We hope you and your clients are enjoying one of the balmiest, most snowless winters on record. Hopefully it stays that way, with apologies to the snow bunnies among us, of course. We're so inspired by the niceness of it all that we're working on a module that allows you to control the weather from our remotes. OK, that's the one thing in this newsletter that you shouldn't believe...

Control the Universe is written for residential and commercial custom installation professionals. How are we doing? Don't be afraid to say what's on your mind. Please drop us a quick e-mail at editor@universalremote.com and let us know what you like or dislike.

Happy Groundhog Day!

— Your friends at URC

Written in non-technical language, it focuses on end user benefits, as opposed to hardcore product information and specs. After all, the only person who needs to know about the particulars of the back panel of the DMS-1200 or MRX-10 is you.

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We're extremely proud to have won this prestigious award, especially since the DMS-1200 is our first multi-room audio product! That says a lot about how exciting the DMS-1200 is for our industry. And it's just one component of our game-changing new Total Control system. We thank EH and its judges for this recognition!

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You can read the whole post here (or explore/follow John's entire blog; it's really worth the read if you're an installer). What follows is the excerpt on gesture and voice control, which he calls "Do we really want this?" technology—but which also is something that will no doubt come up with some clients as they grow to expect Siri-like functionality in their electronics:

"Steve Jobs makes one little comment about having 'finally cracked it' and the electronics world as we know it holds its breath and starts running around in circles in a tizzy. Surely, 'cracking it' meant that Steve figured out a solution to replace the horrible, completely impossible to master, caveman encumbrance known as the modern remote control. (If you couldn't sense the sarcasm dripping from that sentence, this is your exposition.) Siri in my phone? Yes. Siri in my TV? No. Of course the biggie video manufacturers took this to mean that they immediately needed to overhaul a system that has served us well and effectively and needed to add things like gesture and voice control. Having witnessed this in action, I can confidently say, 'No. No, no, no! I don't want this!' If you want to sit on your couch waving your arms around like you're in the throes of a fit, or saying, 'Hi, TV. Channel up. Channel up. Channel up. Cancel. Bye, TV,' then you go right ahead. I'll be using my trusty URC remote and enjoying -and changing channels -much faster and in silence thank you very much."

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This simple and modern in-wall interface is a great control option in a Total Control system. It serves as a quick access point to assist the homeowner in making system adjustments in stride throughout the home. It's great for areas like laundry rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, where a primary handheld controller is not necessary or workable, but system adjustments will be.

Working in conjunction with our required MRX-10 Advanced Network System Controller, it's also a terrific solution, for example, to control volume on our DMS-1200 Multi-Zone Network Amplifier, or switch music sources on an SNP-1 Streaming Network Player.

The TKP-100 features seven backlit buttons, installs in a standard single-gang wall box and accepts standard Decora® plates. Powered by PoE (Power over Ethernet) technology, its eye-catching push-button LEDs illuminate from white to orange to reflect a selected source or a lighting scene's status, using URC's two-way feedback technology.

The TKP-100's interchangeable buttons can be tailored to match a client's individual system requirements. For example, you can outfit labels with lighting scene names, or mix and match the keypad's labels with music source buttons like "Pandora," "iPod" or "Sirius/XM." Custom button labels are also available by request.

Simple to install and program, easy to use, and décor-friendly. What's not to like about the TKP-100?

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One of URC's rising young stars, Joe Cestra plays a key role in URC's tech support department. He joined us in September 2009 in his current position of technical support representative.

A 2009 graduate of Stony Brook University with a degree in computer science, this is Joe's first job in the corporate world. In addition to serving URC installers who are in need of assistance, Joe also serves as a webinar instructor, and trains new employees in the URC Tech Support department.

Joe's day typically starts with him addressing emails, voicemails, and other unfinished business. He takes support calls throughout the day, sometimes spending extra time on issues that need testing. Twice a week, he conducts online webinars to educate installers about various URC products.

"I take pride in the fact that I am trusted as one of the more knowledgeable employees here," says Joe. He likes training employees, and he had a great time representing URC at CES this year. "I enjoy my co-workers and the friendly work environment here at URC," he says.

In his spare time, Joe enjoys watching sports. "I have the luxury of rooting for my team, the New York Giants, in this year's Super Bowl," he adds. "I am fortunate to have both a large and close family, which I do not take for granted."

URC thanks Joe for his service to our installers and our employees!

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This month brings some of the coldest days of the year, making us spend more time inside than normal. It's the perfect time to look around your house—and to imagine your customers doing the same thing.

Walk room to room and think how you could add a new URC Total Control system to your home. For example, the exciting new TKP-2000 color LCD in-wall keypad is now shipping for the Total Control system. You could take several life-sized paper cutouts of the TKP-2000 and place them on walls inside your home (and your customers' homes too) to see where a new TKP-2000 would work best to operate your whole house automation system.

