Retooling Your Business in a Tight Economy

There’s no question that selling today compared to selling a few years ago is a whole new ball game. After speaking with many of my peers in this industry about how the economy has changed the way they do business, it occurred to me that this is not necessarily going to be a short-term event.

In years past, we decided what projects we were going to do for customers. I know that a lot of kitchen and bath professionals only sold products that they believed would offer the highest profit margins. Many companies didn’t even want to talk to clients about such things as hardware for their existing cabinets, or replacement shower doors.

Unless your client was going to remodel the entire kitchen, you wouldn’t think of selling just new appliances, or doing a simple countertop replacement or some other “small” job. Well, times have changed.

As a business owner, I’ve always tried to help out any client who came to see us. Many years ago, a client came into the showroom saying, “I know you probably can’t help me, but I’m looking for a couple of towel bars and a robe hook for my bathroom.” The salesman said, “Sure I can help you,” and proceeded to show her what we had available. She picked the items she wanted, paid for them and we ordered them the next day. We had them shipped directly to her home.

Six months later, the same salesman introduced me to his newest customer. I thanked her for her business and asked the question I always ask our clients after a successful sale: “Can you tell me why you decided to buy your kitchen from us?” Her response was, “A few months ago, I was looking for some items for my bathroom. I had stopped in at three other kitchen and bath showrooms. When I told them what I was looking for, none of them would help me since I wasn’t doing a complete project. When I saw your store, I thought I’d give it one more try. When I walked in I was greeted by Bill and he asked how he could help me. I told him what I was looking for and, to my surprise, he said, ‘Sure, we can help you,’ and he did. I told my husband when I got home that I’d found the company that was going to do our kitchen.”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson, and it has been one of the many things that we do as a company for our customers.

Earning the Business

Today, we are all doing what we should have been doing in years past. We cannot pick and choose our customers based on our needs. I realize that there are times when we’re so busy, it would be hard to do some of the small projects that people are asking us to do. But, the truth is, these types of projects can and do lead to the big projects.

There’s no doubt that customers today are taking much longer to make a positive buying decision, and they are visiting more companies to see what they offer and how they work. The dollars are not as easy to get.

While we were sitting pretty for a while, we now need to regroup and look at other alternatives to doing business and earning our clients’ confidence.

Now that we are in a bit of a recession, what can you do to attract more business? Perhaps it’s time to advertise that you do small projects, countertop replacement, appliance replacement, floors, wet-water fixtures, shower doors, new toilets and vanity tops. Anything that goes along with your core business can become a part of your everyday offering.

Cabinets can go into every room of the house, but how often do customers come to you for the bookcase unit fireplace mantel? How about the home office that you could sell if your clients knew you had them available? Home entertainment cabinets and closet systems are just a few of the things that come to mind that you have available to sell to your clients.

Create a letter about your new offerings and mail them to all of your past customers. If you have e-mail addresses, you can go that route – anything to get the word out and create some new business opportunities.