#334: Building Partnerships That Shine — Kayla Steinberg of ADI | Snap One
In this episode of Automation Unplugged, Ron Callis chats with Kayla Steinberg, CSD Program Lead at ADI | Snap One. Kayla shares her journey from education to the AV industry, insights on empowering dealers through the Certified Showroom Dealer program
This week's episode of Automation Unplugged our guest today is Kayla Steinberg, Certified Showroom Dealer (CSD) Program Lead at ADI | Snap One.
Kayla brings more than twelve years of experience across franchising, sales, marketing, and operations — and she now leads the global CSD program, helping dealers showcase their showrooms, strengthen partnerships, and grow their businesses through strategic marketing and education initiatives.
Before joining the AV industry, Kayla built a career in both education and franchise marketing, where she developed a deep passion for relationship-driven leadership and empowering others to succeed. At ADI | Snap One, she’s channeling that same passion into creating impactful programs and meaningful connections that elevate dealers around the world.
About this episode:
In this episode, Kayla and I discussed:
- How the Certified Showroom Dealer program helps integrators grow visibility and engagement in their local markets
- Her three P’s of event success — planning, process, and promotion
- And how relationship-driven marketing and authentic leadership are transforming dealer partnerships across the industry
SEE ALSO: #333: From Guessing to Investing- How AV Dealers Can Build a Winning Marketing Budget
Transcript
Ron:
Hello. Hello there. Ron Callis here with another episode of Automation Unplugged. We are here in early December, so happy holidays to all of you. Uh, I hope you have a wonderful Holli holiday season planned. Of course, we're coming off of Thanksgiving, so hopefully, hopefully you are able to spend time with your, your friends and your family, and, uh, ideally you have more of that planned. Uh, for the weeks ahead as we head into, uh, Hanukkah and Christmas and the new year, and, um, just a, a wonderful time of year. Of course, we're here in Florida, so it's, uh, still hot and steamy outside, so there's no snow. There's no cold weather. We have to travel to get our fix for that. But, uh, uh, not this year. I'm gonna stay home, stay lay low this year. Uh, I do have a special gift for all of you and that I, I have a, a wonderful person, uh, that some of you know, but maybe many of you do not. She's newer to our industry. Uh, and she brings just a wealth of marketing experience and local marketing and, uh, franchise and operations experience. And that is Kayla Steinberg. She's the CSD program Lead at a DI Global. And we here at One Firefly have had, uh, the pleasure of working with Kayla and her team on, uh, the See for Yourself events with Control4. In this past season, and, uh, we have more things in store for the coming year, but it's, uh, just been a lot of fun to get to know her and, uh, work with her closely and roll that program out. And, uh, we're gonna, we'll talk a little bit about that program, but we're gonna talk more broadly about ideas and topics that we feel are, are gonna be relevant to all of you, regardless of what brand you sell and where you're located in the world. And regardless of whether you have a showroom or not. So, uh. You know, sit down, grab your popcorn, maybe grab your lunch, maybe your coffee, if you're listening first thing on Wednesday morning as we release the show, and let's go ahead and get this conversation started. Kayla, how are you?
Kayla:
I'm doing well, Ron. How are you?
Ron:
I am super duper. Thanks for joining us here on Automation Unplugged.
Kayla:
Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Ron:
Where are you coming to us from today? Kayla?
Kayla:
I'm currently at my home office in Huntersville, North Carolina. Typically, I'm in the Charlotte office because we have an office in Valentine, but on Fridays we have the luxury of working from home. So that's where I am,
Ron:
that it's pretty cool, is that everybody at a ADI can choose whether to go to the office or work from home, or do you pick a day of the week or is it always Friday?
Kayla:
Yeah, so typically Mondays and Fridays we have the option to work from home, and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, they'd like for us to be in office so that way we can have that meaningful collaboration that we all desire and need in order to do all the great things that we're doing.
Ron:
Ab. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, what is the CSD Your title is The CSD program Lead, uh, to fill, uh, everyone that's, that's leaning forward and wants to know what in the world does ca do?
Kayla:
Yeah. What, uh,
Ron:
what is that job or what are your responsibilities over there at ADI.
Kayla:
Great question. So the CSD program actually stands for the Control4 Certified Showroom Dealer Program. So when we're thinking about that particular audience, those are folks who have committed to making control for their primary, uh, you know, smart home automation software. They've developed an experience center within their business to allow for in customers. Or designers, architects, builders, to come into their showrooms to experience all the latest and greatest that Control4 offers and all the integration possibilities that it offers. So that's what we're thinking about when we're thinking about the audience that I serve. So one part of my role is to be the direct line for those folks, whatever they need, marketing assets, marketing campaigns, such as See for Yourself that I know we're collaborating together on making sure that. We, I'm sure we've all heard of the dealer or pro locator, making sure that they're represented in an appropriate way there. Making sure that we're thinking with bigger pictures in mind on how we continue to provide them with education opportunities, resources, and then also with preferred partners like yourself and marketing agencies to continue to enable their business growth. So I really sit in the middle of that strategic seat, making sure that the CSD or certified showroom ecosystem makes sense for the value of the program. Then additionally, I serve as the Control4 Loyalty Marketing specialist, so the broader Control4 group, not just CSDs. I service them in some similar ways as we service CSDs, um, you know, working with the broader Control4 organization and make sure that our marketing assets are up to speed meeting dealer needs, and making sure that I'm continuing to partner with the other marketing org as it relates to control4 to continue again supporting our dealers and their business enablement.
