Talking Less = Selling More

Looking through the lens of a first-time visitor to a decorative plumbing and hardware showroom, what would you see?  Imagine the reaction of potential customers who are building a new home and were sent to your showroom to pick out products for a master bath, child's bath, powder room, guest bath, kitchen and laundry room.  What would be the customer's first impression.  How many similar products would they see?  And what would their reaction be to a first-time greeting by one of your sales professionals?  

 

The answer to the last question, according to 2018 DPHA Conference workshop leader Bob Phibbs (The Retail Doctor), is that many brick and mortar retail customers view first-time meetings with sales associates negatively.  Customers believe that sales associates will undervalue, misunderstand or railroad customers when they walk through the door, Phibbs wrote.  And the reason why?  Because most retailers, decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms included, focus conversations on features and benefits because that's what they have been trained on.  What most sales professional don't now is that before you can sell most anything successfully you need to learn how to establish a rapport that leads to trust. The key, Phibbs writes, is to "present just the right amount of information at just the right time."

 

Presenting the right amount of information at the right time requires speaking less and listening more. Many sales associates, especially those newer to the industry, tend to want to show how much they know and talk too much.  Phibbs suggests that sales associates pause before speaking to make sure that a customer has finished his or her thoughts, which enables the sales professional to craft a response.

 

Another key is to determine the reasons why the customer has visited the showroom before making recommendations.  Why does someone want to renovate their master bath?  Why is someone building a home?  What do they want the rooms to look and feel like after construction ends? Before making product recommendations, ask clarifying questions, advises Phibbs, to determine what is most important.  When you determine the motivation for a customer's project, you can start to frame the next steps to create trust and get the sale.

 

Robb Best taught us at prior DPHA Conferences to limit choices. Offer no more than two product choices at one time.  If you describe the reasons why you believe a particular product will meet the client's needs, focus on the most important contribution that the product brings to your client's project.  Don't go through a litany of features such as it comes in 32 design finishes, you can adjust the length of the spout, it has a ceramic disk cartridge, the finish is guaranteed for life, etc.  Focus on what's most important to customers and then be quiet so you can gauge customer feedback.

 

Pay attention to how much you or your sales professionals speak during a customer interaction and how much customers say.  Customers should always talk more because when they do, you gain the information needed to craft the best solutions for their projects.  

 

Want more guidance from the Retail Doctor Bob Phibbs?  Click here to reserve for the DPHA Conference. 

Remodeling the Bath, by Traci D'Antoni (D'Antoni Sales Group), and Education Committee Member

We deal with people remodeling their homes everyday in the showroom. It could be for resale or it could be because they have made the decision to stay where they are while updating the home they love. I recently remodeled a bath in my own home and I'd like to share some things I learned and some tips to share with your customers to make their remodeling process as smooth as possible.

1. Take your time choosing a contractor. This is someone who is going to be spending quite a bit of time in your home, so interview your contractor with this in mind. You also should get 3 or 4 bids on your project and make sure to be very specific about what the scope of the work is. You want all your bids to be based on the same parameters. Get references from your potential contractor and ask the references about the entire process and the level of service they received.
2. Have a realistic budget. When you get back the bids from the contractors, review them thoroughly to see what is included in the quote. Remember, the quote could change depending on what happens when the walls get opened up. We've all seen the HGTV "we weren't expecting..."  I use 10% as the amount for the cushion in the budget.
3. Have a realistic timeline for both receiving product and completion of the construction. As business is picking up, it may take longer to receive product. I encourage having all product on hand before beginning the actual remodel. This will help prevent any stopage in work due to delays in receiving materials. Keep in mind that your contractor may have other projects going on and if they have to leave your project it could extend your timeline.
4. Be prepared - your life is going to be disrupted. At some point in time there will be dust, noise, power turned off, water turned off and someone else in your space. Make other arrangements for your pets if they have a tendency to run or be overly friendly.
5. Patience is a virtue and needed in abundance during your remodel. No matter how well you plan, there will be something that goes awry. Don't have a meltdown, just realize that it will pass and the results will be all worth it.

Being in the industry, I felt that I was well prepared for my remodel. I had all of my products on hand, my contractor came over the week before the project and looked at all of the products and I explained what I wanted done. That being said, I still had a few glitches during the construction, but now that it is all over, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I love my new bathroom and if you need a contractor in the Louisville area, I know a great one.

A Different World View by Tom Cohn, DPHA Executive Vice President

My son is moving to his first apartment in a few weeks and in anticipation of having his own crib, he is shopping for furniture. During his 48-hour research extravaganza, he concluded that the way we have purchased furniture and most other things for our home is "all wrong." We have relied on brick-and-mortar retailers and selected products that are well made and styled to last the test of time. And we have paid a premium for this approach. We always could have spent less.

 

A limited budget has required my son to look at popular priced offerings that will outfit his new 500 square foot abode. He is attracted to online companies (he's 22) and has convinced himself that the quality of lesser priced offerings that require self-assembly are of comparable quality to the furnishings he has grown up with. I questioned this claim. But his point got me to thinking, "Have we really been purchasing incorrectly for years. Did we spend too much for everything?" When we renovated the kitchen, our refrigerator cost more than my first car. 

