Smart Home Surgery

Join us on the Smart Home Surgery podcast as we delve into the world of smart home technology. We bring you interviews with industry leaders, peers and influencers to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the people and businesses shaping this exciting field. Expect honest and open discussions on hot topics and the latest trends, without any bias towards specific brands or industry groups. Tune in for a fresh perspective on the smart home industry

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Smart Home Surgery

Should you be "Brand Loyal"

January 04, 2023 • Benjamin Davies • Season 1 • Episode 2

Are your dealers quietly breaking up with you because you’re turning them off without even knowing it. We explore what really motivates brand loyalty in the smart home space. We chat about aftercare, accessible tech support, and what distributors and manufacturers of smart home tech consistently get wrong about retaining their customers.

Liam Mclaughlin, Director of Progressive Home Technologies, joins me (Benjamin Davies) for this episode.

“You've got to operate like Ferrari or Rolls Royce, where the quality of your product is already guaranteed. It's already pre-assumed. The actual cinema, the actual lighting system, whatever, it's gonna be is gonna be great. But the experience of picking and choosing the fabrics is the product. The service and the interaction is the product.” (05:18)

“the two or three brands that I really, really do have loyalty with are ones you're talking about talking to the people in the middle, the ones that really respect their nerds.” (30:26)

What we discussed

(00:00) Listen, we aren’t surgeons, we are smart home nerds

(00:42) Growing a tech company in 2004

(04:21) Include client cuddles in your budget, here’s why.

(11:13) Running a home tech business for 19 years: industry insights

(17:50) Flawed marketing of smart home tech

(21:44) Smart Home dealers on the decline

(23:23) How to lose a customer (fast)

(30:01) Why I don’t like talking to salespeople

(32:09) Good vs bad smart home manufacturer/distributors

(36:19) Smart home brand turnoffs

(39:58) Delightful experience with a lighting company (be like them)

(43:00) Best smart home industry brand ambassadors

(45:14) My worst project

3 ways to increase the brand loyalty around your smart home technology company

Budget for client cuddles: Budget staff time for taking care of customer concerns, add it as a line item, this way you don’t have to stress when a customer needs extra attention because it’s already in your budget. When you’ve got it built into your budget, you enjoy these moments.

If you don’t earn your place, you get replaced: If you lose the trust of your customers, you get demoted to being just another product. Having a great customer experience is how you avoid becoming commoditized. This is especially true if you’re not the only provider in your space.

Technical communication > regurgitated sales scripts: “Don't be a salesperson. We don't want a sales industry. We want technical communication.” (31:15)

Links

Connect with Liam Mclaughlin: LinkedIn

Progressive Home Technology: Website

Host: Inspire Audio Visual: Website

Smart Homee Group: Facebook

Contact the Smart Home Surgery

Send us a DM on Instagram @smarthomees
Email us at media@smarthomee.co.uk

Thanks for listening & see you on the next episode