I take it a step further and advise the client that "we are a small specialized company. The vast majority of our work comes from referrals. If we can help any of your friends or family with a technology need, we would love to have the opportunity."

Yes, that's a good thing to do...But if this is all an integrator is doing, he's still missing the mark...Those sorts of things when we say them at the end of an installation sound like this...

blah blah blah...

Sure, you'll get one or two here and there...But still not a steady stream of referral work.  You can't tell your wife, kids, or your dog to do something one time and have them do it....How can we expect a stranger to go out of their way and sell "us" to someone?  We can't.  We need to take additional steps to get referrals.

And that's where most guys are failing, because they're not contacting their customers after the installation...Think of something like this...

1.  Mention "I need referrals"  at the end of the installation...Do this while they're giving you a 5 star review on Google. (While you're standing in front of them).

2.  Call 4-7 days later to thank the customer for the business, to check in to see if they have any additional questions or concerns....Tell them you need referrals again...

3.  2 weeks after installation, they receive an email (because you have enough sense to get their email address)...Telling them that you NEED referrals and offering some sort of an incentive if their referral "pans out"...Maybe a 1 yr. NETFLIX subscription, a Dinner giftcard,  Sonos Play1....whatever...anything that incentivizes them to refer you.

They need to be told over and over...at a minimum of 3 times before it even sinks in that you want referrals.

I mention it once. Maybe more sometimes, but over a period of time. More than that and it sounds start to sound a bit desperate. Especially if in a short period of time. Not saying youre right or wrong Hasb, but be careful about sound like "if you dont help my business I will go out of biz coz I cant find work on my own".

I express the work that was done. Encourage them when they show off their rack to show off the BACK of the rack. Customer are proud when YOU are proud and it shows. For me, that works better than begging.

You're assuming that everyone here is doing the exact same thing. They're not..Some guys make their living doing Control 4, some guys hang TV's and do Sonos...So, there's no rack to show..  You can only point at a ceiling speaker so many times before people think you're bat shit crazy.

I never said anything about sounding desperate, or falling down on your knees begging.....What I'm saying is you tell them multiple times, in a strategic way so they remember.

Once at the end of the project.. " Ms. Smith, we really appreciate the business, we hope you're happy with the installation, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call us (while pointing at phone number on invoice or card).  Also, if you have any friends or family that might be interested in (whatever you do). please pass a long our information.

Say the same thing on the follow up phone call a week later...

Then they receive a newsletter email that month with the incentive to refer..


It never ceases to amaze me how many guys I talk to that are struggling with their business, but don't want to contact any customers or potential customers to get business....It doesn't compute in my head..

I'd care to make a wager that a guy who's been in business for a minimum 10 years could make an additional 50k-100k per year by periodically contacting his existing customers just to check in with them....How many do it?  ZERO.

It's mind boggling to me.

Support for companies who normally do multi-room systems usually goes like this.

1. System is installed.
2. A few call backs due to bugs and user error.
3. Then you either don't hear from them until something breaks years later or you hear from them right away and you end up dealing with a service nightmare that you usually resolve on your own dime. Eventually you wrap the system up and move on.

Now what?

I recently read a post here where some guy was trying to reprogram a mastermind remote because his 30 year old AV Receiver finally failed. How did that happen? How did the guy who was so into AV that he purchased a programmable remote 30 years ago...end up with a 30 year old AVR?

Does he know about HD? Was he lucky enough to totally avoid 3D? Does he think 4K is a youth organization where kids allover the country learn-by-doing? [Link: 4-h.org]

Our existing customers are the least expensive future work leads. If i owned the business i would offer a free annual or hell...quarterly...system checkup. I have never been into a house that didn't need something. Sometimes its the at college but home sometimes kids who accidentally delete the crestron app from the rooms dedicated iPad...or they unplug the remote so they can plug their phone up...even though they have accessible outlets everywhere. Sometimes its a high end projector that hasn't been touched in 9 months...that locked up. At some point someone is going to try and use it and find it not working and think "this stuff never works right". Beat them to it. Fix it. Reboot it. Replace it.

