More Conversation on Consultants
Jan 19, 2006 8:00 AM
What is an AV consultant, anyway, in the worship market? What role should consultants play in the planning and installation process, and who gets to define the skills and training that entitle someone to use the title “consultant”?
HOW Focus has touched on this issue a couple of times in recent months, and reader feedback reveals some important differences in viewpoint.
"A consultant is someone who is hired to provide guidance or give advice or provide a design service,” says Vance Brashears of Sound Technology Consultants in El Cajon, Calif. “The job of a consultant is to work for the best interest of the client without any associated profit motive outside of the agreed fee. If there is another profit motive, such as equipment sales, then they are not a true consultant.”
Church media consultant Anthony Coppedge, CTS, agrees: “If you sell anything other than your time, you’re not a consultant.” Coppedge is wary of terms like “sales consultant,” which he says mix up two functions that ought to be entirely separate: sales and counsel. Even companies that consult on designs that eventually go out for competitive bidding are compromised if they intend to bid on the work themselves, Coppedge adds.
Consultants may develop a confidence level with specific products and manufacturers as a result of repeated favorable experiences, Coppedge notes, and expressing this sort of preference is not the same thing as selling for that vendor.
Affiliation with a profit-making company doesn’t necessarily detract from the value of the service provided, some say. The National Association of Church Design Builders maintains a program that bestows the title “Certified Church Consultant,” and Executive Director Victor F. Erwin says working with a CCC can pay off for clients.
“The advantage of talking to a CCC before you hire an architect or builder is the knowledge they will impart to the church at no charge [on] salient topics such as design trends, cost trends, rules of thumb, denominational nuance, master planning, financing and stewardship. It is always clear to the church that a CCC represents a design-build firm, and there is an obvious bias toward that particular construction delivery method. There is no compromise in their position as a Certified Church Consultant.”
The role of associations in training and certifying consultants also prompts some discussion. Associations like InfoComm and NSCA have long-standing programs that offer certification in AV design and installation. However, in the view of Tom Young of Electroacoustic Design Services, Oxford, Conn., these efforts have not yet produced a standard certification option.
In the meantime, Young strongly advocates participation in conferences and workshops, along with specialized training offered by a wide range of manufacturers and other sources. “I continue to observe that those consultants who do good work and those D-B firms who do good work both actively participate in these organizations and other resources,” Young says. “I have also observed that the mavericks in our industry who provide unproven or unfounded solutions and/or leave a trail of problematic systems or spaces are those who never venture out of their homes or offices and have no relationships with others in their field.”
Certification has an important place, says Brashears. “Certification is a good way to know that someone has shown adequate proficiency to attain the certification. That’s about it. I am aware of specific individuals in the industry who are certified consultants and who, in my opinion, are incompetent as designers. Some of the best designers in the business are not certified.”
For the average potential client looking for sound advice in a confusing field, Brashears adds, “Certification will carry some weight.”
Young sees a fine line to be walked on the subject of a consultant’s relationship with a profit-making commercial venture. While he’s wary of consultants being wined and dined by manufacturers and others, it’s also true that “an independent consultant needs to establish some level of relationship to the primary manufacturers they deal with.”
Still, he sees a strong distinction between the consulting/design function and the equipment sales/construction process. “If someone designs a system knowing that they are going to sell and install the equipment as well, it will definitely influence their selection of products,” he says. “If there is no interest in the equipment sales for the project, only then can someone be truly unbiased.”
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
