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Sell the Solution, Not the Product

solution-1114If your firm had the goal of growing the bottom line by 10 percent next year, would you consider the possibility that you might just be able to do that by selling into and serving the House of Worship market? It’s true, and there are manufacturers and systems integrators focusing on this underserved vertical market because it continues to work.

When I get introduced in A/V/L circles as ‘the church guy” or the “house of worship guy,” I take it as a compliment, even though some people act awkwardly, suddenly assuming that it’s an inferior market for some reason. I don’t know about you, but any market that’s nearly recession-proof has my attention, and H.O.W. easily fits that moniker.

Churches, especially older, smaller traditional churches, have developed a reputation for being both cheap and difficult to work with. Man, I’m sorry if that’s happened to you. I think that the churches that are growing and vibrant in their communities are generally nice to work with. With so many young pastors today, the church market is starkly different than it was even 10 years ago, much less 20 years ago, a time when many started to pursue the market.

Sell the solution, not the product.

It’s so different that focusing on selling products isn’t the best solution; selling the solution, or even the digital workflow, is a better option for audio, video and lighting sales. I believe that the revolution of digital video with the advent of the DSLR, has radically changed video production (which includes A/V/L) and now requires a deep understanding of the new workflow for digital creatives. This should be great news for manufacturers and integrators alike, as it opens up entirely new sales pipelines into a market that previously limited these kinds of sales to the giant television ministries and churches.

The H.O.W. market has changed. Are you taking advantage of these trends? I hope you’ll enjoy reading “Selling the Workflow” and “How the A/V/L Industry Sees the Church Market.”

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