Smart Home Surgery

Is the Customer Always Right?

You’re probably no stranger to angry customers. But, how do you protect yourself in these tricky situations? In this episode, we talk about how to keep your customers happy without turning your business into a charity.

I’m joined by Benjamin Pratt from B Electrical.

Welcome to season 2!

What we discussed

(00:00) Season 2 (and personal thoughts)!

(04:46) Is the customer always right? 

(06:49) How referrals get messy (client story)

(13:50) The right conversations to have with your customers

(19:39) Bullied by a client?  

(26:49) Fear of bad reviews

(30:44) False promises of future work

(35:42) Taking responsibility for your team

(39:21) Expectations of high net worth clients

(48:07) Breaking up with a client

3 tips for protecting your business while keeping clients happy:

• Scopes of work help you manage expectations. Yes, they're time-consuming but they're what will save you when misunderstandings arise. Customers will forget what you discussed. Scopes of work will protect you.

• When you’re working with a client based on a referral, make sure you speak with the end client directly. Don’t rely on the person who referred you to tell you what to do or what the client needs. If you don’t directly speak with the end client, you might end up being on different pages.

• In any project, there will be things that are out of your control. Make sure your contracts cover you for these inevitable situations.

Links

Connect with Benjamin Pratt: LinkedIn

Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

The Cost of Not Partnering With Specialists

Partnering with specialists cost you some of your margin. But, a £500,000 law suit will cost more.

In today’s episode, we talk about when it’s worth partnering with a specialist, the cost of not partnering with one, and the benefits of partnership.

We’re joined by John Christenson and Rob Rathbone who are both specialist security installers.

“By getting a specialist contractor in, you might be able to not be in prison”

What we discussed

(00:00) Who are John Christenson and Rob Rathbone?

(02:12) From car audio to CCTV: finding his niche (JC installs)

(05:15) Moving from general services to specialist services

(09:09) Becoming a specialist without confusing customers

(15:17) The cost of not hiring a specialist 

(21:08) You’re not qualified, marketing lied to you

(25:45) I fucked up, so I hire specialists (complete honesty)

(29:38) Are you insured to do specialist work?

(36:08) Should installers do security work?

(41:21) Smart integrations

(48:10) Be prepared to be sued

(50:44) Funniest CCTV footage

3 things reasons to partner with specialists:

• It's essential to recognize your areas of expertise and not stretch yourself too thin by venturing into specialties that you don't fully understand. This can lead to mistakes and customer dissatisfaction, which in turn undermines your credibility and the quality of your core service.
• The extra money you might make from not hiring a specialist might cost you your mental health and reputation.
• When expanding your service offerings, it's crucial to understand what your insurance actually covers. Engaging in work that's not covered, such as installing TVs when you're not insured for it, can lead to serious consequences like property damage that you'd be personally liable for.

Links

Connect with John Christenson: LinkedIn

Connect with Rob Rathbone: LinkedIn

Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

A CEDIA member and a non-CEDIA member debate whether CEDIA membership is worth it for your business. You’ll hear both sides of the story so that you can carefully consider whether being a CEDIA member will produce a lucrative return on investment. Investing in CEDIA is more of a time investment than it is a financial investment, and as installers, our most valuable asset is our time. So, will investing time in CEDIA bring value to your business? 

We also discuss how CEDIA can improve in the future and the key gaps it’s missing - as well as the stigma around it being an old boys club. 

Joining our show for this debate are two ex-colleagues with over 60 years of industry experience: 

• Owen Maddock, of Cinema Works - based in Bristol, who is an AWARD-winning CEDIA advocate
• Jason Humphries, of Encore Home Technology; who has decided to leave the association after not seeing the added value to his business

CEDIA stands for the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. It is a global trade association for companies that specialize in the design and installation of high-performance technology solutions for the home.

