The “Change or Die” Transitional Seminars

In January of 2008, we sent an e-mail blast stating that “half of you who read this will be out of business within the next 5 years”. It was edgy and elicited outraged feedback.

I was wrong; it did not take that long.

At the time, we did not have all the details. All we knew was that too many people were competing for a diminishing number of projects with products that were plummeting in price.

We could only identify two of the three waves of misfortune that would assault our dealers:

1) The over saturation of the market brought on by a shift from “manufacturer-to-dealer” based distribution to “distributor-to-dealer” based distribution with no restraints or the licensing and training that is required for plumbers, electricians, and security contractors.

2) The collapse of residential construction to 27% of the 2005 levels (and less than half of the 1989 levels when this all started). Click here for details on the construction markets and our industry

What we did not predict was the third wave in the form of the “greatest economic recession” since the great depression and its permanent effect on the psyche of the American consumer (but neither did Warren Buffett).

When our industry “formed” in the late 80s, there was no home theater. That would come in the early 90s when Runco trademarked the name “Home Theater” and Lucas introduced residential THX.

There were no “integrated systems” because there were no residential control systems. There was “Home Automation” for a tiny group of hobbyists who would form the short lived HAA (Home Automation Association).

There was no lighting/dimming control because Lutron had not introduced Homeworks, and Crestron was 15 years from introducing their systems.

The biggest consumer TV was less than 40” until the early 90s and flat screens were a decade away.

For that matter, there was really no internet and certainly no broadband. No mp3, iPods, Blackberry, music servers, DVDs, or video servers.

“Custom” meant soldering ribbon cables on the back of a receiver’s front panel.

To address today’s challenges with yesterday’s tools and skill sets is worse than stupid; it is commercial suicide.

If you are going to try and relive the past, you might as well get a blue shirt and apply at Wal-Mart or Best Buy, or maybe sell some SUVs.

Our industry shifted from a “Retail Sales Model” to a “Contractor Bidding Model” and is zooming towards an “In
Home – Sales Model” with a new focus on existing, wireless technologies, and energy management.

We would not dwell on what has gone wrong if there were not a brighter future, for some of you.

“When the winds change direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills” Chinese Proverb, 848 B.C.

“The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.” Barbara K. MacDonald – Timbuk3, 1986 A.D.

At the behest of several manufactures and many of our dealers, we have researched and have identified a clear path to developing a new or additional business for your portfolio.

This business combines the global green movement, with recent technology, and your experience with electronics in the home to provide typical margins, faster sales cycles, and recurring revenue with familiar products and some new ones as well.

We are fundamentally product “agnostic”, but we do play favorites and will make recommendations.

Unfortunately, the skills that we have been teaching on how to be the successful “bidder” are not going to serve you in this new era as you meet at the client’s kitchen table in the home you are going to do the work in.

You need to learn how to sell and find people to sell to and you need something to sell.

We can help with all that. We have identified what needs to be done and organized a way to do it.

Drawing from years of research into how other in-home sales companies (pool, landscape, roofing, remodeling, HVAC, security, etc.) find opportunities and get business we have created a “Transitional” program help you begin your efforts.

We also provide very specific advice on how to develop a suite of energy management offerings and how to explain and demonstrate these packages to potential clients.

If the Transition makes sense, we have programs and tools to launch your new venture. Those are not free, but they will be tempting.

What do you have to lose?

What we find interesting is that those most offended by that e-mail 21 months ago are now out of business.

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