wappinghigh Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 It seems we beg to differ. Oh well. No hard feelings. Each to their own I suppose. <edited> Sod it all. Nobody listens or takes notice of this forum... I'm wasting my time.... Have a nice weekend everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbat Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 James - what advice would you offer to a smaller dealer, or a start-up dealer, who doesn't have the kind of rep/referrals that you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 ^You're kidding right? Do you live in Newport or Manhattan Beaches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanE Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Sod it all. Nobody listens or takes notice of this forum... I'm wasting my time....Thanks for the edit. I *do* appreciate it.And you're incorrect about no one listening. I do listen, and agree with some of your points, and appreciate your bringing them up.Thanks.Have a great weekend.RyanE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wappinghigh Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 ^You're kidding right? Do you live in Newport or Manhattan Beaches?Well I saw a whole 5 bedroom house for 100K on Whoppi Golberg's "The View" the other day. James has (with the vetting of his so called 8 and 9 figure net worth clients), what's known as a "high class" problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well_armed Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I sent the club a wire stating, PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER.-Groucho Marx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Yes, and "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others" Also from Mr. Marx... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesterwilson Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I just got fired from McDonald's. Michael Jordan walked in and I refused to sell him a cheeseburger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 ...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoGo Delicious Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 James - what advice would you offer to a smaller dealer, or a start-up dealer, who doesn't have the kind of rep/referrals that you have?There are a few things you can do. 1) State Licensing - make sure you have the proper State and/or City licensing and when I say you, I mean you personally. I am in California and California requires that I have a low voltage contractors license. I could have hired someone who has a LV License but since I own the company it would be deceptive if I did not have a low voltage license. Now when I talk to potential clients I can say I am actually a LV contractor. It shows Architects, Interior designers and General Contractors that you are serious about what you do.2) Networking - Make sure you have an in depth knowledge of networking, wired and wireless, since the network is the back bone of the system. Know how to setup a proper subnets, know when to use DHCP and when to use static IP addressing. know how to PROPERLY set and MANAGE a wireless network. Know what is carried on which channels, how to set fixed channels, how to direct traffic to particular channels. 3) Product Line - Try to carry a product line that is not mass market. The reason I say this you will not be able to compete with Best Buy and internet retailers on price, you will always lose. Whatever product line you choose make sure you know it inside and out. What it can do REALISTICALLY not what the marketing department tells you. Also know the competitors to the products you carry. What advantages/disadvantages do they have over your product.4) Service - Aside from products, why should a client use you? What service(s) do you offer that your competition does not? What are the same service you offer that your competition offers? Do you excel above your competition in those services or does your competition beat you? Know you service strengths & capitalize on them, Know where you are weak and work HARD and I mean VERY HARD to make that weakness a strength that you can capitalize on. DO NOT let your weakness beat you.5) Membership Organization - I can go into this in detail but I wont. I am only going to focus on one organization and that's ASID. The reason I am signaling out ASID is for or Digital Studio Werks side of the business that is where we get 100% of our clients. This is an an absolute gold mine for us. But keep in mind a few things. 1) Do not join ASID thinking the jobs will automatically come to you. 2) Make sure you attend all the meeting and functions. Let them get to know you, who you are and the quality of work you do. Interior designers are VERY weary of CI and AV contractors. 3) Volunteer for ASID events so you gain visibility within your local AID chapter.The above are just a FEW items that I can think of. 1-5 is what I focused on when I was starting out and found them to be some of the most important.I would also suggest that you read my thread "What to look for in a dealer" and make sure you can provide to your clients what I mention.Hope that helps a bit. Any other questions let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I am completely baffled over point #3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmassart Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I am a software developer, good thing my dealer does not have a rule about software developers. In fact I treat my dealer more as a partnership. I have shown him things that he does not necessarily know. He has always been fair to me as a result of the partnership.Do I like that control4 is not more DIY, absolutely not, but I still went with this product and work within the confines of the dealer network.I have done most of my own programming after my dealer installed and configured all the devices. This ends up to be a win win situation. Did he make as much profit as he could than with a person that cannot program, probably not. I have no reservations going back to him for replacements when the time is right (e.g. an 800). So a positive long term relationship will end up more profitable for him.To be fair to James I do understand how some people can be bad customers. I just do not like being screened out because of my job and the fact that I can probably out program most dealers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayace Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 ...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.lol, loved those commercials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Kia Soul Party Rock Anthem kills this though. All-time awesome commercial... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayace Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 It's good too. I've always liked the Budweiser/ Clydesdale ones as some of my favs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Kia Soul Party Rock Anthem kills this though. All-time awesome commercial...Yeah, I like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I like the Rockwell International ad: - watch them in order - but the last one is the funniest.Nothing like a good encabulator. Nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pentium77 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 When I read through the first post I honestly thought this was an owner dreaming of how he'd like to select new clients sort of a "wish I could do this". Then I realized as I read it again and the subsequent posts that this owner is actually serious. I then read linked post of his 2007 control 4 installation where he timed his installer going to his truck 3 times for a total of 30 minutes. By James' definition of a customer he shouldn't have been one as he certainly was too nit picky. Perhaps and probably for good reason as the install didn't seem to go well and was unprofessional.I looked up DSW and it has been in business almost 3 years. Hopefully James can continue to find perfect customers that won't ask many questions and will only ask how much they need to write a check for. There's certainly customers out there like this however the economy isn't in the state that many people have money to burn. My C4 installer dealt