Our industry is changing. Big money and business have seen the growth potential in our industry and are trying to manipulate the growth and direction that the industry takes. Some of these people are trying to protect the integrity and honesty that we as professionals prize so highly. Others are trying to manuever themselves within the industry to make sure they are in line to reap the rewards of our hard work. No matter how you look at it, big business and organizations are going to try to take over our jobs. The influence of these companies and industries will be felt by everyone. Big companies will push thier own "standards" and "certifications" on the market through large dollar advertising, and either force us to join or be out of the loop. Sort of like Bose trying to tell everyone that thier way is the only way. These people will market builders, architects, and the general public. We can't compete with the dollars they will spend in advertising. We can't lobby the politicians with the same clout that they can. We can't even go to CEDIA with the same clout. We have to get used to the fact that big business sees the home electronics market as a big cash cow. We are going to get a lot of new competition in the next few years. Some of it good, some of it bad. Some will be big unions and nationwide companies, some will be trunk-slammers looking for a quick buck. We, as the professionals who grew this industry into what it is, need to compete the way we always have. We need to educate our builders on why they should choose us over the the big guys. We need to build those relationships with the architects who design houses.(Questions: How many of you regularly consult with your local architects on home theater jobs? How many of you think that 20 minutes of your time every week with an architect will get you more business?) We need to keep quality high and emphasise our strengths. If we play on our ablity to be faster, smarter, and better, those people won't go anywhere else. If they do, they will come back.
Something similiar happend a few years back in the car audio market. The big guys realized there was a lot of money to be made and opened shops all over the place. The local guys who had been there for years either adapted of went away. The small guys found that the custom side was something that the big guys could never compete against. They found that by being more knowledgable and better at what they did, they not only didn't lose business, but grew. The big guys created top of mind awareness and the small guys capitalized when people wanted it done right. The moral of that story was that the big guys want to be us. They want to be able to charge for design. They want to thave one-on-one relationships with clients. They want to be able to do high-end work. They want to be the one-stop for everything a customer needs. But they can't. The bottom line drives eveything they do and the pursuit of more profits means lower standards. They have to hire low wage employees, turn-over is high, and training is expensive. What does this have to do with this? The best way for them to compete is to go above us. They go to the manufacturers and get "dedicated" product lines. They lobby the industry for standards and certifications only they can afford, but are lower than our day-to-day standards. They market to our builders by saying "we're bigger, we have to be better". Our distributers and reps are feeling the pressure(question: How many times have you been back-ordered on a product only to find it in a big "chain store"?). Our industry is changing. Big money and big business are trying to change our industry.
