Launch Window
You only get one shot at some things, and opening a showroom is one of them. Take advantage of being brand new to grab publicity and pull in potential customers.
That’s what Revive Home Improvement Showrooms did when it opened in Columbus, Ohio, this past summer. President Michael Pirwitz says his company quickly generated between $300,000 and $400,000 in sales as a result of the event. Attendance the first weekend probably topped 1,000. “We expect total sales resulting from our grand opening will be half a million,” Pirwitz says.
The 15,000-square-foot showroom displays everything a homeowner might need to complete a major project either inside or outside, including windows, doors, siding, fences, sunrooms, turnkey theater rooms, cabinetry, countertops, tubs, and flooring. And Pirwitz made sure his grand opening was well publicized. Revive did radio spots and took out a full-page ad in the Columbus Dispatch. The company ran a contest to give away a sun-room and a hot tub, with entry forms available only at the showroom. Total promotional costs: $100,000.
All of the hoopla over a grand opening is a onetime thing, which is why Revive took advantage of the event to spur referrals. Customers who came into the showroom and bought were given a discount, with the idea that they would be sure to tell their friends about the replacement contractor.
Welcome Mat
It’s not that hard to hold an open house, whether it’s in your showroom or a client’s home. Getting people to come is the trick. Most companies rely on direct mail to get a crowd. Bucking the trend, East Hartford, Conn.–based Home Comfort Now, which holds open houses at sunrooms it’s just completed, sends out elegant invitations to names supplied by the homeowner. The contractor chooses the open house locations carefully, making sure they’re in neighborhoods that fit customer demographics. Often canvassers follow up. They go around the neighborhood to hand out invitations, tell people to come hungry, and make it clear that children are welcome.
To ensure a good crowd, Atlanta-based Taylor Construction makes a point of mailing not only to past customers but to everyone living within a 10-mile radius. Additional publicity comes from promos done by a well-known local radio talk show host.
Even if you use direct mail, you can follow up with phone calls, a technique that American Home Design in Nashville has found effective. As a welcoming touch, employees throw the doors of the company showroom open, move spas outside, put up high-flying balloons, and sometimes grill food outdoors.
Another way to call attention to your open house is to hang a banner, even if it has to be smaller than the 30-foot-long one Hicksville, N.Y.–based Alure uses to promote its four-day carnival on Martin Luther King Day weekend.
Tactical Errors
Mistakes are inevitable. All of these home improvement contractors have organized successful customer appreciation events, and all have something they might have done differently. Below are five ideas that turned out to be tactical errors.
Elizabeth, N.C.–based Swimme and Son had a tent outside the showroom at its customer picnic this year. It won’t next year. “People congregated around the tent and didn’t come in and see products and talk to us,” says co-owner Theresa Swimme.
Offering free dinners at a nearby restaurant as an incentive didn’t work for American Home Design in Nashville. “People just came for that,” says marketing assistant Mikele Bruce, but had no interest in buying from the contractor.
Running a special to attract customers to an open house opens up a can of worms, says Ann Peterson Miller, marketing coordinator at ABC Seamless of Northeast Ohio. People who have placed orders and signed contracts hear about the special and argue for the same price break.
A live radio broadcast is another feature of past open houses at Swimme and Son that has vanished. It attracted people who didn’t match the company’s demographics.
Bundling a company picnic with a rock concert at a public park made things way too complicated, says George Sullivan, president of Benchmark Windows in Lakewood, Colo. Holding the events separately will generate a lot less red tape when it’s time to deal with city officials.
