This month, let's begin with some thoughts on Profit from Control the Universe Publisher (and URC Director of Marketing) Jon Sienkiewicz:
In my hometown, people tell the story of two brothers who went into business selling vegetables. Every morning they drove to their uncle's farm and purchased cabbage, paying a dollar for every four heads. They then sold them door-to-door for 25 cents each. They kept this up for several weeks until the smarter brother realized they weren't making much money, although their cash flow was terrific. They took a day off and went fishing so they could analyze their situation and maybe revamp their business plan. After a few hours, the smarter brother started jumping up and down in the boat, nearly causing it to capsize. "I've got it!" he yelled. "We gotta get a bigger truck!"
The story may not be true, but the business model is real enough. Some folks believe that they can earn small margins on each sale, but make it up on volume. The only thing you can make up on volume is an excuse.
Sell your service for what it's worth. If you undervalue it, so will everyone else.
The biggest mistake small businesspeople make is selling from their own wallet. In other words, they think $1,000 is a lot of money for an accessory, so they assume that all of the customers in the world feel the same. If you offer a low-priced item at the start, you'll sell a low-priced item. Slam dunk. But if you start at the top and work down, you'll sell a high-ticket product, or at least one that's in the mid-range.
This issue of Control the Universe focuses on Profit: how to earn it, how to grow it and how to preserve it. We hope you'll find something herein that you'll profit from.
URC Wins Two CEA TechHome Mark of Excellence Awards!
The annual Mark of Excellence Awards, presented by the Consumer Electronics Association's TechHome Division, recognize the best in home electronics products, services and installed technology. URC is extremely proud to have won two of these prestigious awards during a ceremony last month at EHX!
URC's Network Keypad Solution, comprised of our KP-4000 Network Keypad and MRX-1 Network Base Station, won the Mark of Excellence Platinum Award for Control System Product of the Year. Installers can use the Network Keypad Solution to enable homeowners and those in the workplace to control audio/video components, energy management devices, PCs, multi-zone audio, iPods, lighting and more from an easy-to-use, 2-way, in-wall color LCD touch screen that is an attractive addition to any home, office or classroom.
URC University, our self-paced, 24/7/365 online education resource for installers of URC products, received the Mark of Excellence Gold Award for Training and Support Program of the Year. Established only last year, URC University has quickly become a valuable enhancement to URC's renowned dealer training program, which also offers live training events and webinars.
We couldn't have won these awards without the tireless support of our dealers. Thank you, as always, for your business! We are driven to continue to innovate in service to you.
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URC Wins a CE Pro Quest for Quality Award
In addition to receiving two CEA TechHome Mark of Excellence Awards last month, URC also received the CE Pro Quest for Quality Platinum Award for Manufacturer Training Programs!
Quest for Quality is an interesting new awards program from the good folks at CE Pro that recognizes services, rather than products. We like this quote from CE Pro Editor-in-Chief Jason Knott: "In an industry that is so product-driven, the assistance provided by vendors is often overlooked. Many integrators see their suppliers and distributors as their partners, giving technical and sales advice and helping guide their businesses. Now those contributions will be recognized."
Of course, we're always bragging about our world-class training, but we didn't submit our own nomination for this award, and that's what makes this honor all the more special. We were nominated solely by CE Pro subscribers, who responded to a series of open-ended questions sent by the magazine.
A full list of the winners is posted here. Our sincere thanks to the CE Pro dealer community for this tremendous honor. We hope to continue to live up to—and exceed—your expectations for great service and training.
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URC Commercial Leader Jamie Finnegan Responds to Questions from Commercial Integrator Readers
As regular readers of Control the Universe may recall, the excellent new commercial installation trade publication Commercial Integrator recently asked its readers, as well as our readers, to submit questions for Jamie Finnegan, URC's North American Sales Manager, Commercial Division.
We got some good ones, and Jamie sat down recently with Nick Cofino, our multimedia superstar who designs this newsletter and produces our videos, to respond to some of those questions via video. Check out Jamie's answers here! And thanks again to Commercial Integrator for this excellent opportunity.
Have some other commercial-related questions for Jamie? He's always available to chat with our dealers! Contact him at jfinnegan@universalremote.com.
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URC Now Offers 2–Way Lighting Control!
At URC, we are committed to developing 2-way modules for the most popular home automation brands on the planet, but until now there has been a hole in our 2-way lineup: lighting.
For whole-house lighting to come alive, you need feedback that confirms status in parts of the house you can't see. Well, the wait is over! Starting now, you can have complete 2-way control over Lutron RadioRA 2. It's part of our latest CCP Live Update. If you haven't already downloaded it, do it today!