Ron:
Now I know Kayla, you joined this crazy AV industry in this last year. Yeah. In 2025. And what, I'm curious, what were your first impressions when you said, oh, that sounds exciting. I'm gonna go do this. Yeah. And now that you're, you know, so far in
Kayla:
Yeah. How,
Ron:
how was it originally and maybe how, if, and in any ways has your impressions changed as you've now, you know, been well in the trenches and, and working with your dealers globally?
Kayla:
Yeah, great question. So I think when I first was making a transition into the AV industry, there's always a little bit of fear when you're learning something new. But I'm a big believer that we don't grow if we're not stepping outside of our comfort zone. And I've always prided myself in loving a challenge and being a lifelong learner. So I was like, why not? Right? Why not just jump right in? What do I have to lose? I have a lot to offer and maybe a new and fresh perspective to bring to the table. You know, what they're currently doing and now what we are currently doing now that I'm, I have a seat at the table. So I think, you know, when I first was moving into the AV industry, I don't think I understood how much goes into av, truly how many different products, uh, you know, all the different integrations, all the technology and terms. It's definitely something that I'm still learning. And I think now that I'm sitting in this seat many months in, I'm just in awe of how amazing what we do is. And, you know, I, particularly our dealers and how passionate they are. I've met so many of our dealers who this has been their life. And Ron, I know you've been in this same journey. Right? And, and it's amazing to see people who have kind of built and poured their whole life into, to growing these businesses in the AV industry and how they're helping to make comfortable and convenient solutions for our end customers.
Ron:
I'm, uh, I'm, I'm a few decades in Kayla and I'm still learning. And, uh, this technology, uh, you know, all the manufacturers are innovating. Technology's moving forward. It's not waiting for us in any way. So, yeah. Uh, the, the, the fact that you're in, in your year one in this industry, not in, in your, obviously in your work experience. Yeah, I would say, uh, that feeling of, of, you know, learning and growth, I still feel that, I think I'm 26 years in. I still feel that every day, every week. So it's uh, yeah, an awesome space to be in.
Kayla:
I love that, and I think that's probably what really drew me to the industry is. It's constantly innovating, it's constantly growing, and I am very much problem solution oriented in how I work and in the way that my brain thinks. And I feel like this industry and I are very aligned in that, right? We seek a problem, we have a solution that can fix the problem. We're constantly problem solving and just making things better. And who doesn't want to be the person who sees an opportunity and goes and makes something better? So I think that innovation is at the top of the list for why specifically joining ADI was so exciting for me because they're constantly innovating
Ron:
now. I know. And And you and I were talking before we pressed record, and you've been traveling around the country and meeting with dealers and visiting showrooms and holding events. Yeah. I also know that you've been talking to dealers. All over the world, right? Yeah. Your, your C4 dealers, and I'm just curious what those experiences have been like for you as you've been out in the field and, uh, talk, you know, seeing it, experiencing it, but also talking to the global audience.
Kayla:
Yeah, no, great question. So I'm a firm believer that the answers are always in the field. So if you are in any seat in, you know, if you are a business owner, if you are a marketer within a business, you have to go and meet your customers in order to understand what their needs are, what's important to them, who, who is their audience, what does the market look like? And so it's been exciting for me to get out. I've learned so much by sitting across the table from our integrators, hearing their friction points, hearing their excitements. Talking with them about what's working and what's not. And it allows for me to critically think in my role with two lenses in mind. I always like to think when I'm making decisions, I'm thinking with two seats in the room, even if they're empty, it's thinking of the integrator and then also thinking of their customer. So that way when I'm sitting in a decision making seat, I'm making sure that I'm thinking not just how does this support the integrator, but how does this support the integrator relationship with their end customer? So for me. Getting out into the field allows for me to get a better sense of what that really means for each individual person because Ron, I'm sure you know this as a business owner, it truly does look different for every person. The root is typically the same, but the way they approach it, what's important to them, their specific core values are all very different. And as a marketer, it's my goal to find an overall solution to support all different types of people and integrators on their business journey. So it's been, it's been amazing. It's also one of the best things in the world to sit with an integrator who is really proud of their showroom or really proud of a project, and they get to show that to you. And that sense of pride and fulfillment in the room is just something that's really exciting to be a part of. And it's, um, given me a sense of, you know, pride and excitement in what I continue to do at ADI.
Ron:
I, I don't wanna put you on the spot, but I am, and, and I don't know the answer to this question. Sometimes I, I, uh, I, I ask questions and I know where I'm it's gonna go. I actually don't know where this will go. Okay. And I'm curious, uh, as your dealers, uh, your C4 dealers, uh, you mentioned, you know, you, you witnessed a beautiful project, or they tell you about a beautiful project.
Kayla:
Yeah.
Ron:
Um, are there. Programs either today or intended for the future, where you help them highlight those projects, whether it's the case study, the photography, the videography, maybe it's just the coaching of what they should or could do. Is there anything in C4 Land today or ADI land today where that's addressed in a, in a, in a way that's offering assistance or coaching for them?
Kayla:
Yeah, absolutely. I would say maybe not as much coaching. I find that a lot of times by the time, you know, we are inserted into this conversation, there's always something happening, and then we are brought along as a support arm. Now I will say our sales team members are usually arm in arm with our dealers as they're approaching some sort of event or showcasing something, whether it's their particular showroom, a project, a home that they've done, you know, those sorts of things. But typically when I'm brought in, it's at the point where. They've already completed an event and they have professional photography or videography that they'd like for us to showcase, which we do. We have a, um, social submission feature that our dealers can submit to us, and we will work with our PR and social teams to showcase that on the proper social forms or. Something like a case study or if it's a commercial opportunity, we may, you know, work with our PR team to present that in a different way. So we do have oppor opportunities and options for our dealers, uh, to showcase their businesses. But I think when it comes from a coaching standpoint, that's a great opportunity as we think and move into 2026 for us to think about how we can strategically support them with knowing. How should they be showcasing these jobs and projects? Where should they be putting this information? You know, how do they scream from the rooftops their, their pride and joy of projects and things? So I think that that's a great idea.
