Creating a Positive Countertop Buying Experience

Although this story pertains to automobiles, its lesson spans through every industry, including countertop fabrication. Pay attention to your customers’ reactions and to what they say so that it is possible to create a positive buying experience for them.

A former salesperson for Cadillac recalls that a few years ago, his dealership began to study its customer-buying experience in great detail. The customers talked about how uncomfortable they were when buying a car. They felt cheap and as if the dealer was taking advantage of them in the negotiations. Apparently, the proverbial used-car-salesman approach was well earned.

Customers typically felt as though the negotiations were not honest and above board. They would make an offer, and the salesperson would disappear to check with the sales manager to see if the customer offer could possibly be accepted. The customers believed that the salesperson was actually in the break room having a cigarette, making them sweat. The bottom line was that the customers believed these negotiations were insincere, and no matter what eventually happened, the customer felt badly about the experience. This research was later corroborated by a study conducted by J. D. Power about the buying experience.

When GM decided to create Saturn, the intent was to create a new customer experience. GM had not performed particularly well in the small car market. To compete with the Japanese, top management decided to locate Saturn in Tennessee, away from Detroit and all that was typical of GM. Many of the leaders assigned to Saturn were from Cadillac and were aware of the research concerning the purchasing experience. They set out to create, as they said in advertising, a decidedly different customer buying experience.

Saturn management listened carefully to customers. For starters, executives decided that there would be one price, and it would not be negotiable. In that way, the buyer need not worry that someone else was getting a better deal. The hard sell approach was dropped. Customers were encouraged to look over the cars and ask questions, but the intent was to let the customers and cars interact on their own, without the salesperson being involved until needed or unless there was a question.

This approach was founded upon serious retraining on the part of the sales staff. They were taught what tactics and sales strategies would create the best sales experience for the customers. The Saturn ad campaigns echoed the sales strategy. They highlighted the sales experience as being different, fair and fun. They showed salespeople driving hundreds of miles to show a car to a customer in a remote location. The message from Saturn was clear: We want you to have a pleasant sales experience, and you will love your car! Saturn executives had listened and heard their target market asking for change in how cars were sold.

The entire sales experience was designed to relieve the customer anxiety about the purchase price and the purchase decision. Saturn was the first new car division for a U.S. automotive manufacturer since Ford introduced the Edsel in the late 1950s. Saturn leaders had been given a chance to design their sales process and customer experience from a clean sheet of paper. They listened well and reinforced the message in their ads. The focus was on having a great sales experience as much as it was about the innovative qualities of the car. In a very real sense, they were selling the customer buying experience. And the reward was an almost cult-like following.

We all know the end of the story – Saturn closed its doors in 2009, but as Sean McAlindin,  of the Center for Automotive Research, explained in this article that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, it wasn’t the philosophy that failed them but rather the backlash from other divisions of GM that Saturn was taking their business (along with the hard-hitting recession). Ultimately, the philosophy worked too well, causing internal backlash!

In the countertop industry, where many businesses rely heavily on customer referrals and word-of-mouth advertising, creating a positive buying experience is even more critical. What have you done to improve your sales process for the customer?

Article Source: Articlelogy.com