I watched a documentary about the music industry a few weeks back called Hired Gun. One of the interviews featured a grizzled drummer who recounted his experience playing in various bands over his career. He gigged and gigged for years, until one day, his phone stopped ringing. A new tour was announced by an artist he’d been playing with since the 1970s. He only realized he hadn’t been invited to participate through phone calls from friends and checking his social media feed.
I don’t know why this story hit me so hard, but then a lightbulb went off in my head as I was talking to a fellow integrator last week. We spend so much time as an industry trying to convince ourselves that everything’s fine when sometimes it’s clearly anything but. We shrug off little incidents like a customer buying a smart TV and setting it up by themselves at their beach house. We ignore the deafening silence from long-time clients figuring that “they’re just busy.” They are busy; busy setting up technology for themselves or working with your competitors, that is.
How are you preserving and enhancing your client relationships? Do you install a project, leave and then just go hunting for the next job? Do you take the opportunity to check in with your customers periodically? A little text congratulating, consoling, or connecting (thanks Jesse Itzler!) can go a long way toward ensuring you hang onto the hard-earned incumbent status you’ve enjoyed over the years. We host an annual block party to thank our clients for their business. In 2025, we plan to start adding quarterly vendor expos to our events calendar in an effort to keep our customers abreast of the latest in cutting-edge technology. After all, isn’t that why our clients lean on us so heavily to begin with?
Also by Henry Clifford: The Three Most Powerful Words in CI
I just found out one of our builders has been working with a local competitor for the last couple of years. I asked our director of builder relations about it, and he said that he figured he might’ve moved on after we were unable to complete a project on a tight timeline a few years ago. I asked him if maybe this might be a good time to pitch our new lighting and electrical division to him, offering an integrated approach where we can pull every piece of wire in the house. He agreed and we’ll be canvassing this former client right away. I’m frustrated it took so long for us to act, but I need only look in the mirror to find the responsible party…
If you find yourself tuning into a deafening silence, listen to your gut. It might just be trying to tell you that you haven’t been asked to do the next thing. Are you going to sit idly by or lean in and get after it? The choice is yours.
Stay frosty, and see you in the field.
