Greetings Floor Dealers!
“Have you ever lost customers because you couldn’t match Home Depot’s $39 installation?” I asked a group of attendees on a recent Marketing Mastery webinar I was co-hosting with Dustin Aaronson (FCNews Associate Publisher). More than half said they had. Well, Home Depot has upped the
ante. If you’ve lost customers because you don’t know how to counter the $39 installation lie, get ready to lose even more now that Home Depot is offering to install it free. (See the sidebar photo I snapped on a recent espionage visit to my local Home Depot.)
And this isn’t the only tactic the Big Orange Giant is employing to attack local flooring retailers. Individual Home Depot stores are given fairly wide latitude to be “creative” in their advertising. One way some of the stores are expressing their creativity is to mention specific local flooring retailers in their signage, for example, “We’ll Beat Any Bayside Flooring Store Quote By 10%.” They post these prominently in their flooring department for all your potential customers to see.
Of course, Home Depot is not the only business gunning for you by promising to do it for less. Lumber liquidators, Empire, Lowes, and RC Willy have got their crosshairs on you. To make matters worse, dealers in your market are sweating bullets over this onslaught and, since many of them don’t have the sales and marketing skills to command premium prices, they resort to cheap-price selling just to be “competitive.” This creates a snowball effect where entire market areas become awash in low-price come-ons.
Here’s a fun exercise for you. Google “Flooring ____________” and insert the name of your city. There’s a good chance that anywhere from 25% to 50% (or more) of the listings at the top of the search will have some sort of “cheap price” language.
However, you don’t have to succumb the downward price pressure. Jerome N. from Texas went from charging 20% – 30% gross residential margins to 45% – 50% over a 90-day period. He’s often booked out for up to three months. And he’s only one of the many dealers I know who command premium prices and stay very busy. If they can do it, you can, too.
Most dealers would like to put Home Depot in their crosshairs for a change. One critical component of accomplishing this is by creating total differentiation. If you fail to create differentiation you are forcing your prospects to make a decision based on price. So let’s look at some strategies that not only create differentiation, but position you and your sales people as trusted advisors and help create a zero-resistance selling environment.
When a prospect walks into your store, instead of saying “How may I help you?” or “What kind of flooring did you have in mind?” say, “Welcome to Jimbo’s Floors! Are you a new or returning client? A new client! Great! We have a special program for new clients. Can I take a quick minute and tell you about it?” Then lead them into your sales process.
During your sales process, ask questions that cause prospects to “paint a target” on themselves. For example:
- What’s important about new flooring to you?
- What did you like about the last time you had flooring installed? What did you dislike?
- How can we exceed your expectations?
Listen carefully to the answers because your prospect will tell you exactly what you need to know to close the sale.
When a prospect says that they can get their carpet installed for free at Home Depot, tell them, “Great! You’ve come to the right place. We fix free installations!” Hang a banner or window sign that says, “We Fix free Installations!” (Or $39 installations.)
In part two I’ll cover more practical strategies for putting Home Depot in your crosshairs.
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.
See what real, live dealers are saying!