Project Registration: The Integrator's Best Tool for Protecting Margin
Every commercial AV integrator has seen it happen.
You spend weeks developing a project, meeting with the client, refining the design, and building the bill of materials. Then another dealer shows up just before bid day with the same equipment list and a lower price.
Project registration is one of the best tools available to protect the work you've already invested. In today's competitive market, protecting your margin is just as important as winning the project.
Why It Matters
Margins are under pressure from rising labor costs, freight, tariffs, and aggressive pricing from online and cross-territory dealers.Project registration helps level the playing field.
When a qualified opportunity is registered with a participating manufacturer before it goes out to bid, the dealer who found and developed the opportunity may receive registration discounts and additional support. Every manufacturer's program is different, but the goal is the same: reward the integrator who created the opportunity.
Project registration isn't about blocking competition. It's about protecting the value of the work you've already done.
How It Works
While every manufacturer has its own requirements, the process is usually simple:
Identify the opportunity. Register the project as early as possible.
Submit the registration. Provide basic project information, often with the help of your manufacturer's representative.
Receive approval. If the project qualifies, you'll typically receive pricing protection for a set period, along with additional support depending on the manufacturer.
Keep it updated. As the project develops, registration details can usually be revised.
The biggest mistake dealers make is waiting too long. Registering early gives you the best chance to secure protection before competitors become involved.
Don't Forget the Small Projects
Many dealers only register large jobs, but conference room upgrades, restaurant renovations, hospitality projects, and school additions are just as vulnerable to being underbid.
If a project is worth pursuing, it's worth protecting.
How The Healy Group Helps
Every manufacturer handles project registration a little differently. Some offer discounts and bid protection, some provide engineering or design support, and others have no registration program at all.
If you're working on a project, it's worth asking your manufacturer's rep what programs are available before the job goes out to bid. You might find there's more support available than you realized.
At The Healy Group, we help dealers navigate the registration process for the manufacturers we represent and make sure projects are submitted as early as possible. If we can help protect your pricing or get additional support on a project, we will.
Before your next project goes out to bid, ask yourself one question:
Have I checked to see if this project can be registered?
If you don't know the answer, give your rep a call. A five-minute conversation could help protect weeks of work and a lot of margin.
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