Last week, I was fortunate to go on my first overnight work trip in 18 months. Also — and these two things are related — that trip was the farthest I’ve been from home in almost two years. One of my biggest dealers held their first Customer Appreciation Day in over two years, and I […]

If AV install companies stick around long enough, they reach a point where they have a large installed base of legacy systems out there. That’s great for a number of reasons: repeat upgrade business and new referral business from satisfied clients. Not to mention — you survived and prospered, while others may have not. But, there […]

Yogi Berra said the following quote: “In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.” The difference between theoretical and practical is apparent to any AV pro who’s spent their time in the field. And while you can learn either by doing or by observing, lessons are generally internalized better […]

I’m fortunate that my roster of dealers and resellers encompasses a diverse range of channels and verticals. It means I get to meet many interesting people and help them find solutions for a diverse range of problems. It also means that my problems are diverse as well. Even if readers aren’t embedded in the channel […]

Most AV professionals I know don’t think of AV as being the “construction industry.” While I can entertain arguments for fitting it under that umbrella, if anything, the AV business is “construction-adjacent.” It’s that adjacency that means that AV pros need to understand liens and holdbacks since they’re a reality of doing business. How holdbacks […]

In the first installment, I started talking about the importance of holding the line in the face of unreasonable requests from clients to discount your labor charges. As I am sometimes painfully reminded, there’s a difference between a hobby and business. Specifically this: If it costs you money, it’s a hobby. If it makes you […]

Not long ago, I submitted a piece titled “Things That Come Up a Lot” where I dove into some of the common challenges AV and CE businesses face, regardless of the specific vertical they’re in. I made the point that most are more similar than they are different, and while specific solutions may need to […]

Not long ago, I submitted a piece titled “Things That Come Up a Lot.” I dove into some of the common challenges AV and CE businesses face, regardless of the specific vertical they’re in. I made the point that most are more similar than they are different and that while specific solutions may need to […]

When discussing business matters with my dealer clients, most of the conversations center around finding ways to grow their revenue and increase profit margins. Ideally, we cover both. They’re both worthy objectives, and it’s something clients look to me to help them achieve. But they’re also only part of the puzzle. As important as growing […]

There’s a joke one of my sociology professors used to beat to death. It goes, “There are two types of people: the first type categorizes everyone they meet into one of two types.” I didn’t say it was a good one — my professor certainly thought it was funnier than we did as he always […]

There’s an expression that has stuck with me for a while now: “The way you dress indicates the respect you have for other people.” It stuck with me partly because it’s not an expression I’d already heard a thousand times, like, “The early bird gets the worm.” It also stuck with me because, when you […]

Common ground for all salespeople, regardless of the channel they’re in, is that they need to let their boss know what’s going on. I had one boss who asked, “What are you working on?” so often it was like the catchphrase from a TV sitcom. Those check-ins cover an entire spectrum. There’s the less formal […]

I like to assume that, as time goes on, we grow and learn; at least I hope we do. Everything changes over time, and as we gain experience (and some things we’ve understood are reaffirmed), we come to view things differently. As the saying goes, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose …” In […]

I know that I’ve said more than once that companies in the same channel are typically more similar than different. Sports select for specific attributes in athletes, which is why you don’t see 145lb NFL linemen or 280lb gymnasts. By that same token, the demands of a given channel lead to business (the ones that […]

If you stick around long enough you will see patterns repeat themselves. Most businesses in this channel are more similar than they are different; they have similar strengths and weaknesses. They’ll also have similar problems that need solving. The problems will be similar but seldom identical. The solutions that worked for your clients may need […]

Anybody who knows me knows that I seldom pass up a chance to quote the legendary agent Dicky Fox from the film “Jerry McGuire.” Fox explains, “The key to this business is personal relationships!” Maybe it’s not true of all industries, but it’s definitely true of the ones I’ve worked in. I’ll get to why […]

