“I’d rather buy from you than ______.”
How many times have you seen that? I hope you’ve seen it a lot. The question is, why are they buying from you and not someone else?
It is because you have established a relationship over time that was built upon trust, open communication and reliability. They trust you to provide what they need and that what you propose is in their best interests.
I have often joked that AV doesn’t run on electricity – it runs on food and coffee (or energy drinks for the installers). Truthfully, it runs on relationships. Some new but most old. Something came up and they took care of you. What was supposed to happen, happened or they helped ease a difficult situation. It was something that went beyond the swag – it was that personal touch. A quick call or email after hours. Listening. Solving the problem and making it right.
Many years ago, I spec’d fourteen new model DSP boxes from a manufacturer that I already had a relationship with. I knew they typically ran late on new products like this and this was no exception. All fourteen boxes ended up being installed and wired in the racks on-site. A day later, I received a call at my desk from the programmer. “These boxes don’t do push-to-talk.” I had made an assumption on what I thought would be a normal feature for this application. I called my contact that I had known for a long time and he said, “Oh, those do push-to-mute. We never considered push-to-talk.” We had updated firmware two days later that included push-to-talk. You don’t forget that.
When your contact went to another firm, did your business follow them there? Probably, if they were still within the industry. The company that they work for is many times immaterial as compared to the person and you know there had to be a reason they moved on from that last company.
AV is a relationship business whether it be with manufacturers, distributors, rep firms or clients. The equipment itself is often secondary.
If somebody treated you like just another customer or took a job out from under you that you had been working on for months or a particular product let you down, you remember it. Forever. We have some very long memories in AV.
You can easily recount the bad but you also remember the good.
For example, I had to leave my car at the shop overnight when a fellow designer and I took a road trip to perform a site visit to a job in progress. We returned back to the shop late the next night in the rain to discover that my car had been broken into. The passenger side glass was broken and radio stolen but worse, they also took my kids’ Christmas presents that I had stashed in the trunk. The company that I worked for didn’t have to cover the presents that were stolen but they did. That was 20 years ago and I have never forgotten the kindness that the owner of that business showed me.
Further, how did you get your last job? Someone knew you and your reputation. We have all been through that.
InfoComm is right around the corner and there will be plenty of talk about products. Sure, take time to talk about the products but more importantly, spend some face-to-face time with the people behind those products. The gear is fun but it’s the relationships that matter.
I will be there this year and doing a one-hour Basic Acoustics for Meeting Rooms at 4:00pm Tuesday and a two-hour Basics of Power and Grounding at 10:00am Wednesday. My time there will be short but I will be endeavoring to catch up with as many of you as I am able. [See class details here.]