Find out who your client is...big sports fan? Hosts a family reunion every August? Has everyone over to watch the ball drop? Base your site visit on that event and get in there and test drive the system and fix things...and talk about new technology thats available.

You aren't nagging them. You are the pro they hired before. You are mentioning new technology to them. They are happy you are there.

A perfect example right now is Alexa. It takes about 1 hour to add voice control to the average Lutron Homeworks QS system. You can turn all of Amazons hard work into a 5 figure project (labor & parts to install dots everywhere)...and while we are here why not upgrade to 4K...

Absolutely. That’s just the beginning, a good way to set the expectation. We followup on a schedule and put everyone in an email list or two, depending on their interests.

Yes, me too.

A few days ago, a dealer told me he doesn't like to contact old clients, or even those with newly installed systems, because he doesn't want it to turn into a service call.

I'm like WTF, man!! You deserve to have "slow business"... :-)

It makes no sense to not stay in contact with your customer base. Thats just biz 101. The problem with this industry and other "ma and pa" businesses is the owners dont know business, they only know the "product" side.

100% correct.

A service call = Money and opportunity!

I started doing some of the following a little bit during 2017, I want to standardize these for 2018.

At the end of a project, I have stuck my card on to something, the rack, a tech panel, somewhere and I show it to the client so they know they have my info stored near the gear.
I then talk about about the system or am asking how they like everything and that is when I mention referrals and hand them a couple of business cards. They now have extra business cards (only 1 or 2) to hand out to someone they know.
Depending on the client and the relationship I would also mention on line reviews and how helpful they can be for my business. Again depending on the relationship I will either go on line for them and see if we cannot do something right there and then, or let them know I will be sending a link they can click on and fill out whatever nice things they might want to say about me and the work I have done for them.
I also plan on sending out emails every 4 or 6 months with something new I am working with (Voice control etc) or upgrade info / ideas for those that have older systems.
I have to figure out more about how to best use Facebook and other online things. Youtube videos showing new electronics or other things might also be explored.

I hate to drone on and on about this, but my need to try and help you guys grow your business outweighs my desire to keep my mouth shut...

Here's what I've learned about nearly all of my clients so far.  Very few of them are keeping customer email addresses..

Let me try and explain how important they are to your business.  First the facts.

Nearly 1.5 Billion people are on Facebook worldwide..But you don't live in the world..You live in the US.

Nearly 150 Million US citizens are on Facebook EVERYDAY.  Let's call that about 30% of the population.

Facebook is the least expensive platform to market your business digitally.  You can run ads for as little as a few dollars a day.

So, those are the facts...Now we take those facts and we use them.

I hear what you're saying..."But Paul, I don't like Facebook".  I don't give a shit what "you" like, your customers like Facebook and they're on it everyday. It's my job to help you have a conversation with them.

Now, here's where it gets a little fun.....Did you know that you can market directly to your EXISTING customers through Facebook?  It's obviously just a Facebook ad, but you can speak directly to them, quickly, inexpensively, and effectively.

Did you know that from those customers information, you can create a "look alike" audience that will match your existing customers demographics?  Age, income, location, etc. 

Then you can advertise directly to them on Facebook as well.

You can also directly advertise on Facebook to ANYONE who's visited your website.

Now you say..."But Paul, I don't know how to do all of that crazy shit".  I get it, that's why I offer this as a service, it's also why I'm creating courses, so that guys who may not be able to afford my services directly can take advantage of some of these strategies and grow their businesses.

This is how important email lists are to your business..

If I could tell you guys one thing to do for 2018, you absolutely must make it a habit to get every customers email address.   It's critical to your business.

If you're a small shop that texts/calls customers from your mobile..Here's what you do while you're sitting around today..

1. copy/paste this into every customer contact you have on your phone, then start loading them into  a csv file.

"Hi______,  I'm doing a little work in the office today and I noticed that I didn't get your email address when we finished your installation.  We like to have them so we can keep you aware of manufacturer promos, important firmware updates, etc.  Thanks!  Have a great day!"


Then copy/paste and change the name and watch your email list magically grow!