A novel way for installers to generate new business opportunities
As an integrator, how do you get work? Do you advertise? Do you rely on word of mouth?
Those methods are great – they’re tried and true, but in a market that is still largely in its infancy in Australia, and one that is generally misunderstood by end users, the more ways you can find of generating business the better it will be for your bottom line.
In the US, Firefly Design Group provides system engineering, project documentation and marketing services to the residential systems integration industry. President and Connected Home regular Ron Callis has established a novel way of generating new business opportunities for installers that saves them time and money – they design a system then put it out to auction.
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This means that you know exactly what a job will entail before you commence. There’s no deciphering of your client’s wishes and you’ll have access to more jobs, some that you wouldn’t have otherwise known about.
So how does it work?
Well, Ron says, Firefly Design Group essentially becomes a ‘system architect’.
“When a home owner wants a custom home, and they have the means, they go to an architect to design it,” Ron says.
“That architect will then produce a design after taking that client through what they call the schematic design phase.
“We call this the discovery phase.
“This is when a client is educated on all of the available technologies and we ask questions to extract a good understanding of what the client’s project goals are. This results in a report, a physical document, which takes the client through a room by room, subsystem by subsystem breakdown.”
It also includes an estimated construction cost.
“An architect does this because as they move into a design phase, they want to ensure that they are designing the right project for the client’s goals. They do this by asking questions about how the home owner will use the property and about features they’d like to highlight.
“In our industry, some installers don’t like asking questions, or they don’t know what to ask. This is why what we do is so important.
“Through this process, we produce a single design for the end user so they don’t have to try to compare several different ideas.”
Upon completion of the design phase, and acceptance by the client, the team at Firefly then produces construction plans, such as pre-wire plans and rack elevation schematics, so the full design and document set can be put out to tender.
“It’s important to note that we are not taking any money out of the installer’s pocket, because generally they don’t charge for design or documentation.
“And, in my opinion, because they’re not charging for it they aren’t able to spend the adequate amount of time to do that process any justice.
“Instead, we do all of the design work and all the contractor has to do is name a price. Essentially we’re handing out millions of dollars of jobs.”
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