Lutron, of course, is the most widely-used and respected lighting control company in the CI world. URC is proud to announce full 2-way control over RadioRA 2.
We have developed three 2-way modules for each of our Network Series controllers:
Whole House, allowing the user to see all of the rooms in the house, and turn rooms on/off, as well as control scenes for one room;
Individual Lights and Shades, allowing the user to independently control lights (on/off, brightness level) and shades (raise/lower) within rooms, as well as control whole house scenes with the press of a button; and
Simple Scene, allowing the user to control scenes.
Main features include:
Whole house lighting control
Can be automatically configured to turn off rooms based on information added in the RadioRA 2 XML generator
Scene control
Individual lighting control
Room status monitoring
Aside from control, the modules are also customizable for room and scene names. For complete information, check out the installation and user guide in tech guides under the help menu in CCP.
That's not all: HAI security, thermostat and lighting modules for the MX-6000, MX-5000 and KP-4000 are also part of the latest Live Update, as are modules for the latest Denon and Marantz models and an IR database update.
Based in Lindenhurst, N.Y., Sound N Beyond was established 24 years ago as a car audio business. A few years ago, Michael opened a 6,000-square-foot showroom and expanded into residential installation. Residential work, Michael says, "is a lot more stable. The vehicle customers aren't as loyal. With a home, once you build a system for someone, they tend to stay with you. They need service and updates."
Michael's showroom showcases all of the aspects of his custom installation business: mobile, home theater, home automation, marine. Each aspect, he says, feeds business to the others. "We have a dedicated smart home—a building inside a building. We show all of our automation products. We are right on the water, close to the marina, so that brings in people who want to see our marine products. We show home theater systems and seating, as well as car audio. We have garages in the back, where we service vehicles. We try to achieve it all at one location, and what we have found is that one door opens another. People are stressed for time, as well as money. But once one project, like a car or boat, is done, they often want to do a second project, like their home."
By joining and monitoring BidClerk, Michael stays aware of local construction projects, and as a result he has built solid relationships with builders, architects and, ultimately, homeowners, which has further grown his business.
Michael's business also installs fire alarms and security systems, which regularly gives him opportunities to sell home theater and automation to his customers. "When we install an alarm, we ask, 'Why not control your lights, too?'" says Michael. "When our truck pulls up in front of their house, they see we do more than fire alarms. They often say, 'I had something like that in mind,' or 'Tell me which TV I should buy.'"
About that truck: It's highly effective advertising on wheels for Michael's business. "Our old service van was loyal to us for long time, but as our projects increasingly took place in higher-end neighborhoods, our image was at stake," Michael explains. "Our new van looks high-end, and it also tells a story about what we do. It gets a lot of compliments! We've gained customers when they saw our vehicle and called our store. It's definitely a great way to expose yourself, especially to people who are already looking to do something—remodeling, iPod, audio, multi-room audio. They might have a project in mind and they don't know who to call, and then they see our van. Anything that puts me in front of a customer and gives me the chance to win their business is great, and our van helps with that."
Note the MX-6000 near the rear wheel of Michael's van!
Michael had once handled Pronto remotes, but URC Lighting by Lutron brought him into the URC fold. "URC came to my eye because of the Lutron dimmers," he explains. "I liked how easily I could add, say, six dimmers and create a lighting system." Sometimes Michael simply installs URC lighting in the immediate home theater room; in other cases, he'll expand the system to the immediate room next door to the theater. He's even used our dimmers to provide lighting to multiple floors.
Michael's go-to URC control device is the MX-6000 Two-Way Touch Screen. Often, his customers already have a universal remote, such as a Harmony, so Michael whips out the big gun in the URC arsenal to win them over. "It's a whole-house controller," says Michael. "I sell them on the big 'wow' factor. Ladies especially like how easily the icons can be placed on the large screen. I can't do that with small remotes."
Michael's advice to fellow URC dealers is to "try to get them interested in a smart remote, an MX-5000 or MX-6000, even if an immediate need is not there, instead of a basic $299 remote. It'll tie the customer to you as a dealer, and it will lead to future business."
A former mainframe programmer, Michael enjoys programming the MX-6000. "It comes naturally to me, doing macros," he says. "It's like going back to my old roots!" Michael also makes sure to charge his customers for his programming, which increases the profitability of his installs.
URC wishes Michael, his right-hand man, Store Manager Marc Dursunian, and their entire crew continued success, and thanks them for bringing the MX-6000 and URC Lighting to even more homeowners!
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Follow @URCRemotePatrol on Twitter!
Don't want to wait for our monthly newsletter to stay up-to-date on all things URC? Follow us on Twitter! We're @URCRemotePatrol.
