Residential Systems’ third-annual Stellar Service Awards reader poll honors manufacturers and distributors for their exceptional customer service and communication, sales and marketing support, training programs, warranty policies, and websites in 2015.
The Stellar Service Awards are a paid-entry, opt-in awards competition. Any company could nominate itself for as many categories as it wished to pay for. All entries were then posted online and voted on by Residential Systems readers during a one-week judging period. The top three or four vote getters in each category were awarded Platinum, Gold, or Silver honors.
“Thanks to all of our participants and the readers who voted this year to recognize some of the best service providers in the custom integration manufacturing and distribution community. We had many great entries this year, and the winners of our Platinum, Gold, and Silver awards are truly deserving of recognition,” said Residential Systems editorial director Jeremy Glowacki.
Here are this year’s winners and a description of the top vote-getter in each category:
Customer Service/General Communications:
Draper (Platinum)
Draper’s customer service team
Draper is famous for its friendly, well informed, helpful people, and their “can-help” attitude. The company focuses on ensuring a positive customer connection experience and offers continuous training to keep everyone up to date on the latest product and industry developments. Draper works hard to ensure speedy response to calls, monitors live chats on its website, and is ready to answer questions. Status and shipping info is available through its online Pro Portal and documentation for its products is available on its website, as are handy tools for selecting the right Draper solution. The company offers dedicated, personal support for everything from solution design, to ordering, to shipping issues, to final installation and technical support. Whenever you call, Draper tries to get you the same person.
Peerless-AV (Gold)
Middle Atlantic Products (Silver-Tie)
SnapAV (Silver-Tie)
Dealer Programs
Crestron (Platinum)
The Crestron Partner Rewards Program (PRP) rewards dealers with more cash awards than ever before. The more you grow the more cash you’ll get back. You can earn awards in three ways: a Purchase Rebate, a Quarterly Growth Rebate, and a Consecutive Quarterly Growth Rebate. The Crestron PRP is the industry’s most generous incentive program. In addition to cash rewards, dealers can earn credits to be used for paid advertising and other direct marketing initiatives of their choice, with no out-of-pocket costs.
Sony (Gold)
SnapAV (Silver-Tie)
Vantage (Silver-Tie)
Sales/Marketing Support
Draper (Platinum)
Draper’s sales and marketing team
Draper is a leader in providing support where it’s needed today. Its comprehensive online screen selection tools allow the correct screen solution to be found based on any number of factors, including projector, light measurements, room layout, and content. The company makes its full offering of catalogs, white papers, case studies, flyers, and technical documents available for quick and easy access via its website (but will mail something if you want it). Draper believes in continuous training to keep dealers and its sales staff up to date on the latest product/industry developments. The company works through social media to keep in touch with dealers, distributors, and end users, and provides free social media content for dealers to use.
Sony (Gold-Tie)
Vantage (Gold-Tie)
Crestron (Silver)
Shipping/Freight Policies
AVAD (Platinum)
AVAD’s National Freight Program enables integrators to conveniently pick up or ship orders to streamline their operations and timelines.
AVAD’s National Freight Program enables integrators to conveniently pick up or ship orders to streamline their operations and timelines. The distributor offers free freight via UPS Ground for orders of $750 or more and free freight via truck with waived service fees for a single order of $3,500 or more. With a personalized freight program, AVAD assures the product arrives to customer’s offices or jobsites both on time and in good shape. Tailoring its shipping program to align with its customers’ preferences allows AVAD to better serve end users in the many industries in which they work. AVAD is a customer, too, so the company understands the importance of exceptional return and exchange policies with minimal hassle, which is why it offers a 90-day “good as new” return program for any current product. Additionally, in the instance any product fails within 30 days, integrators can exchange it hassle-free.
Vantage (Gold)
Epson (Silver-Tie)
SnapAV (Silver-Tie)
Training Programs
Crestron (Platinum)
Crestron’s Master Class in action
Crestron Training Institute (CTI) prepares dealers to join the elite of custom installers and integrators through a comprehensive training curriculum, currently at 22 courses. With 57 training facilities worldwide, each staffed with dedicated instructors and convenient online courses, CTI equips dealers to compete and grow in the AV industry. Achieved by more than 10,000 professionals, DigitalMedia Certification (DMC-D) is the industry’s only standard for expertise in design and installation of digital AV networks. And the new Crestron Technical Training Series (CTTS) brings in-depth, handson training sessions targeting expert-level integration professionals to locations across the country. As part of the new CTTS program, the DigitalMedia (DM) Engineering Tour will visit more than 25 cities, providing a deep dive into 4K AV system design.
Sony (Gold)
Control4 (Silver)
Warranty/Return Policy/Tech Support
Crestron (Platinum)
The Express 48 repair program provides a 48-hour expedited repair service option to Crestron dealers. For a pre-determined fixed rate, Express 48 provides an added layer of support, ensuring rapid turnaround on repairs during time-sensitive projects. Express 48 applies to both warranty and non-warranty Crestron repairs. The procedure is simple. Crestron support representatives ask the customer up front whether they would like to expedite repair services or use the standard repair service option. The also provides a three-year warranty on most products; immediate replacement of shades that do not fit as intended; as well as a limited lifetime warranty for its new brushless shade motors.
The DaVinci Group (Gold-Tie)
SnapAV (Gold-Tie)
Epson (Silver)
Web Portal
Draper (Platinum)
Draper’s web portal
Draper was the first screen manufacturer to design an adaptive and responsive website. Its site, www.draperinc. com, is a one-stop shop, with easily accessible Information from photos, to pricing, to technical documentation, to blog posts with the latest company news. Draper makes continuous updates and upgrades. Draper’s site is mobile friendly and home to many tools, including the most advanced apps available to help choose the right viewing surface, the correct screen size based on projector and other criteria, and the right projector lift. Draper’s Pro Portal offers even more advanced tools, including a Projection Planner, which helps you design a projection system to the ANSI PISCR standard. The portal also has dealer pricing and allows dealers to obtain accurate freight quotes and track order status. Its Continuing Education section offers case studies, white papers, and online AIA and CTS certification classes.
Control4 (Gold)
Clare Controls (Silver-Tie)
SnapAV (Silver-Tie)
