USAV Integrator Townhall 30/60/90 Look Ahead for 2021

USAV Blog
Written By Brittany Board

This month, we were joined by our special guest, Matt Barnette, new CEO of PSA who was greeted by over 40 USAV integrators. Matt was quickly brought up to speed on how dynamic the USAV group is to collaborate and find solutions to current events impacting our businesses. This month’s format included a review of data collected by a few different resources, followed by breakout groups and share back. The focus was on Q1 & Q2 pipeline, travel policies, and return to work plans. Special thanks to Tim Brooks, Jay Kowalski, Travis Deatherage, Jim Sheer and Chris Salazar-Mangrum for leading the 40-minute breakout session.

After the breakouts, the breakout room leads shared their discussions. In Summary:

    • The expectations are the Q1 and Q2 will be soft with a boom in Q3 and Q4. Buckle up and make sure there is enough inventory!

    • The pandemic changed our industry for the long term and exit plans are now a permanent part of the business plan. Businesses must be prepared for home offices to become permanent and management’s acceptance that employees are capable of working from home creates a shift in culture and focus.

    • Connecting with customers/prospects has spawn creativity from video calls, webinars, and virtual events, but there is obvious video fatigue there. Some tips to help drive customer engagement:

      • Happy hours/appreciation get togethers (hosted trivia, virtual escape rooms)

      • Using the words “limited/customer/time is running out” vocab to entice more people to come

        • Videos of renovations posted on social media – tag clients so they’re forced to look at it

      • Actual check ins – not “talking shop”

      • More staying in touch and not trying to sell something

      • Asking/engaging how they’re doing as a company and what we can do to help them

    • “Hot” Solutions:

      • Temp sensors aren’t selling but have opened up conversations to multiple areas i.e. air purification

      • Room density monitors/calculators

      • Space analytics - Trace amount of people coming into the office space

      • Video walls – portable/permanent so they can evenly distribute people around campuses (houses of worship)

      • Municipalities are looking to upgrade AV (city halls/courts)

      • White papers to companies who need advice on how to return to work (starts conversations, monetizes their knowledge)

      • Phased approach (by groups/shifts)

      • Employee Safety and Air Quality are High priorities: air purifiers, daily cleaning, hand sanitizer stations, temperature check at the entrance, maintaining safe occupancy levels, touchless access (face recognition access control), QR codes, contact tracing.

    • Are you or your customers traveling?

      • Very little and dependent on corporate mandates and regional guidelines. There expects to be more travel during the springtime when vaccines are deployed at a higher rate.

Brittany Board
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