Pittsfield, MA Hastings, the exclusive representative of Marvin in New England and Eastern New York, held its second annual Commercial Summit, convening 16 dedicated commercial dealers throughout the region for a design thinking forum unlike any other in the industry. Hastings’ Marvin Commercial Summit was held at Hotel on North, one of the company’s recent commercial success stories, located at 297 North St. 

“Our goal is to dispel the myth that Marvin only provides residential windows,” said Steve Hoyt, who leads the Marvin Commercial Solutions Team for Hastings. “We like to hold the Summit in spaces and facilities that show the power of our products. Hotel on North is a living example of how architects, developers, Marvin, Hastings and their commercial partners closely collaborate to bring new life to legacy buildings.”

Hoyt said, “This award-winning downtown revitalization project was the perfect environment to inspire our commercial partners to think out of the box, further educate them about how Marvin satisfies historic preservation requirements while offering energy efficiency and challenge them to think like the customer.” 

Hastings’ Marvin Commercial Summit is designed to be unlike any product training in the country. “We use the knowledge in the room to brainstorm about how we can address commercial needs better,” Hoyt said. “Our commercial partners know the Marvin product, so these events are focused on continuous improvement, human-centered design and the process of developing and maintaining a commercial project. We don’t want people sitting and listening to speeches for two days. We want them engaged and offering their expertise.” 

Mark Davis, Marvin’s director of architectural sales, offered key information to the attendees, along with Karen Hunt, AIA, who was the architect on the Hotel on North project. These thought leaders were interspersed with “empathy interviews” where participants communicated through personas such as a project manager at a college, an installer and an owner’s representative. They also held a Design Thinking Sprint, a fast-paced exchange of ideas that encouraged customer-centric problem solving. 

The Marvin Commercial Solutions Team at Hastings continues to grow year over year, combining resources from Marvin’s vast manufacturing knowledge base, with expert frontline personnel at Hastings and its dedicated commercial retail partners. The positive feedback from the Second Annual Commercial Summit has prompted planning for the third event in early 2020.