Lighting Presentations Focus on Contractor Profitability

Presentations Monday at the Lighting & Controls Theater on the NECA 2018 show floor leaned toward ways contractors can leverage lighting and controls to improve profitability, whether by reducing time required on a job-site to do installation and commissioning of lighting systems or by capturing opportunities to upsell and build customer relationships. The Monday slate of 18-minute presentations included Gexpro on manufacturer-agnostic lighting controls, Lutron on wireless controls, and ecoInsight on IoT applications in retrofits.

In the session that wrapped up the day, Kyle Cohen of Leviton gave contractors a refresher in upselling and cross-selling lighting equipment by spending a little extra time on each service call noticing the equipment the owner has installed and suggesting replacements where they could improve satisfaction.

“Every call is an opportunity to establish yourself as a solution provider,” he said told a small but attentive audience. “By noticing that they have an Alexa on the table, for example, you can suggest a dimmer they could control with their voice. You become their trusted advisor for making their lives better.”