Rich Riehl on why running your business requires a skill-set most A/V dealers don’t have upfront.

Every day new companies jump into the residential A/V installation business. It seems easy enough to begin. Just fill out a dealer application with a local distributor and complete some basic paperwork to get a sales tax certificate, and you are up and running in about 24 hours. You have some technical skills and know how to hookup this stuff, so just fill up your van with wire and in-wall speakers, and you are off to the races. Jump on in, the water’s fine.

Launching a new CE business is basically about selling and installing home audio/video and electronic systems. On the surface, these two core tasks may seem relatively easy to accomplish. But, be forewarned; just hiding beneath the surface of that crystal blue water are dozens of unseen icebergs, big enough to sink the Titanic.
I recently taught a series of boot camps for new CE business owners. I was brought in as an expert to train attendees on how to succeed in this business. After my introduction, I asked this simple question: “How many of you have had some experience in running a business?” Out of 100 eager attendees, only two hands went up. Ouch!

Many owners of small CE businesses are techies who spend most of their day out in the field, drumming up new business or working on the installations and service at hand. In between these daily demands they try to grab some spare time for office duties. Since sitting in the office is not billable time, these small business owners spend as little time as possible there. While this approach may be good for installers and service techs, it is a real problem when a business owner or manager follows this pattern and does not comprehend or give priority to essential office tasks that are crucial to running a successful business. These tasks have nothing to do with pulling wire and hooking up gear.

Some of the most dreaded office tasks are: scheduling, dispatching, creating proposals, ordering, invoicing, inventory management, payroll, job tracking, project management, record keeping, people management, bill paying, and bookkeeping. Inexperienced managers may spend their days running to installations and service calls because they always need to be done immediately. The office tasks just don’t cry out with that type of urgency, and they are certainly not as interesting, so they are inevitably put off.

If your business ever fails, it probably will have nothing to do with your technical skills. Unless you become an expert at the business of running your business, the odds are that you will put yourself out of business.
If you already have an MBA or degree in business management, you can stop reading this article now. The rest of us need to begin a lifelong process of education in operating a small business. Sign up now for business classes at your local college. Grab every night class you can. Next year at the CEDIA Expo, make their business classes your highest priority. There is so much to learn out there.

Think of it this way: the smaller your business is, the more you need to know about business. Whether you realize it or not, even a one-man business needs to be a fully functioning business entity. You are like a one-man baseball team with just one guy who must cover all the bases and the outfield, too. You will need all of the training and the best tools you can get. If you understand all the bases you are covering, you will start to look at your office time as a priority that cannot be ignored.

As soon as possible, hire a bookkeeper and some office help. Then you can share these tasks with dedicated professionals. Even then, you will need to understand these business processes so you can hire the right help and oversee your team as you add more members to cover more of these bases.

You will need to build on a solid business infrastructure to grow and prosper. Go beyond running from job to job in the field. Instead, look to your future and begin to put system solutions in place that offer time savings and repeatable processes that can bring together your sales, installation, and back office processes. I recommend that you seek out software solutions that streamline your workflow and business processes. The goal is to not be overwhelmed and bogged down by office duties. The goal is to adopt streamlined solutions that fully cover all the bases that your business needs without weighing it down. It will take lots of training, lots of time, and some trial and error. But taking these steps to building a lasting, solid business is the only way to get there. Be creative. Enjoy the journey.