Ron:
Is it, so I just wanna restate what I heard you say. There is a mechanism today where a dealer could submit a project where they have photography or videography and they could submit, uh, that, that media and or some content, and you would feature it on the C4 social channels.
Kayla:
Yes. That's in a branded
Ron:
fashion.
Kayla:
That's correct. And then there are in some instances, you know, if, if our sales team has been working with this steel R on a project for a long time, where we may be able to send out our internal team to support with videography and photography as well. So, and we typically do that and we try to use that in a couple different formats. We also oftentimes take projects and position it on our brand new control forward.com website. Um, Curtis Peacock has been amazing in helping to build this website and make sure that it is showcasing these awesome projects and also thinking through the lens of designer and architects as we know that that is something big in the industry right now, building those relationships. So there are definitely options and we are most proud of our dealers and we wanna make sure that we are supporting them and showcasing their work.
Ron:
That is awesome. Maybe that, uh, link or that submission, that social submission opportunity, if, if you can send that over to us in post Kayla, we'll get that dropped into the show notes so people can go to the landing page, uh, on the one Firefly site and they can grab that link so they know where to, to easily find it.
Kayla:
That sounds great.
Ron:
Yeah, that'll be fun. That'll be helpful. Uh, Kayla, take us back in time. Help us understand your background. We understand you, you landed here in 25 at ADI. But where, where, where do you come from?
Kayla:
Yeah, so my experience is quite broad and I think that just kind of goes back to being a lifelong learner. So I'll just kind of lay it out there. I actually started in college wanting to be an elementary education teacher, and I loved children. I still do love children. So I have two degrees in elementary education, well actually one degree in elementary education and one degree in just general education, so adult and child education. And um, I graduated with my undergraduate, went straight into teaching for about five to six years. Absolutely loved it. But I shortly started a family of my own and I think, shout out to anyone who is a teacher, if you are listening to this and your wife, your cousin, your daughter, your. Anyone in your family's a teacher. We thank them. We love them, we appreciate them. They're the
Ron:
saints of our society. We would be lost without them and we don't say thank you enough. I so I so agree with that.
Kayla:
Yeah. It's such a thankless job and um, it's so worth it. The children are amazing. I still look back to some of the best days in my life being a teacher, and I'm very thankful for the experience that it gave me and for what it taught me. And even as I came into motherhood, I learned a lot about myself from my teaching years. But after starting a family, I was looking for my next opportunity because our poor teachers are a bit underpaid and we always need to be looking for grossly
Ron:
underpaid society
Kayla:
is
Ron:
not fair. Yeah, they're doing the hardest work. Yeah. I, I just say this, I used to mentor at a, a local high school here in South Florida. I, I still do. The previous high school was very much in need. The current high school is very much, not necessarily in need, but they have wonderful students.
Kayla:
Sure.
Ron:
And, uh, in both cases, uh, part, particularly the high school that was in need. I mean, sadly the teachers were coming out of their own pocket for some of the supplies in the classroom.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
And it was just so frustrating to see that that true. Not only did they bleed for these students in the school, but then they had to come out of their own pocket. Yes. It's uh, it's so broken. But anyway, that's a different podcast.
Kayla:
No, but But it's so true, and I think you're speaking to exactly why a lot of teachers leave and even why I left it is hard to. Balance, having your own life and your own family with pouring into, you know, other students with your own wallet and your own time when you don't necessarily feel supported by the greater, you know, education group. So for me, I was looking for my next thing and I had a family friend who was like, Hey, I'm really looking for this person to help. In training, marketing and sales in my startup company. And I was like, alright, well I'm in. I'll give it a go. And there is nothing like being a part of a startup. It is quite a unique experience and you wear so many hats and learn so much. And I was very fortunate to learn from a lot of, you know, really well-versed people. And I got to wear a lot of different hats. So it taught me a lot about. What excites me, what is it that I want to do with my career? And also truly how to have grit in everything you do, which you do have grit as a teacher. So I already had a lot of that, but I think when you're in a startup, it's a totally different perspective. So I was opening stores doing B2B marketing, B2C, marketing, running social media, um, you know, running our wholesale side of the business from a marketing and sales perspective. Doing trade shows, events, you name it, really under the full umbrella. And that was an amazing role. Again, I learned so much. Unfortunately, COVID happened. I think we're finally out of the window where it's not a forbidden word anymore. You know, it's, we're allowed to say COVID. Yeah. Um, and the company went bankrupt, which was so unfortunate. So many amazing people I know who so
Ron:
COVID the fact that so many businesses were shut down it, shut down those locations and killed the business.
