Wanted: Qualified Installers
By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 9/5/2005
Over the past several years CEDIA Expo has been this industry's official indicator that vacation time is over and that autumn and the holiday selling season will soon be upon us.
Indications are based on what we've covered in this issue's News section and special CEDIA Expo section (see p. 25) that the home audio industry has finally gotten with the program and is at least attempting to tap in and embrace audio formats like MP3 and iPod, as well as satellite radio.
But the problem remains, who will install all this great, home entertainment equipment?
The simple answer is that there are not enough technicians out there to do the job now, which is a serious problem for the industry. National chains, independents, regional retailers and traditional custom installers all mention the mantra of “selling up” and providing “expert sales, service and installation,” and that will be their businesses' key to growth now and in the future.
But the not-so-secret fact is that when you talk to everyone off-the-record they say the same thing: Their businesses are being hampered by a lack of qualified technicians.
As a consumer, I've experienced this situation first-hand. Since buying a plasma HDTV earlier this year, I tried in vain to attach a DVD recorder to my DVR to download programs I recorded to share with friends. I tried three or four times to do it myself and finally gave up. I called the help line of my TV service provider more than once. (To protect the guilty I'm not saying if it is a cable or satellite company.) I called the maker of the DVD recorder numerous times. I received different solutions that didn't work each time I called. Undaunted I called the retailer where I bought the plasma to see if they could help. I didn't feel so dumb when after an hour-and-a-half visit, the two technicians they sent needed more information from the provider and the DVD maker.
So I turned to the service provider for an in-house visit. Two more technicians came by a couple of weeks ago and improved the HDTV signal coming to my house and tried to attach the DVD recorder to my system. A video switcher we bought created too much feedback, but the bottom line was after an almost six-hour visit and numerous calls to and from their home office, the inelegant solution was to plug the DVD recorder in to download and unplug it when not in use. (P.S. — Until I get another switcher I still have to plug and unplug the DVD recorder manually.)
The next morning we turned on the plasma and it became an expensive radio: HD-quality audio but no picture. One of the new wires that were installed was faulty and when the next pair of service guys came by they asked my wife, “Why did they attach the DVD recorder this way?”
Now, I know something about consumer electronics so I had, and still have, plenty of patience since their problem has a lot to do with hardware design. One of the six guys who visited said to me about their schedule, “We have plenty of jobs open but we aren't paying enough to get the right people.” The industry is also not training the people it has effectively enough to keep up with the ever-changing technology in CE.
Until the industry can effectively hire, train and keep qualified field technicians to install all the marvelous technology it sells, the profitable growth plans for both retailers and custom installers alike will be stifled.
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