At ISE 2018, I gave a presentation called “Uberizing Smart Home Services” as part of a TED-style series held at the CEDIA booth. Before launching into the core principles of Uber and Amazon, I warned attendees not to take the presentation literally. It would not be a lesson on how to sell DIY products to cheapskates; rather, I hoped to challenge integrators to explore new business models for today’s self-sufficient buyers.
And yet, many dealers responded with comments like: “We are nothing like Amazon” and “Julie’s model is a recipe for disaster, to say nothing of insulting.”
So, I stress again: You can’t be Uber or Amazon, and you don’t want to be. But you CAN study their approach to customer experience and incorporate some of their practices into your integration business, regardless of how “custom” it is.
Big Spenders Don’t Need Cuddles
I think we misread potential customers and miss golden opportunities when we assume that big spenders want to be coddled. Maybe that was the case several years ago … before they discovered online reviews and one-click ordering. Today, however, they buy exotic cars and book luxury tours online, without ever having to “call for more information.”
These customers may have plenty of money to spend, but they don’t want the “high-touch” service that integrators often foist upon them. We tend to equate higher budgets with needier clients who thrive on the fuss, when really these busy buyers want to make quick, informed decisions without people getting in their way.
A decade ago, when I wrote about buying a big-screen TV from Amazon, I received piles of hate mail to the effect of: “You must hate custom” and “I can’t believe you ordered from Amazon just to save a few dollars.”
Actually, I have no idea if I saved a few bucks, and it didn’t really matter. What mattered is that the whole experience was just so simple. I went online, searched a few things, pressed a button and received the TV a couple days later at the appointed time.
Today, buyers can order “smart home” systems just as simply, whether through Amazon’s Smart Home Services – 5-star worthy if you believe almost every single reviewer – or specialty A/V dealers who offer similar programs (plenty of them do). Ordering a complete system is as simple as adding a familiar brand of thermostat to the shopping cart, plus some cameras, smart bulbs, voice assistants and maybe a smart TV with home-automation inside.
At checkout, just click “professional installation,” and voila! You see the real and fer-sure final price (barring exceptions at the job site), including shipping and installation – not a rough estimate that will be discussed with the team and presented in a week. Right then and there you can schedule an installer to arrive next Tuesday between 12 and 2.
Hard to Resist the Lure of ‘Simple’
There is a real possibility that this pragmatic patron actually desires a more robust smart-home system. But it’s hard to resist the pull of a quick-and-easy
“But they don’t do what we do!” dealers rightly proclaim. Even so, custom integrators could put more decision-making into the hands of their Alpha clients, which not only would attract these buyers in the first place, but also engage them in the process, and quite possibly improve dealer margins as they help themselves.
The full-service generation is disappearing, replaced by self-helpers who will pay extra for the luxury of being left alone. Our industry thinks the self-help crowd is motivated by cost savings, when they really just want a predictable, frictionless experience from the very first Google Search for “smart home.”
Nowadays, users can vet service providers, review and select products, configure a rudimentary system through online wizards, schedule installation, and pay for the whole thing without picking up the phone, waiting on hold, standing by for the “right” associate to serve you, hanging tight for the first proposal, second-guessing every decision, deliberating with your spouse, wondering what all this will cost … and doubting if these guys even know what they’re doing because they only have three online reviews.
How many customers go through the process once … and never again?
Some Like it Pampered
OF COURSE there will always be high-wealth, high-maintenance clients who would never order UberBlack by voice and, for that matter, never engage directly with a home-systems integrator. These money pits will never go away, but they represent a very small portion of the customer base currently served by home-technology pros.
Think back to when you first fell in love with SnapAV. Was it because their products were better and cheaper than anyone else’s? No. It was because they made it so easy to do business with them. Wouldn’t your own customers want an experience like that?
Perhaps you actually believe that clients savor your high-touch, personal approach to service. But is it possible you continue this way because it’s a lot easier and cheaper – at least in the short run – to run your business “manually?”
Creating a low-touch, predictable experience for clients is an expensive proposition that requires investments in logistics, e-commerce, user interfaces, cloud services, and many other disciplines. But the harder thing, first of all, is to abandon the notion that “anyone who buys from Amazon is not my customer.”
You can still deliver Ritz service and upsell premium suites and massages if a guest toting a witty bitty poodle named Mitzi made her room reservation online.
MORE ON THIS SUBJECT
An expanded 1-hour version of the 'Uber' presentation will be offered at the Florida Technology & Business Summit (CASTLE Summit), May 1-3 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
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