Electric in springville, utah prefers technicians who have no prior
experience so he can mold them. to that end, he teaches classes at the local trade school and
selects the best students.
37 HireShortTerm
Dean callis of Paragon technology group in Vail, colo., advises dealers to hire technicians
on a short-term basis, then offer a longer-term permanent position after you have checked their
mechanical aptitude in the feld.
38 FormaMentoringProgram
At AudioVisions in Lake Forest, calif., Jennifer carey has the responsibility of hiring
programmers. she has a mentoring program in which experienced employees shadow the new
programmer for the frst two weeks.
39 StartNewTechniciansSlowly
scott sullivan of soundvision in novato, calif., recommends starting a new technician out with
two primary tasks: doing pre-wires and keeping the job site clean of garbage. mark ontiveros
of Audio images in tustin, calif., uses newbie technicians as a second set of hands for hanging
plasmas, for making deliveries and for packing in the warehouse. i am checking his attitude
and his aptitude, he adds.
40 TipsonFindingTechnicians
Keith Shindoll of Interactive Environments in Van Nuys, Calif., has had good luck fnding
technicians on craigslist and monster.com. ontiveros from Audio images has had good luck
hiring people from temp agencies. sullivan of soundvision asks his manufacturers reps for
referrals. nedelisky at Quadrant systems says high school graduates who have computer skills
make good techs.
carey at AudioVisions says the company has found that former employees of the good guys,
which just shut down in southern california, have good product training. Every integrator
recommended posting a permanent ad on your own web site saying, we need good people.
41 HireaStockbrokerforSales
nedelisky of Quadrant systems recommends trying to migrate a willing technician into a sales
position (if possible). it will breathe life into your organization, he says. However, his best
salesperson is a former stockbroker. stockbrokers are not afraid to make cold calls.
42 OfferReferralFees
scott Bourquin of rustic creek, offers a $250 referral fee to any internal employee who
recommends a new hire that last 90 days.
43 GiveCEDIATrainingReimbursements
David King of King Systems in Denver pays for his technicians to receive CEDIA certifcation.
If the employees leave the company before a specifed time period, then they must pay a portion
of the cost of the training.
44 CreateInternalFunnyMoney
gary nedelisky passes out Quadrant Bucks to his employees every time they participate in
a training session, either in-class or online like Elan university. those dollars can be used as
credits toward purchasing equipment for their personal use.
45 ChargeHigherRatesforCEDIACertification
Ken Erdmann of Erdmann Electric takes the time to explain to customers the level of
commitment and cost in making his technicians CEDIA certifed. He uses that explanation to
charge higher rates than many of his competitors.
70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business: Managing Employees

46 QuizYourTechnicians
the technicians at rustic creek use videos from the training reels (www.trainingdept.com)
for training. while he is not doing this himself yet, Bourquin wants to quiz his technicians at the
conclusion of each chapter and offer $5 to whomever answers the questions correctly frst.
47 RewardTechsforCleanliness
Erdmann of Erdmann Electric has a program that rewards technicians with a free lunch for
having the cleanest trucks and tools every month.
48 MakeThemReadTradeMagazines
Every month, scott sullivan of soundvision requires one employee to make a presentation to
the rest of the group based upon an article in one of the trade publications.
49 RecognizeEmployees
Quadrant systems offers an internal installer of the year award and Best Peer support Award for
its technicians. recipients of these awards are the ones who become most eligible to travel to
training events, like Elans trio summit.
50 OfferTechniciansPerks
when a technician does a great job over a prolonged period, Erdmann of Erdmann Electric
might reward them with a $1,000 cash bonus. He already consistently pays for things like their
tool rentals or their cell phone bills. sullivan uses a similar tactic at soundvision; last year he
paid half of the company bonuses into proft sharing and half toward a trip for employees.
51 NeverWorkonSundays
its always enticing to get more done when you have an eager technician who wants to work on
weekends. sometimes it even seems imperative to get a crew on the job site when a builders
deadline is looming. But according to a consensus of integrators, working on saturdays should
be a rarity and crews should be asked to work on sundays.
52 Try4-DayWorkWeeks
michael goldberg of megaHertz media integration in Baltimore, who changed to a four-day
week with 11-hour days, says, i cant get the guys to change back. they love it. He staggers
the off days. (Editors note: make sure you check your states labor laws. in some states, like
california, this would require paying overtime.)
53 ShowOffYourCertifications
At Soundvision, Sullivan prints out copies of every certifcation for every employee and mounts
them on frames in his facility. its impressive to the customers, he says.
54 PayDonutPenalties
At Future Home, any employee who is late for work has to bring in donuts for the entire staff
the next day, according to Kunis.
55 CreateaSalesStaffPointsSystem
Jeffrey Fox, founder of Fox & Company, a marketing consulting frm, recommends setting up
a point system to help them (and you) gauge their daily progress. in his system, the staff should
have a daily goal of three points, with a salesperson getting:
1 point = a lead or referral
2 points = setting an appointment
3 points = going to a client appointment
4 points = closing a deal
56 FindtheBestSeat
when conducting a sit-down appointment in the clients home, a restaurant or your showroom,
your salesperson should take the seat against the wall, according to Fox, because you want the
total attention of the client on you and your presentation, not on the rest of the room.
Vendor Relations

