There's Never A Good Time For A Major Showroom Revamp!

Showrooms continue to play a vital role in our industry. This, despite the rise and immense power of the internet. In fact, I would argue that showrooms have never become so important, given the diverse nature of our industry and the products we all now sell. Home owners need a place to go see these new products, to get their hands on them, to observe the build quality and peruse the options within the product ranges. No better place to do all of that than in a showroom.

Given it’s importance, I can tell you that there is never a good time to start revamping one!

Upheaval

We are doing just that. Our showroom is based in a 140 year old part of the building we occupy as a business. We have a modern built reception and storage facilities for our products. But where we show off our windows and doors to the public is in the oldest part of our building.

Over the years we have tweaked and changed as new products have come along. But we reached a point at the end of last year that something major had to be done to the showroom. We were selling a huge number of products that we simply did not have room to display in our showroom. Years ago when I joined space was not a problem. There was a set product options list, we showed pretty much everything we did with ease. Not the case now.

So over the past few weeks we have started work to completely change the layout of the showroom. It’s a decent size, not the biggest in the world but by no means a hovel. It’s becoming a bit of a money pit. It’s one of those jobs where you kind of wish you never started.

It began with some medium sized work to rearrange a lot of the fixed displays that had been there for quite a long time. The aim was to make use of the space better to display more of our doors and show off each of our ranges of windows in a much neater way. That has then led to two big walls needing to be stripped of old plaster, new timbers fixed and plastering to be done. It has also led to all brand new lighting and electrics. New carpets. More showroom sample windows than previously thought. More pitching in from our fitting teams to help speed the process along. All in all, it’s a right old mess!

We know it’s worth it though. The end result will look fantastic. When it’s properly completed I’ll do a before and after on DGB and get your thoughts on the revamp. We just have to power through as quickly as possible at this moment in time. Easier said than done when leads are coming in thick and fast and you have to focus on getting new business in too.

Like losing a limb

At the moment, our showroom is off limits for health and safety reasons. Can’t be having home owners wandering about up there at this moment in time. I tell you something though, trying to demonstrate a product without any proper samples or full product examples is hard when you’re used to relying on a showroom for 12 years!

We’re lucky enough to have an outdoor showsite with 5 conservatories and glazed extensions, which we’re now using as a makeshift showroom with a few samples in each one. But it’s just not the same as having a dedicated window and door showroom. It really is like losing a limb. Figuratively speaking of course.

I signed up a customer today for two composite doors. Not the most complicated order in the world, but I would have normally taken the customers up to the showroom to go through the finer details of the product prior to signing them up. Except I couldn’t this time round, and as daft as it sounds, I ended up sort of waffling my way through those details via the use of a brochure and trying to look as professional as possible! They signed up, and understood we were without a functioning showroom, so no harm done. But it did bring it home how much as an installer we rely on a showroom to help sell our products.

I think works to a showroom like we’re undertaking at the moment really do demonstrate the importance a showroom still carries to an installer. As I mentioned above, it’s the perfect way to create the excitement of the purchase, as well as a very good way for home owners to get their eyes and hands on the real life product rather than trying to imagine their way through a brochure.

Still, it is very disruptive to business whilst the work is being done to transform it. Fitters are being pulled away from other jobs to help get the job done. There is much planning required to make sure the end result is an impressive one. There’s the general muck and dust that you have to keep on top of to make sure the rest of your building is looking clean and professional to visitors. And it takes people like myself away from my work, quoting, pricing, selling etc, to help out.

It will be worth it though. And I have no doubt that showrooms still have a pivotal role in our industry.