Blogs
Hands On With AirPlay 2 and Sonos
AirPlay 2 is now available, and it will change how your clients interact with their Sonos devices.
Henry Clifford
Blogs
When Zero Equals More
No interest if paid in full in 12 months, monthly minimum payments required.
Blogs
Identify Waste and Get Rid of It!
We’ve Embraced the Kaizen Management Concept and It Seems to Be Working
Blogs
Three Ways to Respond to a Client When You Screw Up
When Your Company Makes a Mistake, You Get a Chance to Show the Client What You’re Really Made of
Blogs
I Went on Vacation to Stress Test My Company. Guess What Happened
Here are Some examples of activities I Once Did Myself, but Then Decided to Delegate Before or After a Vacation and Just Never Re-assumed...
From the Field
Leveraging STEM and Empathy in Custom Installs
Grow Your Business by Combining Your Technical Aptitude with Emotional Intelligence
Blogs
Our Systems Break… Lead With That
You and Your Client are Staring Future Pain Square in the Eyes and Planning Around It
Features
Control System Manufacturers Want Your Loyalty
Company Is Forging Partnerships At A Rapid Rate
Blogs
Are You Nickel and Diming Your Employees?
Rethinking Company Policies That Create Unintended Staff Pain Points
Blogs
Stop Wasting Your Clients’ Time
New Sales Book, 'The Lost Art of Closing' Focuses on Maximizing Your Day and Anticipating Trends That Impact Your Clients
Blogs
Do Your Employees Think Like Owners or Renters?
Our industry is too dynamic and fast changing to allow sedentary thinkers in the door.
Blogs
Starting a New Company? Here are the Jobs I’d Outsource or Hire from Day 1
Have you ever studied your day and wondered if you’re being as efficient with time as you could be? I do. Practically everyday I...
Features
Are the People, Process, or Product to Blame?
Understanding Which is Which and How to Engage When Issues In Business Arise
Blogs
My Friend Needed an Integrator, but Nobody was Answering Their Phone
A friend of mine is relocating from London to the east coast and wanted us to design a control system for his new home...
Blogs
Standardize or Die: How We are Remotely Managing and Standardizing Our Installations
With the Advent of Remote Management, We’re Being Forced into Standardization. We Don’t Have a Choice Anymore and Maybe That’s a Good Thing
Blogs
How Learning to Fly Taught Me to Love Checklists
Pre-flight checklists help you focus and minimize mistakes. What about our own businesses? What place do checklists have there and how do we inspire...
Blogs
My Hands-On Experience With the Pakedge WR-1
Control4’s relatively recent acquisition of Pakedge puts the company in a unique position. There aren’t any manufacturers out there offering both control systems and...
Blogs
Is Eero Pro Really Worth It?
After I’d removed all the old eeros from the app and physically unplugged them, I decided to run a speed test. I’m paying for...
Features
The Business of Selling Simplicity
Does this sound familiar? The client wants simplicity but asks you for solutions that you know will provide the opposite result. If you argue,...
Blogs
My 24 Hours With Sonos Voice Control
It’s all about voice control for my kids, wife, and mother-in-law. While they squawk at Alexa, they like her much better than the other...
Blogs
Rachio Pro Gen 2: Why Can’t Everything Be This Easy?
The folks at Rachio sent me one of their snazzy new irrigation controllers to evaluate. What follows is an epic tale of unboxing, installation,...
Blogs
7 CEDIA 2017 Themes to Help Us Predict the Year Ahead
CEDIA was a blast this year! High energy and enthusiasm abounded around the San Diego Convention Center. California is a great place to host...
Blogs
All Strain and No Recovery is a Really Bad Plan
Americans love to boast about how many hours they work. It’s a badge of honor to work, work, and work. We love bragging about...
Blogs
An Open Letter to the Employee Who Got Away
You may remember that I had a key employee put in his notice a few months ago. If you read that story, then I...
Blogs
Is Amazon Uberizing Our Workforce?
Uber figured out the barrier to entry into the taxi industry boiled down to a simple question: “Do you own a car?” The rest...
Blogs
Standardizing Wi-Fi in New Homes. Are You Ready?
Like most of you, I read the announcement by Lennar Homes touting its new “Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Home Design” home plans powered by Amazon and...
Features
Preparing Your Business for the 2018 Recession
How many different streams of revenue does your company have? One? Two? What would happen if one of them dried up? Are all of...
Blogs
How I Found a Way to Send My Team to CEDIA
For a few days of time, it can really boost morale and culture in the organization while investing in your employees. They appreciate it...
Blogs
Don’t Be Second in Line to the ISP
“Have you seen what we’re doing for our members?” asked the clean-cut DirecTV sales rep in our local Costco. I’d heard this siren call...
Blogs
5 Simple Ways to Work Through Friction With Clients
We recently ran into a billing dispute with a large client. It’s a six-figure dispute. The client feels that we didn’t communicate a change...
Blogs
Are You Easy to Do Business With?
Chances are you started your company fueled by a passion for the home technology industry. Over time, your company overcame new challenges by using...
Blogs
Let It Go, Say ‘Thank You,’ and FeedForward
Last week, I attended the Virginia Council of CEOs Retreat at The Homestead in Warm Springs, VA. It was a great event set in...
Blogs
Using Design Retainers to Close More Business
We just won a $60K-plus job without building a proposal. How? We didn’t sell a $60K job; we sold a complete set of drawings...
Blogs
Lessons Learned from Losing ‘The Big Job’
I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory last week. We had a great meeting with the client and the builder told...
Blogs
Help! My Rock Star Employee Just Put In His 2 Weeks’ Notice
Dave had just turned in his two weeks' notice. Dave is a rock star. The kind of employee you tell the other installers to be...
Blogs
Do Your Clients Get Your Mobile Number?
We can all identify with the pain of having a client text us after hours. Most of us don't have the sophistication to quickly...
Blogs
Marketing New Product Categories to Existing Clients
We recently added several lines of business and are focusing our efforts on marketing them to existing clients. It’s much easier to farm an existing...
Blogs
3 Strategies for Adapting to the Eroding Middle Market
My builder cheerfully informed me that he’d been referring our competitor into the jobs where he felt his clients wanted “just the basics.” He...
Blogs
Offering Remote Support Plans to Everyone
We’ve begun offering all new clients proactive and reactive support plans. Why is it so important to offer both options to all customers? Look...
Blogs
Learning from Employees When They Quit
Losing a key employee is never fun and made worse when they leave things undone and don’t cross the finish line. We decided to...
Blogs
Forget Annual Planning. Switch to the 12-Week Year
Have you ever begun a new year with lofty goals and ambitions only to fail at achieving any of them? Just like New Year’s...
Blogs
Dear Builders, Why Don’t You Return Our Calls?
Dear Local Builder: it’s us, your local home technology professionals, we’ve been growing this year, and 2017 looks poised for even more expansion (thanks in...