57 AskforCo-opMarketingDollars
Besides buying lots of product, says speakercrafts Jeremy Burkhardt, manufacturers want
dealers to submit a formal one-page marketing plan to them with areas of requested co-op
marketing assistance before their budget cycle begins. it may or may not be funded, but those
who ask will often be rewarded. never work through your manufacturers rep, he advises.
58 IfYouCantTouchIt,DontSellIt
Dealers often get burned by specing a product based on a demo at a trade show, only to fnd that
the product is not shipping in time for a job. one good rule of thumb, according to Burkhardt,
is never spec anything you cant put on your shelf or that does not have a commitment to ship
within 90 days.
59 BestManufacturerWebSite
Almost unanimously, the group declared crestrons web site the best in terms of technical
assistance and product information.
60 DontSupportLinesthatWontProtect
YourTerritory
todd sheppard of FutureLink in northglenn, colo. says he wont sell a manufacturer that is
selling the identical product line through distribution.
61 SendReplacementUnits
when a warrantied component goes on the fritz, Keith shindoll of interactive Environments
says customers dont care if the one they get the same unit in return. He says to ask
manufacturers to send out replacement units.
Service Departments

62 FindingaGoodServiceTech
Jared Blackford of nusystems inc. in gardnerville, nev., says the obvious choice for a service
department technician is the person who shows the best aptitude for troubleshooting and who is
willing to upsell customers. sheppard from FutureLink says your service technician job should
be part of structured tiers within the installation department so installers see it as position to
which they can be promoted.
63 PayExtraforPagers,CellPhones
For his service technician, callis of Paragon technology group pays an automatic $50 extra
per week for carrying a pager on weekends. Ken smith of custom Electronics inc. in Falmouth,
maine, gives his service technicians a cell phone and an additional $200 per week.
64 NoDrinkingOnCall
c.J. shere of creative security systems in thousand oaks, calif., requires his service
technicians to sign a document that while they are on call, they cannot consume alcohol.
65 HaveaWeekendServicePolicy
unless the client is paying a premium, a service call will not take place on the weekend or on a
holiday at Los gatos, calif.-based cybermanor, according to gordon Van Zuiden. we will roll
the truck on monday, he says.
66 ProgramaHomeownerResetButton
to cut down on potential service calls, Leidig of Ambiance system has all his whole-house
automation systems programmed with a simple reset command that allows the homeowner to
reset the system himself.
67 TryRemoteDiagnostics
callis of Paragon technology group sets up his crestron installations to conduct a remote
diagnostic every night at 2:00 a.m. and email the company if there is a problem. we literally
fnd out if the system is broken before the homeowner, he says.
68 AskforCreditCardPayment
sheppard of FutureLink takes a credit card payment over the phone before he will roll the
truck. Even if the job ends up being no charge, he sends an invoice indicating that fact. Frank
DePew of chesapeake smart Homes in stevensville, md., has a $150 minimum service call fee.
69 DefineWhentheWarrantyStarts
At rich green ink in Palo Alto, calif., Joe wallace says his contract states that the warranty
starts at the time of substantial completion. Peter cooks contract at Automation Design &
Entertainment uses the phrase frst benefcial use to indicate when the warranty starts.
70 SellExtendedServiceContractbyHours
custom Electronics inc. sells extended service contracts in which customers purchase a
total number of service hours (excluding troubleshooting time). For example, smith says the
company may sell a large home theater that should receive calibration once a year, or an mcE-
based system that should have a once-a-month virus check.

the company sales staff will recommend the homeowner purchase a certain number of hours
of service time (the number of hours is also infuenced by how old the system is). If the
homeowner purchases the service time at the time of installation, he receives a 10 percent
discount. unused hours automatically rollover into the next year.
CE Pro Advantage Series
70 Ways to Grow Your
Custom Installation Business
This Advantage Series from CE Pro is one of many free resources
for the custom installation community at cepro.com.
Download other useful guides, including:
n
Technical White Papers
n
Business Documents
n
Industry Lists
n
Advantage Series
For more papers, visit www.cepro.comlwhitepapers
or visit www.cepro.com for more free resources.
2008 EH Publishing.

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70 Ways to Grow Your Custom Installation Business: Managing Employees

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