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Since firestopping is Specified Technologies Inc. (STI)’s only business, this new IMARK supplier concentrates all of its resources on providing the highest-quality, fully-tested and most innovative firestop solutions.
Unlike competitors that sell everything from firestopping to sticky notes, STI’s sole focus is firestop. STI brings a lot of credibility to the market through thought leadership, research and development and engineering. “Having that focus as 100 percent of our business resonates with our customers,” said Matt Thomas, STI’s chief marketing officer.
“We deliver the best services out there because it is our only focus,” added STI’s Electrical Market Manager Bernadette Smith.
STI leads the industry in developing innovative fire protection systems that help stop the spread of fire, smoke and hot gases. For more than 25 years, the company has worked hand-in-hand with the construction industry to create simple solutions to complex firestopping problems. STI products and systems offer innovative firestop solutions for all types of new construction and retrofit applications. Its SpecSeal® and EZ-Path® product lines are engineered to deliver powerful performance and because the system designs are user-driven, they are easier to apply. The result is simply-designed, outstanding fire protection systems that often result in lower installation costs.
“IMARK members, if they’re not selling firestop, they’re missing out,” Smith said. “It’s not an electrical product or a datacom product, so it tends to get overlooked. It is a codedriven product and the opportunity is out there for IMARK members to grab these sales.”
STI wants to educate and partner with IMARK members to prevent direct firestop sales that bypass distributors. “Distributors don’t realize how much money they’re leaving on the table,” Thomas said. “All they have to do is ask their customers if they need firestop. For the most part in the electrical industry, firestop is needed at the very end of a project. Distributors could be losing out on these sales because they didn’t ask the question to secure the order ahead of time and the competition went in at the end of the job and took the order.”
Contractors often forget about the firestopping solutions they will be required by code to install until it’s too late. Selling these solutions, Thomas said, is as easy as displaying products in the showroom, asking contractors if their jobs require firestop and notifying customers that “we have firestop.”
“It’s Sales 101, upselling, asking if they would like fries or a coke to go with their purchase,” Thomas said.
To help electrical distributors get in the firestop game, STI provides firestop education, product display and marketing materials, as well as sales and technical support.
“We have the best technical support out there,” Thomas said. “We have a comprehensive website that includes a chat feature connected to a live engineer. When you call, you speak with a live engineer.”
A firestop solution can be straightforward, but it can get technical when contractors don’t plan for firestop ahead of time and they find themselves in situations where they need support and documentation.
“When a customer has a non-standard firestopping scenario, we can test it in-house in our UL-certified furnace,” Thomas said. “When necessary, we can conduct the testing on-site in support of a customer’s project, which dramatically reduces the time it takes for engineering support. It also increases our speed-to-market when introducing new products.”
STI’s independent electrical sales reps also provide technical and field support. “Firestop can be a high margin product,” Thomas said. “Distributors should make the most of it and call upon us to be your trusted firestop solution provider.”
For more information, visit stifirestop.com.