Original > Hot Tub Forum
Display pricing in showroom? Your thoughts..
Steve:
Thanks all for your input and insight.
Here's my take on it.
If someone comes into my store and has been to a handful of stores, they immediately determine if ours are a "good value" by the price displayed. Let's face it, most shop by price and although I understand we all have budgets to work within, true value can't be determined by one price.
The customer see's a tub they like but at the last store they were at, the similar one was $500.00 less. Do you run the risk of letting them walk?
It's the same philosophy when someone comes in and ask's, what's the price of that spa... what's the price of that spa... what's the price of that spa. That just irrate’s me to no end. How can one truly determine value before finding out about a product. I don't want a sign to sell the spa, I want a salesperson to earn their money. Now granted, pricing will give people an idea of the type of spas they're looking at, but that's about it.
We've all seen it many times where someone comes in with a certain budget in mind, but often finds the spa that best suits their needs is a thousand or two more than what they thought it was going to be. The majority of the time, they have no problem spending that money to get what they want.
I guess the other aspect to consider is how you do business. Any price we quote will be what the customer pays for the tub. We have factory direct promotions that add value to any spa and we write everyone up that comes in looking at spas. Your closing ratio increases dramatically by doing that as well. :o
So after spending an hour with us, the customer not only knows about our company and product, they have a real quote with the pricing of everything included when they walk out the door. I don't mind doing it as it's so difficult to really compare apples to apples. They will also have all the extras marked down on that quote with a total savings.
We've done it this way for 15 years and it might be an issue for 4 or 5 people a year. When asked, I just explain that we want to take you through the entire process and let you decide if the pricing is really a good value or not. Without that knowledge, ricing means nothing. It's a starting point for many dealers that use it as a tool to build value on. They run the risk of "sticker shock" for sure but then try to make it a real value when they come down $1000.00 from that price.
Cars, appliances and such are items we have all purchased and we have an idea of brands and features and such. Hot tubs are a new purchase for 98% of the people walking into your store and I believe they deserve our time to take them through the buying process and let them decide if the product has value by then of the presentation. Just my concept anyway... ;)
I see not many of you will be buying a tub from me anytime soon!! ;D
Steve
Brewman:
--- Quote ---Thanks all for your input and insight.
I see not many of you will be buying a tub from me anytime soon!! ;D
Steve
--- End quote ---
Perhaps not, but seeing as how I don't live in the same country as you, and the fact that I already own a spa.
;)
I prefer that prices are marked on the stuff I am shopping for, but I would not rule out dealing with a store that did not have prices marked.
You certainly seem to have a successful business model, so what you are doing must be working. More power to you!
Brewman
Electro:
Steve, ;D
I want to see a price posted on each spa. Frankly, there is a big black mark in my mental picture of dealers of who do not post prices, no matter what the product is. The same for cars, pianos, clothes, airplanes, firecrackers, food, houses, etc. By the way, the best dealer that I encountered was a home seller in Arlington, Virginia in 1982 who posted prices outside on their new model homes, ranging from $139,999 to $489,999.
The dealer can easily tell customers who are interested if and how much the prices might be negotiated. It works either way. Note that Saturn cars are very successful with folks that just hate the whole negotiating thing. They pay about midrange of what others might pay. More folks than not like the negotiations, so that is your best bet. Unless, you can have more than one store, in which you should definitely have one that negotiates and one that has a flat price.
Electro
poopsy:
""The customer see's a tub they like but at the last store they were at, the similar one was $500.00 less. Do you run the risk of letting them walk? """""
Well...i dont knoe about there but here in denver colorado they do just that..let you walk and will even open the door for you...lol
I am serious..here is the setup....there is 1 store chain (lets say called spa1)..AND they carry sundance and sweetwater...then another store chain carries(spa2) sweetwater and caldera.. for example.
Ok spa 1 and spa2 have 2-4 stores in the colorado area....and since they have a monopoly on the brands they set the prices....if you say spa 2 has a tub i like that is like your sundance tub but its 1000.00 less...they just say.....well ours is a better tub...blah blah blah...
and they WILL let me walk.....
Essentially all the stores do this cause no SEPERATE other owned store carries that same brand....so they have you in a bind-aka pricefixing in a way.
Now if there was another store(spa3) who carried the same tubs as spa 1 then you would have some serious competition. Meaning more reasonable pricing. I AM DEAD SERIOUS on this.
I just feel since dealers are set up like this they just let you walk away
Mendocino101:
--- Quote ---
I agree that this probably happens, and certainly with customers who view price as the sole input into the buying equation it will always happen. It need not though. The dealer I started with helped educate me about the product line and helped get a spa filled for me to wet test. We established a relationship during this process so that when I visited another dealer in the area who had posted prices MUCH lower, I went back to the first dealer to discuss price. I wasn't going to beat him over the head and insist that he match or beat the price; neither did I think it was reasonable for me to pay that much of a price differential for the identical item. We worked out a price that made both of us feel good. During this process, I did not soak up much staff time at the second dealer, nor did I try to get the dealers into a price war. I guess my point is that if the dealer can establish some kind of relationship with the potential customer, the dealer will not necessarily lose the sale to a lower-priced dealer.
--- End quote ---
...That really is the way it should be...and it was very nice and considerate of you to give that first dealer a chance to see if his price could be more inline with the other...not all shoppers will do that...not all dealers costs and or retail prices are always going to be the same but they should be with in reason...I hope you enjoy your spa...
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