The professional contractor, especially in the R & R market, is the final person who can decide, or strongly influence, what products a homeowner uses. Many times the homeowner knows what they want done, but not how or with what product. This is a powerful position for the contractor and one that all manufacturers understand.
As a manufacturer, are you and your marketing efforts addressing this situation? Have you thought through what this all-important part of the sales process can utilize or leverage to fully enable the sales process?
Here are 3 reasons many companies have yet to figure this out.
- Sometimes it’s just a matter of budget. [harder to fix]
- Sometimes it’s not understanding who really sells your product. [Basics of your job and your team]
- And all too often, it’s the view that you can’t develop programs that ‘this guy’ will get or even utilize – they just don’t see the importance this guy has at the winning the kitchen table. [Your viewpoint has gotten askew of who matters]
But it isn’t simply a fancy new iPad app, it can be other support that makes the difference. It takes time to understand how your products are actually sold. Too often, the brand manager hasn’t taken the time to understand who is involved in the sales channel and how the sale occurs, especially to the homeowner.
At that moment, all the branding and marketing really don’t have any value beyond making the homeowner familiar. Most homeowners are buying the pro, not the product. People buy from people they know, like and trust.
For U.S. homes built before 1978, the EPA RRP Rule requires certified firms and certified renovators. Provide a checklist and the Renovate Right pamphlet to show lead-safe practices and build trust at the kitchen table.
While there are examples of brand awareness driving the consumer decision, those companies have spent years and thousands, maybe millions, of dollars to build that brand. Unless you’re one of those companies, and even they sometimes forget, you need to look at what you’re doing to support the channel, all the way to the kitchen table.
So what can you do right now? Here are 3 things you should be doing:
- Review technologies that you are proving down the channel.
- Develop a strategy to reach out to your channel partners to gain insight on what tools they want and need.
- Set up a plan to enable the sales process at the kitchen table to benefit your company’s products. Arm the pro with a simple guide to Section 25C, the 30% credit through 2032. Include windows, doors, insulation, and heat pumps, plus model lookups, receipt language, and a note on annual caps.
