Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Are your sales people "on the floor" or in prospects' homes?

If it's on the floor, take a look at your marketing program. You need to get more people in the door OR need to have your sales people pick up the phone more often.

If they're in the home, you should go with them often and you'll have the opportunity to pick out areas where they're missing AND share their successes with the others...something sales people aren't always good at.

If you haven't done so already, bringing in designers for seminars is also a excellent way to get to the prospect. Once a prospect has committed to paying a designer (like my wife!) $40+ per hour, they generally take their advice.

Michael

Well, the sale of wall paper certainly depends on the salemen. But, additionally, it depends on the market, product, and competition factors. The key to increasing your sales (and our understanding of your problem) is to understand the market.

Market factors are:
. Demand - In your market, what is the total wallpaper
sales available and what is your share? Is you are a
high percentage of the share already, the
effectiveness of your sales force won't significantly
improve the sales.
. Customer needs - Does your offering address the
customer needs? For instance, do you also have
wallpapering equipment available for those wanting to
paper? Do you provide step by step instructions
(pamphlets, videos, experts available for questions,
classes)?
. Location - is your store located in an area convenient
for shopping for wallpaper?

Product factors are:
. Appearance - Do you have esthetically pleasing
wallpaper? Is there a variety of commonly used
colors, textures, and prints? Does the paper you offer
have the glue already on?
. Price - is your wallpaper priced according to its value
as perceived by the customers?

Competitive factors are:
. Strengths and weaknesses - If you evaluate your
store versus the competitive stores, why would
customers come to you versus the competition? What
can you do to increase your strengths and make up
for your weaknesses, exploit your competitions'
weaknesses and counter their strengths?

Through looking at the problem in these terms, you might be able to identify actions you can take to improve your sales.

To increase your sales, you need to increase the demand of your customers' customers. The customers you are calling on are only going to implement what their customers' ask. So you have to reach to end consumer. This seems like a promotions issue. Do you advertise in consumer media - magazines, newspapers, tv? Ads in which you are "endorsed" by respected and notable celebrities might be in order. If you have existing satisfied clients who fit this celebrity category, you could show quotes from them addressing that the paper cost and peeling are not issues: "'I installed wallpaper and was surprised that it cost about the same as paint, looked much more beautiful, and I had no peeling problems'.....Joe Actor, Indian TV"

You DO have competition. It's whatever people are putting on their walls instead of your wallpaper. Maybe it's paint, maybe it's wood paneling, maybe it's cork, maybe it's fabric, or whatever else people put on walls.

It sounds like you need to do some missionary work to make wallpaper a top-of-mind alternative. This is especially appropriate if you don't have very much in-kind competition.

Why don't you talk to a few of the people in your target audience and ask them how they decide on wall treatments/covering? What do they usually recommend/use? Why? Have they ever used wallpaper? If so, what was their experience? What are their perceptions?

Don't try to sell them anything. Just ask high-gain questions, listen to what they have to say, and take detailed notes. When you've spoken to, say, 15 or 20 people, look through your notes and see if you can identify some common threads that might explain why people aren't buying more wallpaper. You'll be amazed at how much you can learn that way.

If you're selling to many different market segments, you might have to do this independently in each segment, because the reasons could be different in different segments.

Good luck.