Create the right first impression

BY RICH SCHMITT

Management specialist

I was visiting a wholesaler several months ago and as I walked through their main location, I ventured into the showroom. My first impression was very good. The rather small space was tastefully done. The displays were clean, neat and well-lighted. They showed a nice range of products that would attract the upscale clientele that the showroom was designed to serve. 

The attendant, a woman who I guessed to be in her late 20s, promptly greeted me with a smile and offered to help. The wholesaler had obviously spent considerable time and money to stock the showroom, as well as to staff and train the sales team. It would have been an almost-perfect first impression if the attendant had just looked the part.

She was dressed like many late-20s women -- plus she had multiple piercings in each ear and a small piercing in her nose. I wouldn’t be critical of her appearance if she were serving me in a casual restaurant or a visitor in our home. In her role of “showroom attendant,” however, I did have concerns. 

Let me back up and quickly discuss my opinion of what you are trying to accomplish with your showroom. Similar to my pitch on becoming the primary supplier to your trade customers, you want to become the sole source for the showroom customer and provide all of the materials for the customer’s project. That means that you supply the fixtures, faucets, trim, cabinets (if you sell them), etc. Ideally, customers will not have to go anywhere else to complete their project. This gives you the greatest control since another wholesaler doesn’t come into the picture.  When you are the secondary supplier you get all the fill-in, pain-in-the-butt special orders like getting the matching towel bars for a bathroom that the customer ordered from a competing wholesaler or a big-box “show-desk.”

What do I mean by “show-desk?” The big-boxes have a couple of desks with computers and some kitchen/bath design software dropped onto their warehouse floor. The big-boxes have a team of people who can probably operate design software and can special-order products pretty well -- maybe even as well as your team. The big-boxes are often willing to accept low margins that you might not find adequate while operating your high-cost showroom. Always remember that their cost to place a couple of desks in the middle of a warehouse is far less than your cost to build, staff and maintain a first-class showroom. Further, their cost to staff those desks with apron-clad sales associates is probably less than your cost to staff and train your team of professional kitchen and bath consultants. (As an aside, I like a title for showroom people that includes the word “consultant” since that is what the target showroom customers are looking for when they come to you.)

The big-box low-cost approach is also your opportunity to differentiate yourself from their crew of apron-clad order-takers by demonstrating that you offer much more. There are two components to differentiation:

• Actually being better than your competition
• Having customers perceive and understand that you are better. 

While you might argue reality versus perception, I think true differentiation requires both. In most cases, I would expect that your showroom is actually better than the local big-boxes’ “show-desk.” Some of the reasons why include:

• You probably have more products on display
• Your displays are probably more attractive
• Your showroom team probably has more years of experience, a better understanding of the product and is probably much better trained. (I just got back from K/BIS in Chicago.  It continues to have an amazing display of products. I can assure you that I saw hundreds of showroom people from industry wholesalers in attendance. Some were there as guests of their employers and some were there on their own time, at their own expense. They were excited to be there and to learn about the latest and greatest products that our industry has to offer. I can also say that I didn’t see one person from a big-box kitchen/bath “show-desk” in attendance.) 

So you probably have a significant edge in terms of overall product, presentation and competence -- but never forget that you must also create a perception that you are better. The customer must be able to see and feel a big difference compared to other wholesalers and to the big-boxes. A significant part of creating the right perception is the first impression that they get from your facility and the appearance of your staff.

Setting the tone

Ideally, you want your showroom customers to walk through your showroom door and think, “This is what I have been looking for. I am in the right place. They have the products I need. They understand my sense of style. They have professionals who will guide me through these important decisions. They will take care of me.” 

When customers get this “warm and fuzzy” feeling, your odds of a profitable relationship just improved.

I think the showroom staff must be much more than “order takers.” In the very best showrooms the salespeople are really professional bath and kitchen consultants to their clients. They guide the customer through a myriad of technical and stylistic options. In the best situations, they significantly influence the buying decisions to produce very satisfied, reference customers. Most importantly, though, their professional efforts create a value relationship that allows the wholesaler to make a fair profit in the process. 

