For a good portion of the industry, the desire to join the design team has been a relatively recent push that evolved with the addition of lighting fixtures to the equipment arsenal, providing integrators with an even greater reason to have a seat at the table. Navot Shoresh, founder and owner of Spire Integrated, however, recognized the value of partnerships with those trades decades ago and has since cultivated prosperous relationships with interior designers and architects — as well as builders and electricians — resulting in some of the finest luxury homes in the Michigan area.
Starting Off Strong
“Early on in my career, I was fortunate enough to work with a couple of great designers who found me to be interesting enough to share a lot of their ideas and philosophies,” says Shoresh. “One of them taught me a valuable lesson during my first year in business. He was a famous restaurant designer, and he told me that there are two things that I need to be aware of with regard to design: There are things that are applied, and there are things that are designed. You can see when something was designed to be incorporated and when something was applied to the design — stuck in there.
“He said, ‘You don’t want to be in the applied business — you want to be in the design business. Don’t just apply a TV or a speaker where it looks like an afterthought.’”
Though at the time custom installers were relegated to “applied” territory, Shoresh continued to seek out the architects and interior designers, crediting good communication with getting him into the room.
“When I talk about communication, I’m not talking about the basics, where you should provide information and ask questions,” he says. “I am talking about truly trying to understand what the other person is looking to do. One of our core values is ‘to be clear is kind,’ and we use it a lot when we have relationships with interior designers because we try to be not just the AV guy, but a part of the design team.
“Try asking a simple question to start: What would a good relationship look like? What are you looking for in this interaction? A lot of times they will tell you, and a lot of times they won’t, and you will have to dig a bit deeper. But over time you develop an understanding that some of it is about money, some of it is about making the project better, and some of it is making the interior designer look good.”
There are reasons why it has been difficult for integrators to find their way into the design team, with a big one being money and who loses out when a new player enters the game.
“I’ve found success by being honest because it usually gets sour on money,” Shoresh explains. “Things will get sour fast if you take away somebody’s money. So, understanding how every person makes money is extremely important, because if you’re taking somebody’s income, they’re not going to like you. You have to understand how designers make money, how architects make money, how the builder makes money, and how the electrician makes money. Then, when you go into the communication, you have better leverage to move in the right direction.”
Spire Integrated was also helped in their design team quest early on by providing CAD drawings on their jobs, which allowed them to clearly communicate their intent and showed they could speak the design-build language.
The last piece of the puzzle came into place when Spire began selling lighting fixtures about seven years ago, largely because of his experience with design. “We had a project with Jones-Keena & Co., an interior design firm that I have worked with since I started my business, that had a tremendous amount of issues with its lights that pushed us to get into lighting much heavier,” Shoresh recounts. “We’ve had this beautiful house, and we didn’t control the lighting fixtures and we didn’t do the lighting design. We were left with some lighting design by a lighting designer, some lamps that were picked by the electrician, and some stuff that was put outside — it was the typical mishmash of how lighting gets done in most residential homes.
“We put this beautiful Lutron system in, and we had a lot of problems with flickering. We said, ‘Okay, we can’t do this anymore — this is costing us way too much time, effort, and money.’ We decided to build a lab in our office — basically took a Lutron system and created every potential dimmer and module that we could use — and we insisted that from now on every job, if you’re going to use some fancy bulbs or some fixtures that we aren’t familiar with, that we test them.
“That was a very forward-thinking way to solve a problem rather than sit there at the end of the day and say, ‘It’s not our fault.’ A client of mine taught me that a long time ago — even if it’s not your fault, it’s your responsibility to help.”
From the Field
Shoresh can cite many examples of how asking the right question led Spire to success when working with other trades. He tells one story from when he first started selling lighting fixtures about an electrician who he worked with regularly who refused to buy from him.
“I finally just said, ‘Hey, explain to me why you’re not buying the fixtures from us,’” he explains. “’Are you worried about warranties?’ And he said, ‘No — you just don’t let me buy it with a credit card.’ ‘So, if I let you buy it with a credit card, you buy them from us?’ And he says, ‘All the time — it’s so much easier!’ So, we adjusted the price slightly to accommodate for the credit card use, and voilà, you have a relationship!”
He tells another story about another powerful question that occurred when a client wanted a TV in a space where the interior designer did not think it would work. “We sold so many more TV lifts and hidden cabinets because of our willingness to ask another question: Would it be acceptable if we do this?” says Shoresh. “That is a good question for interior designers. In this case, it was an ultra-modern house and the designer didn’t want to see the TV, but the customer really wanted one in his dining room. So, we made this TV that pops up out of the floor. It was complicated and it was expensive, but it met all the criteria of all the members of the party — the architect, the designer, the homeowner, and the builder. It makes a difference because you’re there to help.”
Of course, even when providing everything the client wants, it does not mean that compromises still can’t be made, as Shoresh remembers an installation that took place in a magnificent North Michigan lake house.
The project was done by Spire along with the designers at Jones-Keena & Co. The main room features a large-screen television hung above the fireplace, which is flanked by two floorstanding Meridian speakers. The space stands out for so many reasons — most of them for its beauty — but also because of the decision to have the technology be seen. Or not seen depending on whose website you visit…
“This is a perfect example of bringing a designer on board with technology,” he says with a smile. “I have quite a few jobs where you see these freestanding Meridians, and other integrators ask me how I pull that off. Because I’ve taught the designer the value of music and the value of performance. Then the customer wants it — and it comes in custom colors, so it gives the designer some options.
“The other thing that raises an objection from interior designers is that they don’t want the speakers in their photos. In this case, I asked, ‘How about when you take the photos for this job, I will send my guys over and they’ll take the speakers away, you take your photo, and then they will put the speakers back?’ Do you know how many jobs we have won using just that notion? Again, you have to ask the question.
“We took a photo with the speakers for the Spire website and if you go to the Jones-Keena & Co. website, you’ll see the exact same room without the speakers.”
Getting in With Designers
For those just getting started in working with the design team — or who are looking to expand their relationships — Shoresh has some parting tips on how to become invaluable to interior designers and architects.
“The customer may be the one paying you, but the design team is what’s going to get you to the next job. One of the biggest mistakes most people make when they have a successful relationship or a successful project is they don’t go to the architect and ask: ‘How was your experience?’ ‘What could we do better?’ and ‘Do you know anybody else in your field or another job that I can help with?’
“Asking questions — that’s the secret right there. Also, referrals are a two-way street. Don’t just ask for referrals, but send your clients their way, too. That back and forth is what creates a relationship.”
