Related to my earlier post.

I know it’s not uncommon to NOT have a showroom in the CI industry.

We DO happen to have a showroom, if for nothing else than just to demo a live/functional Home theatre setup; not necessarily to demo a brand "a" or “b” speaker/sub/AVR, etc.

I’ve picked a few displays I’m happy with, and as well we have a full HT system w a 110" projection screen. I have no desire, (or capitol!), to compete w the BB, CC etc as far a stocking/demo-ing every piece that we may install.

For those of you that have a physical storefront/showroom, how do you sell/propose a system for a customer WITHOUT them actually HEARING it? i.e., don’t they actually want to HEAR the particular set of speakers they’re buying? I know that’s OUR job to put together a "package" for the customer based on their needs. We select the proper equipment, etc. But surely you must run into the client who wants to hear brand "A" or brand "B" before signing the dotted line. Do you actually have a demo of each option for the customer? Even if you did, it wouldn’t necessarily sound the same in your S/R as their L/R.

How often do you encounter a client not wanting to "sign the dotted line" until they can see/hear a demo of the ACTUAL equipment?

Client came in today to see a DLP display. As far as audio, he pretty much is leaving that up to me. OK, cool. Conversely, had a client last week that wanted to hear various in-walls before deciding. I’m assuming all the pieces installed are NOT on active demo, for those of you that even HAVE a showroom. So how do you combat this?

As I AM still new to this side, I’m Just curios on how others are doing this.


Thanks

Get so friendly with your existing customers that you can take new customers to your previous installs with products you can't afford or dont have the space to just hang around in your showroom.
When discussing discount use it as a bargaining tool that they must be willing to let you show the install of to other customers.
Yes i Know this is not always possible and is not a complete solution but i have used this method in the past.
Part of the objection from a customer point of view is what does it really look like? how will this guy fit it? How good is his workmanship? Not the sound as,as you say it will sound different in there home.

I often times use the word sell or propose, when talking in these forums, but my actual legal role is as a subcontractor... some projects I take the lead from a design element, other times I am the design element.

I have clients that are retailers and I have other clients that are design build / no show room types. In both instances... an end user that wants to A/B in-wall speakers is not really our type of client. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, nor do I want to insult anyone out there, but at some point your client has to come to you with a certain level of trust to do what he wants you to do, but on a solutions level.

If he can't trust you (because of him or you) or if he can't communicate his needs to you effectively (add liberal doses of interpretation here... and some companies do it amazingly well because of EXPERIENCE) then YES, there is going to be a potential problem.

Take this same paradign of trust and knowledge with in-wall speakers and apply it to more critical / expensive sytems. There are companies out there that have the experience and credibility to specify $20K X system, $50K X system $100K X system, $250K X system, so on and so forth, without the client ever getting directly involved. Just find out where in that spectrum you want to represent yourself, sell hard against it, and make sure that you acknowledge your limits and don't sell at all beyond it.

We have a large full-fledged retail store, and demo and stock almost everything we sell... That said, fully 50% of our custom business never sets foot in the store. They trust us to propose something good/appropriate for their needs. Mr G has a good suggestion, but I'm glad we don't have to rely on it...

Coming from the NYC market, I can't really think of a single client off the top of my head that I would be comfortable asking to bring another client for demonstration. I'm sure if I thought really hard and begged, I could find someone, but this market doesn't really lend itself to this type of "friendly" interaction that you speak of. There are many instances where we never even really meet the end user, except for very briefly, and for the most part, for reasons of privacy and not being invasive, I couldn't really think it appropriate to broach the subject of public show, photographs, or other advertisements.

Now I used to work in the suburban market too, and you can't just claim a certain NY *hole effect, I think that there are many instances where this type of systematic behaviour would not be deemed professional. There are many good reasons for having a showroom. The strategy for not having a showroom should probably include something like your credentials or a confidence in your salesmanship, but if you can't pull that off, you might want to reconsider not having a showroom.

I don't have a showroom. But then again the majority of my market are 10,000 to 15,000 systems. I have a slideshow on my laptop of previous installs. I get an idea of the customers budget, and as I said, my market compared to most on this forum is very low budget. That said, I find a package that meets their budget, I meet with them a second time, and give them options, again with pics and specs from my laptop. I have yet to have a customer tell me that they want to see or hear what they are getting. As mentioned above I show my customers what fits into their budget, and express confidence in what they are buying. This really puts them at ease. Done deal.

Just as in any other trade, experience and reputation are the real selling points.
If helps have a nice portfolio full of big photos, a few well written letters of recommendation, and of course the best closing tool you can have is a strong rap... I know guys in this industry that think THX is short for "thanks" who could sell ice in Siberia.

Its all down to the area your in and what you sell.The thing i sold the most was ME!
The U.K is not that physically big.In the areas i focused on most of my customers knew each other in some social business/social way.If they asked about a product i would say ."Do you know such and such?"( often they did )."well i fitted that system with that product he's over the moon with it."

They then would set up a meeting themselves with each other .No better demo than some guy showing off his system without you there and them singing your praises.

I must admit i liked to break down the supplier/customer formality and treat customers as friends and fitted the equipment with as much care and consideration as if it was my home.


With most sales its all about confidence if you know that its a good product (that fits all the criteria) and is the best value why do they need a demo?
If you dont show absolute faith/belief in what you are saying customers can smell it and seek reassurance of dems or question your product selection.

Sales as 2nd rick says can be very easy and something that comes naturaly to some (sellers of ice in Siberia) but many have to work at it for years and may still not be as good.

Last thing.. Keep at it! Don't let lost sales get you down! and Good luck!

