Using the right tools to achieve greater showroom success

 

BY PETER SCHOR
Showroom specialist

Last month, I wrote an article on the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, held in Las Vegas, and contributed to the New Product Showcase for bath and plumbing products. I highly recommend that you visit my website -- www.drknowledge.net  -- which lists a lot more new and hot products, all with website addresses and my Top 20 picks from the show with their product images.

The May 2007 showroom column focused on an exceptional tool to increase sales volume, profits and speed up the product selection -- using a low-tech pre-printed long selection form which many showrooms have used for years. I received more than 40 e-mails, faxes and telephone calls regarding the form. Many asked,  “How do you get to the point where you can use this effective tool?” For those that missed my May 2007 showroom column, you can access it here. I want to briefly recap what you need to do to take control of your showroom and greatly increase your sales volume, profits, save time and speed up the selection process.

Three proven keys to showroom success

First is the essence of successful showrooms, which is the basis for the most successful showrooms in the U.S. The three showroom keys are:

• Qualify clients -- There is a process and when you skip one part of the process you could spend a lot of time and get little or no results and perhaps step on the plumbing contractor’s feet.
• Know who sent the client to the showroom -- There can be many trades and influencers in the process of selection. Some who think high enough of your showroom and are influencers but not the buyers must be acknowledged by a telephone call, a “thank you card” or some creative form of appreciation.
• Find out who is buying the product -- You need to direct your energy toward making the sale.

Please think and ponder these three statements yourself and even discuss it with other showroom staff members. You will come to the conclusion that they are profound. These insights will help you develop a plan to produce greater results for the balance of 2007!

Final offer: I would be glad to e-mail you a pdf on this entire article from February 2005. This was taught in Kohler’s Registered Distributor/Dealer programs (1988-1992) and “Training the Trainer” programs at American Standard and Eljer many years ago. Ferguson collectively and the top 20% producing dph and plumbing wholesaler showrooms across the U.S. and Canada use it. It works!

The fourth key is to ‘Control the Process’

This subject includes the “process” and many time-saving tips and secrets. From the 2005 pdf article, “The Greeting,” the process begins with the two-minute bonding process. Then qualifying/questioning, building rapport and listening. You also remember that the “qualifying/questioning” process is for people who are doing a full bath or more -- not for someone picking out a towel bar. Building rapport in the early stage of the process is key to success when you are giving up valuable hours of your time together with the client. It is much harder to walk away from someone in a relationship when you are connected.

First some facts to move to “out of the box” thinking. There are bath/plumbing showroom people who are yielding between $250,000 and $400,000 per sales month in larger populated areas and $200,000 to $300,000 in smaller populated areas.  When you think of million-dollar-plus custom homes and tabulate “selling all” of the bath, plumbing and decorative-related hardware products, it could easily come to $50,000.  This equates to only eight complete houses per month. Keep in mind that “selling all” or selling the package is the key and the long form in the May article allows you the framework/structure to do so.

I want to give you the process based on some the most financially successful and acclaimed bath, plumbing and decorative hardware showrooms in the U.S. and Canada. I grant that not every single potential client falls into the process. 

The client walks in with a set of architectural plans for a custom home. You allowed them to walk around to get acclimated to your showroom’s product, and when time is right you go through the greeting (bonding), qualifying and questioning, building rapport, and listening process.

The client then proceeds to tells you that they are here today to pick out all of the bath/plumbing finished products for their new home. Regardless of how slow the showroom is at this time, you would proceed to tell the client that you do this by appointment only because it takes  time to put it all together the right way. This is also done to control the process.

Most very successful showrooms will have a three- to four-day time lapse between the original meeting and the plan appointment. This way it allows you to do the following things that will ultimately save time and produce greater results:

• You will call the person who sent the client in and cover all of the unanswered questions such as budgets, stage of construction, and confirm who is buying the product.
• You will ask for a set of plans before you meet.
• You will make a complete take-off of all the products drawn in the baths, kitchens, and other areas that you supply on what the successful showrooms call a “pre-printed take-off product-long form.” Example: Master Bath -- Lavatories, quantity left open and description and style left open for the meeting.
• You will plan the bath accessories such as towel bars, just like you would use the bath yourself.
• You will also make notes on many products you sell that are not drawn in the plans such as air massage/whirlpool tubs, steam shower, towel warmers, shower doors, towel bars, medicine cabinets and much more that are on the form and your can put question marks to ask the client if they want them.

One of the biggest fears and challenges for showrooms in selling complete packages is encouraging architects and consumers to come to your showroom before they select the builder or the plumber. The most successful trained showroom people find this as a positive because more of them are equipped to refer builders, and remodeling contractors who are in their circle of influence and who also work with your plumbing contractor’s accounts. I know many custom builders and remodeling contractors who would go out of their way to buy from you for their own projects -- although you may be higher priced -- for the sake of getting one or two project referrals a year from you!

