by David Moorhouse, Sales and Marketing Director
Marl International Limited

For the last architectural LED contract we secured, the final meeting was in a room containing 12 different people from five different disciplines, each of which had an input into the lighting fixtures to be used. Architectural lighting has been a Marl success story – we’ve trebled our sales in this market in the last year, but achieving this success has involved us in building the right team including the right channel partners.

The decision making process on these sales is quite unique. For a large project, the client who is paying for the building will be advised by a lead architect or consultant. They may involve consulting architect(s) as well as specialist mechanical, electrical and civil consulting engineers, and a quantity surveyor or cost consultant. The occupier of the building, who may or may not also be the client, will involve their facilities management, health and safety and personnel departments. For retail premises, pubs and clubs, marketing will certainly want an input, as the lighting is an integral part of the customer experience. Having completed the design, the project will be put out to tender, usually to several potential contractors. The actual lighting may then be installed by a subcontractor who will have an account with an electrical wholesaler. That’s who you need to supply the product to.

Succeeding in this market is through working with people with the right specific industry knowledge. It takes a unique combination of skills, to be sufficiently aware of the drivers of these different disciplines to address all of their needs, and to understand LED technology well enough to represent it effectively. Marl has a team with the right commercial and technical background, and specifically, has partnerships with two distributors that come to this market with different strengths. Architectural FX, our exclusive distributor for the London region, has a long track record in the supply of lighting products to the commercial building industry. Foremost Components has a history in the supply of MMI components to the electronics industry, and has built a focussed team that can take Marl products to this market effectively.

Marl LEDs go into a host of applications: trains, planes, automobiles, defence hardware of various kinds, white goods, industrial electronics and consumer goods. Each of these markets has its own specialist know how and language, but in each one the sales process is essentially the same. The architectural market stands alone, and we owe our success in this domain to our knowledgeable team in house, partnering with Architectural FX and Foremost.