Custom installers… are we fixable?
Well, are we?
Of course, my first title for this piece was ‘Are we stupid bastards?’, but I decided to go for something a bit gentler.
Way back in 1987, when Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles was number 1 in the charts, I was at an event that allowed me to talk to 35 independent satellite dealers in Twin Falls, Idaho.
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It was at an ancient and tired Holiday Inn ballroom – that part I remember clearly.
I was pitching the then-new concept of multi-room AV, as well as our ChannelPlus offering that complemented the agenda (admittedly, it was all very self-serving).
I was about half way through the same snake-oil and science sermon that I had preached three times already that week and countless times that year when I had the sudden realisation that technology contractors:
- Have more opportunity than time.
- Have to prioritise on administrative and tech projects that they know well.
- Understand that hiring, success and stability with employees is hard to achieve.
- Scored most projects by rumor (you call it word of mouth recommendations).
- And knew that growth and change is a problematic and hard.
Since then, the WELD2 partners have been in front of well over 50,000 contractors, from every conceivable slice and corner of the industry. High-end? Ultra-High-End? Low-ball? Security guys? Production builders? Left-handed drummers that are Crestron-certified? Yup. Yup. And check, check, check.
We’ve seen it all.
We’ve been in home theatres built in basements, tree houses, pool decks on the beach and a duck blind in Iowa. Ships, boats, planes and trains. RVs, rock star tour buses and a submarine – even a bomb shelter for a wealthy, whacked out survivalist in the tundra of Montana.
Integrators really are a unique breed of freaks; you get impossible crap done and your suppliers finance and accommodate your tequila-fueled fantasies!
This isn’t meant to be abusive. You work damn hard to make things happen.
You work 50, 60 or more hours each week. But working more hours will not solve any problems or increase your lifestyle. I looked it up: working more hours ain’t in the fun book anymore.
So… pay attention!
We did around 30+ speaking gigs in 2015, and it’s been that way for about the past 30 years – through three recessions, war, prosperity, Democrats, Republicans, the dot-com bubble and bust, the real estate crash, and that lame fad of Crocs footwear. The truth is, nothing much has changed in that time. We still struggle with that same chaos we did 30 years ago. It seems that more than 60% of us are lone practitioners or the only employee at the firm.
And you are still being slammed.
So, are we fixable? What are you going to do differently today?
Weld2 offers the technology contractor the best marketing plans at the lowest possible price, that works – or your money back guaranteed.
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