Page 41 - Lighting Magazine March 2020

Standing Out
“There have always been women in the lighting industry, but not many who owned the business. I always thought my dad was a trend-setter in that re- gard. He had no qualms about bringing his daughter into the company,” she remarks. Richard appointed Laurie President of the company in 1992; her broth- er, Joe, was named Vice President in 1997. Gross Electric operates two lighting showrooms: one in Toledo, Ohio and the other in Ann Arbor, Mich., plus three electrical supply counters. In the early 1980s, there weren’t a lot of females in electrical distribution. “I absolutely had to prove myself; elec- trical contractors were not used to working with a woman,” she recalls. “Both the electrical distribu- tion and showroom lighting business have become more gender-diverse.” Perhaps the greatest tribute to the Gross family success was the fact that, over time, electrical distributors would occasionally ask her father for advice on bringing their daughters into their own businesses.
The same immersive process that Gross does with new hires – where they spend time in their first few weeks getting a feel for the company by observing every department – is the same she does herself and recommends to her peers. “We all have our areas of expertise, but it behooves every busi- ness owner to see for themselves what is involved in each job, from warehouse and back office to purchasing and selling,” she states. “My advice to anyone coming up in the showroom business is to focus on the things that are important to your store. In the era of social media, it’s easy to get caught up in hearing what other people think the problems are [for showroom owners].” Success involves knowing your market, your clientele, and your competition.
“The internet and home centers have had a huge impact as competitors over the years,” Gross says. “What we’ve worked on is focusing on our strengths. We’re not going to change the world, but we can be proactive to compete against these mar- ket changes. Look at what you do and what makes sense.”
That self-examination led Gross to switch up the showroom’s marketing message to increase foot traffic by emphasizing coming into the store to re- ceive a special discount or a premium (free bulb). “If we don’t sell them when they are coming into the store, then shame on us,” she quips, adding, “So far, this approach seems to be working.”
Keeping pace
The customer has changed so much over the years. “Back in the 1980s, everybody wanted the same thing: polished brass and glass. Now, no two people want the same,” Gross states. “When I first started selling, you walked around the showroom with the customer, picking out decorative fixtures, and basically just worried about the appropriate size.” Today, salespeople perform whole-house layouts of recessed lighting, calculations of footcan- dles, LED technology, and lighting control systems.
“The customer has become much more edu- cated about lighting because of Pinterest and Instagram,” Gross shares. “The pre-shopping they do on the internet has actually helped with the buying process since they already have an idea of
“We all have our areas of expertise, but it behooves every business owner to see for themselves what is involved in each job.”
hall of femme
Collaborating with clients is a favorite part of the job.
March 2020 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 37