Kayla:
Yes, exactly. Oh, that's so sad. So it was so sad. And um, again, still in, I'm in touch with so many of those folks, a lot of amazing people, but was like, okay, what's my next step in the journey? And at the time I had started at a new gym. Uh, working outs regularly, which by the way has never been me. I was always a sports person, but I never had a workout regimen. Hmm. Um, as I think a lot of us sports folks may or may not do because you're doing sports so much, you don't think you have to work out regularly. And I started a new workout routine at a, we would call it a local mom gym. And I loved it. I fell head over heels for it. So I started working at the gym part-time while I was trying to figure out my next steps. And then a full-time opportunity came open at the headquarters location, which just so happens to be in Huntersville, which is where I live. And I was able to jump in there and I worked collectively there for about six total years, four and a half years at the headquarters. And then about, you know, a year and a half at the local gym level. And I worked my way up from a coordinator all the way up to a marketing director position in that role. And we were servicing about 400 franchise locations. So that's really where I got my true. Um, I mean, I would say my marketing experience really came from that startup, but the true digging, you know, rolling your sleeves up, digging deep and, and true marketing came from this fitness franchise experience and what an amazing experience it was. I learned so much again from so many amazing people. And it does have, you know, an America's footprint. But I was really excited about the idea to take my expertise and knowledge and where I've gone and take that to a global footprint, which is really what led me to ADI. So again. I love to think about, we're in the relationship business where we're marketers, so I feel like I've known someone in every single place where I've gotten a job, and that's really helped me to kind of learn more about the company, learn if it's a good fit for me, and then open the door for me to step in. And so it was really fortunate to be able to step into this role at ADI. And I think my experience and my previous roles has served me very well in the role that I'm currently sitting in. So while it's a new industry and there's a lot to learn. Marketing and the relationship side of the business is very much the same, and where I feel like I thrive and what gets me really excited about what I do every day.
Ron:
I, I'm, it sounds like a, a wonderful background. Certainly. Perfect. For where you're at now. I'm curious in the, in the most recent role where you were helping manage the 400 location or f franchisees? Yeah. Well, out of curiosity. What was the autonomy or the decision making at the la the franchise location? Yeah. You know, think of all the diversity of towns across the country, where those locations were at. Yeah. Versus what direction for, and I'm speaking specifically about marketing or branding and marketing versus what would be directed from headquarters down. Yeah. How did, how did that work? Um, at a high level?
Kayla:
No, it's a great question. So we do require all locations that are under the franchising umbrella to follow certain brand guidelines and to make sure that they're not stepping too far out of the grain. So those are really the main things that we require them to do. And then we provide a lot of education and resources, as well as marketing assets and materials that we'd like for them to use. It's really up to them, and that's why local marketing is so important and why I'm very passionate about it. Because as we know, no two markets are the same. Where somewhere print marketing may work somewhere. Only digital marketing may work somewhere. Only event marketing may work, right? So we really empowered them to take all the resources and materials that we were giving them and go implement that in a way that made sense. Now, at the location that I was at, we did have. Several national promotions annually, and everyone was expected to run that the same, and there was a playbook that they were expected to follow. Now, there were some local activations based off of what made sense for their business that they would implement, but generally speaking, it was the same timeframe, the same taglines, the same pricing, the same general messaging that we expected. However, what we did do, which I think is really important in partnership, is allow for them to opt in or opt out based off of their business needs. So if they didn't feel like it made sense, I think the challenging thing. Global and national is that the timing is so different no matter where you are. So time zones, and also think about school districts because this was a mom gym, right? So where some people have year long school, some people have a more traditional approach. So sometimes we found ourselves when we were implementing a national, a marketing strategies calendar. You know, looking at the timelines for when things could happen and one size just truly doesn't fit all. So we did allow for them to opt out. Now, if they did opt out, they were not allowed to run any other promotions during that time, so there were still rules that they had to follow within that because we wanted all of the marketing efforts to really streamline to these national promotions. So they had a lot of flexibility, but with guidelines and guardrails in place to make sure that we were still upholding the brand integrity.
Ron:
Wa was there, uh, were there specific allocations of, uh, p and l budgeting that were mandated or required for the location? It sounds like the, the mom gyms to spend on marketing or advertising.
Kayla:
So we do have a minimum requirement that we do ask that location spend. And then we also have a monthly allocation that pulled up into a brand fund, which we use for our national marketing in order to run our national brand campaigns and, you know, national advertising. So. That way, you know, again, we're still marketing the overall brand and then we, we worked with the, our sister agency in order to place ads strategically and so that way every location still get e did get equal distribution of funds.
Ron:
Okay. That makes sense. Alright, so let's transition to today, and I'm, I'm mindful that this topic I'm gonna go to is not gonna be applicable to everyone that's listening, but do not leave us folks. Because we're gonna get to the really good stuff. Um, but for the, the Certified Showroom dealer, the program that you're running right now at ADI what was that program? And, uh, just to kinda get, because that'll help maybe help people understand where I'm gonna take some of the conversation.
Kayla:
Great question. So see for yourself was a global campaign, and we call it global because the Certified Showroom Dealer program truly is open to all regions across the globe. So it's not just a domestic, you know, uh, program. So we call it a global campaign because at the same time of year, which was November for us, all of our certified showroom dealer. We're allowed to opt in or we're asked to opt in to what we would call a see for yourself event. And the event is actually the month of November. And what we would do is collectively, we would put marketing efforts behind this event in order to drive traffic into our showrooms. So globally ADI ran social campaigns, organic campaigns, and you know, paid social campaigns. And then locally, which is arguably the most important piece. Our dealers were also running social campaigns, email campaigns, paid campaigns again to drive traffic into their showrooms and. As you're showing here, we worked with one Firefly to set up a global landing page to provide end customer education on what is C for yourself, what is the goal and why would they wanna be a part of it? And then what Ron is showing you guys on the screen. Is what our global footprint really looks like and where all the locations are that were opted in to the program. And what was really cool about this is we collaborated with one Firefly to set up individual dealer micro sites that were customized to our dealer and their business, and then also to their specific event dates. And that was our RSVP collection tool. Or I would like to argue our lead collection tool. That continued again for our dealers to drive more traffic into their showrooms during the specific time in November, and we chose November strategically this year because it aligned with our international launch of X four and Lux
Ron:
and I. Without disclosing proprietary information. Yeah, it was, it's been a big success.
