Landscaping, Lighting & Learning: A Conversation with Lee Beecher

Overview

In the episode of SYNKD On Air, host Angelique Robb interviews Lee Beecher from in-lite Lighting, discussing his journey from being a landscape business owner to representing in-lite. They explore industry trends, the value of continued education, and the impact of innovative products like in-lite's easy-to-install lighting solutions.

Lee provides insight into the unique challenges of the landscaping industry and emphasizes how in-lite supports growth by being more than just a product supplier, offering ongoing training and support. The conversation sheds light on regional landscape trends and the transformative potential of outdoor lighting in enhancing both outdoor spaces and indoor living experiences.

Transcript

Angelique
Hello, welcome to SYNKD On Air. I'm your host, Angelique Robb, and we are live courtesy of Turfs Up radio. So hopefully you're hearing us there first, but then we're available on lots of places where you get your podcasts. But today, we have Lee Beecher, from in-lite Lighting. Welcome, Lee.

Lee
Thank you for having me.

Angelique
Sure. Sure. Well, we're pretty excited to see, you know, that you've joined in-lite because of your background, because, you know, our main audience target is for landscape business owners. So why don't we back up a few years?

Lee
Back into the archives? Yeah.

Angelique
Let's go back. And I see you started Beecher Hardscapes and Landscapes in 2015. How did you get into the industry?

Lee
Right around that time, it's pretty crazy. Landscaping has always been near and dear to me. I grew up here in rural Central PA (Pennsylvania). From like the age of middle school, basically summer times were spent, you know, finding summer work making some extra bucks to go out and have fun. And the main thing to do around here was landscaping, whether it was you know, helping mulch in the spring, or mowing, or most of the time, at that age, were weed whacking, and leaf blown, let's be honest, but, you know, it just kind of grew for me. My dad built every house I ever lived in growing up. So I had a big construction background. And for me, that was the biggest thing was just putting the two together. In landscaping, my mom was a big green thumb. So, you know, I grew up gardening and learning about plants and learn about design, my mom also had like an artistic side. So throwing all three of those kinds of things together is really what led me into landscaping. My dad owned his own business for about 12 years, he was running trucks with dump truck, which was a little bit different of industry, but it kind of put the drive in motion for me to want to own my own business. And I did for years. We were in business for about six years, seven years, I believe. Until we came down, got a little rough and COVID much okay, having good help finding, you know, we had some decent projects running, but having good help, and keeping that good help was the toughest thing. And it really got to the point where I was starting to get burnout, I've got, you know, I've got three kids, my own stepdaughter and a wife. So like at that time, I was growing a family and having myself stretched so thin. It was like, man, it was one of those things where I love the industry. But the stress of it all was like man, I really needed to find something to make the change. And luckily, that time in-lite just happened to be looking for their first US rep. And, you know, when I started my landscape business, a few to ask me if I was going to be a salesperson, I'd probably laughed and walked away. But it was crazy. Because I wasn't in like customer for the majority of my years in business. I think I installed a couple other lighting brands had a few issues here and there. And then I found in-lite at one of the trade shows that I was at and try them out and then just stuck with them from there. And their service was always there for me. So I went out on a limb and gave them a call. I remember talking to one of the guys that I work with now whenever I called him and I was like, Hey, man, are you guys looking to you know, hire in the US? And he's like, yeah, actually, we're kind of looking right now. Do you have somebody in mind? And I was like, yeah, do you say call cool who you got? And I was like me. He's like, You're kidding me? Like, No, I'm serious, dude, he's like, send me a resume. And, you know, it took a few months to get the ball rolling because you know, at that time it was solely in Canada. And then you know, first of that coming year I started off and I love it. It's been a it's been a really cool transition. It keeps me in the industry that I know and love I'm around people that you know, I can really resonate with. And it's nice to be you know, I never wanted to be everybody doesn't want to be a salesperson because you know, all your sales reps get a bad rap, you know, the snake oil salesman 21st century.

Angelique
It shouldn't be like that.

