Branding your showroom and the luxury products you sell
BY PETER SCHOR
Showroom specialist
I hope that you read my January 2012 showroom column which included “factually” charged optimism about this new year. Don’t get caught up in the negative toxicity that some of the news media spread. Stay focused on the positive and the business that is out there.
What is a brand?
A brand represents the sum of all experiences over time between an individual and a company, product or service. A brand represents an expectation, a level of quality and the measure of trust that the consumers have in the product. It’s more than a “logo.” Products occupy a space on a shelf; brands occupy a space in your mind. Most of us are acutely aware of the concept of branding. It surrounds and influences our everyday decisions. The difference between success and failure is based upon the level of trust in the brand.
Branding has now become a common term used in marketing endeavors. Branding is essentially burning your company (showroom) or website name or slogan into the minds of potential customers, i.e., Waterworks; Restoration Hardware; Klaff’s (Conn.); AF NY (NYC); The Bath and Beyond (Calif); Splash (Mass); The Fixture Gallery (Ore./Wash.) and hundreds more.
I would also suggest that each of us is a brand. Not in the context of a Kohler product, but in an attitudinal frame of mind. This frame of mind is how each of us positions ourselves within our individual showrooms, as well as the business community as a whole, and which dictates our future success. The same branding principles used in companies every day can be tailored to individuals who want to stand out from the crowd. If great brands are about relationships, then individuals have the greatest opportunity to brand themselves.
While generic colas, or even Pepsi-Cola, may win blind taste tests over Coca Cola, the fact is that more people buy Coke than any other cola; more importantly, they enjoy “the experience” of buying and drinking Coca Cola. Fond memories of childhood and refreshment equal more sales than a little better cola taste. It is the “emotional” relationship with brands that make them so powerful. Let’s face it, nobody asks for a Curad; people ask for a Bandaid. They ask for a “Kleenex” rather than a tissue. What is “the experience” of your showroom brand? If you have followed my articles over the years, you should have picked up tips on branding.
The fundamental commandments of branding
• Be unique/differentiated. Do you stand out from the crowd? What can you do in 2012 to separate your showroom from the pack of lower-end showrooms that are bridging the gap toward luxury? Remember to think “out of the box.”
• Be relevant. Are you standing out in a way that is meaningful to your customers? Is it what you think the baby boomers and generation Xers need or want, or what they really “desire” or “expect?”
• Be credible/believable. Are you able to tell your story in a convincing manner and consistently deliver on your brand promise? Pay attention to the selection and ordering process, ship on time and remember after care. In a personal thank you note at the end of the process ask customers questions such as, “How was your experience? How can we improve it? Would you refer our showroom to your good friends and neighbors? If the answer is yes, would you write us a testimonial?”
• Earn your customers’ esteem. Are you running your business life in a way that builds respect and trust? I have always believed that people and their human behavior are the showroom’s greatest assets. That is why I am constantly improving my own skills to become a more effective showroom and trade industry educator.
• Pursue knowledge. Are you knowledgeable about your company, your customers, your competition and the industry? Do the customers that you serve know what you do? Most new customers that walk into your showroom do not know what your showroom is and does. Are you wholesale or retail? Do you provide installation?
How does one properly position oneself?
It starts with the right attitude. Attitude determines altitude, how high you can soar. No personal brand can ever maximize its true potential without the right attitude. Next is research; research that you do yourself. You need to differentiate yourself in three places:
• Within your company
• Within your industry
• Within your targeted audience. You do this by gaining insight into the desires and wants of your target audience. Learn what is important to them.
Building customer rapport is one of the most important additions to the sales process when selling luxury bath and plumbing products in 2012. Customers buy people first. Customers want to build a personal (one-on-one) relationship with an individual, not necessarily with the company brand. I agree that we all represent our company’s brand, but genuine, long-lasting relationships are driven at the individual level. The reason for the customer to believe (or not believe) in the product is based on how well sales, marketing and customer service professionals position themselves in the customer’s eyes. Another reason is how well they deliver on their personal brand promise. Please do not confuse this with selling a consumer a towel bar versus working with a professional tradesperson or a consumer who has one or more complete baths or a custom home. This is where they want your valuable time.
Numerous high-end luxury bath/plumbing product manufacturers have branded their products to appeal to high-end luxury consumers and hoteliers. Some examples are Kallista, Duravit, BainUltra, THG ROHL LLC and Wetstyle. I personally believe that Wetstyle (www.wetstyle.ca) has done the best job of delivering their message and, most importantly, their brand promise. Their advertising, marketing and support materials are some of the very best. They are often featured in high-end luxury consumer magazines such as Interior Design, Dwell, Metropolis, Metropolitan Home, House and Home, and many others.
A consumer visiting your showroom and asking for a low price/budget bathtub, lavatory, or toilet without a brand name is, in most cases, a “commodity” buyer. A consumer asking for a Wetstyle bathroom, for example, understands that buying this brand will make them feel part of the American Dream, i.e. they will feel more affluent, sexier, and healthier, among others.
Peter Schor, president of Dynamic Results Inc, is a bath/plumbing industry speaker, educator, author, columnist and consultant in the many segments of our industry. For the past 20 years, he conducted seminars and speaks at numerous conventions. Schor has great expertise in the field of showrooms and hotel bathrooms and has won many industry awards. He also consults manufacturers in taking their products to market in the areas of sales, marketing and public relations. Schor can be reached at 1302 Longhorn Lane, Lincoln, CA. 95648, phone 916/408-5346, fax: 916/408-5899. e-mail pschor@dynamicresultsinc.com or visit his web site: www.dynamicresultsonline.com.