Kayla:
Yeah, it is a great success. Uh, I think our dealers absolutely loved it. I think, you know, from where I'm sitting, the participation and engagement, excitement around it was huge. The metrics were pretty impressive. You know, I, I mean. I, I don't know about you all on the call. I have to assume that if you are sitting in any seat of the business that you probably like numbers. And I'm a big numbers person and I say very close to my numbers. And I have to say that the dashboard that Ron and his team put together for us to be able to globally have a view into the performance of our global site as well as the dealer microsites and RSVPs, was super exciting and very impressive, and I check it. Or have checked it multiple times a day as to stay close to it.
Ron:
So at at a higher level to transition this, uh, beyond the See for yourself event, but I'm gonna broaden it and call it events. Yeah, let's do it. The idea that dealers or integrators, uh, are in some cases retailers, but if they hold events Yeah. What, what, what from your. Perspective. 'cause you've been doing this across multiple businesses and now you're doing this with ADI and, and bringing that expertise to the C4 dealers. Yeah. What leads to, uh, a successful event? What, what's necessary for there to be a successful event? And I'm gonna judge Success means it's converted in some way, right? Yeah. It's, it's been de it's demonstrated the time, money, and energy were worth it.
Kayla:
Yeah. I think you're gonna really like this. So I call it the three piece. It's planning, it's process and it's promotion, and if you don't do the three Ps, it is likely that your event will not yield the results that you are anticipating it to. So first and foremost, planning, you have to make sure that you're planning early and often, meaning you have to get alignment with your team. Because I think a lot of times when I've worked with franchisees or when I've worked with dealers, I ask them, well, what was your goal of this event? Was it to generate more leads? Was it to generate more sales? Or maybe was it for sentiment of whoever your customer is? Because you have to truly identify what your goal is and get aligned on that goal before you even start executing your event. Because again, if you're not aligned on the goal and you don't know what your outcome should be. You may or may not know whether your event was a success. Mm-hmm. So I think really aligning on what the goal and outcome is, and I, I'm a big believer in SMART goals. Using that to make sure that there's alignment within you and your team is gonna be crucial to making sure that your event is a success, because everyone should be saying the same thing. Also planning early. So at a minimum, you should really be planning your event no less than six weeks before your event, depending on the scale. If it's a much larger event, you really should be thinking anywhere between eight and 12 weeks, which that can seem really intimidating, but there's a lot that goes into event planning. And you know, it's as easy enough to say we got, we've got the big things, but there's a lot of small things. What about your giveaways? What about the print materials that you want? Who is staffing, you know, the event? What kind of catering are you having? Are you having food and beverage? Are you having a band? There's a lot of those smaller details that kind of make the event what it is. So that's planning. Then process, following a process, creating processes for how are you going to promote your event? How are you going to collect your leads? How, what information do you need from your leads? And then once you have that information, what are you doing with it? Right? So making sure you're following process. Process for what vendors do we include in our event? Process. Four. What giveaways do we do? Process four again, who do we have at the event? So really leaning into planning and process is key. And then planning and process is nothing without promotion. If you plan a great event. And you process the heck out of it, but you've not told anyone about your event and all the different channels, no one is going to come. So I like to think of specifically where I sit today is that we are in the relationship business, so we should be reaching out directly to our customers that we have relationships with, extending that personal invite. Making it feel like a personal touchpoint. And that is really where you can even take one lead and turn it into two because you're giving them the authority to go and invite more people. You're giving the them the authority to come into your showroom or to your space. You're giving them the authority to go and share more information to a broader group of folks. So I'm a big believer on those personal touch points, but I do do absolutely think you have to hit it at all angles. You have to promote on social. You have to run paid media campaigns because we all have a list of people that we talk to all the time. But if you want to get new people through your door, you have to run paid media in order to expand your reach. And then obviously. Email campaigns to our existing list because you gotta make sure you're talking to your existing customers. You wouldn't want anyone to feel left out. So at the end of the day, planning process, promotion, when you do those three things sounds like a lot. But when you do those three things, you really can have success and, uh, create efficiencies and alignment. And then once you do it a few times, you've got it down and it becomes really easy to execute.
Ron:
I, I think that sounds amazing. Like within the See for yourself event, you've given the dealers a theme to run with.
Kayla:
Yeah.
Ron:
And that's, that's great, right? You're serving them up an idea run with this. Right. And here's some sales collateral and marketing collateral. And, and you and I've been on your webinar, so you've also given them coaching and training around this.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
Um, there are other types of events. At a super high level, you know, dealers could run events for maybe their existing customer base. Yes. They could do an event for trade partners. Are there, uh, is, did everything you just described in terms of planning process and promotion, do you feel that's pretty cross applicable to all the diversity of types of events they might wanna run?
Kayla:
Yeah, great question. I do feel that generally speaking, it is pretty applicable to all of those things, but I think you made a really good point. The audience is really important. If you send the same email to your existing customers that you send to a new customer, that you send to a trade partner, it is not going to land the same. And it's also going to remove that personal touch point that you know them, you know their needs and you know who you're talking to. So I think that when we think about campaigns and marketing, which is really what events are, events are a type of marketing. If you didn't know that now, you know. But you have to think of your campaign audience and then build a funnel. And a funnel again, if you don't know, is how you bring people through your pipeline in order to make a sale. So if you are thinking about and starting with your audience and that planning, then you may have three different pipelines if you're trying to invite everyone, but. You might still have the same deliverables in your funnel, but that audience and changing that messaging is going to be key in how you make that person. On the other end of the email, on the other end of the text, on the other end of the social media posts, feel like they can trust you and like you know exactly why they need to be at your event.
