Smart Systems Technologies Creates Home Automation Systems That Help Builders Sell More Homes

Jimmy Salloum, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Irvine, California based Smart Systems Technologies, Inc, (SST) remembers the exact moment that the light bulb went on and he realized that a sea change was about to transform his company’s business. 

“It was 2011 and Standard Pacific Homes had come to us to help them market a 55 home development in Marina Del Rey, California called The Beach Collection at Latitude 33,” Salloum said.  “The tri-level townhome beach bungalows were inspired by Southern California’s “strand homes” and designed to offer the best of modern beach leaving.  Everything was perfect with these bungalows except for the fact that they weren’t selling as fast as Standard Pacific Homes expected.  They asked us for ideas and we suggested they include a basic Home Automation Systems Package with the purchase of the units.  They did.  The bungalows started selling.  And we realized that our business was about change dramatically — and for the better.” 

Salloum and SST President Craig Curran created a special Home Automation Systems Package built around the ELAN g! HC-4 System Controller.  The package also included a vandal-resistant camera, two programmable thermostats, one three-button lighting control switch, three one-button lighting control switch, one Apple Extreme Wireless Network Router, one 16GB WiFi Apple iPad, one TV interface, and two viewer licenses.  The builder also began to pre-wire all of the homes for audio and, in some cases, included speakers.

“As soon as the prospective homeowners listened to the demonstration of the smart home automation package, the units began to sell,” Salloum explained.  “Frankly, we were blown away by the impact these systems had on the buyers decision making.  Even more telling for us as a systems integration company was the fact that 80% of the home buyers upgraded from the base home automation package to add speakers, head-in equipment, and the full-on integration of the ELAN g! System in to the entire audio-video system.”

Not surprisingly, one of the key benefits that appealed to these homebuyers was instant gratification, Salloum explained.  “This is one of the key strengths of the ELAN g! System.  It delivers instant everything without the 10-15 second delay that other home automation systems have and that’s a huge difference.  Imagine turning on the light button and having nothing happen for up to 15 seconds.  That’s an insane amount of time to wait when you turn on a light switch.  The homeowner will start pushing the button over and over again turning the lights on and off on a repeat basis.  With the ELAN g! System, there is absolutely no delay in performance.”

Two other critical reasons for the success of the ELAN based Home Automation Systems Package is that the system performs almost flawlessly and it can be updated remotely.  “The 55 units in the The Beach Collection at Latitude 33 all featured the ELAN HC-4 System Controller and we didn’t have one service call.”

Based on the initial success with Standard Pacific Homes, SST began working with their other builders and developers to offer similar automation packages.  The company works with a veritable Who’s Who of leading builders including, in addition to Standard Pacific Homes, K. Hovnanian Homes, The New Home Company, Taylor Morrison Homes, Richmond American, The Irvine Company, Pulte Homes, and Del Webb.  “In each instance, and working closely with the goals and objectives of each builder, we created home automation packages that were configured and priced appropriately for every class of home.  We have found that the demand for smart home control exists from buyers looking for homes priced from $700K and up,” Salloum explained.  “And, obviously, the higher priced the home is the greater potential there is to sell upgrades from the basic automation package.  For homes priced at or around $700K the upgrade take is 10-20%.  At the $1-million level the uptake rate goes to 20-30% and the $2-million level the rate really jumps to 50% or more.” 

One of the reasons why SST likes working with ELAN, beyond the performance of the system itself, is the fact that it is part of a bigger company that can meet a larger number of their AV/IT needs.  “When you work with ELAN, you are working with Core Brands, which is part of the event bigger Nortek Technology Solutions Group, which is part of the bigger still Nortek, Inc.  We install a lot of other products made by Core Brands, and in the future we plan to specify and install even more.”

Looking at ahead to the immediate future, Salloum is excited to begin working with the new ELAN g1 System, which is available in three very affordably priced configurations. “This is going to be a real game changer for our business, our builder clients, and, ultimately, for home buyers who, until now, still have felt that an automation system was beyond their reach.  The ELAN g1 System essentially allows us to talk to home buyers that would have been interested only in a lower priced security based automation system.  With the g1 system these same customers can now seriously consider an affordably priced entry level system that opens them up to whole home control and distributed audio, not to mention everything else that g! connects to and controls.”

With over 13 years of experience and awards from Pulte Homes, Standard Pacific Homes, K. Hovnanian Homes, and more, home buyers can rest assured that SST will deliver the Southern California Smart Home solution of their dreams.  The company’s customer service team thrives on providing the highest level of service and support through its service technicians and technically trained office staff.  SST’s technical staff is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to support any security monitoring needs.  SST’s customer service department is dedicated to giving the customer 110% all day every day. The company’s corporate headquarters is in Irvine, California and it maintains satellite offices in both Tucson and Tempe, Arizona.  For more information, visit www.sstun.com. 

ELAN will showcase its smart home control technology at the 2015 International Builders Show (IBS) in Las Vegas, Nevada (January 20-22, 2015) at the Broan-Nutone LLC booth (#C4520).

Stampede Appoints Elizabeth Clune Vice President of Marketing

Underscoring its commitment to provide its dealer and manufacturer partners with the highest level of Value Added Marketing support, Stampede Presentation Products, Inc. today announced the expansion of its senior executive marketing team with the appointment of industry veteran Elizabeth Clune to the position of Vice President of Marketing. 