Our Twitter feed gives you day-before reminders about our live webinars and training events, links to articles of interest (including from our own newsletter archives), breaking news and much more. Become part of the URC Twitter community and follow us today!
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All in a Day's Work for New URC Account Rep
Mike Meares recently joined us as our new account rep for the New England region, and he's already showing the kind of resourcefulness and dedication that we look for in all of our employees!
Last month, our East Coast Regional Sales Manager (and April URC Team Member of the Month) Scott Srolis received a panicked phone call from the terrific Rhode Island specialty dealer Flint Audio Video. Flint had a crew in downtown Boston, where they were installing our KP-4000 Network Keypad for a commercial account. They were in a time crunch, and one of the Flint crew members forgot to bring his POE-1 (Power-Over-Ethernet Injector).
Scott contacted Mike, who was in Framingham, Mass. Mike dropped everything to meet the Flint installer and hand him a POE so the Flint crew could complete the job without delay. Scott reports that Flint was floored by our service.
Mike, like Scott, is a former Tweeter employee. Both have walked our dealers' shoes, and know all about the difficulties dealers face every day.
So Mike, welcome to URC, and thanks for staying true to our guiding principle: Our dealers ALWAYS come first!
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Our March Caption Contest Winner Is... Casey Webster!
Congratulations to Casey Webster, partner of Advanced Digital Homes in San Diego, who is the winner of our March 2011 Caption Contest! Casey receives a gift card for his caption of last month's photo: No, I said press "WATCH," then "Lighting"—not "WATCH," then "Lightning"!
Casey's been in business for seven years, performing mainly residential installations. The rough economic conditions since 2008 haven't had as much of an impact on his business as many others, possibly because of Advanced Digital Homes' business model. Instead of employing installers full-time, Casey works with trusted subcontractors who are URC-certified and run their own companies. "It keeps our overhead lower than it would be otherwise," Casey says. "Our subs know exactly what to expect from us. It's almost like having our own employees." Overall, says Casey, "There is still plenty of work, but people are being more cautious. They might not want to pay for the best TV on the market, or they might just want six zones instead of 12, but they are still spending money."
March Caption Contest winner Casey Webster
The biggest challenge Casey's business faces is manufacturers' emphasis on quantity of features as opposed to quality of experience. "In their marketing, manufacturers are selling customers on features that they'll never use. I advise my customers to go with a quality product as opposed to one with all kinds of bells and whistles they don't need. That's why we sell URC: The customer doesn't see 500 different buzzwords coming out of you guys. It's going to work, period. I've never had a dissatisfied URC customer." Casey's go-to URC device is the MX-880, because the screen is easy to read, and the buttons are well-oriented.
Since our theme this month is profitability, we asked Casey to share some advice, which was quite straightforward: "Sell a remote on every job. You'll make more money on a remote than you can on a TV. Sell the accessories, and you make the money.
"I always stress that a system doesn't work well without a good remote. I tell customers that even if they have to sacrifice features on an AV receiver to afford the remote, that they should go with the remote. The only stuff that really matters in an installation is what's in your hands, not what's in the cabinet. If they have someone come over, and they can use the remote without having to ask how to turn on the TV, we've done our job. Being able to program a remote quickly and reliably is how you stay profitable. Make sure don't have to go back to the job."
Casey believes that custom installers should brush up on their selling skills in order to generate more profit and happier customers. "Don't be afraid to sell a better product," he says. "Do your job and sell them better cable, a better DVD player. Don't get lazy and say, 'Sure, I can get you that cheap DVD player or TV.' Get back to basics and sell. If your customer watches a lot of DVDs or Blu-rays, he should buy the $600 player that offers the best picture quality, and you should be able to explain and show why."
URC congratulates Casey on his winning entry, and wishes him and the rest of the Advanced Digital Homes team continued success!
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Product of the Month: KP-900 Wireless Keypad Remote Control
You don't know the KP-900 as well as you might think. Consider:
You probably already know how to program it. The KP-900 programs exactly like an MX-900, and you can directly download any MX-900 file to a KP-900.
The KP-900 is a wireless on-wall keypad. Now you can install a keypad without cracking walls and pulling wires. And it's magnetic, so it'll stick to most refrigerators and washing machines.
The KP-900 can be easily removed from its wall bracket for convenient use as a handheld remote control. That means the KP-900 allows you to extend control of your customer's system to anywhere in the house—even outside! With a KP-900 mounted at the top of the basement steps, the lady of the house can take it with her downstairs to control lights, audio—you name it. Mount one in the garage and your client can turn on his house lights before he unlocks the door to enter.
