Tips to photographing your installations and positioning you as a market leader.

More Details. More Photos >>

1. Turn the TV Off
Your camera meters the room and adjusts the photograph for the available light. When the TV is on - the camera uses this as the subject and adjusts the lighting accordingly and dims the surrounding room. Turn the TV off, and the result is a perfectly exposed TV picture.

2. Before and After
Everyone loves the "before & after" shots. Take shots from the same vantage point each time progress has been made on the installation. Show how you bring value to the project with a clean and orderly build process.

3. Clean up the Clutter
Don't overlook straightening up where you are shooting. Just a quick tidy up makes a big difference. Empty glasses, too many magazines or books and unorganized remote controls on the coffee table all make the photo a disheveled mess.

4. Ak-thesso-rise - Accessorize
Akthessorise. Accessorize. Pronounce it how you want. But do it. Bring some accessories to the photo shoot and add the professional touches the photograph needs.

5. Be a Show Off!
Your website visitors are trying to see what your capabilities are - so show them. Show off your level of detail and workmanship with photographs of custom cables, cable routing, looms and wire management.

6. Tell the Story - Behind the Story
Okay so now you've got some gorgeous shots of your installation. But what about the story? Create interest by explaining what the challenge was and how you solved it.

7. Fewer Photos - Higher Quality
There is a simple rule in a portfolio: you're only as good as your worst photograph. So kick out the few "not so great" shots and raise the bar of quality.

You've heard it before - "We don't need structured wiring - its all wireless now!"

1. Changing a Customers Opinion Often Requires a Great Tool
This Smartphone tool costs one dollar! The Wi-Fi analysis tool is a great tool to prove a point and a great way to sell structured wiring to customers with the mistaken belief that wireless will do everything - now and in the future.

2. "We don't need no stinkin' wiring!"
You've heard it all before - "We don't need wiring - everything's goin' wireless!" That comment just shows how misinformed some customers are. But words don't work as well as science and a Smartphone app like "WiFi Analyzer."  

3. Channel Vision's bright idea!
Darrel Hauk, owner of Channel Vision, a manufacturer of cabling products, Hauk sells structured-wiring as a necessity into new residential communities. To quiet those that believe the "Future is Wireless", he whips out his smart phone, and runs the app - RF Analyzer - and shows builders the risk of wireless - and the reality of high data throughput and 4K, which all require wiring - structured wiring.

4. Links
RF Analyzer - is an app for Android or iPhone Smartphones. Costs a buck! Actually a $1.01.

Link to Google Play - RF Analyzer

Google rankings are now directly attributed to your website - it must be mobile friendly

1. Why did Google do this?
As of April 21, 2015, Google ranking factors will rank your website if its mobile-friendly, and will use that criteria to place your website higher or lower in the mobile search results. But why? Well it's time, over 50% of all web traffic is now on a Smartphone or tablet.

When you're using a Smartphone - using Google Search - why would you want a website that isn't mobile friendly? Simple - you wouldn't. That's why Google made the change. Google released this statement: “users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” So the take away from all this - if you want to be found on Google from a mobile device - you need to have a mobile friendly website.

2. Mobile Friendly - Means Responsive
What is a mobile friendly website? The new generation of mobile friendly websites are called "responsive." They are responsive to the screen size and resolution of the device and automatically adapt with a page layout and menu appropriate for that device. So whether your customer is using an old Samsung Galaxy IIS with a resolution of 800x400 or the Apple Air tablet's dazzling retina 2048x1536 panel - your website displays and interacts perfectly.

3. Mobile Friendly - Means Menu
What is often overlooked on the "responsive" website issue is not just the website pages being responsive to the device being used, but the menu being responsive. Yes, the menu changing to the device being used. If you're using a Smartphone, you need a menu engineered for a Smartphone, not for a mouse. And that's a big distinction and a big reason why Google wants websites mobile friendly.

4. Mobile Friendly - Means Business
Picture a potential customer trying to find a home automation dealer on their Smartphone. Your company should come up in the top-ten Google search results. If you're not visible on the first or second page of Google search results - you don't exist. And your company's not going to be on page one of search results without a "mobile friendly" website. So buy one. Buy one from us, buy one from someone. Just buy one.

So you need a mobile friendly website. All of Successful AV websites are responsive. All our websites are engineered to display perfectly on any device at any resolution. Our graphics are designed to compress well and download quickly for fast load times on mobile devices. All our websites are capable of achieving top-ten Google search rankings. For more information on responsive websites, check out our website features pages.

Here is a sales process that enable your customer to tell you exactly what they're after - listen so you can close the sale.

1. Encourage objections
Don't ask for the sale - ask what their concerns are. Concerns clear the air and expose what the sticking points are: price, installation, specific feature, upgradeability etc... Your customer feels more comfortable when you're patient and take the time to answer their concerns without pushing for the close. When the tone of conversation is relaxed enough that the customer can voice their concerns - you're then able to address the concerns individually and completely and then ask for the sale. The goal is to keep them talking...

2. Perform a NEADS analysis
By using a NEADS analysis with potential customers who are working with other competitors you can see where you are in the sales journey. NEADS equals Now, Enjoy, Alter, Decision, Solution.

• Now: Ask what they have now or are looking at.
• Enjoy: Ask them what features they enjoy now and want later.
• Alter: Find out what they want to change or alter.
• Decision: Identify what's keeping them from making a decision or "pulling the trigger."
• Solution: Present your solution that addresses their needs.

3. Go Practice!
Rehearse your sales presentation and don't "wing it." Invest in your business and increase your closing rate by rehearsing a demo that truly shows all the capabilities that your automation provider offers. One key to closing the sale is anticipating the most commonly asked concerns and being ready. You've got to be able to address them in a way that diminishes or eliminates their concerns. So long as you have them talking with the NEAR method, you're still engaged.

It takes a solid knowledge of your own & your competitor's products and installation practices and a persuasive counter to make your offer superior. Ask any musician on how to get good and they'll say: "Go home and practice!"