According to Stampede President & COO Kevin Kelly, Clune joins an already strong Stampede executive team that is headed up by Senior Vice President of Products and Marketing Jeff Willis and includes Vice President of Products John Marcolini.  “Beth brings to Stampede more than 20 years of experience in helping technology manufacturers and resellers to develop strategic, high ROI-generating go-to-market business development programs,” Kelly said today.  “Her background in telecommunications, consumer electronics, and professional services is going to immediately impact the effectiveness of our business development and marketing programs.  At the same time, she is going to add a new level of depth and leadership to our existing marketing team.”

“The Stampede team is comprised of talented and experienced professionals who are focused 100% on helping manufacturers and dealers achieve their short and long term business goals,” Kelly stated. “This is what separates us from the herd of other distributors and the addition of Beth to our team is going to help make the team more effective for our partners.”

Beth Clune comes to Stampede from the business development and marketing consulting company she founded in 2009.  Before founding her own consultancy, Clune served as Director of Business Development & Marketing for Installs, Inc., where she developed the role of the customer relations executive to manage VIP level and complex clients.  In this position, she established, developed and maintained successful relationships with Fortune 100 clients that include Best Buy, Dell, NEC Unified Solutions, and Sony, among others. 

From 2005 until 2008 Beth Clune served as the Director of Marketing and Sales of AAA of Upstate New York, where she established and built the entire regional membership, sales, and marketing department — coordinating all communications, e-commerce, travel agency, membership, web site, and financial services programs.  Before this, Beth Clune held a number of positions over a 12-year career at Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Wireless) including Director of Sales Operations, Director of National Retail Sales, and Director of Marketing.

“Beth is an entrepreneurial-minded executive with a natural ability to quickly understand complex issues and translate then into programs that achieve short and long-term objectives,” Jeff Willis said today. “She takes best–in-breed technology and data driven marketing techniques and applies them across all aspects of business, exceeding revenue and corporate goals in record time.  I welcome her to our team!”

Commenting on her appointment, Clune noted that, “For more than 20 years I have had the privilege of working with both large and small technology and service providers to help them meet the challenge of change in their respective industries.  Change is the one constant that cuts across all business sectors today, most especially in technology.  I am excited to join the Stampede team that is already very far along in helping their dealers and manufacturers to meet the challenge of change with high value added marketing programs that generate new business from new customers and incremental business from existing customers.  I look forward to putting my talents and experience to work for the entire sales organization.”

Beth Clune earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism & Communications and Marketing at Saint Bonaventure University in 1986.

NanoLumens® Appoints Gary Feather to Position of Executive Vice President of Operations

Gary Feather, former Senior Vice President of LED Lighting at Sharp Electronics, will play a strategic role in helping NanoLumens® meet the challenges posed by record-setting growth.

NanoLumens®, the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of indoor LED display solutions, today announced that Gary Feather, the former Senior Vice President of LED Lighting at Sharp Electronics, has joined the company as Executive Vice President of Operations, effective immediately.

According to NanoLumens CEO Rick Cope, the appointment puts one of the world’s most renowned experts in display technology, imaging, lighting and energy systems in charge of all engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain management operations at a time when the company is doubling in size on a year-to-year basis.

“It is imperative for NanoLumens to maintain its rigorous standards for quality and reliability even as it grows at an unprecedented rate,” Cope said today.  “Gary Feather has the experience, the skills, and the vision that is required to help us meet the many operational challenges posed by growth.  His experience with consumer and industrial LED lighting systems, display technology and systems, image quality, and energy management is going to help us to produce the next great advance in customer engagement soutions.”

Gary Feather comes to NanoLumens from Sharp Electronics, where he served as Senior Vice President of LED Lighting from 2012 until 2014, establishing and building new Sharp Corporation products in Business to Business LED Lighting solutions and Energy Advantages Systems for the North American market.  Before this, he was Vice President, Systems, Algorithms, and Services at Sharp Laboratories of America from 1996 until 2012, responsible for managing U.S. research, development and planning for future Sharp products. From 1991 to 1996 he was Director, Display Systems at Texas Instruments, where he lead strategy, marketing, product planning, international sales and strategic alliances to create the billion dollar DLP market from the base spatial light modulator, DMD.  Texas Instruments was actually where Gary Feather began his career where he held successive positions as Manager and Director of Corporate Research before becoming Director, Display Systems.

“I am honored to join this great company at this critical juncture in its history,” Feather said today.  “I have watched this company since its inception and I believe it is destined to exceed its current pace of sales growth.  I look forward to working closely with the entire NanoLumens team to chart a future course that is even bigger, brighter and bolder than its past.”

Gary Feather is the holder of three United States Patents in Networked Video Devices (Number 7,594,245), Method for Processing Saturated Intervals in Video Sequences (Number 6,671,420), and Presence Based Technology (Number 8,356,317).  His educational background spans the fields of electrical engineering, business, and executive global leadership.  He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky, a Masters of Business Administration degree in Finance and Marketing from Southern Methodist University, a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Then in 2008 and 2009 he completed study programs in Executive Global Leadership and Business at, respectively, IMD Business School and the University of California, Berkeley Walter A. Haas School of Business.