The KP-900 brings out the best of a multi-zone AVR. Don't install a multi-zone receiver for just a single zone. Make full use of that multi-zone AVR by adding a KP-900 to each zone. Sure looks better than a volume control knob.
And while you're at it... Add some URC Lighting by Lutron. The KP-900 is perfect for controlling lights.
Quick Specs: IR/RF operation; backlit LCD; backlit laser-etched buttons; available in 418MHz or 433MHz; supports up to 255 devices; uses four user-replaceable AAA cells. Available in three colors (white, black and light almond).
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URC Team Member of the Month: Scott Srolis
Scott Srolis, URC Regional Sales Manager, East Coast
Scott Srolis
URC Regional Sales Manager, East Coast
Scott joined URC two years ago as our East Coast regional sales manager, and he hasn't looked back. He has already made a huge, positive impact both within our company and in the marketplace, and we expect that impact will grow even more this year as we roll out our Total Control line. Scott is up for the challenge: When asked what his proudest accomplishment at URC has been, Scott replies, "It hasn't happened yet. It will be working with the URC team to launch Total Control and help move URC into the whole-house arena. The coolest thing about Total Control is how versatile and scalable the system can be integrated, from a single-room theater to a 32-zone whole-house music and automation system."
That's the enterprising spirit that brought Scott to URC, and that's why he's our Team Member of the Month at this crucial stage in our company's development. As Scott puts it, "Every day is a new adventure in a different market, helping to support the loyal URC dealers and distributors. The best part of this job is working with the URC team, reps, distributors and dealers. It's the great people who make it all worthwhile."
Scott's rapport with so many URC dealers is likely so solid because, for the bulk of his career, he was a dealer. Scott started in our industry in 1986, selling hi-fi on the floor with Philadelphia's legendary but lamented Bryn Mawr Stereo. He subsequently helped run single and multiple locations for Bryn Mawr and its eventual buyer, Tweeter. Along the way, he was named Bryn Mawr's 1997 Manager of the Year and Tweeter's 2004 Regional Manager of the Year.
The most challenging aspect of sales, in Scott's view, is to make sure you keep the customer first at all times. "Too many times, it's easy to get caught up in a task, project or email," says Scott. "But the number-one priority is the client. They pay the bills. So keep your focus on providing great service and support, and everything else will get done in a timely manner."
Scott's all-time best sales story comes from his Bryn Mawr days. "A customer walked in the front door and all the sales guys scattered quickly, so I guess I drew the short straw to help this guy and his girlfriend," he recalls. "This was the late '80s, so the client was 19 or 20, wearing spandex, and looked like he just walked out of a Poison video. He was shopping for a system, so I spent time showing him different speakers and electronics. He wanted me to demo Guns N' Roses' 'Paradise City,' which wasn't the best demo track, but I figured, OK. So I put it on, and he jumped up on the chair and did a David Lee Roth split off of the chair with his girlfriend cheering him on. It was pretty funny.
"He had mentioned that he'd visited some other stereo stores and no one gave him the time of day; they blew him off. He ended up spending over $20,000 on his system with me, and became a customer and friend for life. You should have seen the looks on the other sales guys' faces when I started to process the sales: priceless. The lesson learned: Never judge a book by its cover. Now, where did he get the money? I'm still questioning that. Hmmmm..."
These days, the questions Scott gets most in the field are, "When is Total Control shipping?" and "When will URC have a waterproof remote control?" The answers to those two questions, in order, are "Very, very soon" and "We're working on it!"
Away from the job, says Scott, "Family time is very important to me, especially spending time with my boys and watching them play sports. I am a sports, music and hi-fi junkie, too, and I've attended too many live concerts to mention. I've seen Paul, George and Ringo live, but still wish that I could have seen John Lennon."
URC thanks Scott for his excellent work, and looks forward to many more big wins for URC and its dealers!
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URC's Jamie Finnegan answers some tough questions from Commercial Integrator readers.
We also have plenty more videos on the installers-only URC Control Room site. Not a URC Control Room member yet? Shame on you! Click here to join.
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Your Business
By Glenn Gentilin
URC Regional Product Specialist
Today's economy demands that businesses concentrate on turning a profit wherever possible. So where can you eke out net earnings?
The answer is to shift your business approach from being product-focused to being service-focused. Don't sell stuff; provide a service. Be a consultant, not a box-pusher. Advise your clients on their system and product choices. More often than not, the customer is looking for guidance on his or her choices. Become the customer's expert rather than the customer's supplier. Of course, you'll want to advise your customers to buy products that allow you to make some money.
