5 Principles of a Winning Showroom
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5 Principles of a Winning Showroom
Featuring Kenneth Walker
With Tim Reed
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Interview Note: This interview was conducted live at HPBExpo26 in New Orleans, LA.
Tim Reed: Joining me live from New Orleans, Louisiana is Kenneth Walker, owner of Firewalker Sales. Kenneth, super happy to have you back on the podcast today. How are you doing?
Kenneth Walker: Thank you, Tim. Thank you for having me back. And nice to be back in person.
TR: It is. I actually do very few interviews in person, so I'm really excited about this. Now that we're here at the show, I'm going to be doing quite a few for the upcoming season. But yeah, a lot of it's remote, so it's very cool to have an in-person conversation.
KW: It is really cool. And I've got two with you, so that's even better.
TR: That’s right. Well, we've talked a lot in the past about showrooms. You're a sales rep in the southeastern United States, and a lot of your dealers either have new showrooms or they're in a position where they really need to revamp what they have. We did three episodes last season, which was going to be a one-parter, but it turned into a lot. And you're here at the show now, teaching a course called 5 Principles of a Winning Showroom. For folks who aren't here in New Orleans with us, could you take us through those five principles?
KW: Sure. These principles really came out of those three episodes that we did. This is an attempt to boil that series down to 45 to 55 minutes. I've got to thank Jill McClure for asking me to do this, because I don't know that we would have done it otherwise. It's just a more condensed version of what you and I talked about. And the idea is that anybody can go back and listen to those episodes if they want more content. It was pretty tough trying to get all of that into less than an hour.
TR: I totally hear that, so let's run through the basics. Again, I'm so passionate about showrooms. I think many businesses miss opportunities because they're not intentional enough with their showrooms. It could be that their showrooms are too big—too many lines, too confusing. Or it could be that their showrooms are too small—they haven't put enough thought and effort into making sure they're committed.
KW: Everything you just said is very true and great for them to think about. The course motto, if you will, is that the purpose of your showroom is to sell the in-home visit. That's the main thing we want to get across. A lot of companies don't view that as the end goal. Obviously, the sale is the end goal, but how do you get there? You really need to get into the house. So everything we're about to go through—all five principles—is in support of that.
And just to be clear, here are some of the main reasons you want to get into the home: It's a pre-qualified lead, because if they're letting you into their home, they're serious. They're more focused because they're in their home, so they're more comfortable—and you're going to hear the term “comfortable” a lot in this presentation. You can also tailor the sales process to the house. And if you're about to do an installation on a really expensive project, you want to get all the information you can—and that means being on site.
The purpose of your showroom is to sell the in-home visit.
TR: You’re so right. Because if you have an effective sales process, your close rate on in-home visits should be north of 80%. And the showroom is a huge asset to setting that up properly.
KW: Absolutely. And remember, I was a dealer, and I wasn't doing any of this either. Most of the things I learned, I learned from my mistakes. So these are all things I wish I had known back when I was managing a showroom. It would have gone much, much better.
TR: I love it. Give us Principle 1.
KW: Principle 1: Understand if you're a retail store or a showroom. A lot of people don't put a lot of thought into that. They think they're retail, which a lot of times leads to this idea: "I need more stuff; I need things to fill the gap; I need to turn business." And then you end up having a whole bunch of stuff on your floor that doesn't move, and it's taking up space. So you really need to pay attention and use your showroom as a tool. I'm not saying retail or showroom is the correct answer. If you're a retail store, awesome. Just know who you are.
TR: Can you talk a little more about those differences? A lot of businesses I previously worked in really were showrooms more than retail. Whereas I think about somebody like Grant Falco at Falco's in Spokane—that's more of a retail business.
KW: The way I look at it is very simple, and it's from the customer's perspective. What does a customer do when they walk into a retail store? They come in, pick out a product, pay for it, and leave with it. In a showroom, the customer comes in, picks out a product, pays for it—or pays a down payment—and leaves with nothing but a lighter wallet. They don't leave with the product. That's the difference. To elaborate a little more, it's cash and carry. That's what determines if you're a retail store, in my mind. Think Walmart, think the grocery store. You walk in, you grab something, you walk out with it.
TR: That's a really good distinction. In our industry, most businesses that are in retail—thinking about Grant's business—are going to be a combination of both. Part of the business is retail, part of it is showroom. But if you're starting a showroom, getting into retail is pretty tough. Why is that tough? And why does it distract so many people?
