Change of Pace- In Home Client Demo

This is a republish of an article of mine from an industry-only publicatio

I’m not that old, but back when I started in this industry, integrated AV and automation control was pretty close to black magic. People did it, but not many people understood how or why. Six-figure systems were bought and sold on two things; your relationship with the buyer and the demo “wow”. These days, the demo seems to be a lost art form. People buy from a bid package and don’t really know what they’ve bought until the demo at the house months or years later and most of us take that time to show the client how the system works, not to blow the doors off and impress. What a lot of us don’t realize is that this could be the best demo opportunity we have ever gotten, showroom or not.

Now, ill admit that I’m pretty rusty on demoing. We don’t have a showroom, I don’t do sales, and the demo’s I tend to do are more of how to use the system vs. wowing the client. What I have started to do is alter the traditional demo to better suit my role and our product. The demo has become- The client life demo.

Basically, instead of wowing the client in a showroom, you are giving the demo of how to use the system, in their homes. Most of the time (at least in the case of Innerspace) the system programming is wrapping up as the client is moving in, so you really have a chance to make them realize how this impacts their life on a day to day basis.

I like to schedule at the end of the day, when people aren’t (as) rushed. As Production Supervisor, I like to get to the house early, check in, check the system out to know what needs work, and what doesn’t, and set the stage for what’s to come. Know what music is on the server, know what movie and what scene I want to demo, and run through the house to see what vignettes I want to stage. That’s right, what better place to stage a vignette, than to set it up where they are about to spend a large portion of their lives. Many showrooms use vignettes to give potential clients a taste of what a system like this might be like in their homes, this is where you have the upper hand!

Now, of course you’re going to do the jaw-dropping demo. The IronMan in the theater, the Dark Knight in the Media room, but what else? How about (pre) recording an HD football game in the study or bar? Why not show Bloomberg or MSNBC on the TV in the bathroom, or AM/FM and local news in the kitchen? Yes, you absolutely want to impress and show them what the system is capable of, but you also want the client to realize that you understand that this was a lifestyle choice, and you get how they live their lives to some extent. Play summer music in the dead of winter out by the pool, show off the lighting preset that gets them to the bedroom without fumbling for switches they have yet to discover. Make the house feel like home as soon as you can. This is also a great time to upsell. Show them the iPhone apps, sit them down at their computer and show them E-Control. Have all of this at the ready so that when they pick their jaws off the floor, you can make a quick, tidy profit and just bring these awesome features online near-instantly. You don’t just want to show them how to use it; you want to show them how to use it in their new life in their new home. What better time could you have to wow someone, than right after the stress of building and or moving into a new home?

Now, like the old days, the key to the demo is to lead the demo. You certainly don’t want the system to completely blow their minds but leave them unable to use it. Make sure it’s interactive. Make sure they learn how to do what you just did. The system is likely easy to use, but it might be their first system of this caliber and may be a bit intimidating, especially to the rest of the family. This is not like the old days in that you want to be seen as the “all powerful stereo guy”. Leave that to someone else. You want them diving right in. Nothing is better than coming back for an add-on and seeing the system being used by the whole family, with the exception of them loving the system so much that all their friends call….