Greetings Floor Dealers!

At the 2014 TISE West event in Las Vegas, I attended James Dion’s class on the psychology of price.  He said, “Price is just a number, yet consumer’s are obsessed with it.  If you want to know who to blame, look in the mirror.”  I agree.  For years box stores and national chains have been pounding the pulpit, preaching price prostration.  Unfortunately, most small dealers followed suit.  Instead of countering this ridiculous, price-is-all-that-matters message with education-based marketing, many dealers caved in with “me-too,” cheap-price advertising gimmicks.  (It’s a crying shame, too, because selling on low price is totally unnecessary once you know the right strategies.)

So how do you deal with a price-obsessed consumer?  A key strategy is education and this begins before your prospect ever sets foot in your store.

First, testimonials are a powerful method for educating prospects that you can be trusted and that your products and services are worth the higher price you are charging.  Use testimonials in all your marketing.  Along with educating your prospects, it will also create differentiation because very few dealers use them.

Another education method is offering free reports, white papers or consumer guides.    Here are ideas for topics to cover in your free report:

  • 5 (pick a number) costly misconceptions about buying flooring.  For example, one misconception is that you should always pay the lowest price possible.  You can counter this by explaining exactly why low price and high quality never go together.
  • 3 questions to ask a dealer before purchasing.  If you use certified installers, one question should be, “Are your installers certified?”  You’ll now have an instant advantage over dealers who don’t use certified installers.  Craft all your questions so that you can answer them in the affirmative, and other dealers can’t.
  • 4 steps to getting the best flooring.  Outline what steps they should take as they shop for flooring.  These steps should ultimately lead them to buy from you.
  • Why the $39 whole-house installation is a giant myth.
  • Why a warranty is only as good as the company behind it.  (When it comes to honoring warranties, what the box stores say and what they do are often two very different things.)

In other words, in the report, you’re telling the consumer all the things you wish they knew about buying flooring, and countering the “cheap price is all that matters” myth.  You’re also indirectly telling them why your company is better than your competitors, and why they should buy from you at your price.  Notice I said indirectly.  Don’t come right out and say, “Hey, buy from us ’cause we’re the best!”  That doesn’t work.  The report should be constructed so that prospects independently arrive at the conclusion that you are the obvious choice; that you are worth the higher price; that they would be foolish to buy from anyone else, especially the box stores or your “low-ball” competitor.

One objection to this strategy I’ve heard from some dealers is, “No one will read a report this long.”  Here’s how you can know this isn’t the case:

Think back to the last time you purchased a high-ticket item like a car, a vacation or a home.  How many pages of information did you read online before making your decision?  Probably dozens.  Your prospects are the same.  Someone who is not interested in flooring won’t read ten words, but someone who is interested will read ten pages.   Case in point: dealers I’ve worked with have great success offering a consumer’s guide that’s over twenty pages long.

I’ve written consumer guides for most of my businesses and they’ve been a fun and effective way to give my competitors a kick to the gluteus maximus.

In the next installment, I’ll cover a system of in-store and out-of-store strategies that will leave the boxes choking on your dust!

 

To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”

Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
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