KW: I think a lot of people, when they think about a showroom, are really thinking about a retail store. But there's a lot more weight and a lot more requirements with retail. Posted hours, having somebody there all the time—we'll get more into that, but that's a must with retail. The hours are longer. It's just a bigger game. And if you're new to a showroom, I don't know that you want to bite that off in the beginning. There are ways to manage a showroom, especially a small showroom, which I'm in favor of. It's just easier to manage a showroom as opposed to a retail store, mainly because of the scale of it.
TR: If you are going to have a showroom specifically, where you're going to show fireplaces and people aren't going to walk out the door with them, what's the mentality you have to have?
KW: Number one, you've got to understand that these aren't just displays: They're sales tools. And when they're sales tools, you have to use them, which means you have to be an expert. But it goes into something bigger than that. With a showroom, it's incredibly important that you create a comfortable and inviting space, which is Principle 2.
These aren't just displays: They're sales tools.
TR: All right, let’s talk about Principle 2.
KW: It rolls right into it. Think about anywhere else you've gone—a waiting room, or even the room we're sitting in right now in this hotel. This is an inviting space. Why? Because it's designed to encourage people to do what we're doing right now. Sit and talk. Sit down. Linger. That's important—because that's what you're trying to create in your showroom.
TR: We've talked a lot during our conversations about how necessary it is to have spaces for people to sit down, have music playing in the background—just to have it be a comfortable place where someone can imagine their home being the thing they're looking at. It's hard to do that when you're standing up, when displays are just stacked on top of everything, and when brochures are littered everywhere.
KW: It is. And that's also a very big difference between retail and showroom. Walk into any big retail store, and there are no sitting spaces. It's all about convenience and how quickly you can get in and out with the product you want. With a showroom, it's the exact opposite. You want them to hang out. You want them to talk because they're going to be looking for information.
And I still think the vast majority of consumers who walk into a hearth store have no idea what they're looking for. They think they do, but they don't know the terminology. They don't know anything. So you have to pull that out of them. But you also need to make it comfortable so they'll relax and open up to you.
A lot of this we talked about in the previous episodes, but little things (having coffee or water or a snack for them, having music, etc.) create that comforting feeling. And other things do too, like just making sure your place is clean. Every day. Including the bathrooms.
Because in the consumer's mind, they might not be doing it consciously, but they're keeping a tally of little things that set you above others. I think you referred to it in an earlier podcast as the race to 10 points.
TR: Yeah, that’s another phrase I took from Grant: Sales is a race to 10 points.
KW: Yep. And all of these little things are check marks in that race to 10 points—because you don't know what they are, but the customer can see them.
TR: What are some of your quick punch list items? If you have a showroom, make sure you're doing these things to make it comfortable.
KW: Number one, make sure you have nice, comfortable sitting areas. I would also say making it comfortable includes the layout. Is it easily navigable? Think about it like this too: It's not just about us walking in. What about somebody in a wheelchair? You've got to think about people with disabilities coming in. Can they navigate your store? If not, that's going to be an immediate turnoff, and they're going to be out the door.
It really just goes back to being kind and thoughtful to somebody. Those are a few quick things that I'd say will make it more comfortable for them.
TR: All right, let's go to Principle 3.
KW: Now that we've got a comfortable showroom, we need to think about how it's laid out, and that’s Principle 3: Make sure you have a simple and thoughtful layout. I’m a firm believer that simple and thoughtful wins out against a big, massive showroom.
TR: Totally agree.
KW: If you have a big showroom, awesome. But I hope you can manage it, because it just gets more difficult. The more displays you have, the more your sales staff has to be experts on a ton of product. And that's really, really hard to do. I rep multiple product lines—really just two or three main ones—and it's a challenge for me to stay on top of those.
TR: Much less if you added seven more lines and you're trying to keep up on competitive products too.
KW: Right. And all of the individual models within those product lines, and all of their distinct features and everything else. It's a lot.
TR: I love that you keep saying “simple” and “thoughtful.” I've seen so many showrooms that are huge, and the size really works as a disadvantage. There are too many product lines, and the salespeople are too watered down and diluted to understand which of their products will uniquely solve the customer's problem. I think we talked about it before like a taco truck: You want your products on your floor to create differentiation. You want a steak taco, a fish taco, a vegetarian taco, and a chorizo taco. Each of those tacos solves a different problem for a person who’s hungry. But if you have 37 varieties of a steak taco, that gets really overwhelming, especially when people aren't familiar with the menu.
