If you are an installer, you rely on your showroom to display the very best of what you sell. It’s your showpiece to the rest of the world. It has to be kept clean, organised and up to date. Therefore, it is important that your showroom or conservatory show site has the latest products on display. Cant be letting it go stale and start to look old fashioned now can we?!
But here’s the thing. Regularly updating your showroom and conservatories can be a costly thing if you are doing more than one thing at once. Do you as an installer pay for it? Should the onus be on the manufacturer as if they want you to sell their products then they should be putting their products in your business? For me, it’s the latter. Being an installer in these cash-strapped times means you can just go spending thousands of pounds on new windows, doors or a couple of conservatories. Installers rely on their suppliers to help them.
Free showroom samples aren’t a bad thing. Manufacturers can generally take the material cost on the chin as they won’t be producing showroom products all the time or on a large scale. Plus, if an installer is wanting a showroom sample, this generally means they they are going to push whatever that new product is. If the installer gets a boost in sales because of that, then that sample product have more than been paid for and both the installer and the supplier benefits. I’m glad to say that our suppliers have this same ethos and do help us out when we need something for our showroom. They know that if we ask for something new, we are going to push it and help boost sales, benefiting us both.
However, this is not the case for others out there. I can’t understand how suppliers, especially some that are really quite large in the industry, make installers pay every time they want something for their showroom. If they haven’t got the spare cash to chuck at it, then they aren’t going to buy it. But if they haven’t got it in their showroom, the products aren’t going to be sold. It’s as simple as that. At the very least suppliers should be giving showroom samples at cost.
Installers need the most support in times like this. They are the ones pushing all manufacturers’ products. Making them pay for showroom samples puts them at a financial disadvantage. No installers means no products being sold. So, equip your installers with the best of what you have and let them run with it and boost your sales!
are you about to hit JF for a new showroom lol
Lol no, they don’t have to worry about that!
If your not prepared to invest in your business why should your suppliers, in a previous role showroom samples were given out on request and the majority of them ended being sold by the installer or was used even though they switched supplier to save a few pennies.
Interesting debate. Our showroom is half and half. Half paid for half free issue. If a supplier gives a full size bifold sample set do they not retain title and therefore still be an asset on the books, to be returned when finished with?
They should be Peter but at the end of the day keeping on top oh who has what and where coupled with what state it’s going to be in when you try and collect it, it’s hardly worth it. Personally samples should be done on a kick back scheme so the installer pays the normal cost of the product for the showroom but after they have ordered x amount of units they then get a credit for the sample. This way the installer does get a free sample at some stage and makes the commitment to sell the product but… Read more »
What if you have been with your supplier for nearly three decades? We have been with ours for that long and they know that if we submit a request for a showroom sample they already know that we are going to push that product. Although I do understand your point about the kick back scheme. I know Door-Stop do a lot like that.
Exceptions can be made for long term customers but 99% of the time there is no customer loyalty anymore.
Also even if you have been with a supplier for 30 years and you have decent terms and turnover the deal can be structured so you never pay for it ie the kick back happens before the end of 60 days when the account is due.
How freaky, we met with our Bi-Fold supplier yesterday to tak about getting a sample and they have agreed to a full size sample FOC! We had a well known window supplier come and take back a small Chartwell Green sample last month as we refused to pay the £250 they wanted for it so were very suprised to get the door. We are hoping that once installed it will generate a lot of interest!!
Hi Sam
This is my point. Get samples in the showroom and the installer will (hopefully) push the product and generate more business for that particular product.
We operate a kick-back scheme, because – unfortunately – there are plenty of time-wasters out there. You don’t need to sell very much to qualify for the kick-back, but you do need to show a commitment at the start – a commitment that we’ll more than match by providing a range of marketing materials etc. on top of the ultimately free samples. Before we did this we gave them out for nothing, with no strings. But all too often you’d get potential new customers taking samples and then doing nothing. A few months later we’d turn up to collect the… Read more »