• CEPro_logo_blue-new
  • TOPICS
      • News
        • People & Places
        • Product Briefs
      • Projects
      • Events
      • Control
        • Central Vac
        • Energy/Power
        • HVAC/IAQ
        • Interfaces/Devices
        • Lighting
        • Motorized Shades
        • Whole House Systems
      • Audio/Video
        • Audio/Video
        • AV Accessories
        • AV Racks
        • Cabling
        • Displays
        • Furniture
        • Headphones
        • Home Theater
        • Media
        • Mounts/Lifts
        • Multiroom AV
        • Projectors/Screens
        • Speakers/Subwoofers
        • Wireless AV
      • Security
        • Access Control
        • Alarms/Sensors
        • Services/Platforms
        • Surveillance/Cameras
      • Business Support
        • Associations/Buying Groups
        • Cell Phone Boosters
        • Distributors/Reps
        • Operations
        • Recurring Revenue
        • Research
        • Sales/Marketing
        • Software Services
        • Tools/Testers
      • Networking
        • Cellular
        • Devices/Equipment
        • Wireless
        • Wired/Installation
      • Markets
        • Builders
        • Commercial
        • Design
        • Europe
        • Outdoors
        • Resimercial
        • Wellness
      • CE Pro Hub Pages
        • Bose
        • Savant
        • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Integrator Jobs
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-iQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
  • DISCOVER
    • CEDIA Expo
      • September 29 – October 1
        Dallas, TX
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBIS
      • February 8 – 10
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      • October 26 – 28
        Orlando, FL
      • VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      • VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      • VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      • VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      • VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      • VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      • VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
    • CE Pro-iQ
      • VISIT SITE
  • Search
  • TOPICS
    • News
      • People & Places
      • Product Briefs
    • Projects
    • Events
    • Control
      • Central Vac
      • Energy/Power
      • HVAC/IAQ
      • Interfaces/Devices
      • Lighting
      • Motorized Shades
      • Whole House Systems
    • Audio/Video
      • Audio/Video
      • AV Accessories
      • AV Racks
      • Cabling
      • Displays
      • Furniture
      • Headphones
      • Home Theater
      • Media
      • Mounts/Lifts
      • Multiroom AV
      • Projectors/Screens
      • Speakers/Subwoofers
      • Wireless AV
    • Security
      • Access Control
      • Alarms/Sensors
      • Services/Platforms
      • Surveillance/Cameras
    • Business Support
      • Associations/Buying Groups
      • Cell Phone Boosters
      • Distributors/Reps
      • Operations
      • Recurring Revenue
      • Research
      • Sales/Marketing
      • Software Services
      • Tools/Testers
    • Networking
      • Cellular
      • Devices/Equipment
      • Wireless
      • Wired/Installation
    • Markets
      • Builders
      • Commercial
      • Design
      • Europe
      • Outdoors
      • Resimercial
      • Wellness
    • CE Pro Hub Pages
      • Savant
      • Bose
      • Inside Sound United
  • PRODUCTS
  • RESOURCES
    • Reports/Downloads
    • Buyer’s Guide
    • Webcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Integrator Jobs
    • Digital Edition
    • CE Pro-IQ
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • CEPRO PRINT EDITION
    • CEPRO DIGITAL EDITION
    • CEPRO NEWSLETTERS
    • CEDIA SHOW UPDATES
  • DISCOVER
    • Cedia Expo
      VISIT SITE
    • Commercial Integrator
      VISIT SITE
    • Security Sales
      VISIT SITE
    • Tech Decisions
      VISIT SITE
    • Campus Safety
      VISIT SITE
    • Design Well
      VISIT SITE
    • Total Tech Summit
      VISIT SITE
    • KBB Online
      VISIT SITE
    • AV-iQ
    • CE Pro-iQ
M
POPULAR SEARCHES
News
Projects
Control
Audio Video
Security
Business Support
Markets
SUBSCRIBE CEDIA EXPO CEPro-iQ
News
November 3, 2015

Julie Jacobson on the Virtues of ‘Less-Custom’