Lee
That's the thing to when you believe in the product as much as I do, because I know how much it helped me out. It helps me grow profit. Yeah. For me, that was huge. You know, I go to work every day with a good feeling that you know, what I am presenting to people like who I was for years, and I'm helping them grow their business through adding another venture of, you know, another skill set basically, and making it easier for them. That's huge. And it's a lot of fun.

Angelique
Well it's so funny, because so and I think you know this, but, you know, I own my own landscape design and build business in the UK. And so I'm now a salesman because we've launched this company. That's a media company and event, but it doesn't feel like sales, just like what you're saying, because like, I know, I'm bringing something to the market that (A) people are telling me they want, but (B) there, you know, we're looking for innovative products and services, we're not looking to, you know, give everybody a say, and, you know, we're looking for niche products that can, that are innovating and doing things better. And what we're hearing is that it's hard to find those things as a business. I think business owners, like you said, you're so busy, you know, and, I mean, you said it was it was hard to find good help. Do you think? Was COVID handled differently in your state than other states? What was it particular? Or, you know, I think we're all having trouble with, well, anything that you can say that helps our audience would be helpful.

Lee
I think COVID was just kind of a, you know, that was a, that was a stack on top of everything else, you know, I think finding good help. COVID are now at COVID is just tough. The generations that come up through these days are maybe a little less inclined to do what we do. Being outside 12 months out of the year is tough, especially if you're in a you know, a full four seasons region or even, you know, southern regions. Pretty darn hot in the summertime, right? I mean, I know, up here, it's going to be about 100 the next couple of days, and, you know, I know down south, it's even worse.

Angelique
We are seeing 115 with the heat index, and you go, it's actually dangerous. People don't stop calling, because it's too hot outside, it's almost an inverse relationship.

Lee
And they, and they all want it done yesterday, right. And so that's the tough part. But I think, for me, it was just, you know, our area COVID. Like I said, it weighed in a little bit, but it just comes down to the fact that you know, you can only find so many processes and systems to make it easier on your guys. But when you can find the products that that step in and maybe do the work of one worker or eliminate the need for that extra worker, because you can make your labor a little more easier. Like in-lite does.

Angelique
How does in-lite do it?

Lee
So with our connectors, that's the cool part about our product. And the reason that I looked into it is because you don't have to be an electrician to, you know, install the lights, they come with their own connector, you don't have to worry about splicing and making sure you connect the right wire to the right wire matching things up. It's almost kind of mindless. I tell people, the analogy, it's as simple as putting the lid back on your soda bottle. Which is pretty cool. Because that's literally how simple it is. When every light come in with it, you know, their own connector. That's one less thing as a business owner, I gotta think about keeping stock in the trailer keeping in the truck or ordering more of when we need them. I know it comes with the light, as long as I have the lights that I need for that project. I'm good to go.

Angelique
Cuts down on Yeah, inventory. Missing pieces. Yes.

Lee
Exactly. And things like that, that, you know, it's cool, because, you know, I would have summer help a lot. You know, I would have those high schoolers that get out of school and my nephews were a couple of them, you know, they would come out in the summertime and they were excited to help me. But being able to be there and train them maybe on you know how to cut pavers or something where it takes a little bit more integration to get them to where they need to be that you can let them go on their own. With the lights it was super nice for me because I remember one summer and specific my nephew came out and I was like great man perfect day for you. I had like, you know, dozen, dozen and a half lights. And I showed him how to do the connector and he said, Oh, I got this and two, three hours later I come back check on him and he had it all in and he's you know, doing mulch around it and got it all set up and didn't need any help for me. So yeah, as a business owner, things like that, that you can do to make you know, anything easier for your employees is huge. And that's one thing that in-lite helped me with and it was a big, you know, I credited a lot of my success to things like that in-lite, you know, different tools that I use throughout the industry that that really helped. And finding those things in our industry seems to be hard sometimes. They market things very well but there's just some that it's like guys just don't know where to look or don't have the right ends to find some of the best tools in the industry.

