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There are two types of home improvement products. The type of sales strategy you’ll need will depend on the type you sell.
One of these types are the products used for home repair, like the materials needed to replace a leaky roof. The sale of these products is affected by factors that are beyond your control, like damaging hurricanes and floods.
One thing you do have control over, however, is who you work with. Since your competitors are selling more or less the same product, you should work to win over local contractors and dealers. They have a bigger say over which products get used than the manufacturer does.
The other type of home improvement products are those used in optional projects, like remodeling a kitchen, building a new deck, or installing new windows. If this is what you’re selling, you have an additional competitor. Not other building material companies, but other ways homeowners can spend their disposable income.
Your Real Competition
Before homeowners decide between one brand of kitchen countertop over the other, they have a bigger decision to make. They have to decide whether they should remodel the kitchen, go on vacation, or buy a new car.
These are the types of purchases homeowners make with their disposable income, which is always limited. And as the cost of living rises faster than income, the amount left over for luxury purchases is shrinking. This is forcing homeowners to make tough decisions about what they can afford.
Most manufacturers sit back and wait for the homeowner to choose a new kitchen over a deluxe vacation. Then they put all their efforts into competing with other kitchen manufacturers to get that business. You can increase your business by redefining your competition. Instead of competing with other building materials companies, you should also compete with the other ways your customers could spend their extra income.
How to Inspire More Home Improvement Sales
1. Support your best local dealers and contractors.
2. Give them sales and marketing programs that feature the idea of the project (a new kitchen, a luxury bathroom, a better living space) over your brand.
3. Support their efforts to reach homeowners.
What this boils down to is selling a vision to customers. You’re trying to show them not only that they could have a kitchen that looks like it’s lifted from the pages of a glossy magazine, but that this is more compelling than the thought of sailing off on a cruise.
The problem is that building materials companies tend to think of themselves as part of the construction industry. But homeowners aren’t interested in the details that matter to builders or architects. They’re interested in knowing how you can make their lives more enjoyable.
If you sell home improvement products, you should approach it the way the travel industry sells vacations. They don’t promote one hotel over another. They don’t try to pitch customers on which airline they should use. They make the customer think about the destination first – they sell the idea of relaxing on a picture perfect beach before trying to sell the plane tickets that will get them there.
If you don’t sell homeowners on the vision of a better living space, you’ve already lost the sale – not to other building materials companies, but to travel agents, luxury car dealerships and other companies selling high end products. There’s no point in competing to be the company that will sell the materials needed for the renovation when you haven’t even convinced the customer they want one to begin with.
Sell the vision first. Then you can sell them on the materials they’ll need to make it come to life. Wizard Strategy specializes in helping building materials companies grow their businesses through better understanding of your customers needs. If you’d like to learn more. Schedule a free consultation today.
