CE Pro June 2022 - 58

LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY
11 Steps to Get Started
(and Be Successful)
in Lighting Fixtures
Leaning on vendors, starting small and deciding whether to add
an electrical division can make or break your lighting venture.
THEY SAY SOMETIMES the first step is the hardest one
to take, but in the case of getting started in a new
category like lighting fixtures, that first step can be a baby step.
So how do you get started? Integrators offered some sage
advice, including starting with small retrofit projects or landscape
lighting, before taking the leap to add high-voltage
electrical service or full-fledged lighting design to your business.
However a CE pro company tackles lighting, getting educated is
vital. Here are 11 steps to get started in lighting.
1.
Learn the Lingo
Drew Ballsman, owner of HD Media Systems in Jackson,
Mo., dove into lighting several years ago following the lead of
HTSA. Ballsman says the first step is to understand the lingo.
" I think getting a baseline of knowledge so you can talk
knowledgeably on a job site to an architect, to a builder or to
a designer is probably the key thing to do. You've got to know
the lingo. You've got to talk the talk, you've got to know what
it is. You've got to demystify some of it. It's a lot like audio in
that audio tends to want to be overly complicated so that
makes it scary to a lot of people. Getting some baseline infor58
| CE Pro June 2022
mation was huge. Then trying to reach out to partners that
can be extremely helpful in getting you started. When you are
getting into the lighting space, you don't know the SKUs, you
don't know the product mix, don't know the lineups. It's just
overwhelming at first. "
2.
Lean on the Vendors; Create a Matrix of Products
Ballsman says he leaned on his vendors a lot at the outset.
" I would ask, 'What is this? What am I looking at? How does this
go together? That was critical, " he recalls.
From there, HD Media Systems created a lighting matrix chart
that covered all the SKUs and the price points. " That helped us
define the starting points, " he says.
Jonathan Wesco, president of Allegro in Mishawaka, Ind.,
started in lighting fixtures back in 2014, so he has been through
the experience of what it takes to establish your company in the
space. The difference between now and eight years ago, he says,
is the increased manufacturer support for the custom channel.
" In about 2014, back when Ketra was still independent, we
had the notion that at some point in the future we were
going to see controls move into the lighting fixture itself. We
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CE Pro June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro June 2022

CE Pro June 2022 - Intro
CE Pro June 2022 - Cover1
CE Pro June 2022 - Cover2
CE Pro June 2022 - 1
CE Pro June 2022 - 2
CE Pro June 2022 - 3
CE Pro June 2022 - 4
CE Pro June 2022 - 5
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CE Pro June 2022 - Cover3
CE Pro June 2022 - Cover4
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