Reinventing AV Rental and Staging

Last month, I spent some time in this column standing on one of my traditional soapboxes, namely that the AV rental and staging company has come to a point in the history of our industry where it becomes necessary to do some reinvention of our products and services. In my usual roundabout way, I came […]

Reinventing AV Rental and Staging

Money, Price and Budget in the Church Market

Money. Price. Budget. These nouns tend to put the emphasis on the bottom line instead of where the emphasis has the most effect: the desired outcome. A dollar amount will always be a sum of the outcomes and needs of a church, so why do salespeople in the House of Worship vertical tend towards the […]

Money, Price and Budget in the Church Market

Cost Depreciation and the Amortization of Church AVL Technology

How do you make that large technology investment look approachable? Sell the cost-per-service value. To help churches invest wisely in their Audio, Video and Lighting (AVL) technologies, start with defining value before price is discussed. The price should be what something is after the church buyers have determined the value they can expect to meet […]

Cost Depreciation and the Amortization of Church AVL Technology

Cost Savings vs. Stewardship: Tech Buying in Churches

There is a saying that churches buy a sound system three times. The first is the one the building “comes with” that was most likely designed by the general contractor or a local music store. A well-meaning but ill-experienced volunteer who adds some new equipment typically installs the second system. The third system is usually […]

Cost Savings vs. Stewardship: Tech Buying in Churches

Reversing Product Commoditization

Box sales. Internet commodities. Bottom-dollar buys. Is it too late for the audio, video and lighting market for reversing product commoditization in the house of worship vertical segment? Encourage Systems Integration In the online ‘box-sales’ world of product commoditization, the Internet sale is rumored to have removed service from the purchasing equation. Perhaps for truly […]

Reversing Product Commoditization

Better Products vs. Better Product Positioning

What’s more important: building a better mousetrap or simply solving the problem of mice in the house? Your answer depends on your perspective. The people living in the house simply want to not have mice in their home. The people selling the mousetrap want you to buy their newer, better mousetrap. So, who’s correct? If […]

Better Products vs. Better Product Positioning

Product Value and The Lowest Price?

Does the value of your product really come down to the lowest price? In an effort to sell more, dealers and systems integrators are often setting the price of their technology based on an aggregate price that they believe will help make the sale happen. Sales may happen, but the value of your brand, manufacturers […]

Product Value and The Lowest Price?

The Race to the Bottom for Technology in Churches

At a time in an industry where commoditization is leading to thinner margins and online price wars, the discussion of Good, Fast or Cheap is sorely needed — before your organization wins the race to the bottom. Most of us know the Venn diagram below, depicting the reality of choosing any two, but never all […]

The Race to the Bottom for Technology in Churches

The True Cost of A/V/L for Churches

Is it better to spend more on a higher priced technology than to go for the cheaper alternative? This is a question of the ages that has been exploited on both sides of the same coin by the marketing teams at manufacturers, seemingly forever. We’ve all had situations where the axiom “you get what you […]

The True Cost of A/V/L for Churches

Branding and Value: Are you Listening?

How important is your brand name? Is your brand not merely well known, but well liked? In the House of Worship market, your brand is who the churches say you are. It is vital that you as manufacturers, systems integrators, consultants, rep firms, and dealers provide this unique vertical space with who you are, not […]

Branding and Value: Are you Listening?

The End of Hype

In 1989, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis took the immensely popular Back to the Future franchise and painted a picture of the future in the year 2015. 25 years later, we don’t have hoverboards as the movie Back to the Future II depicted, but we do have stunning technologies that were simply beyond our comprehension at the […]

The End of Hype