There are various ways to put this philosophy into practice:
A customer comes to you with a particular product in mind. Explain the benefits of a different unit or brand. You'll need to know both the advantages of your recommendation and the shortfalls of the other brand. Most customers will appreciate knowing why they're getting a better value for their money, especially when it's more than they had originally planned to spend.
A prospective customer comes to you shopping for the best price on a particular piece of gear. He may have spent time shopping at a big box store and decided he wants a specific SKU. Bottom line, you don't want to do business with this customer on these terms, because he'll always expect a discount from you in all future sales. Remember, meeting the lowest price is an unsustainable business plan. Instead, offer a solid (never false or misleading) rationale for moving into products you've determined to be the best in a given category. Having a place where you can demo a system or product goes a long way for many prospective customers, because they can experience firsthand what you're telling them, reinforcing you as the expert.
If you have a brick-and-mortar location, display your most profitable product lines. URC has a new interactive Countertop Display that you can customize to show off your favorite URC control options (check out a video about it here). Customers are enticed to use it themselves to get an understanding of the need for control.
Offer services that bring in added labor for your company. Obviously, offering control means that you'll create custom programming for each client. Charge separately for that programming labor, and remember that all technical labor should be billed at a higher rate than general install labor.
Add simple things like outdoor music and distributed sound throughout the house to increase sales. Architectural speakers still offer great margins. Counsel the customer as to why multi-source systems are better than single-source systems, especially when family members have very different musical tastes.
Take over the home network. You can add labor to setup and service this essential feature of the modern house. Sell network-operated gear and provide 2-way feedback for the customer on their control interfaces. Network gear and 2-way remotes have higher prices (and more margin), but offer the customer many more features that justify the additional cost.
Work with your clients as a consultant. Ask them questions about how and where they'll be using the services you offer. Discover what makes them tick, and give them options that meet their personal interests. Don't be a stereo salesman; be an electronics advisor.
Follow these tips and you'll be able to offer products and services that allow you to make money and keep your business healthy and prosperous.
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Hank's Tip of the Month
By Hank Eisengrein
URC Regional Training Manager, East
Wouldn't it be great to have your own personal trainer?
Everyone wants to be in top shape, and I even lost 30 pounds in 2010, going from extremely fat to just fat, assuring my continued status in the "Fat Men of Hi-Fi" club. : )
Just as staying in shape is great for your body and mind, keeping your business and employees in top shape is a key to success. Staying up-to-date on the latest technology is vital to the growth of your business.
Just a few weeks ago I attended the 2011 EHX in Orlando, and had the pleasure of teaching several live URC training classes to a large number of other attendees (maybe including you!). Overall, URC had three high-quality training professionals conduct three days of live classes during the EHX event. For many of you who have attended a live URC training event, you know that these always provide new insight and important facts to help your business.
In every live class, I ask the attendees, "Who in the audience is a member of URC Control Room dealer website?" I also ask for a show of hands on how many people in the crowd have attended our award-winning URC University. Many times, half the class says they're members of the URC Control Room, but even fewer people respond that they've enrolled in the URC University.
Those who haven't enrolled don't know what they're missing! In fact, during EHX, URC University won a prestigious 2011 CEA TechHome Mark of Excellence Award for Training and Support Program of the Year.
URC University is the perfect complement to URC's extensive schedule of live training meetings. When you visit www.universalremote.com/university and create your own account, you have the power of URC professional training at your fingertips 24 hours a day.
The "Course Catalog" tab found on the main page of the URC University can lead you to high-quality on-demand training classes, many featuring some of URC's top training managers and covering the wide range of URC custom/professional products. There are both technical and sales classes that everyone in your company can take advantage of, day or night.
The technical classes are divided into two basic groups: our one-way Complete Control remote products and our two-way Network Series products. You can take some general classes such as the very popular "Introduction to CCP," along with model-specific classes such as the KP-4000 Two-Way In-Wall Color Network Touchscreen/MRX-1 Network Base Station overview class.
You can boost your knowledge with topics such as "Network Essentials" for a greater understanding of basic network terms. You can take advanced classes that feature One Touch Automation Macro programming using logic to extend the performance of your URC custom-programmed remote control.
Our sales classes feature new two-way module information, as well as network products sales information, and explain the full power of the URC two-way product series.
Make sure that every member of your company takes advantage of these free on-demand classes to augment the live training classes we offer in your area. Experiment with topics that you haven't covered before. And look out in the next few months for new on-demand training classes from URC!
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Be Social
By Cindy Davis
Principal and Founder, customCEsocial
If you're just getting started with social media, you don't need to "work" all of the social media channels at once. Trying to get up-to-speed on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter simultaneously might be spreading yourself too thin, and it can distract you from focusing on your audience, or adding quality content.