The TKP-2000 adds to the versatile snap-in buttons of the TKP-100 to allow you options for in-wall control of your home. It fits inside a dual gang wall box without the need for any special trim kit or mounting plate. Since the TKP-2000 is "native to the network" on the Total Control system, you simply connect the TKP-2000 and the MRX-10 Advanced Network System Controller does all the work.

The connection for the TKP-2000 couldn't be easier; it uses just one LAN input. The TKP-2000 is a PoE (Power over Ethernet) device that can be powered using URC's MFSPOE-8 "smart" MAC filter or with our POE-1 PoE injector. Either way, you have a simple solution for zone control at your fingertips with the new TKP-2000.

Joining our other Total Control end user devices, like our TRC-780 and TRC-1280 remotes and TKP-100 in-wall keypad, the TKP-2000 adds a workhorse in-wall touch screen solution for smart system design. You can mix and match in-wall and handheld controllers to build Total Control solutions both large and small for your clients. Like our other Total Control end user devices, the TKP-2000 is designed exclusively to speak the language of the URC Total Control system, and will provide an elegant yet powerful interface for your customers.

Many of you love URC for a single-room solution or in a two-zone system. Now we can handle the whole house. Total Control solutions from URC for direct dealers can help you grow sales in 2012, along with providing your customers a way to use URC to control their entire home.

Already, many of you have found success selling and installing Total Control systems, but many URC dealers are still in wait-and-see mode. Well, now the waiting is over! The TKP-2000 is shipping now to help boost your sales and create happy customers with whole house automation solutions.

URC has introduced a host of new Total Control products that will be out during 2012, many of which you might not expect from what was formerly "just a remote control company." Rest assured that Total Control is an ever-growing, innovative solution for you, the URC direct dealer.

If you haven't spoken with your local URC sales rep about Total Control, I strongly encourage you to do so. It's quickly becoming a popular option for dealers to design and install whole house systems. We are working hard on the system rollout and the URC TIER department will soon preview dealer training for Total Control.

Now more than ever, URC is the solution to Control your Universe.

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There I was, standing in front of the shower with an attractive, scantily-clad woman gesturing for me to join her.

As I pondered my incredible luck, an elbow connected with my sternum and someone else crammed into the small space to inspect none other than... an iShower.

Here I was at yet another CES. This year, the "iLounge Pavilion" took up almost half of the North Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and I hoped to find that amazing new product that would change—indeed, improve—my life forever.

Sorry, but the iShower wasn't it. Nor was my fleeting moment with the iShower babe. As cool as this latest i-thingy was, streaming to the shower (sorry, couldn't resist that pun) was not the "whole house automation" device I sought.

So I fled, searching high and low with my good friends Gordon van Zuidan and Rich Green to find that next great iThing.

Suddenly, I felt a tug at my sleeves. I stood in front of a Weber charcoal grill, staring at a long probe and a couple of things with wires on it.

"It's an iGrill," I was told. Now, how cool was THAT? No more wasting 10 to 12 minutes of my time standing in front of a hot grill when I can just push that probe into a side of beef, hightail it back to my sofa and get an email or text when it's ready to eat! Sold!

Alas, it still was not the home automation stuff I was looking for.

"Wait a minute , what's THAT?" we pondered as we gazed skyward in the Griffin booth. A helicopter spiraled skyward towards the enormous ceilings, and someone was controlling it with an iPad! Now that's something I can surely use. My eight-foot ceilings are no match, but imagine the hours of fun I can have torturing my dog! Home automation? Not.

We were continually amazed at the never-ending assortment of iStuff, from the tiny iHorn portable "amp" and stand for the iPhone/iPad to the huge sarcophagus masquerading as the eight-foot iNuke iPhone boom box by Behringer. Yet none of what we saw would fulfill my quest for an iPad home automation solution.

After hours of playing with cases, covers, gadgets and tools, I finally came to this realization: I was already fully loaded and ready for whole house automation with my iPad.
I already have an app to control my lighting, an app for my security system, an app for my camera, apps for my receiver, DVD player and all of my Internet music sources. I have an app to control my DVR, an app for Netflix, a app that's a very cool channel guide and an app to control my TV. I even have an app to control my door locks.

How lucky can one guy be? Who needs an expensive, dedicated control system when, for as little as $499, I can download all of these apps to control my house?

So I sat down to teach my family how convenient and intuitive this would be for them. After hours of trying to refocus everyone's attention on the matter at hand, I finally came to the ultimate realization: Sure, I'd gotten rid of all those pesky remotes from my coffee table, but they had become virtual pesky remotes on my virtual coffee table—my iPad.

iQuit.  Back to the drawing board.*

*URC Total Control will incorporate an iDevice app very soon - then my dreams will be answered for sure! Stay tuned!

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"Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are NOT for people."
~Martina Navratilova

We've all heard the age-old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover." But it's human nature to do so, consciously or not.