 

Here's the lesson for decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms. We tend to focus on what we want our customers to believe. We spend hours upon hours trying to explain and justify our value proposition as to why our customers should pay a premium for products whose functionality can be obtained for considerably less. We often ignore the customer's lens and what customers believe is right for them. Do your sales professionals consider what story customers tell themselves?

Competing Against Amazon

At last year's DPHA Conference, the Retail Profit Doug Stephens astutely observed that purchasing products from Amazon is the quickest route from wanting to receiving. There is nothing special or emotionally engaging by acquiring goods with a few clicks of a mouse. Yet that being said, Amazon is expected to be responsible for 80 percent of online purchasing growth in 2018 and commands 49 percent of all Internet searches.

 

What makes Amazon the most dangerous for brick-and-mortar retailers is their technological superiority and understanding of data and innovation, which enables the company to enter new categories easily. Additionally, through the creation and promotion of its Prime Program that offers free shipping and other benefits, Amazon has amassed an estimated 65 to 85 million members.

 

Amazon's innovation enables the company to deliver purchases to the trunks of customers' cars and inside consumers' homes through the Amazon Key Program. Amazon's goal is to make the lives of its customers as easy as possible. Walmart, not to be outdone, also is testing delivery services, and in certain markets will stock your refrigerator with groceries purchased online, reports the Retail Doctor and 2018 DPHA Conference speaker Bob Phibbs. It's a safe bet to project that most decorative plumbing and hardware showroom customers are Prime members. That makes it extremely difficult to charge for freight or delivery in your market. How would you respond to clients that say, "Why should I pay freight? I could purchase the same things on Amazon freight-free."? Manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers need to partner more effectively to have freight included in the purchase price so that all products can ship free just like Amazon.

 

Another Amazon hallmark is that it accepts all returns with no questions asked. This is more challenging for brick-and-mortar kitchen and bath showrooms because so many orders are custom or semi-custom. Perform an analysis of returns in your showroom. How many requests do you actually get? If they are few and far between, perhaps it's possible to differentiate your operations from the competition by implementing a more generous return policy.

 

Make more complete sales by taking a page from Amazon's messaging that identifies products that the customer might be interested in, pointing out that customers who purchased product X also purchased Y. This is an easy transition during the sale process, "That's a great choice. We had a client last month who purchased the identical tub, and they also purchased a great looking vanity outfitted with an industrial chic faucet, steam system shower and smart mirrors. They rave as much about the mirrors now as they do about their tub. Would you be interested in looking at similar solutions for your new bath?" The key is to train your sales staff to be aware of the technique and use it regularly, if not on every sale.

 

A decorative plumbing and hardware showroom has advantages that can't be replicated online. If you have the luxury of working displays in your showroom, leverage that competitive advantage by offering customers the opportunity to trial test products.

 

Customization is trending and becoming a big business. Nike, Adidas, Coach and others allow customer to customize clothing, shoes and handbags. Decorative plumbing and hardware showrooms have been customizing products for their clients for years. Leverage your experience with custom faucets, fixtures, hardware, vanities and other products to enable your customers to make personal design statements in their home, and understand and appreciate the knowledge and expertise of showroom professionals.

Lessons from One of the World's Best Chef's to Avoid Complacency

Remember when you started your showroom?  Remember the enthusiasm, energy, fear and sense of accomplishment that permeated the fabric of daily undertakings?  It's only natural for successful entrepreneurial businesses that initially burst on the scene to make a splash, but then, over time, become complacent.  Complacency often is the prelude to failure and needs to be avoided at all costs.  How do you maintain your creative edge?  One of the world's greatest chefs provides the answer. 

 

Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy is ranked number one on the list of the world's 50 best restaurants, according to Harvard Professor Francesca Gino in a HBR blog. Gino explains that innovative organizations should not worry about maintaining excellence. Instead they need to focus on finding new excellence. Chef Bottura believes that his recipes are never finished. They continue to evolve over time.  He also rewards novelty over predictability.   He often asks his team to create new recipes based on a song, painting or poem.  Recently, he asked his team members to create a dish based on Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side.  His team responded with new recipes from the era when the song was written, based on the lyrics or the title of the song.  Would it be fun to challenge your team to design a bathroom based on the Rolling Stone's Can't Get No Satisfaction?

 

Professor Gino explains that many businesses take the wrong approach in trying to instill uniformity in the workplace when in fact, they should focus on promoting novelty because novelty increases job satisfaction, confidence, creativity and performance. Citing a study of new employees in multiple industries, Gino found that the more frequently new team members learned new skills, interacted with new colleagues or felt challenged by their responsibilities, the more fulfilled and energized they were in their place of work and the longer their tenure was with their employers. 

 

When you regularly ask your team to step out of their comfort zones, take different approaches and avoid the tried and true, everyone in your organization will develop new skills and obtain increased personal and professional satisfaction.