If you're ready and willing to go all-in, tools such as TweetDeck and HootSuite can help you with posting updates to multiple social networks, and will aggregate comments in one window. But if using social media as a communications tool is new to you, give yourself a pass—start with one network and get used to it.
Start with Facebook. It's true that most people are on Facebook to catch up on the weekend, post pictures and share things they find interesting. That's bad news if you're a plumber hoping to use social media to grow a business. On the other hand, if you're a CE dealer/integrator and have some of the coolest consumer electronics on the planet at hand on any given day, well then—I'd call that a party!
If you don't already have a Facebook Profile, sign up for one. A Facebook Profile is for individuals, whereas a Facebook Page is for brands/businesses. If you have a Facebook profile set up and sitting there, start using it to share information. It will be easier to gain more Friends by using your personal profile now; later, you can ask your friends to "Like" your business Page once you develop it. Don't feel you have to do both right out of the gate.
My advice: Keep it real. Don't have an intern or someone who doesn't know your business do your Facebook profile. It only takes 10 minutes to set up your own profile and put your face on it.
It has become accepted and in fact somewhat expected to mix your business and personal life on Facebook. If you feel uncomfortable "sharing" too much, then only post what you feel comfortable with the whole world knowing. If you want to keep your personal life and business completely separate, then also set up a Business Page. Know, however, that it'll take you longer to build "Likes" on a Business Page than it will "Friends" on your Profile, so don't get discouraged.
YouTube and video. Given that Google owns YouTube, it's no surprise that a recent Forrester Research report stated that videos utilizing proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques are 53 times more likely to appear on the first page of Google. The keywords (pun intended) here are "proper" and "SEO." Posting a thousand more videos than the guy down the street won't get you anywhere. But don't let that stop you from creating and posting video. Just make sure to go back and optimize them for search engines.
It's easy to set up a YouTube Channel. You can also post videos to Facebook. I would recommend posting the same video to both places. And keep your videos under three minutes. [URC's Jon Sienkiewicz adds: "There are inexpensive camcorders (and some regular digital cameras) that automatically use the right format for YouTube—and some will even upload directly to your YouTube Channel."]
A few words about Twitter. Twitter is a great social media tool that can seem completely overwhelming because the tweets fly by so quickly and if you missed that one—it's gone. Don't discount Twitter, but I would not consider it the best use of your social media time out of the gate to reach consumers about your local business.
Go at your own pace. If you're a social media beginner, just get used to using the various social media tools first. If you feel like you need to take a course on SEO, SMO and OOO-No, then you'll likely feel like your customers who feel they need to know exactly what HDMI is, and decide not to buy anything. Just go at your own pace, get familiar with these services, think about what they can do for your business, and above all, don't feel like you need to do it all and learn it all at once.
Cindy Davis, the principal and founder of customCEsocial, can help you directly to improve your presentation to customers online. Contact her for practical advice on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or email. You can also reach her at 617-281-0736.
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Tech Tips
By Joe Salvatore
URC Technical Support Manager
Spring has sprung, and so have thoughts of housecleaning. It's also said that April showers bring May flowers, but for us, April typically brings showers of remotes requiring Return Good Authorizations (RGAs). Many of our dealers will be sending back remotes they've been holding on to during the winter months—especially those who stockpiled a few remotes to send to us in one bundle in the interest of conserving time and postage fees.
So now is the perfect time to let you know that we want to make your RGA process as pleasurable and painless as possible. Our very useful online RGA status utility can be found at www.universalremote.com/rgastatus. It's free and always available for your convenience, 24/7!
Although most of our calls are answered rapidly as they enter our tech support queue, there are those times during the day where call volume becomes heavy. So it's worth it to take a couple of minutes and become acquainted with our RGA lookup utility. It shows you the date we received your RGA into our system, your order number, the date it was shipped back to you, and even full tracking information.
Here are some additional tips for expediting the RGA setup process that will enhance your service experience:
Have the serial numbers ready when you call in for every remote requiring an RGA.
Have your programmer available and ready to troubleshoot as necessary with our tech support.
Ensure that all contact information and credit card information you provide during your RGA call is up-to-date and accurate.
Include an invoice with each remote you send for repair or replacement.
Last issue, I touched on cost-effective methods for marketing your company, briefly discussing your website; how to harness the power of social networking; and posting your videos on YouTube.
This month, let's agree on one key priority: Your website is YOU. Prospective customers who find your site make some very quick judgments about you. With these first impressions, they determine if you're professional (quality of your site); if you're thorough (is there usable information here?); and, most importantly, if you'll be able to deliver a system they can use (is your site clean and easy to navigate?).
