Observations and findings around #BadVak 2012

At the 2012 Galvano BathVak, Luuk Roovers, director of Vicus, made a presentation on 3 consecutive days at the invitation of GROHE.

The main purpose of my presentation was to make it clear that the Internet and new media need not be an immediate threat, but offer plenty of opportunities. Below is my story as a result of the preparations, questions and discussions during my presentations and afterwards in the corridors at the fair.

The preliminary investigation

It starts with the basics. The qualitative research I conducted beforehand among a number of showrooms yielded some interesting observations.

• The staff in the showrooms visited were rarely good hosts. As a customer, I was not received as a guest, but much more often I was made to feel like an unwanted disturbance in the undoubtedly important work being done.
• The Internet seems threatening, people immediately react emotionally and thus quickly send the deterred customer out the door.
• Basic etiquette goes a long way. Setting a cup of coffee properly on the table (such as ear and spoon on the right side) is often already too difficult!

The mirrored back wall

While visiting a showroom, it took me a while to notice the lady behind the computer in the corner. On the mirrored tile wall behind her, I clearly recognized the card game she was playing on her computer. It took her far too long to notice me.

This is not my business

Walking into a showroom, I saw a shiny showroom on the left and a gaping hole on the right. Not exactly enticing to walk in. The business owner told me that on the right had been another company that had gone out of business 4 months ago. It was indeed a lot quieter at his place since that time but he had indeed never thought of putting a wall in front of it, after all, it was not his business....

At that price I'm not going to live

With a printout of bathroom items we selected on the Internet (faucet, shower head, cabinet, etc..) in our pocket, we walked into the store. At first we were kindly received at a small table with excellent coffee. The business owner almost changed color and was already shouting 'at that price I'm really not going to deliver' when I put the print on the table to show what we liked. The conversation quickly turned to 'those internet thugs' and 'market sinners'. We left thinking that this man would probably not give us the service we expected. When I confronted him about this later he confessed that he thought we left because we wouldn't want to pay his price anyway......

A round of calls

To my question "Can you tell me a little more about GROHE showerheads?". Came the answer 'Please look at our website.' I used Google and indeed ended up on a (different) website with very little information. The lady in question could have asked further questions and might have found out that I am busy decorating my house in a more environmentally friendly way. Perhaps she could have helped me with the rest of the products on my list. But with her simple direct reference to the website, she had really lost me. After all, the site I ended up on gave just as little information and service but for a much lower amount!

Online due to poor hospitality

With experiences like this, it is not surprising if consumers are increasingly shopping online. If you don't get service, understanding and hospitality from a showroom or store anyway, why not just order online where you also don't get service and human contact, but are much cheaper.

The impact of a spoonful

Do you know that there are many people who subconsciously feel irritated or restless when an ear of a cup is upside down? the spoon is wrong? there is a drop of coffee on the sugar cube? So then you must immediately try harder to gain trust! And what do you think happens if your customer goes to a toilet that is not spotless or there is dust in your business?

All égards for an annual salary

If a customer is going to buy a bathroom and is going to spend an average year's salary on it. what for you is your daily work is for that customer an important project that he does only once or twice in his life. Is it very strange that this customer wants attention and to be treated with all due respect?

...10 years later

We ourselves bought a new bathroom almost 10 years ago. Installed turnkey. You still notice how beautiful the bathroom is. Recently a guest with us asked who installed our bathroom. I didn't remember.... I realized at that moment that after the bathroom was completed I haven't heard from the company in question. After looking up the bill in my records and making a call it turned out that the company still exists as usual.

Active maintenance for positive experience

Why don't they know that by now the strip at the bottom of the shower door is worn and the sealant edge between the tub and wall has black dots on it? Why don't they stop by for a maintenance round? 10 years of installing bathrooms is a lot of refurbishing of strips and edges. That's enough work to keep the staff working (paid) and keep in touch with customers. Plus, they hear your name again!

Healthy living or feeling good

Why not. A 5-year MOT of the bathroom? And discuss topics such as health, energy efficiency, water consumption? Perhaps you can even bring consumers savings (=money), healthier living or a sense of social responsibility?

Through CRM more customers

A CRM system is a smart electronic card index that helps you where your memory fails you. Put all your customers in the system and then use it to keep in touch to keep your brand awareness and ppsitive customer feeling alive in the long run. You will see that if you surprise your customers positively after some time, you will eventually be rewarded with new customers. An investment that will quickly pay for itself.

Attention after completion

To my question "who calls a month after completion to see if everything is OK?" there were only 4% of visitors who said they carry that out. And if a customer gets you a new client? What do you do then? only 2% of attendees thank the customer with or without a gift. Do you realize that you can get ahead of negative statements in social media by hearing your customer's complaint yourself and then resolving it yourself? That is much more important than very active Twittering yourself!

Dealing with social media

Your (female) customers will increasingly share their experiences through their own social media. This can be both positive and negative. The trick now is to encourage the positive and avoid the negative. On the one hand, this requires a very different way of thinking. On the other hand, it is "just" relationship management. Make sure you are doing your job well and make sure your customer is confirmed in that satisfaction, so they communicate positively about it. That communication on social media goes faster than at a party.

More positive attention to the Internet and social media

It is certainly not my intention to recommend converting all bathroom stores into full e-commerce businesses. That does not suit the current generation of entrepreneurs and a large proportion of customers still prefer to be helped in person. However, there is a great need to think carefully about where the showroom differentiates itself from Internet commerce and especially to accentuate and live up to these differences. Showrooms have a strong local operation and should be able to build strongly on local networks. If the quality is good and the price is market-based then you will get trade from most customers if they like you. However, you must communicate this in both the old and new ways. Most consumers, like you, also have no idea yet what to do with social media and experiment and play. Play along and learn, connect, network locally and help your customers communicate about their new bathroom posiitively.

Getting started! Doing nothing is really not an option

Needless to say. My experiences are generally not very positive. The industry seems dormant and largely unwilling to keep up with societal developments. The Internet and social media are taking a big role in our society. Your customers get that. Most entrepreneurs don't yet. If you want to, but don't know how, feel free to contact us to get you started.