Angelique
Well, so gosh, I couldn't have asked for a better lead in but I mean, what we're trying to do is by connecting the sector's I think we can help with that because we're not, you know, talking about just construction or just maintenance or just design So, you find that it's hard to find those things. What can we do better as an industry?

Lee
So I think, you know, we're getting there, it's a growth period, a lot of there's a lot of new innovative products out there, I think it's guys, you know, finding the value and understanding where they need to make that investment that at first, you're like, wow, that investment seems like a lot seems a little scary to go out and buy that piece of equipment or start up selling that more expensive product rather than this cheaper product, it's may be a little more difficult to install, things like that, that make the huge difference. And kind of taking the the fear and the animosity away from the decisions like that, as a business owner are huge. You know as an entrepreneur, you know, you're taking risks every day. And it's just kind of weighing the pros and cons to each one. But I think the education that comes with each product is really more vital than the product itself, essentially. And that's one of the things here at in-lite we pride ourselves in and I love about this company is we don't just sell you a light and say, All right, best of luck, hope it looks good. You know, we do a ton of training on the back end, we're always willing to help answer questions, help design, or projects or, you know, come out and train your team. Like that's, that's the biggest thing is like, we're not just here to sell, we're here to help grow. And there's a lot of companies that do the same thing that we do, you know, whether there are paver companies or tool companies or, you know, green product companies that are willing to come out and teach. And really, that education is more valuable than the tools and the products themselves.

Angelique
Well, and you said you, you've been with them? Since how long? Have you been with them? In-Lite?

Lee
I'm going on just over a year and a half now.

Angelique
Okay. Yeah. So what what can you say about what you see in the industry? Since you've been with in-lite. Are there different regions that are doing things differently? Are some more progressive and want to try new things quicker? I know, is generalizing. But I also think it's fun to generalize, because we need a benchmark. So how can you?

Lee
I'm located here, I started out in the northeast, my region was, you know, and other account managers in the industry, you know, laugh because they're like, Wow, that's a big region. But you know, as a newer company in the US, I was Virginia domain for a while. And now we've been blessed with, you know, another three reps, some great reps that I love working with here in the US. But like, it's funny, because from the northern part of my territory, to the southern part of my territory, it was crazy to see just how different things were, you know, down in Southern Virginia, and now down into Charlotte, and Alabama, South Carolina, you know, those states down there, they're very still rustic. They like their brass fixtures, you know, things are a little bit, the modern style hasn't quite bled into those regions, as fast as it has up here in the Northeast, and even some in the western on the west coast, where it's really taken off, out there. So it's cool to see, you know, modern styles, and then you still have the rustic styles that modern is kind of bleeding into I think down south the style of modern that has made it in it's kind of the modern farmhouse style that goes into it.

Angelique
Which is not that modern really.

Lee
It's not. It's a modern twist on a rustic venture, I feel. But, you know, it's, it's crazy, because you see, contractors are all trying to find something new, something to be cutting edge, right. Yeah. And that's where in-lite comes in. We have a ton of different products that show them you know, different ways, and even some of the, you find the normal lights and cap lights, you know, hardscapers, and landscapers love their cap lights, they love their spotlights their scopes, we do those, we do those very well. But we also have things like the recessed fixtures and some modern path lights that allow them to kind of set themselves apart. And you see guys doing that, you know, you had mentioned it earlier. You know, we have guys that are strictly just decks. We have guys that are strictly just hardscapes or guys that are strictly just landscaping and irrigation. You're starting to see those companies become one company more often than not now because guys want to be able to, you know, design the full spectrum. Like you go into a blank slate backyard and you're like, Man, I want to be able to build that deck. I want to be able to build this patio and I want to be able to make sure it's landscaped properly. And they want to make sure they can do it quickly, efficiently, but also with that high quality that somebody that does each project separately would be able to do right.

That's where the education is becoming so important. Because without it, the fear is then the industry is going to have a bunch of, we'd like to call them "chuck with a truck." That goes up and bids the job and tries to do everything. And then you have things like unsafe decks or faulty patios or landscapes that don't live through more than one season. So the education that is driving these guys to build these full service companies is paramount. It's huge. And, you know, finding companies to partner with that do those education and do them well. And thoroughly is huge.

