by John Sciacca When I first joined Custom Theater and Audio back in 1998, my partner and I thought this local company called AVAC – Audio Video Appliance Center – was our major competition. They had a pretty prominently located showroom, they sold Yamaha, they had a “guy in a truck” that would do some basic insta

  by Michael Heiss The Society for Information Display’s (SID) Display Week is unlike most trade shows, because it is a fantastic place to see and hear what is coming down the display pipeline from the people and companies that develop the root technologies. Put simply, the display trends spotted and debated at t

by Morgan Strauss We’ve all heard the adage measure twice, cut once. In the world of controllers, it means using low-fi prototypes to create optimal functionality before the finishing touches are put on. Take keypads for example. Temporary labels can be taped next to the buttons to let the end user live with the pr

by Bill Nguyen   Wireless Internet access in the home is an ever-evolving entity with new technologies, tools and applications. As consumers become more dependent on Wi-Fi for use with laptops, iPods and iPads, smartphones, home theater PCs and everything in between, the need for stable w

by John Sciacca   “A-B-C. A – Always. B – Be. C – Closing. Always be closing. ALWAYS…BE…CLOSING! A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have you attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's f--- or walk! You close or you hit the bricks. D

by John Sciacca I’ve talked a good bit before about the different kinds of clients that cross the threshold of my custom install showroom. Whether it is the groups of people that wander in on December 24th , or the ones that reek of an inhuman BO so powerful that it forces you to question the existence of a

by Brendan Morrissey One of the disadvantages of traditional marketing is that it can be very difficult to quantify your results. Unless a customer walks into your business with a coupon or makes an online purchase using a special code, it’s challenging to fully track how many prospects your marketing campaign prod