2010 Program
Tuesday, November 2 7:30 am – 9:00 am
Breakfast Keynote: Information Age Marketing
For years, custom electronics integrators thrived using simple word-of-mouth referrals as their primary marketing tool.
Those days are gone.
With the need to find more prospects in less obvious places and a heavier burden communicating the value proposition, today's leaders are increasingly turning to online and technology-based tools and techniques to get the job done. This presentation provides both a vision of the ideal information age marketing platform for custom integrators and number of real world examples of what CE Pro 100 integrators are doing well today.
You'll see how websites, e-mail marketing, social media platforms and CRM systems can be leveraged to generate leads, build trust, and manage the sales process for awesome results.
Tuesday, November 2 12:15 pm – 1:45 pm
Luncheon Presentation: Transformation: Developing a"Services-First" Business Model
We've watched with mouths agape as some of the nation's most honored specialty retailers have bit the dust over the last couple of years.
To some extent, it's been a tale of the devastating effects of the Great Depression, but we've all known for a while that the specialty retail business model was in trouble. Some of it was about the crushing overhead of brick and mortar stores, but perhaps even more so it was about the reliance on product pricing mark-ups for money to run the business and profit.
That approach leaves the dealer extra vulnerable to competition on price – a losing strategy when there are so many sources of cheap product on-line and through mass market merchants. The question for custom electronics integrators is why so many of our businesses still rely on the moldy product mark-up strategy? It is not universally so.
Many CE Pro 100 companies are taking steps towards merchandising their services – charging for design services, charging project management fees not only for their own services but for coordination with other contractors, pricing installation labor at a truly profitable rate and aggressively pursuing service and maintenance contracts that, again, make money.
In this session, we look at some of the winning strategies and tactics. We also examine the idea of a custom electronics integration company that is completely "Services First" in its business model–marketing, merchandising and managing the company to make money on the value they add with services, with margins from product mark-up positioned as the gravy atop the services meat and potatoes.
Wednesday, November 3 8:00 am – 9:00 am
Breakfast Presentation: Leveraging Advanced Technology Platforms:3D, iPad, iPhone, Smartphones, Control Apps and More!
Here they come! A mountain of new technology platforms that custom integrators can take advantage of by introducing them to early adopter customers and melding them with existing product lines and skill sets.
In this session, EH Publishing co-founder and CE Pro Editor-at-Large, Julie Jacobson, offers a comprehensive tour of the new technology landscape, providing her unique insights on not only what is here or coming but how manufacturers have developed and positioned the products for suitability to the custom channel.
She's joined by CE Pro 100 integrators who are on the cutting edge, who will share their strategies and plans to leverage the latest audio, video, communications and control platforms.