The legend goes that an oracle had prophesied that whoever undid the Gordian Knot in the palace of the Phrygians would rule all of Asia. When Alexander the Great and his armies arrived in Gordia, he faced the knot, drew his sword and cut through it. The point of the story of course is that […]

It’s helpful for managers to grasp the fundamentals of psychology, both for individuals and groups. One principle I’m going to focus on here is the tendency people have to form cliques, and to define in-groups and out-groups. At work, those in-groups often gel around shared job roles. That’s good, so far as it goes. Where […]

Ongoing training and education is, ideally a fact of life. Continuing education or work will include seminars, certifications and ongoing product training. And if you’ve been around long enough, you’ll have spent plenty of time on both sides of the equation as both the learner and the presenter. Training programs, whether they’re presented by a […]

If Facebook is good for anything, it’s good for leitmotif. Learning how to game the algorithm, plus a little bit of good luck, and your newsfeed can mostly be wholesome content like cool custom cars, and cute animal videos. If your feed causes you more stress than joy, that’s a problem that needs to be […]

People often throw around the expression that “history repeats.” In truth, the original axiom — it’s attributed to Mark Twain, although I suspect it’s even older — states that “history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme.” It’s certainly true that if you stick around long enough, you begin to see patterns — that what’s happening […]

Mike Tyson famously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In much the same way you could say, “Everyone agrees to respect MAP until they need to boost their revenue.” Minimum Advertised Price, or MAP, is the lowest allowable advertised price a brand sets to maintain the integrity of its […]

I went on record last year saying that the official motto for 2020 should be “Oh No, What NOW!?” Frankly, January 2021 already got off to a rollicking start. If you thought 2020 was a “Gong Show,” so far we’ve all had an eventful year and it’s not even February yet. I’ve written before about […]

I’ve written at length this past year about how COVID has affected, well, everything. The adaptions we’ve all had to make to our changing circumstances have been pervasive. I was just organizing all my paperwork to send to our accountant for my taxes. My total travel/work expenses for 2020 added up to $440. In a […]

Last week if you missed the announcement that Google was shelving Stadia, its streaming gaming service you can be forgiven; the news cycle comes at you fast these days, and it’s easy to miss things even if they would normally be front and center on your radar. Anyway, the article at The Guardian that I […]

  This blog post is a twofer: brief commentary on two related subjects. So I’ve been messing around on a fairly casual basis with different DYI home control. Currently my house is home to Apple Home, Google Home, Roomie Remote, and a plethora of IP-controllable devices around the house. Without passing judgment on any one […]

In more than one editorial I’ve made the point that new business opportunities come from who you know. And that if you want more things to come your way you need to know more people. That’s why it’s important to network: to meet new people and find opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise know about if […]

As I think I’ve mentioned more than once in recent columns, everybody I know is taking stock of the new world they find themselves in and asking themselves how they can make money. Some answers can be fairly radical, such as opening up into channels you’ve never been in before. Others can be more elementary, […]

It’s handy and useful to employ mental tools and rubrics to organize your life in an effort to be more efficient and productive. But it’s also important not to mistake the maps you’re reading for the territory itself. As useful as such things are, it’s possible to be blinkered by them, and cut yourself off […]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s been a tough year for lots of companies, and indeed entire sectors. When business is slow, we’ve all got an imperative to look for new opportunities. But you have to be smart about it. In the past, I’ve seen manufacturers or their distributors see declining […]

It’s probably poor form to lead into an editorial with sarcasm, but if you hadn’t noticed things have changed this year. And they’ve changed a lot. And we’ve all had to adapt, rather quickly, to those changes. Observing my dealers adapt to change, adjusting their operational procedures to accommodate new safety requirements has been inspiring. […]

In the Shakespeare play, “Twelfth Night,” he wrote, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” This year, thanks in no small part to the economic and social impact of COVID-19 we’ve all had, probably not greatness, but trouble thrust upon us. On the bright side, there often is […]