KW: That's exactly what giant showrooms with too many models do; they overwhelm customers. When customers walk into a massive 10,000- or 15,000-square-foot showroom, and it's packed full of product, they don’t understand what they're looking for. They're just throwing out terms. And if your sales staff isn't trained to weed through that and guide them, then it's just total confusion.
So when you bring in a simple and thoughtful layout, you're bringing organization instead of chaos. You're bringing clarity instead of confusion. And from the consumer's perspective, that builds confidence. They're building confidence in you because they think, Okay, I'm not confused. These guys know what they're talking about. They are the experts. And that’s why it’s so important to build experts instead of generalists for your sales staff.
You're bringing organization instead of chaos. You're bringing clarity instead of confusion.
TR: Yes! This is so important. Go deeper into it.
KW: Well, like we said, if you've got 40 different models out there, your sales staff has to stay on top of all of that. And that's incredibly challenging. We've got so much awesome product at this show; there’s no shortage. Everybody's got awesome product. The problem is that one person can't know all of it.
And most of the stores I deal with are smaller stores. They might have two or three people on a sales staff. Well, how are three people supposed to keep track of 70 different products? It's very hard. So they become experts by having less to know.
The other thing it does is it creates systems so that they can learn those products. You're bringing systems into play as opposed to emotions and feelings. And one thing I learned as a store manager is that you can't trust your emotions and feelings solely. They're part of it, but you've got to have systems and emotions together.
Build experts instead of generalists.
TR: Emotions and feelings are great servants, but terrible masters.
KW: They are. I found out really quick when I was a manager. I started going through orders, and I thought, Well, I think this product is my bestseller. And then I got to looking at the numbers, and it was absolutely not the bestseller. My gut lied to me every time. But doing those things—looking at the data, bringing in systems—also builds confidence in your team. So you're building confidence on both sides.
Emotions and feelings are great servants, but terrible masters.
TR: Man, I love that phrase: creating experts, not generalists. I want to start using that because I think that's exactly it. If we have too many lines, if we're not organized and thoughtful about why we have these particular gas inserts or wood stoves on display and not other ones, if we're not intentional with that and we just say, "Yeah, we've got 13 lines, look through the price book, sell whatever you want,” then it really puts salespeople at a disadvantage. It's the difference between a flashlight and a laser beam.
KW: Exactly. You've got to get them more focused. And honestly, every salesperson is going to figure out their favorite, and I'm not against that. But you also need to keep your thumb on the pulse of your business. As the manager or owner, you need to make sure they're not just selling one category. Make sure they're not selling for themselves. They need to solve the consumer's problem.
TR: That kind of begs the next question, then.
KW: It does. If you're taking an honest look at your business and asking, "How can I make my sales team into experts?" then the first thing I'd say is that you need to be calling your reps. Use your manufacturers and your distributor reps as a tool. That's our job—to make the dealers the experts. So if you feel like your sales staff isn't up to speed where they should be, you need to be calling your reps in and scheduling uninterrupted training.
TR: You mean not on the floor when customers are coming in, and you have to stop and wait for 20 minutes?
KW: Exactly. Don't do that. Before or after business hours—close early, open late, whatever works for you—but make it uninterrupted.
TR: But wait a minute: You mean I have to pay my team overtime to get trained?
KW: It's funny you mention that, because in my opinion, education is always going to cost you. The question is whether it's going to cost you time or money. You can take the time and train somebody properly, and then the job will be done correctly. Or you can pay for it with dollars when you've got to go back and fix a job because your sales staff or your technicians didn't do it right because they overlooked something.
TR: Or a lack of dollars, when your team can't sell because they haven't been trained to sell. It's a chicken-and-egg thing. A lot of people want the heat from the stove, but it takes wood to make that heat.
KW: It does. It's going to cost you one way or the other. I think it's best to go ahead and pony up and pay for it up front, then reap the benefits on the back end.
TR: Amazing. I love it. So what's Principle 4?
KW: Here’s Principle 4: Know your product positioning strategy. I didn't have any of this when I was in the store. It was horrible. This kind of goes back to your taco truck analogy. A lot of people think they have to have certain brands to be successful, and that's not the truth. It's what you know about the brands.
