The nobox program by Almo Pro A/V identifies complementary services that AV customers need to purchase anyway and puts integrators in a position to provide them.
One of the fascinating aspects of Almo Pro A/V’s recently launched nobox program which facilitates recurring revenue streams for its integration firm dealers is the simplicity of its goal. The AV products distributor wants integrators to stop leaving services opportunities on the table.
It’s not suggesting that integration firms go out and seek new service sales opportunities or create new strategies (at least, it’s not specifically suggesting that with its nobox program).Instead, it’s identifying service opportunities that are likely right there for the taking that simply aren’t taken.
Example No. 1: Digital Signage ContentConsider digital signage, says Almo Pro A/V executive VP Sam Taylor. “Integrators are putting in the digital sign but they’re not doing the content creation.”By not providing content, you may be creating a path for a competitor to compete for all of the customer’s AV needs.For a few reasons, that doesn’t make good business sense. Digital signage hardware is useless without content. So somebody has to create the content for the customer. If it’s not you, that somebody “could be another integrator,” Taylor points out.
By not providing content, you may be creating a path for a competitor to compete for all of the customer’s AV needs, he says.The challenge, of course, is that most AV integrators don’t have digital signage content creation services in house. That’s where Almo Pro A/V’s nobox program comes into play. The distributor, which recently acquired digital signage creative services provider Insteo, offers content creation that its dealers can essentially sell as their own offering – and earn recurring revenue on it.“We do the heavy lifting for the integrator,” Taylor says.
Example No. 2: Broadband ServicesAV integrators aren’t cable guys and cable guys aren’t AV integrators. That being said, they do complement one another.“Our integrators are putting in 4K systems that require the customer to go out and get more bandwidth,” Taylor says.Almo Pro A/V dealers can be authorized to sell the same service via large providers such as Comcast.Instead of the customer dealing directly with a broadband service provider, Almo Pro A/V dealers can be authorized to sell the same service via large providers such as Comcast as part of the distributor’s Business Communications service.For the customer, it eliminates the need to engage with a cable company. For the integrator, it creates a new recurring revenue stream.“As long as the customer stays with Comcast the dealer get a check for having done completed that sale,” Taylor says. “We do the heavy lifting there, too.”With its nobox services, Almo Pro A/V aims to make its dealers’ transition to earning more service-based revenue easier. In both examples that Taylor raises, the customers need to purchase the services from a provider. Almo’s program puts integrators in a position to be that provider.“We’re trying to create areas where they have missed or left behind,” Taylor says.