Ya know I have used Crestron in past companies I worked with. I first brought Crestron into a small cusom shop in 1996-97, it was a simple STS buy in, no big deal. The second place was picking it up when I hired in... again no huge deal. I am opening up a new place, not much just me and a van, so I called. Evidently they feel that $15000.00 is a fair buy in amount now? And they want full line support. I cant and wont be selling full crestron home systems due to my market place here. But STS and maybe some in-wall screens would do nicley! But they say NO!

So whats a guy to do? I am working on using IP systems to serve a page with buttons and logos on it, and then access it via the network, both wired and wireless web pads etc... Still waiting on that extron "IR to ethernet bridge" box to ship, and the Barix etc... I think in 3 years Cedia may not have a HUGE Crestron display as we will be building in HTML and not SIMPL!

Anyone here used VITY yet? Hows that workin out? I really dont want to use a windows XP PC as a touch screen! It seems that every virus is made for it!

Ditto. Check out Coraccess and Global Cache

You could also check out http://www.xploresolutions.com/

Well Xplore is running XP correct? I dont want a hard drive in a touch screen. Global Cache has hardware but no software solution yet. At least that is what they tell me. I want to use there box on a network to act as a server to hold pages with buttons on it. Then access those buttons over the network in the home, via a air-pannel running Win CE !

Xplore is using the same box as Global cache and VITY is as well.

This message was edited by Shoe on 10/04/03 14:38.

Oh My..............

No no no no no

Xplore runs a Linux based OS. Both Processor and Touch panels.

White the Global Cachey GC-100-x is COMPATIBLE with the Xplore system, it is NOT the Primary I/O Device that Xplore uses. THe Main Processor uses Card slots that get fitted with XPLORE cards for Analog/Digital I/O's, IR, Relays, and Serial Ports.

The Hard drive in the large Chasis processors are primarily there for Streaming A/V. The OS can reside on the Hard drive, but the Primary OS is on a Compact Flash card. I dont know if all units are shipping this way currently, but they can. I know the Compact flash reader/drive is Standard on all ECS chasis already.

The TP's also use Compact Flash for storage. No Hard drive in the WTS Panels.

I Am an Xplore dealer and have a couple systems already installed and running in the field.

I stand corrected. Do you prefer Xplore to Crestron and AMX?

Bump to the main topic ! Dood, Iv been there and its agravating. Im a 4 year Crestron dealer in a saturated market. I try my hardest to sell the balls of Crestron, and have been lucky. But its not just Crestron. I needed a receiver company, and got the same bunch of bullsh!t from various reps.

It wasnt the buy in that sucked, but the fact that ONE other dealer (who isnt even a custom installer) had the line. So they want to protect their line and are making me jump through hoops. Well ya know what? Fuk em. They lose my business. Find the alternative.

What pisses me off even more, is some products i want to carry and try to solely suport are being held by other competitors who arnt doing dick with the numbers. I think some of these shops go for product so they can stick it all over there windows and vans saying their dealers for 30 dif receivers.

Its all bullshit. I hope the companies that suport this go bankrupt! I totaly understand about not giving the line to ever Tom Dick or Harry, but some of these guys are 50 miles away, and i never even heard of them.

A particular receiver, or speaker line is not going to make or break me on weather or not i get that 200-300k job. Crestron on the other hand might.

Post broken into several parts.

Never ceases to amaze me how many of you guys take this stuff so personally. Manufacturers seem to be damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Sonance dares to create a special lower end line to expand their market and all every does is rant about dropping them. But if a company won’t sign everyone up, “to hell with them, I hope they go bankrupt”. Geesh.

I see a lot of naiveté in these threads. Here’s a secret….shhh…don’t tell anyone. These companies “minimum buy-ins” are smoke and mirrors. 99% of the companies that have “minimum buy-ins” will wave them in a New York minute if you make yourself an attractive candidate for them.

Here is my advice for obtaining lines.

You need to be able to sell a rep on why they want you to represent their product the same way you need to with a customer (and there ARE ways to sell them on you OTHER than promising them huge sales, though that is always a big plus).

