Latest / CE Pro Podcast / Inside Buzz Ep. 14: Gina Colucci of Market Share on Simplifying Lighting Control & Design

Transcript

Inside Buzz Ep. 14: Gina Colucci of Market Share on Simplifying Lighting Control & Design · CE Pro Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Gina Clucci.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I work with Market Share.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: We are the Pacific Northwest Rep for Lutron and some other high-end AV brands.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: My focus is specification.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm also a Lutron concierge or a specification specialist.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I work directly with architects, interior designers, custom home builders, lighting designers, educating them on our products and making sure they have everything that they need to be able to put our products on their projects in the right way.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your findings from CDA Expo CIX 2025.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this is my third year here.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what I've noticed this year is a little bit of a shift.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's definitely becoming not just about the sound, but also about aesthetic, also about experience.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think people aren't just pushing spec sheets anymore, but they are pushing the experience.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like how do you what are we creating, right?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the focus is obviously the people who are passionate about these products, but at the end of the day, it's really about the people who are going to be buying the products and putting them in their home.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I have heard that lighting has taken a big leap as represented at the show this year.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Which is exciting.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's really my passion, is the lighting side.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you couldn't tell.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: But uh it is, it's from a few years ago where you had some lighting, and and now, you know, with Lutron's intelligent lighting platforms and offerings, it is starting to become more mainstream.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me how Lutron helps homeowners control their lighting.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what it does and how it does it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a really interesting conversation because to be able to explain it to somebody as such as a homeowner who maybe has never lived with lighting control, um, is where I think people need to kind of focus.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not make it complicated.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're enhancing those people's lives, right?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of having a bunch of uh banks of switches, which I like to call wall acne, and you have to walk over and remember that this toggle switch does that light, and this one does that one, and if you have a guest over, they have no idea, to having more of a one-button experience.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, right, they're able to walk over to a custom engraved keypad and know if they click kitchen, the kitchen lights will come on.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have that next leap of that one button can now control multiple loads if you want it to.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you can then still still have that one, you know, zone control button as well.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not pushed into a corner, it's giving you a lot more freedom.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Overcome the objection.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: My client doesn't want to, they they don't want to learn about this, they don't want to program it, they don't want to, it's too complicated.
• 3:15
  unknown: Good.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want them to.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um that no, that's great.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have to.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They just need to understand that this will enhance their experience in their home, and they'll be able to have access on the wall through a keypad.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they can also have remote access through a remote, or they can even have access on their phone through an app if they wish.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they don't have to program it, they don't even really have to think about it if they don't want to.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's why we have the CI channel.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: These people come in and do this every day and they know what works and what doesn't work.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And basically they understand that the keypad is the favorites buttons.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they'll understand how the homeowner is going to be using the space.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: If they're a good integrator or technology designer, they'll be working with the full design team, which includes the architect, the interior designer, the custom home builder, to make sure that what they're programming is really how the client wants to be using that space.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: How do you break through the clutter specifically with specifiers?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I would imagine that integrators are different because it's so funny.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we're here today, we're at Cedia, Expo, CIX, we're in the lobby of the convention store.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: In a really cool van.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: In a really cool Volkswagen ID buzz, which is so much fun.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it's kind of it's it's novel because a lot of people haven't seen it yet, but it's also extraordinarily well built and incredibly well designed.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the crowd here, which is primarily integrators, oh my gosh, I've had to beat them off with a smyspace.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: They love this thing and they want to come in and they want to move seats around, and they they want to dig in and they want to see stuff that you can't see.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's an integrator.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So they they want more, but designers, interior designers, architect, they're busy.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not mocking them.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really everyone's busy.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: But they work on billable hours.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: They work on billable hours, and they're very busy, and they're also talking to uh dozens of other multi-line reps and product reps, uh, FFNE and just all kinds of other products that now you have to compete with.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: With this, because you're not sending out a sample box.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe you're sending samples, samples.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Samples with the bezels.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: But the the power is really in the performative nature of the product.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: How do you break through to the specifiers to get them to to open, especially interior designers, to open up a little bit and say, okay, how can I make this part of my design?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I mean, first off, we're very lucky that Bluetron is our our kind of flagship brand um because it has such a great reputation and the products just work.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But to get into the offices, you need to meet these people where they are.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be able to, I have full mobile demo kits.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm able to come to them, offer them what they need in a timely manner, um, but also understand that I speak their language, and I'm not going to be presenting to them in a in a language they don't understand.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm able to kind of take this world, reformulate how I explain it, and then talk an interior designer speak.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: You translate it.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm a translator, pretty much.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is a language, it totally is.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I it's really funny.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So when I took this job uh with Market Share, our principal came to us and offered me the job, and I go, I'm not a techie person.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how to update my iPhone.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Great, right?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You've got, you know, you've got the connections, you've got kind of, you know, the base understanding.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: We will train you, and then don't let us train you too much so that you aren't approachable anymore.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give the specifiers the information that they need, cut through the noise, build that trust.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if I don't know an answer, which happens all the time, I know who does.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really it comes down to owning those relationships, being available when they need me, but also not bothering them when they don't.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get that.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, nobody is ever going to accuse you or Tyler of not being approachable.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully not.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, not at all.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, listen.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: We love friends.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for doing this.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.