5 High-Margin Products

Great post Jason! When I saw the RTI panel, I thought one of the high-margin items was going to be touchpanel templates.  It’s worth mentioning that templates are also a relatively small investment that integrators will see a great return on, job after job.  Offering clients a variety of good-looking panel options can make the difference between getting a job or losing it to the guys down the road; and it can justify a slight increase in your programming labor rate too.

Add to this story, DESIGN, ENGINEERING, PROJECT MANAGEMENT, AND INSTALLATION.  All equipment is eventually a commodity.  An integrator’s highest margins must be on services.

I just like that we are having discussions about what makes us money on a public forum which not all but certainly many end users, builders, etc look at.  We should post our GMP on products just so we can lay all of our cards on the table.  I don’t know about you, but every customer already tells me that I’m making too much money and that they have bids for the “exact same thing” for “half the price”.

What about enterprise-grade home networks?

A polished user interface has won many projects for us. Documentation is something else that will win projects and IMO we should be doing it anyway. Our investment in D-Tools many years ago was paid for with a single project.

Build your company brand with things that set you apart from the competition. You cant do that with hardware.

39 Cent,

I would argue that it is the combination of hardware/software and service that separates one from the competition. Take the network for example: If dealer X proposes a low-end wireless network with 10 Linksys access points scattered in the home vs. dealer Y offering an intelligent, unified network that has guest access, remote management login and a detailed log - dealer Y can easily demonstrate to the client he/she has a superior solution. I know dealers who do this and win over projects this way.

Indeed, with Crestron or C4 the client thinks its apples to apples and the installation and programming is really what ends up making the difference. But there are still areas where properly programmed, better hardware used can be deliver a superior solution. The home network is one of those areas.

What i meant was that being a Crestron or Seura dealer are not things that make you stand out from the crowd. A user interface on the other hand is something that can.

I wasn’t touching on the Crestron vs whoever topic. If a client meets with 2 Crestron dealers. One shows up with a touchpanel loaded with an attractive user interface and a set of documents and the other with a clip board. The hardware is apples to apples and the only thing that sets them apart is labor and creativity.

As far as network gear goes.. its just internet right? Bestbuy has those dynex routers on sale Kidding, we use netgear pro gear at every installation since 2007 (a programmer recommended we try it). We have had zero lan related issues since the switch. The VPN,switch and ap’s installed in 2007 have never locked up or failed.

But.. were not making a dime on the Netgear hardware so its currently a zero margin product.

Agreed on Crestron 100%.

As far as using Netgear and the big “but”: You will hear some mixed opinions about Netgear and other manufacturers. Even when things work, not making money means you are leaving something on the table. And, when things do not work, and that does happen sometimes, we have a vast tool set to see exactly what’s wrong where the guy who put in a Linksys (or a Netgear switch can only reboot it or replace it.

Networking should be a revenue stream for integrators. We can go back to my last comment. With the right selling skills (which you do need in order to sell high end networking gear) dealer Y will add a high end network to the budget, justify it with the client by discussing the features and will make more money as well.

You have no idea how many home owners love the wireless guest access feature (guest Internet access only, with a splash screen like the hotels) our systems offer. That feature alone differentiates one integrator from another and that feature alone makes the entire sale sometimes.

Ok so wheres the CEPro article about enterprise-grade home network?

We typically view the Lan as a backend nameless product that our control system utilizes. No lockups or hardware failures means we can “set it and forget it”.

We offer guest access to wi-fi but not a splash screen. Clients have little guest cards with the guest key on them. I agree that a “welcome to the smith residence” splash screen would sell the product on its own.

From your mouth to Julie’s ears!