If more integrators sold less-custom systems that could be replicated from dealer to dealer, could customer accounts be bought and sold like they can in the security industry?
Julie Jacobson  
If more integrators sold less-custom systems that could be replicated from dealer to dealer, could customer accounts be bought and sold like they can in the security industry?
Article:
News
November 3, 2015

Julie Jacobson on the Virtues of ‘Less-Custom’

CE Pro Industry Insider, November 2015

I don’t have a big enough opinion this month to fill a whole page with it, but I do want to comment on a series of themes that are not unrelated. All have to do with the co-mingling of custom, less-custom and seemingly incompatible channels to market:

“What is the Value of my Company?” is a piece written by CE Pro’s Jason Knott in September. It covered many of the usual subjects – RMR, EBITDA, service contracts, etc. – but there was one little nugget from David Stang of Stang Capital Advisory that really caught my attention. He was speaking mostly about the buying and selling of security companies and their customer accounts, but his comments should resonate strongly with custom integrators who would like to sell their business (or borrow against it) someday.

If you’re thinking about an exit strategy, the best bet may be to embrace brands and solutions that everyone else is selling.

“To buyers, the [customer] account contracts are collateral that can be resold if they want to another purchaser,” Stang said. “So, as additional services are added onto the core security contract, what if the buyer can’t provide those services? You can’t provide services that are too proprietary or too unique so that a potential buyer could not be able to do it. That makes it tough to sell that account” [emphasis added].

In other words: If you’re thinking about an exit strategy, the best bet may be to embrace brands and solutions that everyone else is selling. Then your accounts (your customers) can be sold to a larger market of businesses that can easily service those accounts.

So while many dealers lament the “over-distribution” of certain brands, especially in the home control category, the smart ones might see brand saturation as the best hope for a future buyout or, as some would say, payout.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Less custom” seems a fitting term for vendors who got their start building one-off products to spec … and are now making ready-to-buy models to satisfy most dealers and end-users. Stewart Filmscreen, for example, just launched a line of less-custom screens, called Standard Solutions. Leon Speakers is now packaging its ornate Sound Sculptures and “Sound Bar” hideaway liquor cabinets for less-custom installs. And home automation vendors are making less-custom lines such as Crestron Pyng and the Savant App/Smart Host.

The products are still installed by CE pros, but they can be spec’d, purchased, sold and installed more efficiently than their more-custom counterparts. It’s a good strategy. Once a manufacturer establishes itself as a luxury custom brand, it should be able to package that reputation for a broader market.

Integrators might be wise to follow that path.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The new DIY Savant Remote is the right thing to do, both for the company as well as the custom industry. Then again, you knew I’d say that. Funny that the announcement of the $499 product, to be sold through BestBuy.com, coincided with the Blood Moon. And yet, we’re still here. It’s a slick product, limited in its feature set, and if Savant does it well, the initiative will drive traffic to authorized dealers.

I have to give kudos to Savant for taking the brave move of launching a DIY product. Dealers will kick and scream but in the end, they will continue to embrace Savant if that is their custom control system of choice. Elan, Control4, Crestron, URC, RTI and others will be watching carefully.

There will be challenges ahead, of course. Much of the early backlash concerns loyal dealers who are not thrilled that DIYers get a slick remote and Sonos integration before the pros do.

As one Savant dealer says, “I'm quite sure many of my Savant clients will be calling me up about that remote wanting it in their system and I'll have to tell them that the $500 Savant remote isn’t compatible with their $10k+ Savant system we installed.”

Lutron is even more confusing with its Smart Bridge, Smart Bridge Pro, new Lutron Connect, Caseta, Radio Ra, HomeWorks, Sivoia QS Shades, Serena shades and related accessories – all with Lutron “ClearConnect” wireless but not necessarily compatible with each other.