Angelique
Oh, great. Well, we always like hearing that, because part of what we're doing is trying to educate people. So that's great. Oh, good, good. Well, what is your favorite product at in-lite?

Lee
That is a loaded question. Let me tell you. This fixture. Okay, I kind of have one for each little genre.

Angelique
I was gonna give you a genre. That's gonna try to help you but you go ahead. Yeah.

Lee
I think for the recessed fixtures, I love the pucks. The puck 22. They're the only recessed fixture we have sticks up a little bit above, you know, the surface. They're great for like deck, deck risers they stick out, they kind of do a 360 light rather than the straight out light. Not that I don't love our fussions are high, you know, they're willing, yes, yeah, right. Now, the other ones don't as much, you know, they're not that they're not blinding. There's certain applications for each of them. But I just think they look really cool. They look really modern. And they add a nice little unique flair to the projects. As far as path lights go. It's a solid tie between our sway, which is non-rigid light that actually moves a little bit in the wind, which nobody's doing.

Angelique
Like a grass.

Lee
They look so good in like sway grass, all grasses along walkways, or you know, any kind of grants like that, that you can put them right in the middle, and they'll kind of just move with the grasses a little bit. And it adds that dynamic factor to your landscape design that it's just, you're not going to find it anywhere else. And then obviously being a hardscaper near and dear to my my heart is the the average cap late right or even hide 180s. I just, you know, calculates or if you're if you're doing hardscape projects that have any kind of a wall or ledge and you're not lighting it up, you're missing out, you know, that's a very good opportunity to to add some extra profit job and it's a wow factor. You know, if you're not highlighting these things with lights.

Angelique
Yes. Well, and your background that you have there shows you quite well how, you know, lighting up the features can give you that wow factor of people passing by your front, the front of your house. But you know, it's funny. So I worked in Scotland for many years, and the winters are dark, you know, because it is, I think it's at the same latitude as Alaska, up there. And so I actually would say, you know, we have like four to five months of darkness. If you have any windows out to your landscaping, it'll make your house feel bigger, by lighting up something outside. And it's, you know, it's unusual, you know, when you're barely going outside in the dark, to actually be able to enjoy your landscaping from inside your house is really important.

Lee
I think that's a huge design point. You know, we we go over that in our design trainings all the time as focal points. And you know, most of the time when you think of a focal point in a landscape, it's not just when you're standing out in the landscape, right, go in the house, look out the windows and say all right from here, like if you're going into somebody's house, and you just design their landscape, and you go to their their biggest window in their most popular room and the first thing you see is the pumphouse for the pool. design something a little thing correctly. Right. So you know, making sure good examples. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's the worst case scenario, but it's the first one that comes up comes to mind. So you know, and the same thing goes for lighting goes for plantings, it goes for just, you know, conversation pieces and focal points, like you want them to be the forefront of your most common, you know, vantage points to that landscape and that's inside and outside the home. So being able to light it off and just like you said, that adds that extra few feet you don't feel like you're you're kind of in a cell inside your home when you look out your window and and see you know, a beautiful landscape that's gonna live in the dark and the light, right?

Angelique
Yeah, yeah. Oh, awesome. Well, I love that you You are selling. As a previous business owner, I think that's really powerful. And I think that, you know, it does make you see things from a different point of view. And yeah, I look forward to working with you some more. And now you guys are gonna be at SYNKD Live. So maybe you'll make it down to Atlanta, do you think?

Lee
I hope so. I hope to be on the team this year. I know last year, I think there was a little bit of overlap in some of the shows we had going on. But I do look forward to hopefully making it down this year, myself and a couple of the other reps.

Angelique
Good. Well, we look forward to having you. Well, thanks so much. And we will talk to you some other time. Thanks for joining us on SYNKD [On Air]. And maybe we should say the in-lite website?

Lee
Absolutely. so you can reach me in-sider.com

Angelique
Okay, great. Thank you so much. Talk to you later.