Fundamentals of successful plumbing wholesaler showrooms

BY PETER SCHOR

Showroom specialist

After the last day of the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show 2008 in Chicago, I spoke at a well-known plumbing wholesaler showroom conference  (140+) for two days. On the first day, I had them fill out a questionnaire that they then returned to me. The question was “What do you believe is the biggest challenge, obstacle, or problem that keeps you back from producing results for you and your company?” (Peter Drucker, the well-known business guru, has used this technique for years.)

That evening, I took the questionnaires and read them in-depth in my hotel room. I sorted them out into various subjects that the great majority had similar challenges. There were some questions about receiving more compensation and so forth that I would not address. The next morning, I spent two hours answering these questions in the session. I think most people went home with solutions. Except perhaps, the one who wanted to be paid double!

I am not a know it all. I am a full-time educator and consultant. Most of what I learned was from the most successful plumbing wholesaler and decorative plumbing hardware showrooms in the U.S. When you have 40 years “young” experience and are open to listening and change, you find out what people really need/want.

In this showroom column series, I am going to share the following:

• In this issue, I will dissect and share some fundamentals
• In the June column, I will be writing the k/bis 2008 post-show “What’s New and Hot Plumbing/Bath and Kitchen Products” after I have reviewed each company and product line.
• In the July column, I will focus on “How to Speed Up the Showroom Selling Process and be in Control of Your Showroom.”
• In August, I will share all the tips and secrets of today’s successful plumbing showrooms.

I would like to open an e-mail pipeline with ou to answer your “biggest challenges, obstacles and problems that keep you back from producing better results for yourself and your company.” My email address is pschor@dynamicresultsinc.com.

Last week, I got an e-mail from the owner of a plumbing wholesaler with a nice showroom in the Midwest. He said, “We sell licensed C-36 plumbing contractors only. My challenge is that I researched 29 recently built very large custom homes in my area and we only supplied two of them. Furthermore, the plumber didn’t supply the products or refer any of these clients to my showroom.”

I called him and said, “Let me give you answers.” 

So let us move into the first installment: The Three Keys to Wholesaler Showroom Success.

If Moses came down from the mountain with a stone tablet that had three profound statements about successful plumbing and decorative hardware showrooms, it would say:

• Thou shall qualify clients!
• Who sent the client to your showroom?
• Who is purchasing the products?

I ask you to ponder the three questions and read the information below. Then develop a better plan to produce greater results for the balance of 2008!

One of the fundamental challenges that many plumbing wholesaler showrooms have is allowing the plumbing contractor to tell the consumer what they can have or not have after the specifications are written.

Most decorative plumbing and hardware showroom would jump up and down with excitement if a consumer with complete house plans and intent came in the showroom without picking their professional trade (plumber and builder) first. Most plumbing wholesalers will cringe in this scenario. I will answer in my upcoming columns.

Qualifying clients

Today, everyone would love to truly get wholesale prices and comprehensive retail services. It is the American Dream. Time is precious and results are based on a dollar or gross profit measurement.

How can one showroom person in the same city of another yield 16 times the results? Trust me, in traveling 180,000 miles each year, for 20 years, I have educated, seen and become acquainted with many very successful showrooms across the U.S. and Canada who are producing 16 times+ the average showroom in results.

There is also a Law of Attraction with many of today’s affluent consumers. This means that when you put no value on your time to help them put the products together, they think the service may not have a worth. I know you are aware that many people visit your showroom without intent to buy the product from you. Many showrooms charge a refundable fee against the purchase of the project by someone. Even expo Design Center picked this up some years ago.

The qualifying process is for clients who want your valuable time to select products for a complete bathroom or more, not someone who wants to buy a towel bar. The qualifying process is an art that starts with the “Greeting Process,” known as the “two-minute bonding process.” This two-minute bonding process is eye contact, touch, body language, voice tonality, appropriate dress,and the greeting.

If this process bothers you, then you must be used to the consumer coming into your showroom and saying, “My contractor said I can only look at one power room faucet and a soap dispenser for the kitchen.” When you ask them they tell you, “It’s a $2-million home and, wow, you have some beautiful looking products.”

After the Greeting Process comes the middle to high-end luxury time-consuming selling, or “Establishing Rapport.” Establishing Rapport is imperative. It is connecting people to their work; asking about their family; asking about their hobbies or where they live. The truth is when you build rapport, it is much harder for the client to walk away from your showroom. Otherwise, it all comes down to “What’s your price?”

Don’t we all buy from places we feel more connected to?

“100% Listening” is next into the sales process. I will cover this comprehensively in upcoming columns over the year.

The key in the qualifying process is asking open-ended questions using who, what, where, when, why, and how? Ask meaningful questions such as

• “What stage in the project in?”
• “What is the most important thing to you in putting together the plumbing products for your new home with me?”
• “How did you hear about us?”
• “What is the budget for the plumbing fixtures?”
• “Who is buying the products?”
• “Is this the 1st time you have seen bathroom products?”

Develop thoughtful and meaningful questions that will lead you to better qualifying. Remember, time is money!

Who sent the client to your showroom?

Anyone that thinks high enough of your showroom to refer someone to you should be “acknowledged and thanked” in some way. This is true even if you never heard of the person who told the client to come to your showroom. Many showrooms have reward programs to thank referrals. These range from finder fees, dinner for two, or just a sincere thanks or acknowledgement.

Today’s showrooms know that there could be only one buyer for the products, yet several other trade people and others can influence the buyer. One of the people who used this principle extensively was Clyde Rodbell, former owner of Apex Supply in Atlanta. I remember distinctly a 10-page article in 1990, where Clyde was on the front cover of a well-known magazine and revealed his networking referral philosophy of his showroom success. Yes, things changed. Nothing stays the same, live and dead. Ever the Statue of Liberty would decay unless the government did routine maintenance on it yearly.

There are many different complex scenarios in which I have been fortunate to gather accurate answers from the top showrooms in the U.S. and Canada and my own learning curve as an educator.

One scenario: What happens if the client says, “I just left my architect’s and I have not selected a builder or plumber yet, but I want to work with you.” The answers are:

• You should have a list of builders who work with you who you could refer three or more. I would make sure they are builders who work with your plumbing contractors.
• You can tell the client that you will help them put the package together to fit their needs and will quote them retail prices. The quote (model numbers, etc) will not leave the showroom. When they select a builder or builders, you will quote the builders bidding for the job the plumbing fixture package the wholesale price. This is a truly “win-win” scenario. There is no cost attached to this service.
• You could charge them a fee which is refundable against the purchase of the package from you by the buyer they select.

Who is buying the product?

At the end of the qualifying process, this question must be asked: “Who is buying the products?

When asked, the sharp consumer will respond, “Who gets the better price?” In this case, you respond immediately that you are asking the question so that you can direct your energy to contact this person.

The trade buyer can vary from project to project. I can tell you from working with all of the other trades over 17 years that this is very accurate. In fact, the most successful showrooms will insist on speaking to the buyer before they will move ahead with doing a whole house or a large remodel. This was you can find out the budgets, stage of construction, and other pertinent construction information. I call it “slowing down the process” to narrow down the odds of wasting time.

When speaking to all of the professional trades such as interior designers, I always advocate some form of compensation or win-win for the installing plumber. Many wholesalers already have a plan worked out for the plumbing contractor.

Controlling the process in your showroom is the fourth key to success which I will be covering in upcoming articles. Controlling the process is a series of actions from the beginning to end of the sales that keep you in control and speed up the time spent while cutting down the odds of losing the sale.

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 visit his website at www.dynamicresultsonline.com.