Extending Your Showroom

You’ve begun the work day. You’re already lost in your routine, when, suddenly, you hear the voice.

“If you build it, they will come.”

You turn, you look, and no one is there.

Again, you hear it: “If you build it, they will come.”

Now, with apologies to W.P. Kinsella and Phil Alden Robinson, book author and screenplay writer, respectively, for the 1989 film, “Field of Dreams,” the decision to plow under your corn to build a baseball diamond for dead ball players is a no-brainer – of course you do it – it’s for baseball!

But, for you, the decision is all about a showroom. And you can’t help but wonder, if you build it, will they come… really?

Perhaps you’re thinking about, or in the process of, opening a new showroom. Or maybe you’re considering changing locations to increase traffic or get a more affluent clientele. Maybe you’ve been in a showroom for years and want something more ­­– more space, displays, square footage for other-room displays, or a second floor for bath displays.

Whatever the case, it’s true, “if you build it, they will come” – but only if they know you’re out there, and only when they’re ready.

Your challenge is to let potential clients know you exist and to help them become ready to buy. It’s about marketing to “extend your showroom” and generate traffic.

Showroom owners’ expectations and even desires for the type and number of clients they hope to attract and sign vary widely. Some want a steady stream of potential clients pulling off the road to browse, while other showrooms are closed to all but those who make appointments.

Determining where you fit is a business decision. Staffing requirements, space needs and other variables for the first scenario are very different from the appointment-only showroom. In any case there are ways to increase your showroom traffic.

WEB SITE

When it comes to extending your showroom beyond its physical space, your top priority should be your Web site. At this stage of the game, everyone should have some sort of Internet presence.

This is the quintessential extension of your showroom. That’s because it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; this valuable marketing tool is the salesperson that never sleeps.

Let your site tell your whole story. It should sell your showroom and you as a professional, talk about your experience, highlight the products you carry and show as broad a portfolio of projects as possible (see related story, Page 86).

Max Isley, CMKBD, owner of Hampton Kitchens, Inc., of Raleigh, NC, was among the first dealers to develop an Internet presence. “I use my [Web] site to tell our story, and I support the information with photography. As a result, our Web site is only one of two advertising channels we [need to] use to market our firm.”

Marvin W. Towler, owner of Architectural Kitchenworks, Inc. of Eatontown, NJ, recently opened a showroom. “I made sure I included the design and development of a Web site among my start-up costs,” he notes. “And, although is not yet fully operational – I only have a live home page with contact information right now – I know this is the best way to communicate with my potential clients. In fact, I am going to add a feature called Dezynepad that will give me the capability to work online with my clients.”

Serious consumers are now often shopping online long before they pick up a phone. According to the Web site shop.org, a March 2005 study by Kelsey Group and ConStat found that “70% of U.S. adults use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services – up from 60% in October 2003.

“These figures put the Internet on par with newspapers as a local shopping information resource, and suggest that the Internet is on track to surpass newspapers as a consumer influencer in the very near future.”