Show and Tell

Falling prices for consumer electronics let production builders pack their homes with technology add-ons that were once exclusive to the custom market. But experts say it's not enough to just add tech gadgets — the builder's sales staff needs to show homeowners how these gadgets enhance their lives. In the electronics industry it's called "attachment selling," but it should already be familiar to anyone who has sold kitchens and baths.

A flat panel television will capture buyers' attention while letting builders wow customers with technology attachments. These range from surround sound to the ability to look through the home's security cameras.

According to Eric Bodley, Monster Cable's sales manager focusing on home builders, it's a matter of showing how an "attachment" will make something the homeowner is already paying for even better. For instance, attachments to a flat panel TV could include surround sound, or the ability to pause a movie when the doorbell rings, push a button to see who is standing at the front door, then pick up the phone and talk to them.

In the custom-home business, low-voltage contractors routinely use attachment selling to show buyers all the great things they can do with the home network that they're already paying for. Although Bodley has helped several production builders learn to do the same, he says that the job remains a challenge. "In established industries [like production home building], people tend to do what they always do because they have always done it that way."

Most builders have always thought of products as just products. But according to Bodley, if you want to help buyers understand the benefits of technology add-ons, you have to do more than talk tech: You have to create scenarios. "Don't present a product, present a theme," he says. For example, don't ask a couple if they want additional features in their lighting control program. Ask them if, when they drive up to their home at night, they'd like to be able to press the garage door opener and have the lights turn on all the way along the path from their garage to their bedroom. "Selling the theme of convenience, not the product, is what makes the attachment sale possible," says Bodley.

Attachment selling is a great way to entice buyers into adding devices to a whole-house system. Take lighting, for example. "We offer a starter lighting package that includes five dimmers with three-way capabilities, a garage control and five-button master control panel," says Mark Archer, a director with Big Picture TV in Denver. He adds that the Lutron system they offer can be scaled to include up to 64 loads.