Garage door industry magazine for garage door dealers, garage door manufacturers, garage door distributors, garage door installers, loading docks, garage door operators and openers, gates, and tools for the door industry.
Issue link: https://idoi.epubxp.com/i/95501
SALES&MARKETING; Increase Profi ts Through Product Diversity During my career as a door dealer I can remember boasting to customers, "We only sell garage doors, that's why we're experts." It was a true statement and we were confi dent in this product strategy. Economic times were good, the housing mar- ket was setting records year after year and we were growing. Then in 1993 we realized that putting a majority of our eggs in the new construction basket may not be wise going forward. It was appar- ent that at some point housing and new com- mercial construction may slow signifi cantly and then where would our volume dependent sales come from? It was at that point that we decided to become a "door company," not just a "garage door company". Over a ten-year period we diversifi ed our product line by adding a series of products such as residential entry doors, commercial pedestrian doors, loading dock equipment and retractable awnings. All of these would be sold at the retail level, directly to the end user. Rolling the calendar forward this decision turned out to be a good one. By diversifying our product line we were able to weather economic downturns over the years and grow our business in new directions while improving our bottom line at the same time. Why diversify? Maximize your customer base – The best customers you can fi nd are the ones you already have. Think about it. How much does it cost to add new customers? According to a recent article in Inc. Magazine, "acquiring new customers is expensive (fi ve to ten times the cost of retaining an exist- ing one), and the average spend of a repeat customer is a whopping 67 percent more 54 International Door & Operator Industry™ by Dan Apple Apple Marketing, LLC than a new one." So why not market more products to your existing customers? Your company can increase sales volume and improve profi tability with the same customer base. It's a win- win….the customer can combine purchases with a trusted vendor saving them time while you increase your ticket price. Suddenly you are selling "packages" instead of garage doors. Instead of just selling a replacement garage door for $700.00 you walk away with a garage door, entry and storm door sale worth $2,100.00. You invest a little more time on the sales call but walk away with three times the dollar volume. And best of all these other products typically will be sold at a higher margin which will improve your overall profi tability. YES to our custom when they wanted t Provide better customer service – In our case customers would say "while you're here could you look at my..." and it could be anything from a storefront entry system to a patio door. In the old days we would politely decline and refer them to a competitor or lumber yard. However, once we decided to be a full ser- vice door company, we began to say "sure, we can do that" and turned the situation into a one- stop shopping experi- ence for the customer. We learned that it took very little investment in additional inventory or equipment to support a dozen related products. Finally we could say "YES" to our customers when they wanted to buy more than garage doors. Since we had already gained their trust as their garage door professional, it was an easy transition for them to purchase even more products from us. Put your company in more homes and businesses – By implementing a diverse product strategy, you can also add new customers that would not have otherwise needed your garage door ser- Continued on page 57