I would love to hear about your showrooms. We are getting ready to remodel and I am curious to get anyfeedback as to what has been particularly (un)successful for you guys.

We are considering a three room setup (1800 ft^2):
Room 1. A dedicated "Dream Theater" (30x25)
Room 2. Two vignettes: One side a FPD with a drop down FP & 16:9 screen (med end). The other side a Kitchen vignette. (20x30 ~ 2 @ 15x20) a la:
Room 3. Conference Room/Client Meeting Room: demonstrating IP interface, distributed audio, video, HVAC, touchpanels, etc. (15x15)

All rooms would be connected to stuctured wiring package, lighting control and HVAC integration....

FYI, we are not and will never be in the over-the-counter trade, we operate by appointment only.



Any input?

This message was edited by Trip109 on 10/06/05 17:04 ET.

I've allways thought that an approach that simulates the real world of the home was the best route. It is so much easier to demonstrate lighting and multi-room av and have the client understand the value with this kind of setup.

I agree.

Demonstrating the abilities of equipment, control systems, etc is of little use to a prospective customer.

They want to see how it will work and look in their home, and your home is the next best thing. Currently I do demonstrations from my home with central vac, cctv, projection and plasma home cinema and multi-room av. Punters often don't want everything I can do, but parts of it, and they can see from just a simple LCD in the kitchen with no visible wires and a do-all remote that you are the guy for them.

One manufacturer suggested I buy a house in town to fit out. Not really feasible for me but better than a shop or 'showroom'. Showhome sounds better though ;-).

Only problem is my wife feels she has to hide away and the place has to be TIDY and not smell like a takeaway! Difficult just after dinner.

Home cinema dem rooms are OK if you are mainly it to room remodels, etc. I feel you are limiting your market with them on their own. One couple came along and just weren't interested in it at all. Others love it but it's not what they came for specifically.

Also try and talk to interior design and furniture companies about the supply of goods, you may be able to strike up as good deal.

Just my 2.

FOr most small operations with little to no walk in traffic, The only thing "Dream Theater" is good for is for hanging out at work watching movies........

What do you want to sell? WHat is your market? what kind of return on your investent do you expect?

I have 13k feel of showroom... 3 THeaters with Runco Projectors and AMX COntrol, couple comparision rooms, and a bunch of lifestyle rooms.... But we're in a strip mall with quite a bit of walk in traffic.....

Impaqt, I don't think anyone would be wise to try to duplicate your setup unless they were also willing to duplicate the marketing efforts...
Which is not an easy task considering that their marketing budget has to be sky high to get enough repetition to earn any real penetration in a #3 market...

If anyone hasn't seen that store, it's a beauty... Impaqt's e-mail in his sig will give you the web address.

Does the old steam room still operate, or was it removed??

Thanks for the feedback.

We are in a relatively naive market and use our showroom to acquaint (potential) customers with new technologies and our product offerings.

To this end, I believe that a dedicated theater would be a great way to demonstrate the new Runco CineWide technology, which I personally believe is revolutionary. But to explain to people why they should pay 20-50% more for a 2.35:1 system requires the emotional experience of seeing "The Big Screen".

As Meridian dealers, we find the "All Digital" story compelling, but to be able to demonstrate an all Meridian system in an acoustically treeated room might help us sell more of these systems to people other than the "I want the best I don't care what it costs" crowd.

Hence, the "Dream Theater" would consist of a Runco CineWide solution with a Stewart side-masking 2.35 screen and an all Meridian audio package.

Comments?

Sounds like a dream theater to me... I certainly wouldn't kick it out of my... house!

Good luck.

The steam room, WHile still there, hasnt operated in quite some time....

I certainly wouldnt recommend anyone go out and build the SHowroom we have. Its taken 10+ years to get where we are now and massive amounts of Radio, Print, Direct Mail, and now TV advertising.

Its just not that important for someone focusing one strictly custom installs. I'd say less than half of my large scale custom jobs even see our showroom.

I agree with that percentage... We also have a big showroom (maybe a little less splash than that one!), but most of our big jobs never come in to see. We're planning a big renovation for the spring. More vignettes, less wasted space.

I'm a big believer in some sort of showroom for a variety of reasons. However, it may not be for everyone, and I do feel that unless you are a big presense in a big market, you should have some restraint in your showroom choices.

We are in in a tertiary market (MSA of slightly less than a half a mil) and I have a showrrom, open by appointment only, as we are often (70% of the time) out in the field.

I have 2 rooms, one is a dedicated theatre room, (front PJ, 2 rows of theatre seats, 96" wide screen, Martin Logan Summit speakers, DWIN, Bryston, B&K, Lutron Grafik Eye, MX3000, Makita drapes, etc... ) The other is sort of a lifestyle room with a lesser expensive PJ on a drop down screen, a 62" Toshiba DLP RPTV, B&K recv'r, MX850 remote, more MartinLogan speakers, couch, coffee table (more of a living room look). It has worked well for me, in my market with my type of customer base.