Ron:
I, I'm curious what, what you've learned so far, uh, Kayla, in terms of the, the dealers that are the most successful. Yeah, and I, I know when we're recording this, events are, are just starting to be held right now. Um, if it's the business owners that appropriately delegate the right people within their business to carry the appropriate weight so that these, these, uh, events are successful versus that business owner who feels the weight of the world on their shoulders and they're like, that's the last thing I need.
Kayla:
Yeah. Is
Ron:
one more thing to do. Yeah. Um, any perspective there in terms of like who to loop in to help make this happen within the business?
Kayla:
Yes, absolutely. I think, you know, the biggest thing that you can do when you're in the relationship business is put the people who have the relationships at the front of the line and you have to equip them with the tools. And I always like to think a leader's job is to lead. You shouldn't be working in your business all the time. You should be working on your business, and then you hire people to work in your business to make it do the day-to-day stuff. Now, that's not to say. That a leader doesn't, you know, grab a mop and clean up the messy floor occasionally, right? But it's to say that if you are running your business effectively and you've hired the right people, then you are instilling the trust in them to go and do the outreach for you, which again, is going to make your time go a lot further where you can focus on the overarching theme and goals of what it is you're trying to execute. So from my perspective, where I'm sitting, I think enabling your sales team. In your integration business is key in events because they are already out forming these relationships and if they pick up a call, I mean, I experience this on a day to day. Right now, if I send a cold email to a dealer, it is unlikely I'm getting a response if they don't know who I am. But if I reach out to their sales rep and I say, Hey, would you mind making an introduction? They're, they are getting on a phone with me. They're getting on a call. They're emailing me back and it's because the relationship has already been formed and the sales team member can be trusted. So I'm a big believer in making sure that you're distributing responsibilities in that way. I think it would, it would catch people off guard if, you know, some random person in the, the office was inviting someone who had already had an established relationship with someone in the organization.
Ron:
Yeah, I, I could see that you, you mentioned the, a reference there to leadership.
Kayla:
Yeah.
Ron:
I wanna take a step back just because you, you're, you are new to the industry and I, yeah. I love to ask this question Yeah. Of many of my guests or maybe, uh, derivatives of this question. But what sort of, uh, leadership, uh, coaching or guidance have you received during your career that you think has really led to success to the, the businesses or operations that you've been a part of?
Kayla:
Absolutely. So there's definitely a few things that comes to mind right away when, when you first mentioned this, and I think the very first thing is if you're hiring the right people to be in the right seats. And I like to think of it as when you're a leader, if you are the one hiring, you're thinking about what are your skill sets, strengths and weaknesses, and then you're hiring to your weaknesses because that's what's gonna help meet the overall needs of the business. Now you have to look at your overall needs and not just hire. For people, you're hiring for needs in the business. But you know, let's say that you're not very good at social media. You likely need to hire someone who has the skillset of social media. So that way you compliment one another. So again, if you're doing that well, then the number one thing that you can do for yourself as a leader is lead and not micromanage. Let people do what they do best. Give them the autonomy and the power and flexibility to be in the room and have a seat at the table. Mm-hmm. A lot of times I like to think, you know. I can come up with a strategy and then Ron, you and I can sit in a room and the strategy gets 10 times better because we can talk and we can ideate, and then we arrive at something that maybe neither of us thought of to begin with. But that's the really great thing about peer-to-peer collaboration. And just because we have a title that might be different than one another doesn't mean that both of our perspectives and values aren't. Important and can't contribute to the broader goal. So I think that, again, if you've hired the right people and if you've created alignment in what the outcome is, what the goal is, then you bring those people into the conversation. You allow for them to execute with space and flexibility to do so. Obviously within certain, you know. Bounds here. We don't want them just kind of going all over the place, but really letting them do what they do best and lean into that, that's gonna be really important. And then I think from a leadership perspective too, listening to your people is key. And this goes really for, I think, of leadership, not just employer employee relationships. I think it's customer and integrator relationships. I think it's advocacy partners and you know, relationships with our customers. Agencies. I think of it as an ADI listening to a customer, right? So that's leadership can look like in a lot of different relationships. But really listening intently, listening and making sure that I like what you did earlier with me. You echoed back what I said, right? Making sure you're fully understanding what the need is before you go and try to solve for something. I think that's really important. And with that, I think comes protected time. So if you are someone who is managing people and you have a one-on-one or you have team meetings. Don't cancel those, because at the end of the day, those things are for the people who are sitting on the other side of your table that you are supposed to be leading and nurturing. And that is their moment and their time to go in and talk to you about what they need and what they need support on. And I think it's really important to make sure that you're, you're not. Canceling those things on. Obviously things come up, you have to shift things, but trying really to maintain a meeting cadence says to the person on the other side of the table that they're important and they're valued, and that you're there to support them. And then I think that probably brings me to my final thing is. This probably is a bit obvious, but I think that we can all use a refresher sometimes, right? Is not to just be critical. I think celebrating everything is huge in leadership. Acknowledging people when they do well, even if it's something small, it goes such a long way to building their confidence. And also what it tells them when you do have to give them critical feedback is that you're giving them feedback from a place of care because you've acknowledged what they do well. You are a believer in their development. You're invested in them, and that when you choose to give them feedback, it's not because you're being critical, but it's because you wanna see them grow. So I think really what all of that comes down to is prioritizing the relationship between you and the person that you're supporting. And that can look like a lot of different things based off of the person who you're supporting. But if you can maintain a meeting cadence. Intently listen and making sure that you're celebrating everything that they do and still giving them critical feedback. When it merits it, then you'll show holistically that you're invested in them as an employee in your organization. Personally and professionally.
