WHAT A CRAZY SIX MONTHS! A year ago we announced the Lighting Technology Certification program and last summer the online Level 1 Certification went live. Hundreds have begun the training and over 40 have completed all units and become certified. We hear fantastic reviews from integrators and are seeing entire sales teams go through the LTC at the direction of their leaders. A year ago we thought we would build a traveling demonstration room but this month we wrapped up construction on a permanent showroom in the Dallas Market Center that features a landscape area and a fully built smart space with lighting and controls. Mark Langston, Light Can Help You partner, has poured untold hours into the center to get it up and running, and it looks absolutely stunning. The ProSource Lighting Technology and Education Center will be the home of Level 2 Certification and a great place to train integrator teams, build content to reach trade partners like architects and builders, and even take clients through the experience. Nothing sells lighting like an experience, and ProSource will be able to deliver an incredible experience.
Vendor Support
The vendors continue to be incredibly supportive of the effort and are more aware than ever that dealer training is the key to unlocking enormous success in the lighting category.
Our manufacturer partners have sent their best gear to go on display and put their brightest minds to work helping us figure out how to
make three different control systems talk to each other and how to blend hundreds of DMX channels into a cohesive experience.
The scripts are written and the vendors have mapped out the scenes in the control systems.
It was a race to get it all done, but we have had local support from ProSource dealers such as Davis Tyson, President of DB Media Solutions and vendor partners to make it happen.
The Virtual Content
The virtual content has now been live for over six months and we’re hearing that it is very useful… and that the quizzes are no cakewalk!
Lighting is an incredibly complex industry and profession and that means the learning is taking time, on average 16-24 hours for the training. The online learning portion has gone over so well we have had multiple requests from outside of ProSource to gain access to the training, but we’re keeping it exclusive for our members.
Lighting at the Forefront
We’re seeing more and more dealers and manufacturers move lighting to the forefront of their story online, in showrooms and with product. It is not easy to get up to speed in lighting, but it is happening and we’ve seen integrators add seven figures to the bottom line in just a year or two.
Now we’re hoping to share what we’ve all learned with other ProSource dealers to help them get into the lighting world. ProSource vendor partners are investing in the channel and that is bringing awesome new CI-exclusive brands and products to help protect dealer margins and sales, so we really have all of the pieces in place for tremendous growth.
When COVID hit there was an initial enormous interest from integrators to take advantage of the downtime and get into lighting, but for many, the downtime was rapidly replaced with extraordinary demand.
That slowed us down in the lighting channel, but that means we’re still leaving a lot of money on the table. It’s not unusual to double or triple the sale of controls with light fixtures, and that can be a great addition to any existing project!
First appeared in ProSource Insider Magazine and reprinted by permission.