So your people must always look like professionals and work to demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s tastes and style. If the attendant was a doctor in her late 20s and this had been my first visit with her, I would have been concerned. If she was a lawyer, I would have similar reservations. Doctors and lawyers know that a proper professional appearance is an important part of creating the trust that is needed to reassure and then to effectively help patients and clients. 

While showroom customers’ situations are probably not at the same professional level as health or legal issues, customers are coming to your professionally run showroom for both products and professional advice. 

Of course, your showroom team shouldn’t dress like doctors or lawyers, but they must present themselves as trustworthy professionals who are competent and understand the customer’s tastes. When customers don’t trust the attendant’s tastes and competence, the attendant becomes an information provider and an order taker -- but without the apron. In other words, there is a huge difference between information provider/order taker and a design consultant/advisor. An order taker is a bystander to the decision process, while an advisor actually shapes, guides -- and sometimes even controls -- the decision process.

Now let’s discuss who we are trying to look professional to. I do not have statistics, but my impressions of the most desirable showroom customers are that they typically are:

• Not in their late 20s but somewhat more mature people. Of course, there will be some customers in this age bracket but, if they are in your showroom they are probably not looking for faucets to match their college-days beer-bong. They want to upgrade their home.
• Remodeling/upgrading their home or building their second or third home.
• Interested in receiving professional help with their project. While seeing the product is of some value, the real value they seek is professional advice. When that value is provided, they are willing to spend more on the product but they are not willing to pay more when value is not provided.
• Wanting to demonstrate their success and to project their personal sense of style in how they furnish their homes and configure their kitchen and baths. 
• Interested in working people who, they believe, understand their style.
• Viewing their project as some of the most important decisions in furnishing their homes.

At the heart of any consultative sales relationship, the client must believe that the showroom consultant is qualified to make recommendations on important matters. If the customer is ordering a new towel bar, he or she doesn’t care whether the salesperson wears an apron or looks like a goofy rock star. If the customer is about to spend some big bucks and make decisions that will be enjoyed or regretted for the next decade, they want to deal with professionals. So the showroom consultant must project a variety of qualities to the client like style, good taste, competence, empathy, discretion, integrity and maturity. I think the attendant I mentioned above actually possessed all of these characteristics, but that critical first impression will put her into a hole that she might never be able to dig herself out of as she works with showroom customers. In fact, she might have been better off if she had a neat apron to cover her clothing.

When the attendant doesn’t project that he or she understands the maturity and style that a customer might want, the customer will, many times, relegate the attendant to the role of information provider/order-taker. This often prevents the attendant from influencing the sale. This can translate into the customer being less willing to pay for the privilege of using your showroom and sales team. In the end, the customer simply buys from the lower cost provider -- and that is probably not you.

While I described a young showroom attendant, I have probably seen far more “over-30” showroom attendants who didn’t project a proper matchup with their target customers. This can happen in a variety of ways:

• Their sense of style has become dated. Customers might be reluctant to buy up-to-date products from someone whose personal style dates back to the 1980s.
• Sometimes their attention to their wardrobe has suffered. Where years ago, their clothing would have been crisp and neatly pressed, it is now rumpled looking and should probably be covered with an apron. 
• Sometimes their attention to their personal grooming has suffered. Where once their hair was nicely cut and styled, it is now in need of an emergency makeover.
• They have become inattentive. They no longer rise, smile and welcome the customers as guests into the showroom.

I hope this column will cause you to walk into your showroom and to take a fresh look through the customers’ eyes.  Most wholesalers focus on the presentation of their products but never take a hard look at the appearance of their showroom team. 

I know wardrobe and appearance are always tough topics to discuss with people as they are very personal thus uncomfortable to both the employee and the manager. However, failure to take action can make your company appear less professional than your competition.  Looking less professional can prevent you from earning a proper return on the investment you made building, stocking and staffing your great showroom.