Selling digital home technologies differs from virtually every other design selection. Home buyers generally understand counter-tops, flooring, and kitchen and bathroom fixtures. They may need some education on the pros and cons of different materials, and they may need help in selecting complementary colors, but they don't have to be taught why they need a shower or what a miniblind can do.

On the other hand, many consumers have never thought about lighting controls or digital whole-house audio. They don't know Cat-5 from The Cat in the Hat. To them, electronics always has been something they buy on a Saturday afternoon and stack in a media cabinet.

But overwhelming evidence suggests that when home buyers understand digital home features or see them in action, they're accepting of new technology—even enthusiastic. To builders, architects, and installers, that can mean more profitable homes.

Question: How do you do it? Answer: Learn from your peers. Many of them hold the keys to the digital home.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOM HOME BUILDER AND CLIENT IS akin to a business partnership, even a marriage. It can be stormy and contentious at times, but during the period when the house is being built, the two parties usually enjoy an extremely close and trusting relationship. Over the months of generating plans and making dozens of decisions, the home builder often gets to know the customer very well.

So home builders find they can use the relationships they've developed with clients to make some upfront decisions about electronics, smoothing the path for the contractor who will handle the overall sale.

Says Chip Gruver of Gruver Cooley Homes in Leesburg, Va., “You can't spend so much time with people without getting an idea of their budget, their sense of priorities, and their sophistication and understanding of technology.”

Based on these factors, Gruver tries to steer his clients toward the digital home options he thinks they'll most likely need and enjoy. The prescreening allows Gruver to give the low-voltage contractor a general sense of the customer's requirements, making the meeting with a home buyer more productive.

This isn't to say the electronics expert may not successfully upsell; that happens often. But by getting an idea of the requirements, the contractor has a basis for starting a discussion of the types of electronics that will go into the house.

IN ORDER TO SERVE customers, it's important to match the proposed technology to their needs—perceived and actual. Sometimes those needs are based on location. People in California tend to be more sophisticated and have more electronics in their homes than people in Michigan, says Peter Cook, who owns Automation Design and Entertainment in Portage, Mich. If the development is in an area where many of the neighbors have lighting controls and whole-house video, buyers will at least understand the options and possibly want them.

But more important than location is lifestyle, which can provide an insight into the home buyer's real, rather than perceived, needs. Rather than ask, “How many rooms would you like audio in?” or “What kinds of lighting controls would you like?” Cook queries clients on things like their music tastes or whether one spouse tends to be away from home a lot.

While at first blush these questions may seem unrelated to electronics, they reveal a lot about what home buyers need. For example, if all the people in the house tend to like the same type of music, it may be sufficient to have just speaker volume and on-off controls in each room. But if the family members have very different tastes, they might consider a digital system that lets them select music for each room.

Similarly, if one spouse tends to travel a lot, a higher-end security system may be important. In addition, a lighting control that allows the stay-at-home spouse to switch on all the lights in the house from the bedroom may help the family feel more secure in its new environment.