17 Jul Change the Way I am Doing Things Now…. Why?
Let’s face it, change is hard. Especially when everything seems to be working. It’s comfortable, familiar, and frankly easier to keep conducting your business the way you always have. No one seems to be complaining. Besides, change takes time and it’s going to require an of investment in the company. So, where’s the incentive? Great! Let’s just continue as we have.
Problem solved, right? I read a quote recently that struck home:
“Pretty much all companies are structured around the way that best fits their interests, not their customer’s. Companies that understand this soonest and change will be those that thrive.” Tom Goodwin
The lighting industry is moving at warp speed in terms of technology of LED products and Lighting Controls technology, yet it is still archaic in the way it conducts day to day business. Lighting manufacturers work separately from their agency representatives, lighting agencies are slow to move into the digital and marketing world despite an increasingly competitive environment that demands it. Both entities need each other to prosper! For both, little time or consideration is taken to examine the needs of the customer, which makes the very existence of both these entities thrive.
As technology within the lighting industry continues to grow and innovate, will lighting manufacturers and agency representatives make the changes needed to meet the needs of innovation? When visiting with both manufacturers and agencies the change that is needed is expressed by both, but the willingness is lacking. Three changes need to take place:
- Lighting manufacturers and their reps need to get on the same page with a targeted marketing message.
- Lighting agencies need to invest in their businesses. Doing business “as usual” is no longer an option in a rapidly changing environment. Being a trailblazer in changing the way they do business will help them thrive far beyond where they are now.
- Both manufacturers and their rep’s need to listen more intently to their customers. They may be surprised that what they think is “best” may not be at all.
“Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way” Tom Freston
Lana Rice is president of Luminaire Marketing, a marketing and consultant agency for the commercial lighting industry. “We are changing the way the lighting industry does business.” Luminaire Marketing is the developer of The Luminaire Selector, a fresh new marketing and sales tool built specifically for lighting agencies and the manufacturers they represent.
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