This conversation wasn’t supposed to happen. But thankfully it did. Nancy Blanchard and I logged on to record an episode of The AV Life Podcast, but it turns out Tim canceled shortly before we started, and due to timezones and meetings, I didn’t catch it. And well, we were already there with microphones on and drinks poured, so we did what people in AV do when the original plan falls apart… We improvised and did a takeover. We recorded the show anyway.
Then, somewhere in the middle of it, I decided we were no longer recording only The AV Life. Nancy had never appeared on the Higher Ed AV Podcast, so I turned the conversation into a crossover episode and began interviewing her.
What started as two friends having fun quickly became a serious discussion about how the AV industry does business. Nancy has spent her career working with manufacturers, integrators, consultants, and end users. She currently represents ScreenBeam across the western United States and Canada, but her connection to higher education goes far beyond selling a particular product. She has supported HETMA and the higher ed AV community through multiple roles and companies because she understands something that is easily lost in our industry… Customers do not need another person showing up to recite specifications, they need someone who understands what they are trying to accomplish.
Nancy described her approach with three words: “applications and installations.” That may sound overly simple, but it cuts directly to one of the biggest weaknesses in technology sales. Too many sales conversations begin with the product, not the problem being solved. A manufacturer arrives with a presentation about features, inputs, outputs, compatibility, and a bunch of other website bullet points that don’t speak to the real challenges the customer is facing.
The better conversations begin with the environment. How will people use the space? What problem are they trying to solve? What systems already exist? Who will support the technology? What security requirements must be met? Where has the solution been installed successfully before? Those questions turn a product demonstration into a true business conversation.
Nancy used the example of a stadium. Someone looking narrowly at that opportunity may see scoreboards, production systems and large displays. Someone thinking about applications sees meeting rooms, training facilities, executive suites, coaching environments and collaboration spaces. The value is not simply knowing what the product can do. It is recognizing places where the customer may use it.
Higher education requires the same mindset. A university is not one large classroom project. It is a collection of learning spaces, offices, research facilities, event venues, production environments and public-facing spaces. The technology may be similar across those areas, but the expectations, workflows and risks are not. Understanding those distinctions is what separates a salesperson from a trusted adviser.
From there, our conversation then moved toward customer feedback, and this is where many manufacturers and salespeople lose credibility. Nearly every company claims to listen to its customers. The real test is what happens after the listening session ends. Does the feedback reach the people responsible for the product roadmap? Is the company willing to show customers early concepts and hear that it may be moving in the wrong direction? Can product leaders accept criticism without becoming defensive?
Nancy described how ScreenBeam has used customer requests to influence its development priorities. Not every suggestion becomes a feature, nor should it. One customer’s frustration is not automatically a market strategy. But when the same request continues to surface across multiple institutions, the company pays attention. That is exactly what an advisory relationship is supposed to accomplish. Customers should not be included merely to validate decisions that have already been made. They should be brought into the process early enough to affect the outcome. Otherwise, an advisory board is little more than a marketing exercise.
That matters even more now because institutions have less room for mistakes. Budgets are tighter, expectations are higher, and technology is connected to more parts of the organization than ever before. An AV decision can affect networking, security, facilities, accessibility, teaching, events and business continuity. A customer, especially in higher ed, cannot afford to discover after installation that the product does not meet the security team’s requirements or cannot be supported at scale.
This is also where consultants, integrators and manufacturers must be honest about their responsibilities. Every participant enters a project with a different role and set of incentives. Architects care about the building. Consultants develop the design. Integrators deliver the system. Manufacturers want their products selected. The customer is the one who must operate the finished environment. That means someone must keep asking whether the project still serves the customer’s actual needs, and we can tell if our reps have our backs on how active they are in ensuring our needs are met throughout the whole process.
A beautiful room with poor acoustics is not a successful project. A technically advanced system that the support team cannot maintain is not a successful project. A standardized design that ignores a unique teaching application is not a successful project. At the same time, we must stop believing that every room needs the most advanced solution available. I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but sometimes good enough really is good enough.
A small conference room does not need to be designed like a broadcast studio. A basic training room does not require the infrastructure of a large lecture hall. Over-engineering increases cost, complicates support, and creates more opportunities for failure. Standardization doesn’t mean to take the most complicated and put it everywhere just for the sake of having “the same.” Really, the goal is not to sell or install the most technology; the goal is to provide the right technology for the application.
Near the end of our conversation, Nancy identified one of her greatest professional frustrations as people who do not respond. It was a simple answer, but it may have been the most important business lesson of the entire episode. The person who responds quickly, thoughtfully and honestly becomes easier to trust. Responsiveness does not require having every answer immediately. Sometimes the correct response is simply acknowledging the request, explaining what must be confirmed, and establishing what happens next.
Silence communicates something entirely different. AV companies spend heavily on marketing, trade show booths, and product launches, yet the real reputations are built through the smaller, personal moments. Someone answers the phone. Someone follows up. Someone remembers the customer’s pain points. Someone stays involved… after the sale. That is the true business of AV.
The technology matters, but it is rarely the entire reason a customer chooses one partner over another. Products change. Features are copied. New competitors enter the market. Today’s differentiator eventually becomes tomorrow’s standard offering. Relationships are harder to duplicate.
Our crossover episode began because the original plan fell apart. But the unplanned conversation revealed something worth remembering… The best business discussions rarely begin with a pitch, they begin when someone is willing to listen.
Check out the accompanying Higher Ed AV Podcast with Nance Blanchard for a deeper dive: https://higheredav.com/361-the-av-life-crossover-episode-with-nancy-blanchard-higher-ed-av-podcast-with-joe-way/