And this requires you to know your market. So when you're building this positioning strategy, number one, you've got to know your market and what it supports. Number two, you’ve got to understand the products you carry. And number three, you’ve got to know your product stories.
TR: Talk about this. We covered it in those three episodes, and I think if you miss this, you miss everything.
KW: I think most people do miss it. It's creating differences within the products that you carry. It's really just playing to each manufacturer's strengths. All of our manufacturers in this industry have certain strengths: Certain companies are better at certain things than others. So it's just finding those strengths and then fitting them into your story.
TR: Can you give a specific example of that? How could you create differentiation between your products?
KW: I like to do it by the features of the product. For example, I'm a Valor rep, and Valor has a very unique story: radiant heat. No power, no problem. There's your story right there. I also rep Blaze King, and their products have incredible burn time and a high turn-down rate. Now, let’s flip over to, say, Stuv: no blowers, shallow fireboxes, lots of radiant heat. They’re beautiful, and the technology that they've worked on is amazing, so there's your story.
When you separate them like that, it's easy grouping. "Okay, consumer: Do you want long burn time or short burn time? Are you looking for heat or no heat?" I'm in the South. We actually sell a bunch of fireplaces that don't produce heat. They like that down here.
TR: Creating that separation and differentiation in your products is so important because when you can really think about which product solves which specific problem, it empowers salespeople to connect with customers in a way they couldn't otherwise. If they just said, "Well, here are four inserts. They all give you some heat, they all come with a remote control, and I personally kind of like this one,” then there's not a lot for the customer to work with. There are a lot more tangible reasons for people to make a decision when you create that separation for them.
KW: There absolutely are. And to expand on that a bit, there are actually two stories going on here. What I just explained is the manufacturer's story. That's what the product does well. But there's also your story. If you're the owner or the manager and you have a certain product on the floor that you sell, then what's your story? If you have it in your house, why did you choose that one? Not, "Hey, they gave me a good display discount." What's the real story? "This is in my house. Here's why." And everybody on your sales staff needs to know that story. If somebody else on your staff has a different product, that’s awesome. What's their story? Everybody on your sales staff needs to know each other's stories, because now you're making it personal when you talk to customers.
Everybody on your sales staff needs to know each other's stories, because now you're making it personal.
TR: I’d encourage anybody reading this to do exactly what Kenneth just said: Make a list in your showroom of every story that anybody has on a product. Even if it's not you personally—if it’s your mom, your dad, your friend, or even your past customer—you're allowed to tell that story. Maybe you don't have that product in your own house, but you sold one last year to a couple who heats their entire home with it as the main heat source. Tell that story.
KW: Get it from your customers too. Some of your customers are going to love the product so much they'll come back raving about it. Ask them for their permission: "Hey, can I use your story?" They're probably going to say yes. Then, you can say, "We just put this in last week, the customer loves it, and this is why." Explain it.
TR: That is really what moves the needle when all things are equal. I call it the coffee table battle. It's the night you and your spouse sit down at the coffee table—maybe you have a glass of wine—and all the brochures are spread out. At the end of the night, there's only one left. And what wins the coffee table battle are those stories. There are four brochures sitting on the table, and you're going, "Okay, do we want this one? Do we want this one?" But then your wife says, "Hey, remember how he installed that one last year in that customer's house that was just like ours, and it burned overnight and kept the whole thing warm?" That’s what moves the needle in those coffee table battles.
KW: It absolutely does. And that goes back to what we said earlier about emotion. You can't just eliminate emotion from the sales process; it's one of two important parts. But this is using emotion properly. You've got to appeal to the emotional side, because certain consumers are going to lean more into emotion than into the technical or logical side.
TR: That’s so good, Kenneth. Now, let’s jump into Principle 5. Take us home.
KW: This one is so simple, and it comes straight out of your sales process: Frame your products as good, better, best. It really doesn't even need an explanation. Everybody in the whole world understands good, better, and best. Good is your cost-effective, basic options. Better is the bang for the buck. And best is premium look, the most options, and the highest price tag.
Now, a word of caution: If you're going to use this method, you are going to have to explain it to your manufacturers and distributor reps. Because everybody wants to be in the best category, so let's be very clear. By saying good, better, best, you are not saying that manufacturer A is better than manufacturer B or C. That's not what we're saying. You’re just saying they’re different. And each dealer is moving these parts around and these companies around. So one dealer's best might be another dealer's better, or vice versa.
