The Fabric of our Society

The Fabric of Our Society editorial is a platform for industry thought leaders to provide experience-based opinions and reflections on various topics. Diverse perspectives are respected and most welcome. Want to contribute? Email [email protected]

September 2024

Reps at the Hub 

Melissa Deutsch Stein
Owner, Stan Deutsch Associates

This column got me thinking: What truly is the fabric that holds us together as a lighting community? The answer is not business or design appreciation. It’s relationships. The breadth and depth of the relationships that I have built over my 24 years as a lighting representative is extensive. I think our NYC niche of the spec lighting community is quite special.

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times from lighting designers, electrical distributors, manufacturers, and reps alike: “Once you are in lighting, you’re stuck in it forever.” But there’s usually a pejorative tone, and I never understood why. I think we tend to undervalue our community. And I find longevity in the industry to be a valuable asset.

At the center of the wheel
I saw a photo of the 2024 IESNYC Lumen Awards Gala on social media. It showed nearly 1000 people at Pier 60, all connected to the NYC lighting community. I remember vividly, around 1990, attending my first Lumen Awards as a college student at The Boathouse in Central Park. It was more of a small cocktail party, less than 100 people.

As a NYC lighting rep, I have had an interesting position to watch the industry evolve.

Half of our team works with the design community. We serve lighting consultants, architects, and electrical engineers, both during the design process and during procurement and shipping. The other half of our team is pricing and coordinating with electrical distributors, general contractors, and owner’s representatives. We help ensure that product delivery and installation runs smoothly.

Our supply chain actually looks more like a hub-and-spoke system than a linear chain. From the center, reps work with almost every person on the wheel. From early questions like “Can this product be modified to…?”, to coordinating deliveries into a tight time slot on a Manhattan loading dock. Our connections to the entire lighting community provides critical value to the success of the project.

From the center, we deal with people all along a complex (and sometimes confusing) product distribution chain. The stakeholders all have different goals and objectives, but we all work together to complete the project on time and on budget. Sometimes, it is the challenges of a single project that lead to a relationship developing real trust.

Through our relationships, cultivated over decades, we can react quickly and reliably. We know whom to call and for what. Our role is to make the job run as smoothly as possible, from blue-sky design right through commissioning.

Steady growth
When I first joined the industry, there were only a handful of NYC lighting design consultancy firms. These designers were the innovators of the lighting world. The number of lighting consultancies has grown significantly, and SDA Lighting & Controls has grown with them. We have known many of these designers for 10, 20, even 30 years, as they have progressed through multiple firms or ventured out on their own.

Our strongest relationships are with specifiers. They trust that we will advocate for their design and stand up for them through the procurement process – on both in-town and out-of-town projects. We will fight to keep the design intent when the project is getting “value engineered,” ensuring that the vision comes to fruition.

Designers trust that we will be hyper-responsive to answering questions and helping solve problems when they arise. We know our products (and much of the competition) and can quickly make suggestions on a product or capability. This trust in our competency has only increased in importance, as projects have gotten far more complex and lighting has gone digital.

Partners
As a rep, we seek out and cultivate relationships with top manufacturers known for innovation, quality, and customer service. And in partnership with our manufacturers, we look ahead to new trends and technologies. Good, better, and best options on our line card (without having too many similar products) supports a variety of project typologies and levels of design.

We often connect designers with factory engineers to determine if an idea is feasible and helps achieve the vision. We coordinate with other reps who have lighting or controls on our projects. And we frequently work with multiple representatives on an out-of-town project.

The key to the success of projects with this many stakeholders is communication and relationships. Sure, it’s not all ice cream and unicorns. But we are very lucky to work in an industry where people stay for a long time.

SDA has long histories with both clients and competitors. But there’s always a twist: nearly every project involves a different set of players. The long view, getting to know people over the years, lets project teams react quickly and trust outside-the-box thinking. The result is some truly amazing projects.

Connecting in a digital age
It does concern me that so many design firms are still fully remote. People who have been in their role for 10 or more years may be able to work remotely with no issues. But how do we translate the nuances of lighting and the supply “wheel” to young professionals just entering the workplace? This concern affects many other industries. However, just as the culture within a company is key to its success, the culture of our lighting community is also vital.

These changes make it increasingly important for us to be a well-integrated lighting community. LEDucation, the Lumen Gala, small group events, and trade shows are ways for us to connect and maintain our tight-knit community culture. It’s always been important to me to support lighting organizations that bring together professionals in multiple lighting roles. These events not only educate, they help us connect at a human level.

Lean into our industry; develop as many relationships as possible from owners to commissioning techs. This will breed future success. And, as always, let us reps know how we can help.