What we discussed 

(00:00) CEDIA Member: Owen Maddock from Cinema Works

(02:27) Non-CEDIA Member: Jason Humphreys from Encor Home Technology

(03:11) CEDIA member vs. Non-CEDIA member 

(04:07) Why Owen joined CEDIA 

(05:58) Is CEDIA course material any good? 

(08:17) Making time for CEDIA volunteer work 

(14:25) Is CEDIA an elitist old boys club?

(17:19) Does CEDIA membership guarantee quality work?  

(21:41) Investing in the Denver HQ: Mistake?

(23:50) CEDIA awards

(26:31) CEDIA outreach program

(36:28) When do you stop benefitting from CEDIA?

(37:16) Is CEDIA useful if you’re busy? OR Does CEDIA clutter your schedule?

(42:44) What CEDIA needs to change

(51:13) Should you pay for CEDIA? 

(55:27) Experience leaving CEDIA

(57:38) Best thing about CEDIA

(01:00:17) How CEDIA can improve in the future

(01:06:38) What would make Jason reactivate his CEDIA membership

(01:11:14) Am I a CEDIA member?

Some Pro CEDIA sentiments we discussed (more on the show): 

1. CEDIA puts you in front of architects, designers, and property people - it gives you a foot in the door. 
2. “the volunteer journey makes you better” 
3. Decent training opportunities for beginner installers

Some Anti-CEDIA sentiments we discussed (more on the show): 

1. You can be an appalling installer and a CEDIA member, membership is not an indication of quality 
2. Not enough networking and community-building benefits 
3. You won’t necessarily get a good return on your investment 

Links

CEDIA 

Connect with Owen Maddock: Cinema Works Website | LinkedIn | Instagram 

Connect with Jason Humphreys: Encore Home Technology Website | LinkedIn |

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

How this installer gets 75% of his clients from social media 

4 years ago Dan Clerkin didn’t have a social media presence, 3 years ago he started getting serious leads from it, today 75% of his business comes from social media. Dan is one of the few people in the home installation business with a strong social media presence. In this episode, he shares advice, insights, and tips that got him where he is today.

Dan Clerkin is the Managing Director of Airwave Audio and Vision Limited. 

What we discussed 

(00:00) Taking over a business early in his career 

(05:43) Getting high end clients 

(08:17) Starting social media 4 years ago 

(12:45) His impostor syndrome moment 

(19:14) Brand deals for installers: how to get them, and dos and don’ts  

(24:37) Using social media for confidence and status in the industry 

(27:04) How long it took Dan to get leads from social media 

(30:57) Should you give away free stuff to celebrity followers? 

(38:03) How to become confident and consistent on social media

(41:45) Does social media affect your personal life? 

(43:08) Instagram vs. TikTok

(44:14) Clients with too many expectations 

(52:54) Best social media accounts in our industry 

(54:35) Ben’s plans for 2025 

3 things to consider when starting your social media presence as an installer:

1. It takes a long time to do social media well. Gaining confidence takes time. You need to build up to a point where you’re able to connect with people, it usually doesn’t happen overnight. 

1. People don’t decide they want a home cinema overnight, you have to be willing to build long-term connections with people who follow you rather than expecting immediate conversions from social media 

1. Visibility is not the only perk of having a social media presence, you also get lots of brands, distributors, and manufacturers who are keen on doing business with you. 

Links

Connect with Dan Clerkin: Instagram | Website | LinkedIn

Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

Why aren't there any smart home regulations?

Lots of people mistakenly think that starting a service business is easy. They prematurely quit their job and start becoming self-employed with no real plan. Benjamin Pratt and I explore how this affects the quality of installations out there in the market. We discuss experience over qualifications, how having boundaries can help you scale your business and maintain your mental health, the power of saying no, and whether or not the smart home industry can benefit from more regulation.

Benjamin Pratt is the founder of B Electrical. He is known for his no-nonsense attitude on social media, and he talks about why he doesn’t filter himself online. 

What we discussed 

(00:00) No filter social media content for installers? 

