Gone are the days where smart lighting and acoustics can be sold to industry partners through spec sheets and product descriptions alone. With new and advanced tech like circadian lighting and premium acoustics, they need to be experienced to be understood. But how do you convey the benefits of this technology to builders, contractors, and developers? At Acoustic Design Systems (ADS), we decided to go beyond the traditional product demo. Leveraging our industry relationships, we began taking our builder, contractor, and developer partners to manufacturer design studios to experience the technology firsthand. While many integrators have their own showrooms, the rapid advancement of technology makes it challenging to always feature the latest tech. By visiting manufacturer design studios, partners get to see and experience the technology as it was designed to be experienced in, championed by the experts who built it.
The Experience Gap
When it comes to higher-end lighting and audio products, describing how they make the end user feel can be difficult – you have to experience it for yourself to fully understand its full value. Manufacturers have design and experience centers that can benefit integrators. When you bring your partners to these centers, you accomplish two things: you educate them on what the products can actually do, and you strengthen your current relationships while creating new connections.
Take Lutron Ketra lighting – lighting that mimics the natural progression of daylight – it’s something you have to experience to appreciate. For ADS, visiting the Sonance Design Studio in Southern California was ideal when it came to showcasing Lutron Ketra lighting since they have a dedicated Ketra experience. It’s the perfect place to take our high-end luxury home builders, architects and developers for a visit, because they get to see a lighting product that complements and enhances their design, along with some A/V products that don’t detract from the architectural designs of the homes.
Impact on Design & Collaboration
When partners understand technology’s potential through firsthand experience rather than technical specifications, they begin considering integration possibilities earlier in the design process. They recognize that early involvement ensures their designs can accommodate today’s technology standards from the ground up, rather than retrofitting them later.
Beyond process changes, a shared vocabulary emerges between integrators and partners, streamlining every conversation. When I mention “Ketra” to partners who’ve experienced it, there’s an immediate understanding – no need to explain what it is or why it matters; we’re all operating on the same wavelength, eliminating wasted time and miscommunication.
The Ripple Effect
Partners won’t just change how they work with you; they’ll become champions for the technology itself. After one of our partner visits to highlight Lutron Ketra, the builder we took immediately engaged us to develop a completely new options program featuring the technology they’d encountered on the trip. As a health and wellness-focused builder already incorporating biophilia design, they recognized circadian rhythm lighting as a natural extension of their philosophy. They wanted their design team equipped to present and advocate for this technology to homebuyers, creating a ripple effect that extends the impact far beyond the original design center experience. Another one of our partners returned and convinced ownership to expand lighting and audio/video budgets across their entire portfolio. These experiences reinforce what we’ve been advocating all along – early collaboration produces better outcomes – and now partners can see that value tangibly in every project.
Practical Implementation
Success for these trips requires meticulous planning and close collaboration with the manufacturer hosting the experience. Set clear expectations beforehand so everyone is aligned, and the day will flow seamlessly. You need a syllabus, a plan, and an agenda – you can’t simply arrive and ask, “what do you want to learn?”, because what separates an effective design center from mere eye candy is the level of accessible education delivered.
These visits should be designed as a full-day, immersive experience, not a casual lunch break stop. You want to wow your partners the same way they want to wow homebuyers. For us, that means red-carpet treatment – private jets, car service, premium catered lunches – because the professionals we work with sell luxury products to luxury buyers. Experiencing that perspective firsthand makes them better at their jobs.
Results & Business Impact
The ROI speaks for itself. Partners who have experienced design centers are engaging us earlier, specifying better technology in the design process, and increasing overall project budgets. When you show someone technology that adds value to their work through an unforgettable experience, they remember you at contract time; because in an industry where specifications can’t capture impact, experience isn’t just valuable, it’s essential.
