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Your Perfect System

Your Perfect System

Every month as I browse through the pages of trade magazines, I see an endless explosion of new CI products that promise: Finally…integration done right. It is sensory overload for the technically minded that gets an adrenaline surge from drinking in this endless stream of data.

Our high-energy trade shows introduce so many new products and offer such vast technical information that walking the floor for three days can make an anxious installer require medication. Racing to all of these booths and trying to make new and informed buying decisions is like 10,000 starships swooping out of the sky to attack you all at once. In the fray of battle, how do you pick a target?

When I ask installation companies what products they sell, too often they look around the show floor and they dont get it. They see no boundaries. They seem to want to sell everything and anything that their customer wants. Some install companies feel that it would help their sales improve if they could go online and download the product data available from all of the manufacturers in this marketplace. I love Niles and Monster Cable, but I would never consider trying to stock or sell all of their SKUs.

While access to this information is a good thing, loading all of these products into your product mix indicates a company in a state of confusion about its business model, target market, desired price points, and the companys strengths and limitations.

Make no mistake, almost every one of these vendors wants your business. All of this gear is exciting, but you have to make lasting choices that you can live with. How should your company begin to weed through all of the products available to you and refine the list of exactly what you will sell? You are the solution: your abilities, your market, yourself.

Ask Yourself: What makes me tick? What do I really know about why I got into this business? What are my core areas of expertise? What are my weaknesses and limitations?

Ask Yourself: Who is my target customer? What makes them tick? What is their desired system and price point?

Ask Yourself: If I had only one system solution that I could sell to match my abilities with my customers desires and price points, what would that system look like?

Forget every part and piece you saw in the magazine or at the show. Forget everybody elses concept of a killer system. Now, close your eyes for a moment and envision the perfect system for all of your clients. Think about the perfect system that you could sell profitably, install repeatedly with ease, and the one that works well and needs almost no service.

If you are honest with yourself and rely on experienced insights, your vision, and implementation of your own personal perfect system is where your uniqueness begins. If you are a leader, you can use this picture as a roadmap to success.

Yes, I know that zevery client is different. Every house is different. Every job is different. But remember, you are the solution. You are the constant factoryou dont change from job to job. That is the bigger picture.

If your company and approach is not different from your competitors, then you really have no reason to exist. You must lead the way with a solution born of your own style, purpose, and passion. Clearly articulating how your approach is unique and better is the first step to every successful sales call.

Once you start with a blank slate and create your own perfect system, then you can refine it to include three variations of good, better, and best with appropriate price points. After you begin installing these perfect systems, you can then revisit your list of products and delete all of the extra products that do not belong in your new price sheets. This exercise will help you define your direction and help you stay lean, mean, and profitable.

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