Strategies for Becoming the 'Destination of Choice'

The ability to positively differentiate your showroom from the competition is key to increasing sales and creating a positive and memorable brand. Randy Schwantz, author of the book How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them), claims a fundamental truth about selling is that every time one showroom gains a new customer, it's at the expense of a competitor who didn't make the sale. In other words, when you win, someone else has got to lose.

Schwantz believes that most business is lost, or not obtained at all, because sellers fail to account for the competition. The biggest problem in the selling process, according to Schwantz, is that "you don't differentiate yourself enough to be seen by your prospects as better than your competition."

So, what makes your showroom different? Showrooms can differentiate themselves based on price, merchandise and service.

Price is the lowest common denominator. Most, if not all, showrooms in the independent channel would be out of business if they had to compete principally on price.

Merchandising can be a positive differentiator. However, it's extremely difficult to sustain a competitive stronghold on merchandise alone. There are many showrooms that are equally adept at offering unique and limited-availability product lines.

The third competitive differentiator is service. Schwantz observes that there are two types of service. The first is reactive, which involves "the way you respond to client problems, concerns and issues that arise." In contrast, proactive service is defined as "the day-to-day things that you do to control the experiences of your clients and make their future predictable." According to Schwantz, most businesses do not "clearly articulate the specific things they do proactively that make them different and better." When you clearly articulate services that set your showroom apart, you begin to identify your competition's weaknesses and areas where the competition under-serves its clientele.

USING YOUR STRENGTHS

Schwantz's approach uses a company's strengths to point out ways in which customers are under-served. This enables customers and prospects to self-educate, and "to see in the clearest most possible way how they are being under-served by their provider or would be without you."

Schwantz claims that under-serving causes customer pain. By illustrating that your service is better and different from a current provider or prospective provider, it eases that pain and becomes the winning difference in the sales process.

The approach avoids speaking ill of competitors – or even mentioning a competitor's name. Maligning a competitor only serves to put customers on the defensive because they don't want to admit that they've made a mistake or plan to make a mistake.

One showroom that uses its competitive strengths to its advantage is Brassworks, in Providence, RI. Nearly 10 years ago, Brassworks offered installation services out of necessity, claims company president Anthony Palmer.

"We started our installation service for selfish reasons," he explains. "I was tired of receiving phone calls from contractors and customers alleging that the mortise lock that they attempted to install in a $5,000 mahogany door malfunctioned. We knew better, but were not in a position to do anything about it."

Palmer recognized that improper installation creates a lion's share of the pain his showroom and his customers experience. As a result, he and Brassworks have leveraged their installation service to create additional positive differentiators that have had a significant impact on the bottom line.

"Because we do our own installation, we're in a position to service all warranties and offer double manufacturer warranties," he notes. "Our installation service is responsible for approximately $250,000 a year in business that we otherwise would not obtain."

ALLAYING CUSTOMER FEARS