In Part 1 and Part 2, I outlined the ultimate floor marketing system. It consists of three simple steps: before, during and after. Before is what you do to attract new customers before they have purchased from you. During is what you do to get out of the “proposal” business, close a lot more sales [...]
In my last column, I outlined the ultimate floor marketing system which consists of three simple steps: before, during and after. Before is what you do to attract new customers before they have purchased from you. During is what you do to get out of the “proposal” business and instead close a lot more sales [...]
In my previous post, I outlined the differences between dealers who are hunters and dealers who are ranchers. Most dealers are hunters, meaning they are transaction-oriented. They spend their time, energy and money hunting down the next customer, bagging it, skinning it. Then they’re off hunting for the next one. Three big problems with customer [...]
“How many of you communicate with your past customers on a monthly basis?” I asked dealers at a Digital Domination Boot Camp I was conducting during the Chicago Floor Covering Association’s annual Product Showcase. No one raised their hand. That is not unusual. I poll most of my audiences with that question, and at most I’ll [...]
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed how you can increase your closed sales ratio simply by maximizing your repeat and referred customers. In this installment, I’m going to explain why having a selling system will also help you increase your closed sales. “We now have a 70% close rate,” Rob, a dealer from [...]
“I remember this guy,” the dealer from Minnesota told me. I had just pointed out to him that he had a negative review on Google. “He was rude to my staff and made unreasonable demands. When we told him we couldn’t give him what he wanted he left this lousy review!” Many dealers can relate to [...]
"I don’t know where to start with my online marketing.” I was on the phone with Brad, a dealer from Texas, and he was explaining that running his business took so much of his time that he felt totally overwhelmed trying to figure out internet marketing. I’ve heard versions of this lament from many dealers, [...]
“You’ve got to remember that every prospect searching online for a flooring store has an unspoken question on her mind: Why should I choose you instead of your competitors?” I told Brad, a dealer from Connecticut for whom I was doing an online marketing assessment. “Wow, I’d never thought of it that way,” he replied. [...]
“Jim, I can’t believe this dealer has a higher star rating than us! He operates out of a storage container, and he once pulled a gun on a customer!” I was doing an online marketing assessment for Susan, a dealer from California. At the beginning of our meeting I said, “Susan, let’s walk a mile [...]
“We paid a company to do Facebook posts for us, and the results have been terrible,” the owner of four flooring stores recently told me. “We’ve pretty much given up on Facebook marketing.” I’ve heard similar comments from dealers frustrated with their results from Facebook marketing. This isn’t because Facebook can’t be very profitable for [...]