Let's assume you have, or will have, a very strong, effective website, and look at content.
Without a doubt, you must focus on video.
Why video? For one thing, with so much media bombarding everyone these days, your website will be hard pressed to grab someone's attention if it's weighed down with lots of text, or if the customer needs to manually wade through too many page changes or photos. Secondly, your videos can be "found" in many different ways and re-purposed all over the Internet.
If I were still a dealer, I'd have dozens of short videos shot, produced and accessible. (As a matter of fact, I already do that at URC; have you checked out the content on the URC Control Room lately?) By the way, your competition almost certainly is NOT doing this.
You only need three things to shoot videos: a camera, a subject and a repository.
Camera. Smart phone users already have a good-enough camera with them at all times. Or you can pick up a Flip or Kodak video camera for under $200. Wanna splurge? Grab an HD model from any number of companies, such as Canon or Samsung.
Subject. I assume you do site visits? Well, got camera? Then you got subject! Shoot short videos, two or three minutes at best. Shoot a short "before" video, and narrate as you go ("Here's where we'll be cutting a hole to run wires and install a flush mount speaker"). Explain the "whys" as you go. Shoot an "in-progress" video ("wires are run, mounts in place") to show in no uncertain terms why you charge for installation. Then shoot the finished project; maybe your customer will even say a few nice words about you, your company, your work. Shooting these three stages of videos for dozens of projects will create a HUGE asset as a portfolio and, if short, to the point and done well, you'll grab the attention of potential clients. Add some humor and who knows, you could go viral!
It's not essential, but you should edit your videos if you want to deliver a higher-quality finished product. For example, you can cut down the view time and do a better voice-over narration. Editing software can be pretty cheap (Pinnacle can be bought for $60) or really expensive (Final Cut Pro is $999). There are countless other options you can download.
Repository. Set up a YouTube Channel to post your videos. It's free, it's easy, it's critical to do and it's totally searchable over the Internet. Then, link every new posting to your company Facebook page and your LinkedIn account, and of course tweet the new posting to all your followers.
That's fodder for my next column. Meanwhile, please email me the links to your videos. I'd really like to see them!
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Consumer Conversation
By Debra Sharker
URC Director of Sales, Consumer Products Division
Profit and Consumer Products: Can it really happen? Yes it can, if you make sure of the PRO and the FIT.
The PRO is your professional opinion of what your consumer needs, and the FIT is your ability to get the consumer fitted with the right price he or she can afford. The result is your PROFIT in a good sale with a happy customer.
Remember the entry-level remotes that our Consumer Products Division offers. They're perfect for the installer who needs a few inexpensive but good-looking units for that extra room, or for the do-it-yourselfer who wanders into your showroom. If the DIY guy is not quite ready for a custom solution, send him home with a URC product he can set up on his own. You'll have a customer who has a great experience with a URC remote, and who will remember he got it from you. Branding URC with a beginner, who will then want URC when he is ready for bigger things, should keep him coming back to you. The result — more PROFIT.
URC is all about the Consumer having a great experience, and our Dealers generating steady PROFIT. Our Consumer Products line brings our technology to a simpler forum, with our well-known quality, and the URC ability to deliver above expectations.
If you do not already have a representation of our Consumer Products line in your arsenal, get it! Let us show you how feature-rich control with a beginner's price point will make you PROFIT.
Rolling into April—when the blossoms bloom, the robin returns and pre-wiring houses in northern climates no longer involves heating the wire so it'll actually bend—I can't help but notice that all anyone wants to talk about are home networks and IP. Convergence is definitely here, and integrators who add network installation to their existing skill set are enjoying a very busy spring. Those who don't are (hopefully) digging into the white papers and web tutorials we have on our installer site to get the training they need.
Since the LAN world is still newish to most dealers I speak with, conversations on the topic often focus on network basics. Lately, I've been working to pick up as many tips and tricks as I can from programmers who have a strong IT background. Last month, I got a very interesting tip on DNS settings that I'd like to share.
DNS, which stands for Domain Name Server, translates the web addresses you put in a web browser into the numerical IP addresses that the internet understands. Normally, DNS is preset in a home network by the internet provider, and automatically gets set by the modem. You can access the DNS settings in a router through its setup screen. Most installers just skip the DNS section, but changing these settings can be a very simple way to dramatically speed up your customer's web browser.
Log in to the network router. Navigate your way—likely though the basic setup area—to the DNS settings. An IP address will, in all likelihood, already be entered into the DNS box. Write down this address! If you decide this particular tip doesn't help, you'll want to be able to restore things as they were.
