Been in the A/V business for 34 years. Started out mostly retail and about 15 years ago begin to transition towards mostly custom. Now, about 85% of our business is custom - with the rest walk in retail.

I like it this way. The slower floor traffic gives me more time to spend with the $20K to $50K customers. When I was mainly retail, I hated it when I was tied up demonstrating a $199 VCR and a couple walked in with house plans. Now, I have plenty of time and the custom jobs are much much larger. I have found that the more time I spend with a custom customer - the more money he will spend with me.

In addition, some years ago, I joined the local Home Builders Association and began to attend their meetings. Soon, I discovered the contractors that seem to get most of the really big jobs and approached them about doing their prewires for satellite, household music, intercoms, telephones, home theater, etc. Some were reluctant at first saying that their electricians did that work. But several of the home owners hired us to do their installations and we impressed the contractors with our work. After that, we got pretty much all of their recommendations to prospective home owners. In fact, one contractor tells his clients that if my company does not do the work, he does not guarantee the job will be done correctly. This is a powerful endorsement. After you do a few jobs (and do them well) you will begin to get referrals. And referrals are the life blood of the custom business.