A showroom remains one of the most powerful sales tools an installation company has when it comes to winning new business. It’s a place where home owners can get excited about their new products, and the perfect chance for the company to impress potential new clients.
So it’s important that a showroom is done right. Here are my ten tips for companies looking to either revamp their showroom, or start a brand new one from scratch.
1. Pick a good location
I know this isn’t always possible, but if you’re a new business and looking to put together a brand new showroom, consider it’s location. Choose and area which has easy access, good parking facilities, is geographically close to the market you’re looking to attract. The easier you make it for people to visit you, the more people through the door you’re going to get. The more footfall, the higher the sales. Simple.
2. Plan your product strategy
So you have your space, what next? Don’t go mad and start putting every product possible in that space. Create a product plan. Carefully figure out what ranges of products you wish to display. These will then help guide your customers down the route you want to take your business overall and will help you keep control of your growth.
This is where installers could lean on suppliers for a bit of help. I am a big believer in suppliers providing showroom support free, in return for sole supply of that product. It’s fair to both sides and creates a stronger bond between installer and supplier.
3. Install products to the highest standards
Showrooms are places which are designed to show home owners not just the products you offer, but the standards to which you work. Just because a door is in a showroom doesn’t mean it should be fitted in sloppy fashion. Keep it neat, keep it tidy, and the products will almost sell themselves.
4. Keep products varied
Once you’ve decided on the types of products you want to display and push, make sure you display a wide and varied selection of those products. The industry is flooded with product choice at the moment, more than ever before. It’s key that the products on display get the imaginations of visiting customers engaged and thinking.
A customer who invests their time with your products is more likely to go ahead with you.
5. Have more than one material type
A way to keep showroom products varied is to choose at least two different types of fenestration material to sell. Timber and aluminium have made massive strides back into the residential part of the market in recent years, and it’s home owner demand that has driven it.
A lot of installers have chosen to add aluminium products to their PVCu ranges, but that’s not to say timber can’t play it’s part too. Whatever the choice, all those options should be on display in the showroom.
6. Maintain the showroom
A popular showroom is a good thing. But it also mean the products are going to be used on a very regular basis, some products more than usual. It’s a very simply point but every product in display in a showroom should be fully functioning and operating as smoothly as possible. It all adds to the air of quality a good showroom should exude.
7. Keep it light
Natural light is an amazing commodity. As and when we’re lucky to get it in this country! It is free though, and there’s nothing better than natural daylight to show off the very best products in a brand new or revamped showroom. A dark and dingy showroom isn’t going to inspire anyone. A bright, open, shiny showroom is going to be a very welcoming place to be.
8. Use marketing cleverly
It is perfectly fine to use things like posters and pop-up banners around a showroom, but they don’t need to cover every square inch. They should be used tactically to help reinforce a message that your products are trying to deliver.
They should also be used to pass on information to potential customer where the displaying of products won’t allow. Too many posters and banners though will make the place look untidy, disorderly and unattractive to a potential customer.
9. Keep it clean
Again, a very simple one, but make sure every corner, nook and cranny of your showroom is kept spotless. First impressions are everything, so either do it yourself or hire a cleaner, but make sure that the showroom is kept clean. Simple, but it works.
10. Make it a welcoming place
Lastly, but not least, make the showroom a welcoming place. Things like tea, coffee, biscuits, muffins, sofas, music and other similar measures all help to make the customer feel welcome in a building they have most likely never been in before.
It’s important home owners are made to feel welcome and relaxed. The buying process runs much easier if they do.
So there’s your ten. If you’re thinking about revamping an existing showroom or building a completely knew one, these ten tips should help you shape one of your most effective sales tools.
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Try telling Ultraframe about number 2 !!