Be Effective – Buy the Correct Tech the First Time

 

The market is flooded with online look-a-likes. Sadly, most people will just “rubber-neck” their way through it as the sales person talks right over their head in hopes that they’ll just get exhausted enough to press the “buy now” button and move on.

I love the quote from the movie Tommy Boy as he is trying to sell his product against another company that has the word “GUARANTEED” stamped on the box.  He basically responds, “Well, I could take a “poop” in a box and put the words “guarantee” on it.  But wouldn’t you rather buy a quality product from me?” There is a message here for sure and I often find myself in an educational role in this industry, though it’s a delicate position.  I don’t want to sound like a hardcore AV Bend salesman and I definitely don’t want to talk down to anyone when they admit, “I can buy this thing on Amazon for a fraction of the cost you have quoted me.”

 

Effective vs Efficient – Buy Correctly or Buy Quickly?

A Lifehack blog post shares, “Are you doing the right things? The key to effectiveness is that you’re doing things that lead to results in the realm of your responsibilities. Meanwhile the key to efficiency is getting your things done in a manner that consumes just the appropriate amount of energy and resources.”  So, yes Mr./Ms. Customer, you are right.  You can be efficient and quickly buy this “thing” somewhere else for less money.  But what will you be sacrificing?

The smart CEO states, “…efficiencies offer opportunities, but keep in mind that one of the fundamental economic principles is that people face tradeoffs. When you take action, you are always choosing not to do something else — you make a trade.”

 

Two AV Myths that Sabotage Effectiveness and are Terrible Tradeoffs

I would like to take this opportunity to reveal two myths that have a direct impact on your ability to be effective:

1. “All displays are basically made in the same factory in China and so they are pretty much the same. And if they are not, the difference is not a deal breaker for me if I can save money.”

The truth is there are a group of manufacturers that get their displays from the same place, but there is a lot that goes into displays besides the source of the manufacturing. For instance, there are manufacturers that take the time to reengineer the display to optimize it and make it perform better than it came off the assembly line.

Real Life Example: Color. Read the spec sheet! Make sure your display meets sRGB Color standard, not Adobe RGB Color Space.  This is key when you consider displaying your marketing presentation in the conference room versus your desktop monitor.  Save yourself the embarrassment of buying a cheap monitor or TV to show off your marketing plan.

2. “I have to get a 1920 X 1080 Display because if the resolution is 4k (3840 x2160) then the people in the back of the room won’t be able to view it since the text will be too small.”

There is an equation for viewing distance and choosing the right size but we are talking about resolution. The same age old rule applies – “garage in, garbage out.”  If you have a laptop or media player that has a native output resolution of 3840 x2160 then purchase a display with the same.  The viewable size of the image to cover your audience is not about the resolution exclusively. Seek the counsel of a commercial AV designer and he/she will help you navigate where you need a single large display or a video wall, which is a more common solution these days to get a larger viewable area.

 

My Primary Goal – Customer Satisfaction

The biggest deal for me is that I want my customers to be happy for a long time, not just for a few days or month.  I only recommend displays with commercial three year warranties.  This covers me and you.  The nice thing is that if the display does go bad within the warranty period, the manufacturer pays me to remove, box-up and replace.  There’s no hassle or liability for my customer (deep sigh of relief!), and what a sense of satisfaction that brings to us all!

Hope you enjoyed this post and like always, you can add your comments and questions here to continue the conversation.

Live your life in full color.