To be successful in sales, we need to realize that every customer is different, with different needs, lifestyles and motivations. Just because your last customer wasted your time, beat you up and left to buy that "cheap" TV at Wal-Mart doesn't mean the next one will!

More importantly, your customer needs to realize that you're not the same as the last few salespeople who lied, over-promised and under-delivered the goods.

Therein lies the rub! We all spend significant portions of our lives with our "customer hats" on. We've all tried to dodge the roaming salespeople, and we've all instinctively mistrusted the first few words that oozed out of their mouths when we were finally caught.

People learn from their experiences. And their experiences have revealed that there are smarmy sales "professionals" who are only out to separate them from their money.

Hey, when it's cloudy, we expect rain. When the light turns yellow, we expect it to then turn red. And when a salesperson says, "It's the best deal in the store and it's my last one," we know that salesperson is lying!

But what about our friends? If your culinary expert friend tells you about a good restaurant, do you believe her? What if your film critic friend recommended a movie?

So why do we trust our friends and not our salespeople?

Simple! Our friends have spent time earning our trust, getting to know our likes, our dislikes and our motivations. We trust their judgment in areas in which we consider them experts, and we know what makes them tick.

Sure, if there were time, it would be wonderful to befriend every customer, hang out with them, grab a few brews and sing Kumbaya. (No, I'm not recommending that level of commitment!) But can't we spend a little time getting to know some of the basics about our customers, not just "what they're looking for"? After all, we ARE going to ask them to trust our advice and spend their hard-earned money with us. Isn't it the least we could do?

The more time we spend getting comfortable with our customer, the easier it will be to perform EVERY step in the sales process...period! The first step in any successful sales scenario is to Make a Connection. Spend time getting to know the customer, his lifestyle and his motivations. More importantly, show that YOU are not one of "those" salespeople, that you genuinely care about your customers and take pride in working with them to find the products that fit their needs, desires and budget.

Sound easy? It's not. At first, it'll feel like putting a round peg in a square hole...for both you and the customer. Both parties will have the urge to simply talk about "what are you looking for today?"...but don't! Keep the discussion away from the business at hand. Show that there's more to your world than audio or video, that you are more than a hired gun hawking wares to unsuspecting crowds. Show that you're "good people" and that, together, you will find the perfect solution to fit your friend's needs.

Resist the urge to simply start showing them "solutions." Believe me, we are not ready yet—not if you want to maximize the sale and provide a complete solution for your customer. I know it'll feel weird. Doing something different always does. But it works.

Here are some common entry points to a discussion that will work well in common sales scenarios:

1. Don't greet the customer with "What can I do for you?" Ask "How are you today?" It's not like they're going to leave and never tell you why they were there in the first place.
2. Compliment an article of clothing, their car, their home or their family. Just be genuine; people can smell a fake a mile away.
3. Discuss the weather (only if it's unusual); current events (stay clear of politics and religion); or sports, music or movies (if something in those areas is significantly topical).
4. Sidestep the "I'm just looking for a XXX" by asking WHO will be using it, and WHAT will he be listening to or watching.

Learn anything you can about your customer. There's no telling where or when this information will become valuable. Just be genuine, listen and show you care about the person. Unless the customer specifically is in a rush (don't assume), take some time to breathe and relax. I promise the time spent here is worth it. It will save you time and frustration later in the sale.

Now, for your homework! Practice, practice, practice. Spend the next month using, refining and perfecting these techniques. Become a monster at improving your relations with your customers. Hey, maybe you'll even make some friends!

Next month, we'll discuss the next step in the sales process: Customer Analysis. Until then, good selling!

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Ever encounter a remote control that was previously programmed with one of our standalone software editors? Many of you have. So what if you want to import that file configuration into our Complete Control Program (CCP)? It's possible to do so with our MX-980, MX-900, KP-900, MX-880 and MX-880Z remotes. Here's a step-by-step example using the MX-880:

• Start a new file from scratch in CCP.
• Click on the HOME icon in the "System Designer" section on the left-hand side of CCP.
• You'll see an ADD icon highlighted directly above the HOME icon. Click the ADD icon.
• The SYSTEM CONFIGURATION window will appear. Select an MX-880 and press the <<ADD button.
• The MODEL PROPERTY window appears. Select the option for "EXISTING" file and choose BROWSE.
• You'll see a Microsoft Windows "OPEN" window.  Change the dropdown that says "Files of Type" to enable MX-880 (*.mxj) files.
• Browse to the location on your hard drive where the desired MX-880 standalone file is located. Once located, select OPEN.
• Select OK in the CCP MODEL PROPERTY window and your file will import into CCP.

You can repeat this procedure for any model remotes we mentioned up top.

CCP is our primary remote control programming platform these days. Although we still support remotes programmed with standalone editors, you'll find the most up-to-date firmware and database within CCP, which will ensure your client's remote controls are performing at the top of their game.

For further support on this tech tip, please email us at techsupport@universalremote.com.

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