You need to see the world from the manufacturers and reps standpoints. Companies like Crestron get calls from dealers EVERY day that want to come on. Many of them are calling because they have just lost a job to another Crestron dealer in the area. Many are calling because they have 1 job out of 100 they could sell a Crestron job to and they don’t want to lose that one sale.

Here are some of the things I recommend:
1.Show the reps your portfolio with examples of your work. And even if you don’t have tons of huge jobs under your belt to show yet, show them examples of quality work – cleanly installed components, professional wiring etc. Make them realize you will represent their product professionally which will reflect well on them.

This message was edited by QQQ on 10/05/03 15:13.

2.Show them letters of recommendation from your clients (hopefully you have them?). Why should reps care about that? Because you can use it as an example of how you create loyal relationships AND how those relationships (your loyal customers) will become the manufacturers end users.

3.THIS IS THE BIG ONE. You need to convince them that bringing you on will ONLY mean more sales for them (even if you can’t offer them huge sales) – i.e. sales they would not otherwise be getting. In other words, you need to be able to convince them it’s a good distribution move for them and you won't just be taking sales they would already have from other dealers. One of the *many* ways you do this is by showing that you have a loyal clientele that buys only from you, not their other dealers.

This message was edited by QQQ on 10/05/03 20:09.

4.You need to show them that you have loyalty to your manufacturers and have long-term relationships with the vast majority of them. And it’s usually not a good idea to tell them that the main reason you want their product is because you are losing sales on manufacturer ABC because they have too much distribution. That’s the last thing you usually want them to hear for reasons I’ll leave unspoken.

5.God forbid, establish good relationships with all the reps in the field, especially the important ones. You’d be amazed at how far a good recommendation from another rep or company can go.
6.This should go without saying, but dress like a professional when you go to see them. I’ll never cease to be amazed at how many people in our business use jeans as their common mode of dress. That’s fine for installing, but not when meeting a rep or client for the first time.

I could write for another page, but that’s my condescending advice for the day.


This message was edited by QQQ on 10/05/03 15:02.

Tru dat! I mean at this point in the game Crestrron is just a commodity! All be it an expensive commadity!
All I want is to use the Extron, barix or global cache server/ir to ethernet bridge to serve HTML pages that link to IR commands. Once I can do that with a 1 box solution with no hard drive and very little propriatery software I will tell crestron to stick it in their collective asses!

Barix should be in beta now, still waiting on the Extron software to catch up but it sounds limited. I am just tired or having to purchase a PC dressed up like a contol system, that was Crestrons only saving grace. I will not install a PC based touchscreen in a home. To many fingers to screw it up. With a win ce device that sees the local wan, and subsiquently my "Flash" server/bridge we will be able to take over the world!!! And then we will see crestron tryin to get dealers in 5 years!!!

QQQ....

Ditto...

Thanks....was typing that the second you posted it!

Still not sure what the catylist of this thread is...not very logically presented...but oh well....Crestron has treated us VERY well..., and I have personal knowledge that it has treated several thousand other members of RC Custom very well...

P.S. Many parts of the finite operational abilities of these other systems are still vaporware....CorAccess, Xplore and other still have issues...Crestron, AMX and Elan are pioneering the genre`, everyone else is racing to catch up....e-mail me for further dicussion on this...CEDIA, and the trip to and from, were VERY informative this year...

avdude

To much control of our control! Crestron systems are sold, we make some money, but the best part is that we make as much programming it and installing it. In 5 years we wont need specialized equipment to do what HTML can do? Once we can get RS232 emmisions from a web page what will you be able to do with that? (for about 25% of the cost of a cnsx-pro?)

My point of this thread is that if crestron wants to be the best girl at the dance, but ignore all of her suitors, then the other girls get alot better lookin!!

In the stock market they call it an increasing share of a decreasing market. The reps say they grew in huge amounts last year so they dont need any more small dealers. It just pised me off. I needed a control system but I am not good enuf to buy there stuff. I am not going to go thru the relearning process with AMX. There will be a better way, soon.