5-Way Power Protection Isn’t Overkill

Ever since the Electronic House Expo in March, Innovolt has been on fire. The manufacturer of power protection products had a large booth at the show, but EHX was more about product than personality.

Attendees may well remember Innovolt for its sponsorship of the CE Pro All Star band and its giveaway of a custom Fender guitar. But what else should we know about the company?

VP of sales Walter Crowder answers some of our questions here, but if you want more, be sure to visit Innovolt’s booth during CE Pro Live, the industry’s first virtual trade show. The free online event takes place June 17.

You say your product is the only one that “effectively protects against 99% of all measured electrical disturbances. It is the only power protection on the market that protects against all five major power grid disturbances.” If I took this claim to your competitors, what would they say?

Competitors may disagree, but we base our conclusions on data. The I-Grid, an independent source of power quality data, shows the frequency and severity of all power types of power disturbances across the entire U.S.. It clearly illustrates that voltage sags occur most frequently by far. Over-voltage events last longer but occur much less frequently and can be damaging. Under-voltage events can be damaging to some types of equipment. Outages are well known, but the extremely short voltage surges known as lightning (while quite rare) are the only event to be protected against by most power protectors.

So let’s say your claims are true. If other companies aren’t doing it, it must be overkill, right?

We don’t think so. Servicing data from the field reveals that a large percentage of field failures and service calls can be attributed to power related problems. Feedback from the field has also proven that device interruptions and service calls are reduced with full power protection. Our device tracks the different events that the device has countered and maintains a record of such.

How does your product “anticipate” voltage sags and what does it do when it knows something bad is coming?

Our unit does not anticipate voltage sags, rather it anticipates current surges that usually accompany voltage sags. When we observe a voltage sag event begin, we take anticipatory action to protect the load from the potentially stressful current surge that can follow.

At EHX, where you sponsored the CE Pro All Star Band, Innovolt seemed to focus less on product – you had a big booth but weren’t really showing product – and more on personality. How does that approach help your business?
It’s all about warming someone up to the idea of letting you sell them something. Are you more likely to buy something from a telemarketer who cold calls you in the middle of your workday or a friend whom you’ve known for years? Our sales team at Innovolt prefers making contacts and forming bonds over inundating a potential lead with information overload.

The show was only three days long, but we built some relationships there that will last a lot longer than that. It’s another way we set ourselves apart from our competitors. If a customer walked into EHX knowing nothing about our industry, our products might closely resemble others on the market today.

I like to think our booth’s exciting atmosphere allowed people to be drawn into having a good time long enough for us to educate them on how our products set themselves apart.

You gave away a customized Fender at EHX. What’s the tie-in with Fender? Why not just give away a HEM X1000?

Well, the short story is that we have a Master Guitar Builder friend over at Fender who owed us a favor! Seriously though, if we’re sponsoring the CEPro All Star Band, why not make our give away rock ‘n roll inspired? It goes back to the personality-driven sales approach we were just talking about. At Innovolt, we believe that it’s OK to add a little bit of fun to technology.

CEDIA should be exciting and entertaining, and our industry should be focused on great sound and video quality. Giving away a guitar at EHX was not only our way of adhering to this credo, but it was also a great way to get people talking about us. A potential customer might have never heard of an HEM-X1000—so why would he/she be interested in registering to win one?

I’ll bet he/she’s heard of a Fender Stratocaster though. Why not use Fender’s established brand recognition to further our own? Sure, we’ll get some people only interested in winning a guitar, but if we enlighten even one new customer to our product line then it’s all been worth it.

Do you anticipate any new power issues when the smart grid actually happens?

Yes. We anticipate even more power issues because of all the new issues with alternate power sources.

Michael Maziar – the crazy face of Innovolt – is a riot. Where did you find him? (And is he holding hands with Chad Luke in the photo above?)

He actually started out as an intern.

You’ve got a Newlywed Show theme going on your promo video. Or is it the Dating Game? What’s that all about?

It’s a play on outdated technology. There really haven’t been any updates on surge protection technology in about thirty years. Until now, that is! The way we see it, we’re bringing consumer electronics into the 21st century with the newest and most innovative technology available.

What are your plans for CE Pro Live, June 17?
We are very excited about CE Pro Live! It’s great to be involved with an innovative new forum for tradeshows, and we can’t wait to see how the final product comes together.

We’re definitely going to give dealers a reason to visit our booth — plenty of personality and some great giveaway opportunities! We really want to use CE Pro Live as a platform to show dealers that Innovolt is looking toward the future, and make them want to get on board with us.