Ron:
I'd a leadership masterclass. Kayla is what that is. Everyone needs to, uh, just take that, uh, couple of minutes and put that on replay and listen to that every morning. That was, that was fantastic.
Kayla:
Thank you. Thank you.
Ron:
I agree with. Everything you just said and, and, uh, at times need to practice certain elements of that better than, than others. So I, I think that that was, that was amazing. Uh, I'm curious, you mentioned listening and, and a key to leadership is, is being a great listener. And listening to truly understand, not listening to get your word or opinion in. Yeah. Uh, I'm curious if in your, your first, uh, months at C4, if that's a lot of what you've been doing with dealers is just listening to their feedback, even if sometimes it's not what you want to hear.
Kayla:
Yes, absolutely. And I think especially coming into a new role, what that helped me to do is to identify trends and themes in order for me to, again, go back to that problem solution mindset that I have in order to say, okay, maybe this is a problem and I do think that I have a solution where we can fix for that, or maybe that's a bigger thing that we need to discuss or, uh, that maybe that's a one-off thing and maybe that's just I need to build trust or a specific relationship with that person. But yes, in my first 90 days specifically. I had a lot of virtual meetings with dealers. We implemented a dealer feedback survey that was anonymous where they could give us all the feedback that they wanted. Um, they could put their names on it so that way if they had something specific, I could reach out to them, but, you know, otherwise they did not have to and constantly garnering that feedback really helped me to have a better understanding of the sentiment of the program as it is now, and then also opportunities to go and continue to grow the program, especially over the next one, three, and five years.
Ron:
Amazing, um, local marketing. All of, uh, your, your customers, but I would say challenge everyone listening and watching are, are generally serving their local marketplace, right. Most residential integrators, I know there are some commercial folks listening and some resi commercial people listening for sure. Um, but often, uh, the integrator is serving their local community often within some radius, uh, from their warehouse or their, their showroom location. Yeah. Um, and you, you have a, a deep background in local marketing. I do. What are methods or techniques that you would at least recommend they consider?
Kayla:
Great question. So I think of local marketing as a bit of an ecosystem, and I, you guys are probably gonna hear me, I like to put an ecosystem to just about everything, but in marketing, there truly are a lot of different ecosystems because again, if you only do one element of marketing, unless that has proven to work for you, which there are outliers where that is true. You really have to do all of the things in order to see the growth and the reach and you know, the, the drive that you really want in your business. So I like to first think about local marketing as a bit of an ecosystem. So again, you've heard me say, do all the things a few times. So what does that really mean? Be present on your channels. That doesn't mean that you have to be present on every single channel. I think once you become a mature business and you have a cadence, and maybe you've hired people to do that, that makes sense. But think about what channels make the most sense for your audience and be present there. Show up there often. Show up there regularly. Think we know the world of social media specifically. The algorithms are always changing, and if you don't post for a few days, you are going way down to the bottom of the ranks. So if you are trying to get yourself out there, you have to be present on your channel. So first think about, well, what is my audience? Where does my audience live on social media or in what channels? And making sure that you're present in those. And maybe it's mostly even email as a channel. I still think you have to do social, but. You know, if you have a slightly older audience, they might only live in email, and it's okay to have a lot of email campaigns
Ron:
do it. Do integrators need to be on TikTok?
Kayla:
Oh, I have a, I think integrators can be on TikTok, but I don't know that it should be their primary focus. I think it's a great place for education. It's a great place for fun and playfulness. But you know, I think for the most part, focusing on things like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are really great for our integrators. I do think TikTok is up and coming, but I think there's so much on there that it would probably be easy to get lost. Now, I do think if there was some sort of learning series, TikTok learning is pretty big, then yeah, it would make a lot of sense. But that's another great point to bring up. You have to think about what kind of content you post on the different platforms because. In the world that I've lived in in the past, we can post something on TikTok that we think is gonna go so great, and then it doesn't get any views because, well, it's not relevant to the algorithm today. The algorithm is funny. Today it's just focused on learning, right? So you have to really think about what content you're putting on there in order to. Make it make sense for the time, energy, and effort that goes into making tiktoks. That's my perspective.
Ron:
What, what's your perspective on, uh, a business showing up in Google search? Uh, again, I'll, I'll, I'll state the, the three traditional search, paid search and now AI search.
Kayla:
Yeah. So I think this kind of goes back to the ecosystem too, is that you definitely want to be in search. I like to think of everything in marketing as. If you're going, you know, like let's say you go out of town and you're looking for a dinner option, you're likely going to Google, you might be going to Yelp, then you might find somewhere and you're actually gonna say, and now I'm gonna go to Instagram and I'm gonna look at their Instagram and make sure that these reviews match what I see there. Right? So I would like to put yourself in the shoes of think about if someone was going on a first date, or think about if someone was, you know, looking for you as the restaurant. Where would they go to find how great of an integrator you are? And I think, here's a few things. Customer advocacy on Google, getting your Google reviews up, up, up is gonna be huge and making sure that they're good, right? Like you don't, you don't wanna have a ton of bad reviews. What, what do they
Ron:
do if they're bad reviews?
Kayla:
Yeah, so I think it depends because I, again, have led many Google Review campaigns where there are some people. In the world who they like to just go and leave bad reviews, to leave bad reviews, and you can get those removed. And I do recommend that if you find that it is truly not an indication of what you, the service that you offer, or they, maybe you've never even serviced them and they're just leaving a review to leave a review, get it removed. But if someone does leave a bad review, I always recommend still reply and try to make it right. We, again, we are in the business. Of relationships and maybe what our interpretation of something and how it went down is not the way that the customer perceived it. And the good news is there's always an opportunity for a second chance. And I think it goes a long way if you're on the integration side and you reach out and you say, Hey, I'm so sorry. How can we help fix this? How can we make it right? And being quick and responsiveness is also very important. I, I've said this and Ron, I know you've heard me say this a lot. We live in the world of instant gratification. So if we are taking five to seven business days to respond to someone who is angry at us, that does not look good. It looks like we've done something wrong, or it looks like we don't care about how they think about us. It's like we're not paying
Ron:
attention.
