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Must-Read for Clients: Should You Buy Home Control from ADT, Comcast?
Honest talk about mass-market home control firms: "Sure, see what they have. Then talk to a local specialist and compare."
Electronic House Industry Insider, Dec. 2010: Should you buy home control from ADT, Comcast?
How is a CE pro supposed to compete with ADT, Comcast and other mass-market installers aiming to conquer the home automation market?
You can't just ignore the big guys. In fact, you may want to exploit them. After all, they'll be spending millions of dollars next year promoting services you've been providing for a decade a more.
They will make your future clients aware that technology for remote home management exists, that a pro should do the installation, and that a fair price is $50 or $60 per month. So how do you sway consumers to use your shop instead of ADT or some cable company, ISP, telco, utility or other service provider?
We recently ran an editorial in our consumer publication Electronic House, asking readers:
We don't knock ADT, certainly a viable installation company, but we do question Comcast's ability to install security, lighting and automation.
We also explain that consumers will get no $99 installs from ADT, and that a local home systems specialist could be very price competitive with the ADT Pulse solution.
We conclude with a list of qualifying questions that consumers should ask any prospective home systems integrator. The first question: Can I buy your system without a security monitoring agreement?
How are you addressing the situation with clients and prospects?
You and your clients can read the entire editorial at ElectronicHouse.com
How to use this article
We invite all CE pros to publish excerpts from Electronic House, and link to the complete article on electronichouse.com. For permission to reprint the article in its entirety, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). CE Pro VIP members are invited to reprint the entire article at no charge; however, please attribute the story to Electronic House and include the appropriate link. A pdf of the original article is also available.
Other Must-Reads for Clients
Must-Read for Clients: Myth of the $99 Install
Must-Read for Clients: Higher A/V Prices Not Always a Rip-Off
You can't just ignore the big guys. In fact, you may want to exploit them. After all, they'll be spending millions of dollars next year promoting services you've been providing for a decade a more.
They will make your future clients aware that technology for remote home management exists, that a pro should do the installation, and that a fair price is $50 or $60 per month. So how do you sway consumers to use your shop instead of ADT or some cable company, ISP, telco, utility or other service provider?
We recently ran an editorial in our consumer publication Electronic House, asking readers:
What should you make of these mass marketers straying so far from their comfort zones? Can they provide good, cheap alternatives to the home-control systems offered by specialty home integrators? Should you trust them with your lights, thermostats, surveillance cameras, home networks and remote access?
We don't knock ADT, certainly a viable installation company, but we do question Comcast's ability to install security, lighting and automation.
We also explain that consumers will get no $99 installs from ADT, and that a local home systems specialist could be very price competitive with the ADT Pulse solution.
If you’re simply price-shopping, you can probably get a similar deal from a traditional custom electronics (CE) professional. They won’t be quite as inexpensive, but they can offer more than ADT can. ...
Bottom line? I wrote earlier that there’s no such thing as a $99 TV install from Best Buy. Same thing goes for ADT and Comcast. Sure, see what they have. Then talk to a local specialist and compare.
We conclude with a list of qualifying questions that consumers should ask any prospective home systems integrator. The first question: Can I buy your system without a security monitoring agreement?
How are you addressing the situation with clients and prospects?
You and your clients can read the entire editorial at ElectronicHouse.com
How to use this article
We invite all CE pros to publish excerpts from Electronic House, and link to the complete article on electronichouse.com. For permission to reprint the article in its entirety, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). CE Pro VIP members are invited to reprint the entire article at no charge; however, please attribute the story to Electronic House and include the appropriate link. A pdf of the original article is also available.
Other Must-Reads for Clients
Must-Read for Clients: Myth of the $99 Install
Must-Read for Clients: Higher A/V Prices Not Always a Rip-Off
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Article Topics
Blogs · Home Automation and Control · Control Systems · Adt · Adt Pulse · Comcast · Xfinity · Electronic House · Comcast Home Security ·About the Author
Julie Jacobson is co-founder of EH Publishing and currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro, mostly in the areas of home automation, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. She majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. Julie is a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player with the scars to prove it. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson.
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