Page 52 - Lighting Magazine September 2018

Lighting Up the World
“I hold training meetings once or twice a week to show how to use the internet as an e ective sales tool.”
— Blake Fellner
manufacturers. Livex provided him with the op- portunity to start his own agency – Future Is Now Sales – and move back home. In 2018, he was hired by Livex to cover Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, plus North and South Carolina. It’s been an opportunity he says that has allowed him to grow professionally as well as personally. “So far it’s been going great. I’m extremely happy and looking to grow my territory with Livex and hopefully hire someone to help me expand my agency.”
The Fellner family solidi ed their claim in lighting when Tyler’s longtime girlfriend, Morgan Marrale, joined the business a er she graduated from col- lege last year. “I went to school for Marketing and minored in Business Analytics,” Morgan explains. “I had thought about doing business analytics for a sporting goods company, but I didn’t want to look at spreadsheets for hours. I was looking into real estate and was interested in interior design.”
Lori urged Morgan to try working at the family’s showroom to see if she liked it. A er approximately eight months of enjoying her showroom duties, Sco asked if she’d like to see the rep side of the industry. The experience of driving around to visit with di erent people at various stores held tremen- dous appeal. “He stole me away from Lori,” Morgan jokes. It’s now one year later and she is loving her job as a manufacturer’s representative. “I’m glad a lot of things I originally set out to do didn’t work out,” she declares. “Tyler helps me a lot with this industry. I came into it knowing nothing, but we talk about lighting all the time.”
Discussing lighting is something the entire family does whenever they get together. With members in- volved in di erent areas of the industry, each brings something di erent to the dinner table. There’s rivalry, of course, but they assure it’s all in good fun.
“We are all there for each other,” Blake says. “We
bounce ideas o one other. While we have di erent approaches and tactics, we aren’t afraid to share what works and what doesn’t if there’s a chance to help each other grow.”
One of those challenges is the rise of internet shopping. “When box stores came onboard, ev- eryone thought we would be out of business,” says Sco . Surviving the competition – then and now – comes down to customer service.
Lori agrees, “You can’t [win] on price, you’ve got to do it through customer service.” Fortunately, Lori and Sco saw the importance of the internet and social media early on. Instead of ghting the unknown, they leaned into it.
“I have decided not to ght the internet. Instead, I embrace it,” Lori states. I don’t hide our prices,” she explains. The family is also encouraged by re- cent rulings (i.e. the Supreme Court’s South Dakota vs. Wayfair decision) that could pave the way for all states to collect sales tax on internet purchases, helping to level the playing eld.
“If we keep everything equal – prices are the same and everyone pays sales tax – that can bring the [retail sector] to a level that’s equal,” Sco notes, adding, “We can do things [with help from vendors] with shipping and freight.” According to Lori and Sco , survival for showrooms today is all about selling yourself [as a business], your expertise, and customer service. It’s a method that appears to be working. “We get repeat customers and referrals all the time,” Lori states.
With some paid advertising and a consumer- friendly social media presence, Light & Day has established itself as an educational resource for lighting in the surrounding community. Undoubtedly, everyone in the family has contributes something to the business’ success. “We are all intertwined,” Lori remarks. “The Fellners help light up the world.”
50 enLIGHTenment Magazine | SepteMber 2018
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