Now here's a DNS address you can try to turbo-charge any internet activity. It's 8.8.8.8. Google decided that the best way to learn what people use the web for—and create products to profit based on that data—would be to create its own DNS servers. Using this DNS address has, at times, given me stupid fast web surfing. This hasn't always been the case, but I live in a giant building that has a poorly implemented IT infrastructure. Some dealers tell me they've had great luck with this choice. Test it and see if it works for you!
Do you have a useful IP tip that would benefit other custom installers? Shoot me an email (jwagner@universalremote.com) and I'll mention it in my live trainings—and I'll make sure to give you full credit every time. You'll be famous around the world!
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In the Trenches
By Braden Napier
URC Product Specialist, West Coast
Promoting your business can be an expensive process. Many people use methods such as flyers, sales, networking meetings, direct mailers, etc. However, there are other methods you can utilize that provide a more inexpensive approach to marketing.
For example, how about using your customer's remote as an advertisement for your business? Any of you who've attended a training that I've conducted have most likely heard or seen this trick. It can be a powerful sales tool that also gives your customer a renewed sense of loyalty to your business.
On every remote you program, place your company's information (name, phone number and email address) on a page somewhere within the remote. You'll instantly become the easiest person to contact when the customer requires new product, a tweak to the programming, etc.
When showing your client how to use their system, quickly show them that your phone number and information resides within the controller, so that they can conveniently get in contact with you should they have problems operating their system. By doing this, you show the level of service you are willing to provide them.
Should the system be programmed with a "bullet-proof" approach, the information within the remote will most likely only act as a guaranteed reminder of you and your business, and not as a service request. Plus, you'll have an advertisement in every customer's home that will continue providing profits to your business for the life of the system. And hopefully, when a customer is ready to upgrade, they'll use that info to get in touch with you—rather than the competition!
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What's Hot
URC dealers, we encourage you to check out the URC App Store: The URC Tool Box! New tools that you can use, developed by your peers and other third-parties, are posted to the Tool Box every day, and most of them are FREE. Share, buy and even SELL resources through this online marketplace for URC dealers! Search for graphics, templates, sounds, 2-way applications, and so much more! Just log on to the URC Control Room and click the URC Tool Box on the left menu to start searching for tools.
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International News
URC appoints exclusive UK distributor: We have named AWE Europe our exclusive UK distributor. Effective immediately, AWE will supply our extensive range of products to customers in the residential custom installation, retail, marine and commercial sectors. AWE, BMB and URC will work in full cooperation to spearhead a European-focused training and sales development program. Combined, our three entities will form a formidable force across Europe!
"We are proud to confirm that URC has appointed AWE as its exclusive distributor in the UK," says Stuart Tickle, Managing Director of AWE Europe. "The Complete Control range from URC is a comprehensive range of controls and processors that has gained URC an amazing 88 percent market share in the USA (source: CE Pro). Our proven ability to offer market-leading products with great delivery, training and service backup is complemented by URC's success in the USA for delivering exceptional levels of quality, reliability and technical support at realistic price points. It's a perfect match."
"URC is very excited about partnering with the best distributor in the UK," said Doug Cole, senior vice president and general manager of URC. "We're filled with very positive feelings about the relationship, and look forward to the sustained growth that is sure to follow."
New sales contact at BMB, Mark van Zon.
Based in Epsom, Surrey and with more than 75 years in business, AWE Europe is the leading UK distributor to the custom installation trade for a wide range of high quality brands. These include the exclusive distribution of URC remote control solutions, Panasonic CHT home theatre panels, media servers from DF Solutions, Philips Dynalite lighting control system, Denon video and audio products and also projectors from both Cineversum and Panasonic. Other CI distribution agreements include flat panel TV's from Panasonic, Philips, Sharp and Samsung, AV receivers, amplifiers, blu-ray players, DVD players from Arcam, Yamaha, Pioneer and Onkyo. AWE is acknowledged as setting the standard in CI for customer service with award winning training, technical support and competitive pricing. The company is able to supply the vast majority of products nationwide ex-stock for next day delivery.
For further information on AWE's new distribution deal with URC, visit AWE's site, email sales@awe-europe.com, or call 01372 729 995.
New sales contact at BMB: Our master distributor for EMEA, BMB Electronics, last month added Mark van Zon to its sales team, in the role of Export Sales Manager. Mark's focus will be primarily on Southern Europe, Scandinavia, the Russian Federation, the Middle East, India and Africa. Mark has extensive experience in the AV and custom industry; until recently, he was taking care of international sales at Pronto. Contact Mark at Mark@bmbelectronics.nl!
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