Now I by no means mean to imply that you will be prepared to tackle a large installation after reading this blog, nor do I claim responsibility for what yo do with the information I present to you. I am however, sharing with you what can be seen as a list of required skills that would be of benefit to any contractor looking to enter into the sound system installation field. I repeatedly say that if you are not qualified for a particular aspect of the work, then sub contract it out.
Now, back to the fun stuff....
Selling the installation,...
While this may make us sound like used car salesmen, the fact remains that if we are going to be successful at what we do, we need to sell our product. Now I do not under any circumstances advocate that we resort to shady practices or deception. I have evolved a sort of presentation style of mine own which I find works well for my personality and has for the most part gotten me the job, which is essentially the first foot in the door to a successful installation. Not all of my techniques may work for everyone, and I'm sure some will disagree with me on certain points so I suggest you take what I say and see what may work for you. This is simply how I do it, and the method has evolved over the course of years, it works for me, so I share it with you here today.First of all, my presentations and written proposals incorporate elements of my observations of the existing system if any, conclusions drawn from conversations with the users and operators of the equipment (vocalists, speakers, musicians, sound personnel), results of any testing I may have done in the space and finally some attempt is made to educate the client in areas that he / she may be lacking with regards to the venue, their existing equipment, and what new equipment the proposal suggests for installation as well as what additional work is to be performed. Rather than dazzle them with measurements and charts, I prefer to explain what the terminology means in a basic manner and then in simple (and sometimes graphic) means explain what I intend to do if they hire me, and why this is a better way to go.
Secondly, once a realistic budget has been established, I like to give the client some options that fall into three categories:
- A basic, adequate solution that comes in under budget and does the job. I explain where the compromises have been made if any, and what the limitations are of this system. Equipment is chosen from a list of professional, high quality gear that my experience in the past has shown me is durable and gives a good ROI
- A good solution that attempts to cover as much as possible with the agreed upon budget, and which incorporates a bell or whistle or two. Equipment is chosen, as in the first option, to give the most bang for the buck, but with some more freedom to choose some nice "sonic toys"
- A system which will land slightly over the agreed upon budget but which is the dream system that I have discussed with the venue's sound crew and performers who regularly use the system
In the end they decided to go with the original installation, but unfortunately work was now over a month behind! The good thing was that since I had gone to great lengths to explain the nature of the work itself, and the advantages that the new system would provide, they had no problem coping with the delays. They even payed for the additional time and labor to get the installation completed!
This was totally the result of good a client / contractor relationship established early on and which was nurtured by a professional presentation and responsible work ethic. Arriving on time or early if possible, maintaining constant and clear communication, and having a professional appearance counts for a lot. I may be a long haired mad soundman, but my long hair, mustache and beard are no excuse for poor grooming or sloppy appearances when giving a presentation. You don't need to have a suit and a tie, but neatness counts when the accountant is present during the reading of the proposal! Just trust me on that! No one will cut a check for ten or twenty thousand dollars to someone who looks like a slob,...
On the other hand, it's very nice to have the client pay for the equipment up front... Generally I've had no problem getting clients to pay sixty percent up front to cover equipment costs and the balance upon completion of the job.
Third-
The proposal itself is written in a variant of APA formatting which I have adapted to my writing style. I strongly suggest you do some online research on APA formatting to get the general idea. I break up the proposal into several sections:
- A short introductory statement usually referring to the date the original evaluation for the installation was done. One or two paragraphs are more than enough here
- The Summary of what the proposed new installation will be, it's objectives, and what problems are to be addressed or corrected. This will usually go on for a page or so
- An exhaustively detailed breakdown of the installation, work to be done, and any technical information that would be relevant to and assist in understanding the needs and problems this installation will address. This section is as long or short as it needs to be.
- The three variations of a theme which I mentioned previously
- An estimate breakdown sheet showing costs of equipment and labor, depending upon the complexity of the installation I may do just one showing all the options or three different one's (one for each price option)
- I usually place the equipment list here, with illustrations and technical specifications. Sometimes I will place it head of the financial sheets. A technically savvy group, musicians for example, will want to see the equipment before plowing through the financials. With the illustrations this section averages one page per piece of gear, with sometimes up to three pages devoted to one piece of equipment (such as a mixing console for example).
- A glossary of technical jargon used in the proposal, followed by additional information, appendixes and spec sheets
Which brings me to my final point before I let you go today... This is a field that is constantly changing and growing. You need to keep up. There will always be the old standbys in equipment that can be specified for certain applications and will always work, but don't brush off new gear simply because it's new or because "you already do it the old way and it works just fine". The new gear was made for a reason, and sometimes can actually make your life a lot easier. Also, you really do have to work on your computer skills since more and more gear is being made to interface with computers these days....
Ok, that's more than I intended to say, so I'll shut up now while you absorb all this information! Next time I'll continue with the installation of the speaker cluster and a little bit about why and how clusters work.
Stay creative
Keep music alive!
The Mad Soundman of AMS Systems
http://amssound.com ~ Sound You Can Feel