Page 3 - Demo

Slippery Rock Gazette
September 2022 | 3
Colonial Marble and Granite: A Case Study
engagement to have substance, not just these gimmicky ways to get the customer’s attention. The Visualizer was something that was sticking to the sale. The cus- tomers were engaged. They had an understanding of the prod- ucts that we offered. It took them through a process that put them in the driver’s seat, and then when we received all that informa- tion, a lot of the decision work was already done. To Sandra’s point, a customer will use a word like “traditional” kitchen – it can mean a completely different thing in Lancaster, PA, it can be com- pletely different than a “tradi- tional” kitchen in Philadelphia. So the customer can walk in the door and say, ‘I want a tradi- tional kitchen.’ If they’ve already played with the design tool, you got to see what their perception of a traditional kitchen is, or how the understand the concept. We were able see that the tool was doing a lot of the work, and the sales rep had a really informed begin- ning to the sales process, because the customer had given us a clear direction they want to take their kitchen. The sales rep could use that as a base to take their project to the final sale.
Introducing Quote Countertops brought a whole new insight to the sales process for us, and one that really stuck, and is still here today. The customer engagement is one of our biggest drivers of conversion.
Another important thing that we haven’t mentioned at all is the quality of the lead, which may be the most important thing of all.
You have a customer, a real
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So, we average anywhere from 52 to 60% at times on our walk-in traffic conversion. Again, a lot of this traffic stems from a tool that was online.
SRG: Nikos, you mentioned you’d had an insight about how the in- ternet was an unknown part of the sales cycle, and how you sus- pected your website was crucial in helping visitors make shopping decisions, before they actually got to your shop. With the addition of Quote Countertops you had actu- al metrics on prospects browsing your website, and how the Quote Countertops system was driving sales traffic to you. Can you de- scribe that?
Nikos: We had seen that an online purchasing cycle was really starting to develop. Outside of our marketing efforts, we understood that there must be another facet to the buying cycle that exists online. We wanted to be one of the first companies to be able to offer that whole coun- tertop shopping process online. The ability to create templating, make fabrication decisions, and quote installation costs, and to have the customer go through that buying and quoting journey all on their own – that technology was very new. And seeing that every- one is moving to an online expe- rience, that was one of the things that resonated the most with me. I
thought it was genius. There was a product out there that enabled us to be able to have our cus- tomers go through a design jour- ney that had not been available before Quote Countertops. So one, the software separates us from the pack; two, it’s gorgeous, cutting-edge technology, and our customers love technology; and three, when you’re a consumer who is able to participate in the process and become the designer – how cool is that? How many places can offer that experience? We were one of the first to be able to do that, and we saw the results for it almost instantaneously.
Working with Quote Countertops was a new insight. It was a new opportunity, and that’s how we really looked at it. We were really intrigued to see what (the web) can do. We came to real- ize that the web wasn’t actually a part of our sales cycle, before. So the minute we were able to see the customers being identified and the type of engagement that they were really having with our new website – that was a revela- tion to us. That’s kind of what we had hoped for, but never to the level that we discovered. Having customers or potential custom- ers going through a quoting and visualization process – yes, it was new for them. It was new for us, too, and new for our sales reps – but we got to see some market- ing that really stuck. In the sales process you want the customer
Once customers get in the Colonial Marble and Granite main showroom in King of Prussia, PA, besides the interactive kiosk, they are surrounded by a wide array of real samples that cus- tomers can see and touch. An incredible marble staircase leads to the second floor of the showroom.
The Bathroom Visualizer can offer hundreds of options in treatments and materials, customizable to a shop’s inventory.
customer, who is going through the authentication process, through verification, whether it be an email or phone number. They’re being pre-verified as a valid customer, and then that cus- tomer is coming in, and nine- ty-plus percent of the time, you’re dealing with a qualified lead. And that is unheard of, in the old pro- cess. And like any other shop, we don’t want to waste our time. The beauty of it is, we used to have different steps with a lock when the customer is able to see our whole catalog, so they would have to go through X amount of clicks or X amount of pages to get a quote. To get pricing, they have to let us know that they’re real, and that’s information they don’t disclose to just anybody. I want to make sure that we are dealing with a real person, and the lead is a true lead.
SRG: To pre-qualify a genuine lead is huge benefit! It means they‘re not wasting your time, you’re not wasting theirs. Does Quote Countertops software have any other side benefits? Can it be used to train a sales force? Frank Sciarrino: I can address that. Yes, it’s a great training tool. The quoting tool follows a step-by-step process on selecting things like countertops, back- splash, demo, plumbing, sink cutouts, etc. It’s designed so a salesperson follows a pre-de- fined process and doesn’t miss any steps or upgrade opportuni- ties. Each step includes product
images, descriptions, related fea- tures and more. Our customers can use the software to train their own team, or our Onboarding and Customer Success teams can pro- vide that training.
The step-by-step process makes for an easy and consis- tent sales experience. It prompts discussions to catch little things that could be missed or forgot- ten which means lost revenue. Let’s say you have a customer who is interested in a countertop, but forgot to think about a back- splash. It also lets the sales asso- ciate ask questions that need to be asked like, ‘Hey, do you need us to demo your existing counter- tops? Do you need us to discon- nect the plumbing? Do you need a new sink or faucet?’
So yes, while it’s a great train- ing tool, it also makes for a con- sistent sales tool to have your whole team quoting the same way and remembering to ask the ques- tions that lead to upgrades and increased revenue.
Nikos: Again, the software cap- tures most of what is involved in the countertop sales process. So, to Frank’s point, it is a great tool to use, and it has a fail-safe checklist so you aren’t missing anything. The essentials of the buying process for a countertop sale are all there, so the sales reps outside of training can always refer back to the tool in the sales process, if they ever needed to.
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