by: Shannon Murphy, Furniture Business Development Manager
When in the middle of a furniture project the last thing on anyone’s mind is accessories. Your customer is focused on getting as much as they can within their budget and within their timeline while you are focused on making sure all the parts and pieces are correct, finishes are approved and manufactures are shipping complete and on time. No one is worried about chair mats or wall clocks. This is all good until you are at the installation and a delivery truck pulls up with a large order of chair mats that your customer ordered online a few days ago, weeks after the furniture orders had been placed. You are left asking yourself how you let this happen. Didn’t they know they could buy those from you? You can get ahead of this cycle!
Ask questions:
- Have they thought about accessories and what they will need?
- Would they like you to put together a list for them?
- Will everyone get the same items or will employees be able to choose?
- Can you help them put together a list that employees can choose from?
Your goal is to make it easy by helping to narrow down what is needed and by cutting one PO to one vendor for everything.
I like to remind customers that all of the accessories they need can be found in the SPR catalog. Anything from organizing your items to artwork and signage. Flip through the catalog showing them the white boards, clocks, chair mats, monitor arms, foot rests, trash bins and more. Remind them they can order all of these from you and they are in stock, most with next day delivery.
Another tool that can capture accessory sales is having a check list that you attach to all of your quotes giving your customer the option to add on items they may have forgotten about. Give them specific items to choose from: a chair mat, desk light, foot rest, trash bin based on the project. This can be added to quotes of any size. White boards should be recommended for every conference room, training room and private office. There is an accessory for every area.
Ergonomic accessories can be another area to focus on. In the active office area you can focus on what will make the employees more comfortable and therefore more productive. Along with sit-to-stand desks and risers there are several items to recommend to maximize the benefits of the sit-stand unit. You can add monitor arms/risers for comfortable monitor viewing heights. Desk lights for those that deal with a lot of paper work. Anti-fatigue mats, foot rests, key board trays and palm rests also provided added support throughout the work day.
New this year we have access to two new and exciting categories within accessories. Artwork from Gallery by Lorell and Signage from Signage by Lorell. Within artwork we have items that are in stock for last minute needs, quick ship items that ship in 10-15 business days and access to almost 100 items that ship in 3-4 weeks. Under signage everything is ADA compliant with options for Exit and Restroom signs to name plates for panel systems. There are several popular colors in stock with other colors available in 10-15 business days.
Make 2020 your year to capture all of these ancillary sales. Put together a plan on how you are going to recommend these items to your customers and follow through for all quotes, large and small.
Comments