(02:19) You must have f*cked up (&Ben’s backstory)

(09:11) Moving from graphic design to smart home

(10:38) ADHD and being a difficult person

(15:49) My electrical skills courses: worth it? 

(20:56) Firing clients vs. people pleasing

(23:16) Degrees vs. experience 

(25:34) Why self-employed tradesman fail

(29:10) Pricing mistakes 

(34:41) Outdated smart home curriculums 

(48:10) “Had enough of electrics” Smart Home is my passion

(51:57) Van life: installer’s edition

(53:04) Biggest regret 

(56:48) Biggest financial mistake

3 things to consider before starting your smart home business:

1. Not every prospect should be your client: just because someone wants to work with you doesn’t mean you must work with them. Just as clients vet you, you must vet your clients.

1. Creating a business plan should be your first step if you want to become a self-employed tradesman. Winging your start into the industry is a recipe for failure. 

1. Be careful when competing based on price, you have to take into account the cost of your time and the cost of all your materials and outsourced work. If you undercharge, you risk making a loss or merely breaking even. 

Links

Connect with Benjamin Pratt: LinkedIn | B Electrical

Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

WE TALK ABOUT PRIORITISING MENTAL HEALTH IN YOUR INSTALLATION BUSINESS, NO MATTER WHAT THE TRADE WITH HOWARD SMITH

From electrician to rehab center owner

Howard Smith went from 3rd-year apprentice directly to self-employed electrician, but it wasn’t a straight path. Along the way he lost his best friend and became a recovering alcoholic. This is the story of how, through it all, his personal and professional growth became intertwined. We discuss how no one taught him how to run a business, how he only turned over 20K in his first year in business, seeking professional help, and how to employ vulnerability as a skill.

Howard Smith is the founder of HDS Electrical and Bali Beginning (a rehab center for treating drug and alcohol addiction).

What we discussed

(00:00) From apprentice to businessman (directly)

(03:09) Learning how to price & raising your prices 

(09:45) Balancing getting sober with work

(18:50) Panic attack every time the phone rings 

(25:21) Managing your flaws to run your electrical business 

(34:10) Pain = growth?

(40:28) Why fake it until you make it is bad advice

(52:38) How to remember more

(54:30) Setting up reliable systems (daunting AF)

(57:31) Mental health advice for tradesman

(01:06:47) Letting your goals shape your business 

(01:15:36) Battling with bravado 

3 ways to preserve your mental health as you grow your electrical company:

1. Learn to ask for help, treat help like a muscle you want to grow in the gym, train it! Go out and start asking questions and break down the fear of rejection
2. Be ultra honest and vulnerable with your clients, and they will respect you - it can be so disarming to admit yor mistakes, how you really feel or what you really need. Don’t fake it until you make it, own who you are and own your shortfalls.
3. Take a few days to set up strong systems that help you automate or lighten the load in parts of your business (eg: CRM, bookkeeping, email system, etc.). It can seem daunting in the very beginning but it will lift a huge load of stress off your shoulders in the long term. You’ll spend less time setting it all up than you will worrying that you haven’t set it up.

Pod will be live at 8am Friday morning

Links

Artisan Electrics

Connect with Howard Smith: LinkedIn | HDS Electrical |

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

Becoming the best custom installer has very little to do with your custom installation skills, anyone can learn to be an engineer. In fact, starting your career outside the custom installation and smart home space can give you an edge. Louise and John both had careers outside the space, Louise was a civil servant and John took on so many varied roles including house flipper and black cab driver before they became two of the most helpful people in our industry. 

In this episode, I speak to them about how to really make your smart home technology business stand out. 

What we discussed 

(00:00) From civil service to an electrical business 

(05:04) The messiest career you’ll ever come across 

(12:23) The 1 secret behind profitable electrical businesses 

(16:16) Getting their first client (& how they grew their electrical business) 

(22:11) Impressions of the custom install industry from an outsider 

(28:54) Should you add “electrical” to your business name?