with my being a network engineer for the last 15 years professionally and I picked up all my hardware (except the C4 system) myself. Although my C4 install didn't go perfectly and I didn't have control of it I still have the utmost respect for him and his company and employees. For this reason I have referred 10+ people in the last 3-4 years and maybe they referred business as well. I'll also be using my former C4 installer for more work in my home because I'm impressed with his professionalism and his employee(s).I wish James the best of luck in maintaining his "perfect customer" checklist. You see James even the less than perfect customer can generate revenue for your business unless you are overwhelmed with work and don't have the staff for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 James is a very different kind of dealer from the norm and specializes in projects for people that are living in multi million dollar homes and up. While these folks have slightly slowed their pace of spending they are still spending and their is plenty of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shangool Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I really appreciate James' contributions to this board. He takes a lot of time to share information that he really does not need to. I do find it a bit silly that people jump on him and criticize his business. He has clearly made a choice to focus his business on super high end - he even states he takes only one client at a time. If it wasn't for company's like James's that pushes the install limit by installing Crestron's highest end equipment - the technology would never trickle down into more affordable products ie control4.personally i think he gives great advice for dealers - such as the lifestyle discovery - that's a huge differentiator and is fantastic business advice. regardless of what system (c4 or crestron) is used, it's only going to be as good as the installer and system design. alot of the principles james recommends are sound business practice and the guy goes out of his way to talk about what makes his business successful - not sure why people make emotional posts about him? he provides valuable information and shares a lot of information about the business practices that make his company successful. I think James has a great business model and won't be affected by the recession. From what he says most of his jobs are out of state and cater to the super wealthy. And he does one client at a time. The super wealthy are still super wealthy after the recession and are still spending money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 James has an interesting, two year long thread on his reno and Crestron install over on AVS http://www.avsforum.com/t/1401198/my-whole-house-crestron-automation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 James has an interesting, two year long thread on his reno and Crestron install over on AVS http://www.avsforum.com/t/1401198/my-whole-house-crestron-automationAfter reading the first post in that thread, it's obvious how narcissistic this guy is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark LaBelle Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Holy moly this guy is delusional. It must be the Orange County effect. Everyone is sun bleached there... While I can appreciate his business model, it's not necessarily Control4's. If you look on the main page of the website it clearly states what their business model is..... 1. Use your own equipment - what you have.2. Integrate what you already have.2. Start small and grow from there. With the "internet of things", Control4 is under extreme pressure to be a platform, which is what it is good at. What they are missing is the extreme knowledge that homeowners already have. We know what we want better than what you (dealer) could tell us. We live here and what we need changes all the time. Kids get older, equipment evolves now faster than ever, everything is connected and will continue to be that way, we add additions, we install new garage doors, we need new doorbells, we get better TV's, faster modems, switches, new furniture, and more and more and more... everyday! Control4 is going to lose at what can be know best for - letting the homeowner grow with their system without spending $200K over the life of the system. Name one system that someone has put in and left it for 5-7 years. I've spent over $75K on my Theater alone in the last 4 years and went through Pronto and URC just in the theater. When my Russound Whole House Audio system went out (not included in the $75K) I was forced to look at replacing the controller or going with a Crestron, AMX or Savant system. Well, those were clearly overkill for the 3,800 square foot home and with 4 kids, college expenses and weddings, I wasn't interested. In walks Control4. I had to give up some control (no pun intended), but it was worth it in the short term. But now, with all of the evolution in technology, I see this as a pain the butt. I've programmed some sophisticated stuff with my URC and Pronto and I have some high-end equipment. It's not in the realm of the delusional poster working with clients with far too much money to be bothered with a HOBBY like home automation, but it's significant in the investment. Control4 will never be what this guy wants it to be. You need volume in a world like this... If Control4 is to grow then it is in need of the upper middle income, higher net worth customers that want to grow with their system and not feel nickeled and dimed every time they replace a piece of equipment or redecorate a room. To do that, they need to make it more accessible to the end user - who knows infinitely better what they need than some dealer that signed up with Control4 because they can pull cable and set up a TV with HDMI and an IR blaster. IMHO. Control4, open this up to the end-user and you'll see a much higher adoption rate. Again, I'm not against paying for the initial implementation and I did to the tune of more than $11K and I did most of the design of the thing. I'm not even against paying a maintenance/enhancement fee for the use of ComposerPro Annually. Now just give me right to control my system. I have to swap out an older Oppo in the bedroom and an older Sony Bluray player in the Family Room and I have to wait forever for my dealer to call me back and let me know when he can get to it and pay $100 an hour for a 10 minute project. Seriously. Glad I finally found an independent guy that can help me out when I need it in the meantime. I don't need dealers, I need partners and Control4 you should act like one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Control4, open this up to the end-user and you'll see a much higher adoption rate. Again, I'm not against paying for the initial implementation and I did to the tune of more than $11K and I did most of the design of the thing. I'm not even against paying a maintenance/enhancement fee for the use of ComposerPro Annually. Now just give me right to control my system. I have to swap out an older Oppo in the bedroom and an older Sony Bluray player in the Family Room and I have to wait forever for my dealer to call me back and let me know when he can get to it and pay $100 an hour for a 10 minute project. Seriously. Glad I finally found an independent guy that can help me out when I need it in the meantime. I don't need dealers, I need partners and Control4 you should act like one. Remember there are dealers / gurus on here that you can allow remote access to your system to make changes at reasonable rates with no truck roll fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 ^^So, bottom-line, you want CPro? Because, if that isn't the case, I don't think we need to revisit the whole James thing again. BTW, my system has been in for 5 years without a complete rip-out. I don't think you mean this but surely you can't ignore the fact that discretionary upgrading is just part of evolution. As for the rest of your post, well, it can be added to the 10s (maybe 100s) of others like it here. Lastly, I bet you would think that AMX for an 800ft^2 dwelling is SUPER-overkill, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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