One of the best instructional videos for a new CEDIA exhibitor comes from TV Template, a newcomer sharing a booth with TruAudio at CEDIA Expo 2018. The start-up makes templates. For TVs.
Contemplating a 55-inch display? Unfurl that template and tape it to the wall. Too small? Try the 65-inch template.
The start-up is the brainchild of Rusty Deeble, owner of the integration company Digital Installers in Long Beach, Calif.
“The story on TV Templates is simple,” Deeble tells CE Pro. “We were tired of using blue tape to mark a size of a TV, or customers asking us to mark a bigger or smaller size … or asking if we can now mark the walls in the bedrooms or even the outside TV.”
The process has been ongoing for 18 years, he explains, “and it was consuming time and still not giving a customer a good visual.”
As Deeble’s integration company grew, the problems multiplied, and Digital Installers would be stuck with TVs that didn’t look right once installed.
“As a salesman I feel a lot time was wasted discussing the size of the TV and felt the customer was thinking I was trying to oversell them or the home owners would argue over the size,” Deeble says. “Now with a TV template the customer picks the size by understanding the visual template, and we spend time on selling the quality of the TV. Salesmen and installers are able to separate themselves from the size argument.”
Today, the templates enable “faster and more professional walk throughs, no more returns, and less pressure on the designer,” Deeble says.
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The reusable templates come in a tube with six sizes – 40, 49, 55, 65, 75 and 85 inches – all for $39.
They're not just for A/V installers, Deeble suggests. They can work for do-it-yourselfers as well as real-estate agents in staging a home.
TruAudio made a bulk purchase to get help get the product on the market, and Deeble is seeking distributors to take on the line.
As for the instructional video, “a couple of integration companies say they couldn't get the templates back in the tube, so … “
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