(31:04) If they had to start their business from scratch

(37:02)  Affordable home cinema rooms 

(40:46) Marketing your smart home business 

3 ways to increase make your smart home technology company stand out

1. The best way to separate yourself from the competition is to be polite, know how to talk to people, and do what you say you’re going to do. Your relationship skills will make or break your business. 

1. Pick one thing to specialize in, when you nail it down you can move on to or expand to other specialties. If your focus is too dispersed, you won’t be able to effectively grow your business. The specialty you pick is your anchor point, it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else.

1. Putting a lot of content on social media might hurt you because in your quest to be consistent you might end up posting content that distracts from the main narrative of your business and confuse people as to what you really specialize in and what they should come to you for. 

Links

Connect with John and Louise Tarling: Website | Instagram 

Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

Are your dealers quietly breaking up with you because you’re turning them off without even knowing it. We explore what really motivates brand loyalty in the smart home space. We chat about aftercare, accessible tech support, and what distributors and manufacturers of smart home tech consistently get wrong about retaining their customers. 

Liam Mclaughlin, Director of Progressive Home Technologies, joins me (Benjamin Davies) for this episode.

“You've got to operate like Ferrari or Rolls Royce, where the quality of your product is already guaranteed. It's already pre-assumed. The actual cinema, the actual lighting system, whatever, it's gonna be is gonna be great. But the experience of picking and choosing the fabrics is the product. The service and the interaction is the product.” (05:18) 

“the two or three brands that I really, really do have loyalty with are ones you're talking about talking to the people in the middle, the ones that really respect their nerds.” (30:26) 

What we discussed 

(00:00) Listen, we aren’t surgeons, we are smart home nerds

(00:42) Growing a tech company in 2004 

(04:21) Include client cuddles in your budget, here’s why.

(11:13)  Running a home tech business for 19 years: industry insights 

(17:50) Flawed marketing of smart home tech 

(21:44) Smart Home dealers on the decline

(23:23) How to lose a customer (fast)

(30:01) Why I don’t like talking to salespeople

(32:09)  Good vs bad smart home manufacturer/distributors 

(36:19) Smart home brand turnoffs 

(39:58) Delightful experience with a lighting company (be like them)

(43:00) Best smart home industry brand ambassadors 

(45:14) My worst project

3 ways to increase the brand loyalty around your smart home technology company  

1. Budget for client cuddles: Budget staff time for taking care of customer concerns, add it as a line item, this way you don’t have to stress when a customer needs extra attention because it’s already in your budget. When you’ve got it built into your budget,  you enjoy these moments. 

1. If you don’t earn your place, you get replaced: If you lose the trust of your customers, you get demoted to being just another product. Having a great customer experience is how you avoid becoming commoditized. This is especially true if you’re not the only provider in your space. 

1. Technical communication > regurgitated sales scripts: “Don't be a salesperson. We don't want a sales industry. We want technical communication.” (31:15) 

Links

Connect with Liam Mclaughlin: LinkedIn 

Progressive Home Technology: Website 

Host: Inspire Audio Visual: Website


Smart Homee Group: Facebook

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode

Let me introduce myself, I'm Ben Davies once upon a time I knew nothing, now I know something. 

I'm here to help you navigate the world that is Smart Home Integration, we want to discover the journey business owners have taken into this space and how to take the leap yourself.  We'll lay it all on the table and hopefully we can all learn along the way. 

This Podcast is not created for anyone but you the tradesman/integrator! its the real talk/chat we have at the shows and bar, so expect some choice language and strong opinions. 

Season 1 will follow like this:

Episode 1: Brand Loyalty
Episode 2: Starting out in Professional Smart Home
Episode 3: Poor Smart Home Installs
Episode 4: Mental Health in trades
Episode 5: Smart Marketing
Episode 6: is CEDIA worth it?

Bonus episode in ISE (industry show) 

So this is my introduction, lets see how the season goes!

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

• Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
• Email us at [email protected]

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode