How can showrooms get online now to keep the cash register ringing?
If we have learned anything in 2020, it is that getting your showroom business online is critical, and choosing the right platform and marketing partner will ensure your business thrives even when foot traffic is challenged or has stopped altogether. Adding an online channel grows and expands your business beyond just foot traffic and referrals. Here is how one showroom business expanded their online presence and got real results.
Background
The Water Closet is a division of Desco Plumbing and Heating Supply, a plumbing, heating, air conditioning and waterworks systems distributor & wholesaler subsidiary of Groupe Deschenes Inc., headquartered in Montreal with over 90 outlets across Canada. Desco officially launched its first The Water Closet concept store in Ontario in 1998 and has grown to 3 showrooms, serving southern Ontario.
The company launched their online presence with a “bare bones” consumer website, detailing business basics: showroom location, services offered, and links to manufacturer brand sites all to recognize that the site was not optimized for search engines or to support the Water Closet sales teams.
The Water Closet’s Sales and Operations Manager, Diana Di Carlo shared insights on the impact the addition of a MyPlumbingShowroom.com powered website and SPEX Builder have made for The Water Closet’s sales team, customers, and bottom line.
Challenges
- “Bare bones” website with no products, data, or pricing for customers to pre-shop their showroom visit
- Almost zero web traffic
- Low visibility and ranking in Google
- Labor intensive and manual quote process produced a lackluster and uninspiring presentation with incomplete product data
- No French language website versioning for French-Canadian affiliated businesses
- Generating and tracking leads and sales from online shoppers
Solutions
The Water Closet opted for the MyPlumbingShowroom.com online catalog platform and SPEX Builder product selection and presentation tool, built by Bravo Business Media.
Results
- Fast and easy quotes using SPEX Builder produces beautiful, branded, professional, and complete quotes, improving customer experience and quote volume
- Professional website design and their full line catalog data and MSRPs, all automatically updated in real time
- “Call for Price” alert on all website items encourages customers to take action and connect with salespeople, either by phone or in person at the showroom
- Web traffic grew from 30 visits per month on the “bare bones” site to 12-13,000 visitors per month on the new MyPlumbingShowroom.com website
- Increase in Google search positioning
- French language website versioning, including product data in French, for affiliated businesses
- 25%+ year-over-year increase in online sales volume since launching their MyPlumbingShowroom.com website
What the client had to say:
“MyPlumbingShowroom.com and SPEX Builder have made a measurable mark on our business.” – Diana Di Carlo, Sales and Operations Manager of The Water Closet
“Before we launched our MyPlumbingShowroom.com platform website, we had almost no online traffic coming to our very basic site. Now we average about 12,000-13,000 visitors per month,” says Diana Di Carlo, Sales and Operations Manager for The Water Closet in Mississauga, Ontario. Most impressive are the sales increases since launching their MyPlumbingShowroom.com website in 2016: 25% year-over-year dollar growth for sales coming solely from online leads. Many are totally new customers. “Many of these customers either buy over the phone or come into the showroom with the Wish List they created on our site to complete the sale,” she says.
In addition to the growth of their online traffic and sales, their ranking for key product searches has improved greatly, as has the amount of time customers spend shopping on their website. “The ranking growth in Google has been organic; we don’t do any paid online advertising,” Diana says. Since launching their MyPlumbingShowroom.com website, the amount of time visitors spend on www.watercloset.ca has quintupled. “Between learning about our business and services, shopping for products, creating a Wish List, and preparing for a showroom visit, there are a lot of opportunities to engage the customer,” Diana says.
The expansive, real-time product line database gives the The Water Closet team and customers access to over half a million products in every line they carry, all at the click of a mouse. No hunting through paper product catalogs or binders or putting that onus on customers. The Water Closet team uses iPads and laptops to consult in showroom, and “many customers like to do research on our website before they reach out to us or visit the showroom,” Diana says. Having all the information they need in one place to build their dream kitchen or bath helps move them along the sales process and keep them from going to competitors, because the work is already done at The Water Closet. Customers can build a Wish List at home and either call in for a remote consultation or plan a visit to the showroom with a consultant. “Customers love how it helps move their project along and saves them time,” says Diana.
Plumbers, contractors, and builders look more professional to their homeowner clients because of an unanticipated benefit from SPEX Builder’s presentation booklets: it is a helpful worksite delivery checkoff tool. “If a part didn’t arrive in the shipment, they know right away by referencing the SPEX Builder presentation booklet,” she says. “And, all the installation and placement information they need is right there in the SPEX Builder presentation, to be able to put all the components into the room where it belongs and install it.” The Water Closet’s trade clients say it helps them stay organized, get to work faster, and, because it can be branded with the contractor’s logo, they look more professional to their clients. “When our contractor customers started asking for the photo presentation books, we knew this was a great service that set us apart,” Diana says.
Increasing business and staff efficiency is a key benefit of the MyPlumbingShowroom.com and SPEX Builder tools. “I remember one day, over my 20-minute lunch I produced and emailed 7 quotes to customers. We could never have done that without SPEX Builder.” It has also helped onboard new employees quickly. “Learning on an internet-based solution that associates words and images with codes makes it easy because it’s visual.” The changes have helped her staff so much, that Diana worked on a custom language translation solution to expand the platform and tools to her French-speaking subsidiaries. “It’s been a great collaboration effort together with Bravo,” Diana says. “Together we’ve made it happen!”
“I’m so glad we upgraded to this solution with Bravo,” Diana says. “It’s a wonderful efficiency tool for us, and it makes us look even more professional to our customers. It helps our staff be better and more knowledgeable consultants, providing the exceptional service we’re known for in southern Ontario. I highly recommend working with Bravo Business Media.”
Bravo Business Media wishes to thank Diana Di Carlo and the team at The Water Closet for sharing their story. Learn more by visiting www.watercloset.ca.