I am thinking about getting together with a few stres in my area to work out a deal to get install jobs from their sales. Has anyone done this before?
I thought it could be a good source of extra income when the business is slow.

good luck

ericstac,

I started my own custom install business by doing installs for the Good Guys. It was a good enough source of income to move my business to where it is today.

Here are some of the problems:
1. Commissioned salespeople are going to expect you to bring all ancillary sales their way... all of the cables they forgot to spec, the SACD they couldn't close, etc. I got my break because the guy before me got greedy and pissed a bunch of them off. Obviously you'll get no referrals without full support of the sales staff so you will find yourself leaving a job to go back to the store and buy a bunch of monster cables from the salesperson who sold the job but needs you to make it right.
2. The fact that you'll always be making it right... and getting into a few arguments along the way. The average sales associate is fresh off the turnip truck... especially as you get to Circuit City or Best Buy and loves to fancy him/herself as a system designer. You'll end up with a myriad of poorly designed systems and you must, as diplomatically as possible, fix things. I could write a book about the silly things I've seen. Good examples though are TOADS that are sold because they are spiffed, not because they are the right piece of gear... or a receiver with a coax digital in and a DVD with an optical out.
3. Delivery and Stock. You'll get to a lot of these jobs only to find that all of the gear is not there and you become a deliveryman.
4. Salespeople quoting jobs for you. No matter how much you drill this into their heads, they feel they must say something to the client and an expectation is set that is definitely on the low side about 90% of the time...it's hard to backpedal.
5. The fact that once you are established... you'll have to deal with the whole sales force... even the ones who sleep through your meeting then send you out to help Grandma figure out how to program her VCR (he said it would be free... I'm on a limited income).
6. The favors they will ask you for. Doing a few gets you established. Not doing one when your booked up to your gills pisses them off and undoes your relationship rather fast.
7. They'll expect payola for the business they send you even though management disallows this.

I could go on but you get my drift. My company still does a few installs for the stores but for the most part we find it tedious. We set up a guideline of how we need the relationship to work and we stick to it.
1. We sell ALL gear and cables you forgot to and any ancillary products that you do not carry.
2. We respect your design but if something is amiss we will change it as necessary.
3. We offer no renumeration of any kind... just the help in closing a sale.
4. We must quote all jobs in full... do not give your client a number. (upon first meeting with the client make it clear that any quote given by the sales associate is invalid).
5. Before we can work with you, you must attend a meeting detailing all of the relationship aspects.
6. We do not deliver any gear... PERIOD. And if the client doesn't have it there, we will leave and apply a minimum trip charge of $75.00 which you may elect to pay in order not to piss off your client.

Taking a hard line like this has turned off a lot of salespeople as there are others who will do this work but we have found that it has evolved into a good thing as the ones who use us are the ones with tenure and good design skills/knowledge. We have weeded out the sharks and the shorttimers.

The positive is that it will bring you a slam dunk Bose system or some little home theatre in a box that you charge $800.00 to $1000.00 to install with no outlay on your part except time. It also leads to great things for my company as we are General Contractors/Remodelers as well. Sometimes that install leads to a full room rebuild or allows you access to a client that never saw the possibilities before. We actually finished a whole basement game room/ slash home theatre for over 100K from one of these leads.(When this happens we do send the salesperson to a VERY nice dinner or a weekend retreat).

Sorry to ramble but I felt this was a topic I was well equipped to speak about. If your company is established, make sure you set the guidelines and be aware that someone is already doing it for them and you will be an alternative. Meet some of the crew and offer to speak at a meeting. Make sure to run everything through the manager or you'll be out so quick your head will spin.

Good luck

rm9,

thanks for the reply..
From what I got it sounds like it works out.. I need some specifics though..
1. When you set this up you first talk with the manager about what you want to do?
2. How does the customer pay? through the b&m or through your company?
3. Does the b&m request a % of your charge for giving you the customer?

ericstac,

I started by asking the salespeople who they used for these services and if they were interested or had a need. Honestly, I knew there were others used the whole time I was doing it; you're probably never going to be the only one. I got my start by being a retail salesperson and using my construction experience to do it on the side (you may find they have one or two of these). I was told that they had a guy but would keep my name as an alternate. Less than two weeks later I got a call because the original guy tried to slyly get a customer to return some gear so he could sell it. Within months I was pretty much entrenched as the only option for three stores.

If there appears to be a need... it's time to go straight to management with the best proposal possible. In answer to your question above... NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER mingle your funds with theirs or wait for them to pay you. These are big dinosaur corporations and you mean NOTHING to them when it comes time to pay a few thousand dollars. I should have put that in the first post.

I assume you are a licensed, bonded contractor legally able to provide installation services for them. This is a way to stop all of the sidejobbers. These stores care enough about their reputations that they want to recommend someone they can trust. Make sure they know that if their salespeople are doing anything more than simple hookups that they are being exposed to potential liability and in most staes, doing something illegal. If the salesperson drills some copper from the crawlspace and damages a hardwood floor the customer is going to go ballistic on some billion dollar corporation.

We make sure the customer is fully aware that we are not affiliated with the store... we are there to provide a service the store cannot. Therefore, all payment is separate of anything to do with store money. My company offers up to 12 months same as cash financing through American General so that we can match the store's offers.

Most management will not allow the sales staff to take spiffs from you and again... NEVER mingle your funds with theirs. Your stance should be that you are there to help and believe me you will. They lose so many deals that management is oblivious to because they can't prewire or invisibly install a system... now, with you in their arsenal, they can keep that customer there and provide a much more broad solution.

This may piss a few salespeople off but here goes anyway. My client list is so huge because I did all of this work. The sales staff has a high turnover and most of them will never follow up with their customer because they sit, waiting by the door for new ones instead of fostering relationships. When it comes time to add those four pairs of speakers you tried to upsell them to but they didn't have the money for; nine times out of ten they will call you. At this point I ethically seek out the original salesperson and get the gear purchased through him/her. Now you have a salesperson who is happy as hell, your reputation as their patron saint of install goes up and all is good. What do you think happens when that salesperson has moved on to selling mortgages or used cars? Thats right... your deal... your client... your money... your relationship... your referrals. As I said above, there are a lot of problems but I can guarantee that my business would not be as big if I had not started this way.

Here's another development. My business partner was my biggest lead generator as a Good Guys salesperson. It made sense to bring him in as his client list was immense and he is an incredible salesperson and designer with 15 years of experience. Working with this kind of salesperson will be a boon to your business.

No payola of any kind from you except dinners, weekend retreats, etc. for the best. They won't let you do any kind of advertised renumeration program. Do a meeting for the staff (one that must be attended before you can work with that salesperson) and fix up a good breakfast or lunch for the attendees. Keep up the meetings on at least an every two month basis and provide real knowledge during these meetings.

I'm writing way too much. If anyone made it this far, I'm impressed. I'll be glad to answer any questions you have (unless you are in Washington State... just kidding). You can e-mail me at
[email protected]
Take care