Every owner, manager, and salesperson should know their competitive advantage. You should know what you offer the client that surpasses what they find elsewhere. You should know why customers choose to do business with you, not your competitor. You should know why you’re worth your client’s time and money. But what if you don’t?

Once you hit a certain level of success in your AV business, it’s natural to explore the possibility of expanding. But should you go from local to national? Multi-national? Global? Maybe you have clients with offices around the world who have planted the seed that expanding overseas would be profitable for your company. After all, China and other countries in the Far East are particularly attractive and rich with opportunity. But taking your company to a new location requires more than a mastery of the logistics.

You’re trying to find a new salesperson, but you can’t seem to find anyone with an AV background. You hoped to hire someone with 5-10 years industry experience, preferably in a company “exactly like yours.” After all, it will cut down your training and they’ll be able to get to work ASAP. Is that really too much to ask? Yes.

Why didn’t you close the deal? You worked hard to go beyond meet the customer’s requests. You added all the bells and whistles. You delivered far more than they could have hoped for... at a competitive price, nonetheless. Or maybe you offered exactly what they wanted (so you thought). You delivered their requests and came in well below the other competitors. With such great service or such a great deal, why didn’t you win the bid?

Negotiation is nothing new in the AV industry. While these conversations are seldom simple, sometimes they present an especially complex issue that’s harder to unpack. In negotiation challenges where the customer is asking about specific line-item pricing and wanting more transparency in the proposal, there’s typically an underlying issue that needs to be addressed: Are they really concerned with price… or are they looking for a deal?

Do you have fun in your business? Is there laughter? Do employees enjoy what they do? How are your relationships with your suppliers? Do your customers enjoy working with you? The idea of “fun” comes up a lot in business discussions now, particularly since Google established a unique approach to business culture. They’ve set a high bar for fun in their company by encouraging employees to work how and when they like, use nap pods, and play games when they need a mental break.