They seem to be doing OK with that. Custom dealers have barely flinched. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julie Jacobson
Follow
Julie Jacobson:
Julie Jacobson is founding editor of CE Pro, the leading media brand for the home-technology channel. She has covered the smart-home industry since 1994, long before there was much of an Internet, let alone an Internet of things. Currently she studies, speaks, writes and rabble-rouses in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V, wellness-related technology, biophilic design, and the business of home technology. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, and earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a recipient of the annual CTA TechHome Leadership Award, and a CEDIA Fellows honoree. A washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player, Julie currently resides in San Antonio, Texas and sometimes St. Paul, Minn. Follow on Twitter: @juliejacobson
View Julie Jacobson's complete profile

ARTICLE TOPICS

News

ARTICLE TAGS

Leon Speakers • Lutron • Savant • Stewart Filmscreen

SHARE

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share On Linkedin
Share On Whatsapp
Share Via Email
Copy URL
← Previous Article Next Article →
Article Amplifiers/ReceiversAV AccessoriesCablingControlDevices/EquipmentDisplaysEnergy/PowerEventsHome TheaterHVAC/IAQInterfaces/DevicesISELightingMotorized ShadesMultiroom AVNetworkingNewsProductsProjectors/ScreensResimercialSlideshowSpeakers/SubwoofersWhole-House SystemsWireless

2023 Top New Technology (TNT) Awards Announced at ISE

This year’s batch of Top New Technologies (TNT) Awards@ISE honored winners in the Residential segment, unveiled in conjunction with ISE 2023.
Article ControlInterfaces/DevicesNetworkingWhole-House SystemsWireless

Beyond Matter: The Past, Present and Future of Home Standards

Dave Kaufman reflects on the potential standards have to benefit consumers, professionals and the smart home industry at large.
Article Amplifiers/ReceiversAV AccessoriesCablingControlDevices/EquipmentDisplaysEnergy/PowerEventsHome TheaterHVAC/IAQInterfaces/DevicesISELightingMotorized ShadesMultiroom AVNetworkingNewsProductsProjectors/ScreensResimercialSlideshowSpeakers/SubwoofersWhole-House SystemsWireless

2023 Top New Technology (TNT) Awards Announced at ISE

This year’s batch of Top New Technologies (TNT) Awards@ISE honored winners in the Residential segment, unveiled in conjunction with ISE 2023.
Article Amplifiers/ReceiversAudio/VideoDistributors/RepsHome TheaterMediaMultiroom AVProductsSpeakers/SubwoofersWhole-House SystemsWireless AV

I Previewed the New 8K Sony ES Receiver Lineup (and Was Blown Away)

The latest models of Sony's professional grade receiver line offer range, versatility, and most importantly to installers, simplicity.

SHOW NEWSLETTER

Sign Up

CE Pro

Subscribe Sign Up

Content Types

News
Products
Projects
Companies
Downloads
Webcasts
Podcasts
Events

Specials

IntegratorJobs
CEDIA EXPO
CE Pro 100
CE Pro Summit
Awards Programs

Company Info

About
Contact Us
Customer Service
Media Solutions & Advertising

Subscribe

Magazine
Newsletters
Digital Edition

Connect

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
RSS Feed

Categories

AUDIO/VIDEO
AV Accessories
AV Racks
Amplifiers/Receivers
Cabling
Displays
Furniture
Mounts/Lifts
Multiroom AV
Projector Screens
Speakers/Subwoofers
Wireless AV
CONTROL
Central Vac
Energy/Power
Interfaces/Devices
HVAC/IAQ
Lighting
Motorized Shades
Whole-House Systems
NETWORKING
Cellular
Devices/Equipment
Wireless
Wiring/Installation
SECURITY
Access Control
Alarms/Sensors
Services/Platforms
Surveillance Cameras
BUSINESS SUPPORT
Associations/Buying Groups
Distributors/Reps
Operations
Recurring Revenue
Research
Sales/Marketing
Software/Services
Tools/Testers
MARKETS
Builders
Commercial
Design
Europe
Outdoors
Wellness
FOLLOW US ON
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

  • ABOUT
  • CAREERS
  • TERMS OF USE
  • PRIVACY POLICY

McIntosh Labs

McIntosh Labs