The Orro Smart Living System is a recent entry to the smart home market that provides automatic human-centric and wellness-oriented smart lighting, home-wide control, energy savings, and home monitoring capabilities. In 2021, the company decided to focus on the custom installation channel, and here is what you need to know to get in business with Orro. Questions are answered by Patrick “PG” Gall, head of channel development, Orro.
What do you look for in a residential integration company to partner with?
We look for partners who are always looking for innovative technologies to add to their assortment. Since Orro cuts across many job sizes and styles, what that company finds interesting for Orro varies. For some, they’re looking for that “middle” control option for those jobs where other automation systems don’t fit the bill. For others, they may be very interested in how we approach lighting and the unique sensor and software technology we use to create human-centric, automatic lighting. On that note, there are some dealers who are taking this “wellness-first” approach, and we are especially interested in working with them since Orro takes a very wellness-first approach. We also like dealers that recognize companies specialized in a certain area, like us and lighting, can create a better solution than some other companies who make everything. I’d also include those companies that have a vision of how even one Orro switch can massively improve a very large install they have due to something we do, whether that be built-in intercom, built-in Alexa, a Control4 digital keypad, and so on.
How much training is required to get started?
There is not much training needed to get started with Orro. That’s part of the beauty; we make a single SKU that is a Swiss-army knife that works across all light bulb types and lighting configurations and integrates with many other devices in the home, all without any special programming. We always recommend the dealer work with a certified electrician, given it’s a piece of high voltage. Beyond that, “programming” with Orro generally means grabbing a customer’s account credentials for Ring, Nest, Alexa, etc. and plugging those into Orro, and that’s it. Whether a dealer purchases direct from Orro or from one of our distributors, we offer intro trainings virtually (sometimes in-person) and additional webinars that focus in on other parts of Orro, like what we integrate with, or a deeper dive into the back-end, troubleshooting, supporting customers, and so on.
What is the average financial investment a dealer must make to become a partner?
This varies based on what the dealer plans to purchase. Generally speaking, the majority of our dealers buy through distribution. When buying through distribution, there is no minimum to get started with Orro. They can purchase one single switch and that’s it. We do have a Direct Dealer Program that we reserve for a relatively low number of dealers that are very large, could be strategic partners, work with home builders quite a bit, etc. We do have a minimum opening order and annual minimums that go along with that.
How much assistance do they get in designing a showroom that demos your system?
As much as they want! We are very happy to help guide them on how to incorporate Orro into their showroom, retail location, and/or home. We’ll even review lighting diagrams and make recommendations based on that, recommend other relevant products that work with Orro, and more. We also have simple table-top demos for our partners for their showrooms or even to take out to a customer’s home.
What is the average amount of time it takes a dealer to get up and running in your system?
Very minimal. If purchasing through a distributor, and they already have an account, it’s as simple as filling out our registration form and placing an order. For the few Direct Dealers, they will fill out our Dealer Agreement and place their opening order, and that’s it. From there, we’ll work with them 1:1 on scheduling trainings and provide any other support they need.
What kind of support does a dealer partner receive?
As much or little as they want! We want to be a supportive partner to the dealer (or distributor) and give them options on how they want us to support them. We can do 1:1 virtual meetings and trainings (or in-person), create co-op marketing assets for their business + Orro, bring them leads, and much more. We are at the mercy of our partners, and we look to them to let us know how we can support them. We have a nimble team that can create just about anything quickly, and we have funding set aside to assist dealers as opportunities come up.
Should something ever go wrong, our support team is awesome and, even as a small company, we have a Dedicated Dealer Line. We also make it easy for dealers to ask for help. They can call, email, or chat on our website, send a voice feedback directly from our switch, or even provide quick feedback via our app.
What kind of commitment do you require from the dealer?
If purchasing through a distributor, none, other than we expect them to represent the brand well and recognize our unilateral pricing policy. If purchasing directly, we do have financial commitments for their open order and annual minimum purchases.
What kinds of ongoing or advanced training do you provide?
We run monthly webinars for our Direct Dealer base and partner with our distributors to run training programs specific to their dealers. That includes webinars or even 1:1 virtual meetings and trainings. Just recently we did 40 1:1 dealer meetings/trainings with one of our distributors.
We also look to our partners to help us understand what they need. We gather their feedback in various way and then take action on it quickly. Their feedback has already helped us develop new training documents, webinars, changes to our app, and more.
Do you offer in-field support for dealers on projects?
Yes, we certainly do. With our distributor partners, they can support dealers locally, even at the job site. With distributors or Direct Dealers, we are also nimble and will support what the dealer needs. Just the other day, I was at a job site of an Orro customer who has 50-plus switches in their home. I was out there to help tweak a few things and really optimize all Orro can do.
Do you have a means for sending active leads to your dealers?
We absolutely do, and we are constantly sending both distributors and dealers leads. We’ll have end-consumers reach out to us saying they are interested in Orro but are looking for a pro to help out. We’ll pass that lead onto a Direct Dealer or a distributor, pending the location. We get even more leads today from dealers, many of which we quickly pass onto our distributors, bringing them leads. Over time, we intend to build some form of a Dealer Locator on our website and make it even easier for end-consumers to find an Orro dealer.
For more information, visit https://getorro.com/pro.