I'd guess that 60-70% of my customers get a demo in my showroom. And that is one reason I maintain a showroom. But some of the main reasons I feel a showroom is imprtantn to me:

1. It allows me to play with the equipment in my own enviornment, and not beta test in my customer's homes (something that is a pet peeve for me). I like to work out the AV solutions and equipment choices on my own time. Whenever I hear on this forum that someone has installed a PJ or remote (for their first time) in a customer's home and are having issues, I just laugh and chalk it up to a lesson learned for that individual (in other words, sometimes you get what you deserve). Let your showroom also be your lab

2. Sometimes it can set you apart from the lessor, true trunk slamming competition. I have gotten some good jobs becasue, I was able to show off a great expereince and my competitor could not.

3. As popular as Custom Install is getting, I am still amamzed how many (even affluent and well heeled) folks, still have not experienced a well executed dedicated Home Theatre. Sometimes they walk in thinking they want a 60" TV, and walk out willing to budget for a dedicated room - after they have expereinced it. It can really get the juices to flowing

3. I like to sell nicer, more expensive equipment. Often, you have to demonstrtate the higher end equipment. Customers are often willing to opt for the better stuff, but you have to show them the difference. I do that with a compelling demo.

4. And I will admit it, that it is also an emotional decision for me too. I like this stuff, and I like to spend some time (after hours) in my demo rooms - given time - watching a movie, lietening to music. It keeps my passion kindled for my craft and helps to keep me from getting burned out. I feel my customer's can sometimes sense my passion for the art of what I do, and that passion can be contagious.

5. It is also important to remember that we are selling experiences. Good showrooms need to reflect that

Having said all of this, I do acknowledge that a showroom - regardless of level - is not for everyone. It does depend on your financial abilities, your market, your stature in your market and your commitment to your showroom. It is time consuming and expensive to keep it fresh, maintained and compelling.

I also feel that you mustn't do too much of a "built-in" solution. As tempting as it is to make everything physically integrated into the room, one must remember that the equipment will eventually be rotated out of the room, as old models expire and new models come onto the scene. You don't want to have to rebuild the room every year. That can really get expensive. So you have to be smart about the room(s) construction and keep that in mind when designing the room(s). Projectors are constantly changing and PJ throw distances do change. Speakers change too, so even though we sell the shit out of Triad, I do not use too many of their in wall products in my showroom (even though I mainly sell their in wall prods). Almost strictly free standing speakers, which are much easier to close out when the new models hit.

Hope this helps.

Thanks FP

I agree whole heartedly wth your commentary.

My goal is to own the high end in our tertiary markets. Based on discussions with other Meridian/Runco dealers at CEDIA, they guessed, on average, that their average ticket went up 30% after the installation of "good" demo facilities.

Even if a customer never sees the showroom (my wife and I bought both ou Volvo and Escalade sight unseen so I understand this mentality) the fact that they "COULD SEE IT" if they wanted lends credability.

I also agree with your "living laboratory" analogy.

My banker is all for the remodel as well, which helps of course. :-)

We went different way slightly, I made an agreement with furniture company, contractor and HVAC/ security company that we make show home and they can use it to show some of the work for their customer but in return they will not charge for the system or work they will do, it was hard at first but they agreed finally.
Now we have a small house which has 5 theaters between FP system and Plasma.
bathroom with waterproof TV and audio, entrance with mirror TV.
Whole house audio video system, touch screen remotes and so on.

now with the cooperation of the other companies we can provide everything including constructions by the contractor, furniture by the furniture companies (including kitchen hardware).

We don't get many customers who wants the full package but for sure every customer walked into the show home will choose something weather its the multiroom system or HT system, control system or light system.

We even converted one room to home office and its becoming popular now.

We do add and upgrade from time to another and soon we hope to add DVD server.

We couldn't do it without the help of the other companies and it took us awhile to let them join us but it was worth it, sometimes when they show their work to their customers we get some business from them as well.

We are a decent sized custom install company and felt that our showroom needed to be a functional office space and be able to demo different concepts, not necessarily products. We set up 3 demo rooms, 1 w/ a 50" plasma and 5.1 in-wall, another with a 45" LCD and 5.1 all freestanding speakers, and a theater room with custom cabinetry, Sim projector, Draper 92" screen, 2 rows of Acousticsmart seating, DefTech LCR2300's across the front and UIWBP/A for surround and surround back with a velodyne sub and mx-3000. We also set up a distributed audio with 3 zones, using a good, better, and best keypad options. Also set up a wall of speakers to demo different price points from $300/pair up to $3200/pair.

We also have work space for the sales guys, an inventory room, and a tech area with speakers in wall so equipment can be bench tested, we can troubleshoot, etc.

We also worked out a deal with a custom cabinet maker without a showroom who has built 4 pieces for us. A big built in for our theater room, a retail sales counter, and 2 window pieces for displays. He uses our shop as his showroom and we mutually refer clients. We just opened about 2 weeks ago and have been getting a tremendous response from walk-ins, existing and potential clients, and the local media.

JimDon

Sounds nice (and like quite an investment)!

I would love to hear about any sales success you have within the showroom, particularly in reagrds to upselling, etc..

It sounds like you are maintaining retail hours, yes?

Trip109,

We also are a Meridian dealer, and to be able to show a full digital system is the only way people will understand the concept. We have a dedicated theater room with a small acoustic package, and a row of three theater seats, with an AT wall and screen. We haven't sold a ton of the products in the room, but most people in my area don't even know you can build a room like that.

What we found was even if people didn't buy a real high-end system, they got excited when they saw our theater room; and alot of times we could move them up a level or two from the products they were looking at.