Frame your products as good, better, best.
TR: I like to build a good, better, best just on a pricing ladder. Now, this is where you have to be thoughtful with your manufacturers because if you have something at a lower price that doesn't have as many features as your higher-priced one, you should probably be asking some questions about why the other one is on your floor. That's a different conversation. But I like to build this based on price because it's such an easy conversation with a customer. You can go to your products and say, "Hey, thanks for taking the time to answer those questions. Here are some of the wood stoves we have on display. We've separated them into good, better, and best categories. It's strictly based on price to help you understand where the costs come out. And based on our conversation, I think this would be a really good fit." I think it's as simple as that.
KW: It is. I think that kind of happens naturally when you start putting the manufacturers into these categories. Not always. You do have to make sure. And there might be a little bit of overlap depending on certain features and options that you pick.
TR: There are anomalies. And you are allowed to set the prices where you need them to be to make this ladder work.
KW: Yeah. MSRP stands for Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. That does not mean you have to actually sell at the MSRP.
TR: And I'm not saying that to gouge your customers. But you should price things where they fit in your product ladder and be able to defend that value.
KW: And where it fits your market. There are markets in my area that will support a much higher price tag, and then there are other areas that are going to have a much lower price.
Now, I’ll also add this: If you're a small company with a really small showroom and you don't have room to put three of everything out there, that's okay. You can actually take this down to two and just do what's really called basic and premium. Based on your market, a lot of times that's just eliminating the good and starting at a slightly higher price point.
TR: Going back to just making it easy for customers, good, better, best is incredibly helpful when the customer doesn't have a lot of knowledge about something because it puts things into very easy buckets. The more knowledge a customer has, the less helpful good, better, best becomes. I'm a guitar guy, so I know a lot about guitars. If I go to a guitar store and someone says, "Well, Tim, we've got a good, a better, and a best," I feel a little insulted. I know what I'm looking for. But fireplaces aren’t like that. This would be like me going into a window store, where I have no idea about the brands. I couldn't tell you three brands of windows. And so it's really helpful when I don't have that base of knowledge for someone to say, "Hey Tim, thanks for coming in. I know there are a lot of window options out there, and it can be a little overwhelming. We've separated ours into a good, a better, and a best. Each one solves some different problems, and I'd love to talk with you about your situation so we can give you a recommendation." That's what it means to put it in the boxes.
KW: It works perfectly. And you're talking about putting it into boxes, but I would say put it on the signs. That's an awesome way to do it, because let's face it: Especially during the busy season, you can never get to everybody. And when you have people waiting in your showroom and you can't get to them, that’s actually a good problem to have. But if you have signs with it broken down into good, better, best, they can at least get an idea of what they're looking for. And if you put generalized pricing on there—not being too specific, but at least giving them a ballpark—that helps them figure out what they're shooting for.
TR: This is really condensing the previous conversations that we had, so here’s my last question: Can you walk us through each of these 5 Principles one more time? Give them to us one right after the other.
KW: The first one is understanding retail versus showroom. Know who you are—I think that's how I like to put it. And then Principle 2: Create a comfortable and inviting space. You want to make it nice and comfortable for the customer to be in your place of business. Principle 3: Create a simple and thoughtful layout. Put thought behind how you're going to display your products and how they’re going to be perceived by the customer. And then Principle 4: Know your product positioning strategy.
TR: Know what solves what. Have intentional brands that are doing specific things in your showroom.
KW: Exactly. And then after you've figured that out, you're diving even deeper into Principle 5: Sort products into good, better, best. Now you're taking those brands that you've picked and sorting through them, coming up with the best things to put on your floor and a price structure that goes along with that.
TR: Kenneth, this is so good. We're actually recording this before you teach it, so we're getting a little sneak peek. For dealers who adopt this, what are the benefits they're going to see?
KW: I think over time, you're going to see your sales staff improve. They're going to be more comfortable. They're not going to be as overwhelmed. It all starts with the sales staff, because as they improve, their engagement with your customers is going to improve. So in theory, you should see an increased number of sales and maybe higher ratings. If you're asking for consumer reviews, you can get more of those. You're building credibility, building your name, and making yourself the expert.
TR: I love it, man. I think businesses that adopt this will sell more, train their teams faster, and customers will love doing business with them, which leads to repeat business. Kenneth, thanks for being here today. I appreciate you.
KW: You're very welcome, Tim. I appreciate you too.