Thanks again.

We've sparred with the idea of opening up a storefront. It seems that 99% of our clientell is made up of people who liked the system we put in for their friends. They want one like theirs and they trust us because their friends trust us.

For this reason, my office is in our home. Clients rarely visit us - we go to them and they like that personal touch.

Most of the audio side of our home theater systems average around $3500 plus the whole home audio. Seems anytime I go into a small store they are spending half of their efforts blowing out closeouts and demos. Models can change 2 or 3 times a year. Perhaps if we were in a small town I could see the viability of a storefront.

Much more can be said on the subject but after doing a cost analysis we concluded that we either would need to get big and do the babysitting thing or stay small and enjoy the low overhead, one on one with clients and a modest upper middle class income.

Just make sure you have some long term plans including investing/packing something away for early retirement.

This message was edited by Steve Garn on 05/25/05 03:04 ET.

Agreed. I dont want to demo EVERY piece if equipment we sell (nor could I afford to) or COULD sell. We have a demo HT set-up, just to give the "experience" of a real HT. We ARE in a small town, and for now are the only ones that I know of doing this. Surrounding cities are pretty saturated, but this one is not. My concern, and reason for this post, was that by NOT having full demo's of every piece of equipment, like BB or Cc, that we would be losing potential bids, or are falling short of the customers needs as far as them being able to "touch it, hear it, see it" like they can at BB or CC.

I am also in the NY market and I have many customers who kindly grant me use of thier homes or apartments on occasion to conduct a demo. I have been approached numberous times by clients who wish to invest in this business. They suggest opening a show room. I suggest they use their business accumen to develop a business plan where a show room is profitable? They never can.

A show room can however close a sale assuming you can get he client through the door. I have never been able to do that save with clients who, as the wise Mr. Visser noted, you do not want. Where it can be helpful is on the very high end. Want to sell a 3 chip projector as opposed to everyone else's single chip design and color wheel it sure helps to be able to show the benefit. Same with selling a scaler with the system.

It also makes it easier to sell a lighting or automation system when someone sees what such a system does rather than becomes befuddled when it is described. One of my favorite examples is a client who signed up to do a Lutron/Crestron system but who did not entirely understand what all that money was going towards. I left him to use 7 remotes for a week to control his HD/theater before handing him his touch panel. I explained all he needed to do was wake it up, just like when his computer went to sleep and decide what he wanted to watch or listen. He pressed DSS and the look on his face was priceless, as the display turned on, the lights dimmed, the stack turned on, the HD IRD switched from SD to HD, a local HD ( American ) football game appeared on screen and with one button press he has audio and video where as before he had to navegate through 7 remotes and multiple button presses on multiple remotes.

But rare is it when a busy client will donate time from his busy schedule for this. Were I to use a show room to demonstrate a system I would set up as an educational tool. It is foolish to attempt to compete with the large box stores by having multiple displays or speakers for evalutation so use the demo to show the difference a scaler makes, use it to show how simple you make the system to use or use to show the benefits to the client from a lighting or automation system. More important is to have your best product(s) on display. By proving you know what you are doing it's far easier to convey competance when selling a less expensive system. Ultimately, as someone else wrote it is about selling yourself and your ability to perform not the products installed. If you play the products game you will lose out to the big box boys. They have more money, talent ( in terms of MBAs and research into the market) and name recognition from advertising. You need to prove you are competant enough to be entrusted working in someone's multi million dollar home. Figure out who you wish to market to; I would not want a client who needs to play with a $200 DVD player/$450 receiver through $ 300 in wall " surround " speakers.

Alan

We use a by appointment only showroom. We are strictly CI and not going after the retail consumer. Sometimes, we will give a demo in the customers home by bringing some projectors, portable screen and a simple DVD-stereo system with sub. It gives them an idea what things will look like in their home. Many customers prefer this method.

The customers that you get that want to compare every type of product you have are not our type of customers. I will do this for a few "special" customers that are enthusiasts and I know that they are going to buy from us and have us do the set up. But, we had one potential customer that literally went through 11 different models of projectors to view. I had recommended a model for his needs but he didn't trust me so he had to see all the PJs he had been reading about on the forums. We didn't have all of them in stock so be brought them in for him. We demoed them on his screen at his house. Finally, he bought the projector I recommended initially from an internet dealer in NJ to save $400. Of course I wasn't willing to price match or he wanted me go even lower to make up for the difference in tax. At that point I was happy to have washed my hands of it and chalk it up to lesson learned.

Bob

Bob, people like that are tossers, they come in and toss you off and then you are forced to toss him out. Idiots like that drive me nuts. We work so hard for our clients and then you get a tosser that doesnt realize our efforts nor appreciate them.

A show room is the financial kiss of death for most.

There are custom and retail customers out there. Their behavior and requests are keys to where they stand. I have had experiences with retail types while in servitude (some call it a job) and deal exclusively with custom folks now in my business. Can you tell whom I prefer?

Reputation is key, and being able to sell yourself (and then delivering!)
In five years I have not ever been asked to demo speakers, a couple times, one hand, to see projectors that I have suggested, never to A-B multiple units. I have a couple clients that are constantly on the cutting edge and have current pieces that are more than happy to assist me in my endevours.

My market is littered with the carcasses of good AV guys after a few years of success thought the natural step in their growth was opening a show room.

I agree with Alan, my clients do not have the time nor desire to micro manage their home theater, AV needs. Smart, successful folks realize they do not have all the answers and that is what the experts are for. I try to be that expert in my little world for them, and since I live by word of mouth I guess I sometimes get it right for my client.