Another key ingredient in the success of selling complete packages is the art and skills of “win-win selling” before you commit to give up valuable time for top clients. Some of the most successful showrooms in the U.S., who give in-depth services -- whether real or perceived -- charge an hourly fee of $75 to $150 which is refundable against the purchase of the goods by the “buyer” (builder, plumber, etc).

There are some very successful showrooms that will explain to consumers building custom homes or large remodels that they would be glad to work with them by quoting the retail price only and having the builder’s wholesale price on file. The consumers are told when a builder calls for bidding your home, we will give them the retail price and wholesale package price. You assure the consumer that the builder is fair. The builder will be told about any of the unusual plumbing specialties that were selected such as steam unit and air massage tub, as well as products that may be in the non-plumbing budget, like towel bars, shower doors, etc.

The key is that the written quote does not leave the showroom to the consumer or the builder bidding does not get a breakdown copy. The consumer is told of this “win-win” process before you begin. When a builder gets the job and calls for the wholesale quote, this is the time you would ask which plumbers will be bidding the job. As you know there is more to this equation but I feel that you get the picture. Remember, you did not charge a fee for your services, the consumer got value and you are entitled to get the order. In complete openness, there are many many other tools and tips and secrets in the above paragraph that would go into several articles on this subject. A good example is a “win-win philosophy”  -- I will give you what you want if you give me what I want.

It is much harder for showrooms who rely on the plumber or builder to specify higher-end luxury products for showroom people to reach the goals of $200,000+ (small market) to $400,000 + (large market) per month. I very often see a whole custom home or multiple bath consumers coming in for just a couple of bath/plumbing items. In a study I did many years ago, I saw custom houses in one area of the U.S. where a plumber/builder were controlling specifications. Those custom houses had tract plumbing fixtures while the countertops, flooring and lighting fixtures were sold with luxury high-end products.

I’ve seen the opposite in an area of the country that had dominant specifying showrooms for luxury bath/plumbing products. Luxury high-end plumbing products became the expected norm in the same range of the house in the other area of the country. I can name 25 markets that are like this in the U.S. A good example is Houston and Southern California, where a collective group of plumbing and dph showrooms created the high-end luxury bath markets.

Here are some quick tips for controlling the process and your time:

• Scheduling appointments --  Schedule the times to have product selection meetings with your client at your slowest traffic times. Remember, you must stay in control of your time.
• Showroom flyer -- Every showroom should have a marketing sheet available to explain the details about your showroom.

For example, list days, hours, plans by appointment and why, years in business, and so forth. This sheet should be given out when clients are impatiently waiting for service and should be available at the entrance of your showroom. I was visiting one of the high-end luxury showroom client’s where we put in a greeting/waiting room with a couch and fireplace. The area had much information (awards, certifications, trainings) on the company to raise the client’s expectations before the selection meeting. The receptionist came out and greeted the couple and offered them a soft drink and turned on a four-minute professional video explaining the showroom’s professional service in putting together multiple baths and complete homes.

• Educate professional trades -- Fully inform the professional trades in your area how your showroom works and about the selection process. 
• Plan table -- I see too many showrooms without a place for four people to sit down with a set of architectural plans after they have walked the showroom to make preliminary selections. The location of a good plan table should be in the center of the hub of the showroom.
• Display at least one complete matching faucet and accessories series --  Every showroom should have at least one complete matching bathroom hardware series on display in one grouping.  We are talking about widespread, centerset, single hole faucet,  Roman tub set, wall mount tub set, shower set, towel bars and all the other accessories, cabinet and door hardware, and more. When the client picks out a lavatory set and finish for a specific bath, you would say, “I will match up all of the components you will require from your plans including accessories just as the matching series (you point to) on the wall.”

I want to serve you

Please send me questions on anything that you would like answers or solutions to regarding your showroom problems. It would be my pleasure to respond back in a monthly column. Please note whether or not I can share your name or company, or you would like it kept confidential. If it requires a personal e-mail back to you, I will do this too!                   

Peter Schor, president of Dynamic Results Inc., is an educator, motivational speaker, consultant, coach and writer in our industry and many diverse others. For the past 17 years, he has conducted 100 educational programs yearly, including 34 industry conventions. Schor has great expertise in the field of showrooms and has won many industry awards. He also works with manufacturers in the field of sales, marketing and public relations. Schor can be reached at 1491 Ivy Arbor, Lincoln, CA 95648, phone 916/408-5346, fax 916/408-5899, e-mail pschor@dynamicresultsinc.com or on his website www.dynamicresultsonline.com.