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This Week in Haiku: 7/3/2009
On barfing cabinets, duct cleaning and hip replacements
Do any of you work on marine?? if so how did you get your foot in the door?
Thanks.
]]>What items would you never go to a consultation without?
Have you ever happened to bring along something out of the ordinary to a consultation which later proved to be invaluable?
]]>Having said that, I’m personally interested to know what works for you. It could be running some sort of ad or maybe having an event. It could be as simple as doing a great job and asking customers to refer freiends to you.
One caveat is that VUDU may well steal the good ideas and put our resources into helping dealers do more of whatever it is.
]]>Here’s a radical idea: Integrators should start subsidizing/financing cookie-cutter systems - just like orthodontists. For a $12,000 installation, for example, have the homeowner put down $5,000 and then finance the remaining $7,000 over a three-year period for $200 per month.
It has worked well for nearly 30 years in the alarm business, ever since Brink’s first introduced the mass-marketed, subsidized installation in the mid 1980s. Brink’s did it for the monthly monitoring; its breakeven point was reportedly around 20 months, if I recall.
I know it sounds sleazy. And for many dealers on the high end, it surely is not a realm in which you want to play.
Also, it’s not conducive to positive cash flow when you first start out. You need to be well capitalized to do this. If you have a strong recurring revenue stream from monitoring or service contracts, this leasing concept is much more attractive.
I can see some big entity, like an ADT or Brink’s, doing this in the home entertainment business. Tell me I am crazy.
]]>I just completed one of the largest jobs in my history (relatively new company) and am having problems already with “extras” that are added to my work. For example the front, and back porches have speakers on them, and the installer who put the tounge and groove ceiling on the porches, did not pull the wires through. Amongst other things, i am seeing alot of extras that were not included in the final bid. The contracter is on a tight budged, because it’s his son’s personal home, and i know i am going to receive crap about the extras. Does anyone have a contract that i can view, or borrow to cover these things on the next job that i do? I bidded this job very close just to get my foot in the door to the larger markets, and when finished will be a beautiful job. I just need to know how to cover may butt the next time this comes around…
Thank You,
David Williams
A/V Solutions
djwilliams at nc dot rr dot com
We are a small company based in Indiana. Our background comes from a production home systems. We are trying to fit ourselves into Mid and High End System market. We are trying to get advantage of almost every business opportunity. A year ago we started offering Alarm Monitoring Services. For a very long time we are considering of becoming a DirecTV dealer as well. Recently we have put more efforts in this direction. The solution we currently have is by offering this service through a third party. We have been told (a DirecTV Dealer) that in order to become a direct authorized dealer there is a requirement of selling a certain amount of contracts monthly. Unfortunately our main goal is not to do a satellite business, but rather being able to offer this service to our customers and therefore selling only when is needed. At the moment we are doing everything from selling to installing the service but still we are making half of the possible revenue. My point is: Can we become a Direct Authorized DirectTV Dealer without the constrains I described above? Has anyone experienced the problem we have or our research in this direction has not been sufficient enough?
Thank you All in advance! ]]>