Kayla:
Yes, exactly. So making sure that you're being responsive on Google to positive reviews as well, not even just negative ones. But I, I mean, Ron, I would love your take on that, but I'm a big advocate of. If you think you've done something wrong or if they think you've done something wrong, have the integrity to say, how can we make it right? We wanna wanna make sure that you're a happy customer at the end of the day.
Ron:
Uh, I think it's best practice today for your reviews, for number one, for you to have a review policy in place of driving active reviews. I think business owners should be rewarding. Acknowledging first and then rewarding team members that help you grow your online reviews. Yes. Uh, the, the businesses that are the most successful have a successful internal program to do that. Yes. And whenever a review is placed, you need to have the system in process in place to immediately respond to those reviews. I say immediately, you know, same day.
Kayla:
I
Ron:
respond to those that, whether they're positive or negative, if it's positive, you know, go in there and say, thank you so much, and add your commentary if it was negative, fully acknowledge it. Yeah. And, uh, tell the world. 'cause you're, you're not just speaking to that one person, you're speaking to the world.
Kayla:
Exactly. Everyone
Ron:
that's doing their research is reading the reviews and you know what, they're going to the negative reviews. And they're, they're looking for what the review was and then what your response was.
Kayla:
Yeah, absolutely.
Ron:
And like Kayla, you and I don't make the rules. Okay? So don't throw tomatoes at us people. This is just how it works. It's so true. So you, you need to have a plan in place.
Kayla:
Yeah. I agree with you. And I think, Ron, you probably hear this a ton too. I hear time, time is an issue. I don't have time to do that. You do have time. And the reason why you should prioritize that is exactly what Ron just said, that when people are going. Shopping for their next, you know, smart home automation dealer or their next AV dealer. They are looking at your reviews and they are seeing how you put the customer first. So that will take your business a long way by prioritizing that. And if you don't have the time, this goes back to. Making sure that you're hiring the right people who you make that a part of their day to day, to make sure that those reviews are appropriately and quickly responded to and that they're addressed. I think it's also important, especially when I'm responding to negative reviews, it's one thing to say, yeah, let us help you and, and you know, reach out to us. But it's another thing to truly act on that and make that one or two star review, go to a four or five star review because we actually acted on what we said that we were going to do.
Ron:
I, I think that's brilliant. I, I wanna close here with your philosophies, Kayla, on relationship driven marketing. Yeah.
Kayla:
Yeah.
Ron:
And kind of what does that mean to you and how can those tuned in, maybe practice this in their life?
Kayla:
Yeah, great question. So relationship driven marketing is exactly what it sounds like. Marketing is education through building trust and relationships. And at the end of the day, we're all selling something, right? But what makes you stand out is how you treat your customer, how you service them, and how you position yourself as a brand or as an org. And I think that when you go a long way to make your customers feel special. The old ones, the new ones, you know, anyone that you work with and you have a full circle care of your customer. You're building trust. And I like to think of this, there's, it's like a bank and a withdrawal, right? So you deposit into your customer every time you respond to an email, every time you positively, you know, perform a service, you're dropping nuggets into their trust bucket. And then at some point their bucket is full. And you as a, an integrator can ask for a withdrawal. What that withdrawal can look like is it can be like, come back to me. When you're ready to upgrade your system, the withdrawal can look like go tell all of your neighbors, which is how we create customer advocacy and loyalty. And I think we hear a lot of that, right? Is how a lot of people get their business is by doing a good job. And then that good job turns into five more good jobs, which turns into 10 more good jobs. So I think. For me, it's making every single touch point that you have with the customer count. Make it intentional, make it purs purposeful, make it meaningful, and approach it with the same care that you would want someone to approach to you, to your mom, to your children, to your wife. And I know that sounds really cheesy, but it's so important to think about those touchpoints as building that trust. And then once you have enough. Trust built up. You can ask for a withdrawal from your customer, which can look like whatever your needs are for your business, and they're going to willingly and easily want to do that for you because they know that they can trust you and they know that you're going to take good care of them. So that's how I like to think about relationship side of the business and creating customer advocacy and loyalty. And it's such an important part of marketing and something that I think a lot of times because of things like time. We can tend to overlook the importance of building those relationships, but it's crucial to our business, especially now when you're going into someone's home where they live every day and it's, they're not cheap projects, right? We have to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to the best of our ability to make sure that their needs are met and they feel as satisfied at the end of the day.
Ron:
I, again, people should listen to this on replay. Folks, this are, she's dropping wisdom bombs. Great. Great job. Kayla. Kayla, I wanted to thank you for joining me, uh, here with the audience on Automation Unplugged. It's, uh, it's been a pleasure. Working with you this year in, in 2025, but also having you here on the show. Um, awesome job. Uh, I did, uh, or I did want to ask you, how could folks that wanna get in touch with you directly, uh, what would be the best ways for them to do that?
Kayla:
Yeah, absolutely. So the, the best way to get in touch with me is through my LinkedIn. You can search Kayla Steinberg and I should pop up and you should be able to message me directly. There. Um, you also can feel free to email me at Kayla dot
Ron:
Awesome. Thank you so much Kayla. See you soon. And happy holidays.
Kayla:
Yes, thank you. Happy holidays.
Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.
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