Tech Talks With Jeff: Lutron Automated Shades

Welcome to Tech Talks with Jeff! A blog where our Business Development Manager, Jeff Barret, sits down with our Marketing Coordinator, Aly, to discuss his latest findings and his opinions on recent news and developments. Like what you see? Want to know Jeff's opinion on something specific? Let us know! 

Today, we're talking about one of Jeff's favourite automation tie-ins: Lutron Shades. 

Aly: I want to talk about something that we market a lot - and I'm sure you speak to customers about it a lot as well - but I want to talk about Lutron Shades. Off the top of your head, what are the top benefits to using Lutron Shades?

Jeff: I'll just talk to automated shades to start with. It fits every vertical, it fits every application: security, automation, "My house is better than yours," you know? It really does play with everything, even energy efficiency.

I think people get intimidated by the words "automated shades" because they think it comes with a 50,000-dollar price tag. Now, if you're going to automate the shades in every window of your house, well, yeah, of course, it's going to add up, but it doesn't have to be a super expensive job.

It could be one simple automated shade - let's say my nursery so I don't have to worry about the baby waking up when I'm finally sleeping, etc. I also think from a security perspective, certain times of day could trigger in the nursery again - maybe I want to make sure the shades are closed all the time when somebody would be in there sleeping to make sure nobody's looking in. But it could be as simple as making sure the shades go down when I'm not home, so my dog isn't barking whenever a neighbour walks by, and then the neighbours start complaining.

Shades have an audio-visual tie-in as well. Let's say you've got a boardroom in an office environment, and you're doing Zoom meetings. If there's glare coming in, shades kick in. So automated shades not only actually solve the problem, but they do it with a little bit of an attitude, for lack of a better term. So if you're bringing people into your boardroom, you're bringing them in to show off your product at your company, it's going to be sleek.

It's a great aspect - The point of the customization price vs standard. It's not that much more than a non-automated custom job. So, if you get custom shades, you're paying a premium - period. Automated or not. And then on top of that, you add the Lutron support, the reliability and the fact that they're so open-ended to tie into almost any automation system out there, whether it's basic like Alex or Google or something into a control for savant system.

So, really, I talk Lutron shades to every customer, and all of my customers will attest to that. The little story I like to tell is when Sasha from Lutron did her webinar with me when I first started my management role here at Aartech -it was one of the first webinars we did (watch here), and we've been selling their product for about two years. During that webinar, she said they did $600,000,000 in Lutron automated shades the previous year, and I literally fell off my chair. We weren't selling shades. I had no knowledge of this, and I immediately stopped the webinar and said "What do you mean? We don't sell shades. How are you doing, $600 million?" 

I've been talking to them ever since, and it's been one of our biggest sales growths. More people than I realized were installing them, and more people than I realized should have them - A lot of people pay for custom blinds just for something as simple as no chords to make sure their home is child-safe. Automated shades don't have that, so you're paying a premium to be safe, but you could add automation for a slight fee. More so, really, I see an application for shades everywhere.

The last piece is the price point. One of my best customers is actually an electrician, and his fantastic advice was:

"Don't get fixated on the price point of shades. I can go to a standard customer's house and do a standard builder-size bedroom window for about $1000 (note: prices are rough estimates). That includes the shades and my installation fee. $1000 for a standard builder window, and you know, I make a few $100 off that - I don't make a fortune, but I make some decent money off that. But I don't just do one, Jeff, cause it's addictive. I'll end up doing six and a standard window like that when you know what you're doing with Lutron battery-operated shades - It's a 20-minute install. It's literally a 20-minute install, so I think don't talk yourself or your customers out of it, it's it's not as expensive as you think,"

The solutions [that shades offer, such as] tying them into the sunrise, sunset, or to the weather - it's insane what you can do with these systems! So, it's not just about the security and the "Joneses Wow factor," but it can really tie into a lot of applications on different levels.

A: With all that being said, I'm sure getting into shades probably feels kind of intimidating. So, where would you even start with that? What training is available to the average installer?

J: So, for Lutron shade automated shades, it's pretty simple: it's about a four—or five-hour online investment. We also offer some inline in-office classes at Aartech in Oshawa, so keep your eyes open for that. 

But really, it's about a four or five-hour investment online and about an hour to take the exam. Once you pass the exam, you will have access to the software, so that's your total time commitment.

The second side to the shades is that you physically need something to show your customers—you can't just say, "Oh, the shades are pretty. Oh, this fabric is nice." You need to physically show them something, just like a contractor would go out with tile samples, etc.

So, part of the process to get certified with the shades is to do your training and then purchase the sales demo kit. It's the exact same sales kit I take to trade shows. It comes in a foam-packed box that is velcro-sealed. Literally,  stick your address tag to it, throw it on the airplane, and it's ready to go. So it has everything you need - the folding battery-operated portable shades demo and then a few of the fabric swatches and opacity swatches. So there's three or four key pieces to that. It is required to purchase - Lutron is investing time to certify you essentially for free, as is our team here, so that is a purchase tie-in to get it started.

But when you have your first shade opportunity, let us know. I mean, you'll make your money off the shades. You can buy your demo kit, get certified, get your first opportunity, and away you go. You only need to buy the demo kit and do the training once, and then you'll be certified moving forward.

We do have a little mini video on the demo kit in our resource centre showing how it folds down super slick - I just got back from Vancouver not that long ago with the kit myself. The last piece I'll mention about the demo kit is something I learned myself while going through the airport. It does not have a lithium battery - It is nickel-cadmium, so it is airplane-safe. It can be checked and stored under the airplane. That was about a 45-minute learning curve for me the first time I travelled with it. But they really have thought of everything with this.