Closet Design Software Aids Sales
The nice thing about selling customer closets is that the ‘product’ is pretty well understood. The prospect needs to store certain things in his or her closet. Usually he or she has a general idea of what that means – so no concept sell is necessary. The other nice thing is custom closets can demand a good price and offer you a decent markup for your efforts.
The not so great thing is that every closet is different and needs tailoring. You are working in a set area and need to put what seems like an overflow of items into it. There is no addition space to be grabbed from here or there. The design needs to be tight.
Yet the big chains and franchises are making a killing in this segment. Why is that?
- Price? I don’t think so – they do not compete that way.
- Quality? Maybe or maybe not so much quality.
- Fast delivery? Not really.
Many of these companies begin to win the job at the site of the sale because they use closet design software to create an image of the finished product in the customer’s mind. Closet design software is made for this type of sale.
Yet far less than half of the people out there selling custom closets are using closet design software to help them sell, plan, and deliver.
If you are not using some type of design software you are at a disadvantage.
Why do you think you shouldn’t use closet design software in your business?
- It can be hard to learn and use
- It might require hiring an expert.
- It can get expensive – with upfront and ongoing fees.
- It can be risky.
- And after all – you’ve been in business for all these years – who needs to change!
In fact no expert is required. You are the expert. And you can be designing detailed projects in a few days of training and practice. For SketchList 3D Pro the total cost is $750 – one time. In fact you can ‘train’ on a live sales situation and get your first sale while learning to use the software. One user reported that he closet three of the first four proposals he submitted using SketchList 3D.
The advantages of using the cabinet software design approach are:
- less work required for the proposal,
- you achieve higher close rates,
- your client gets a more professional proposal,
- all drawings and reports fall out of the design process.
- the ability to check dimensions, layouts, and purchase orders on the computer reduces or eliminates job killing mistakes before they get to the customer.
Listen to these two stories from the internet.
Story number one.
“Think long and hard before you take your chances with the X company or you may be in for a big disappointment! My media room cabinets are a mess from incorrect plans by the designer. The installer took over an hour to figure out how he could compensate for her mistakes. I ended up with an ugly mess, and damage to my walls. Without ripping the whole thing out and starting over with the correct size pieces, there is no way for me to get the cabinets that I ordered. I paid really good money for their service and product!
I am extremely dissatisfied with this company and their resolving of this matter. Oh and did I mention they charged my credit card the balance without me signing off on the completion of the job? I will never do business with X again!!”
Story number two.
“The sales person came out with her laptop computer and a loose leaf book of photos.
The layout in the corner was a little tricky so she presented some options – explaining the differences. As we went on we experimented with different numbers of doors and drawers – and open shelving. After a few times switching one cabinet with another – moving things back and forth – we were very close to a solution.
Because of a somewhat odd shape of the room due to an adjoining batch room I thought I’d be stuck with dead area. Nope. Right on the spot she designed a shelf unit that exactly matched the space available. After we finished I felt the color was too dark. No problem – with the click of a mouse button – and a pick of a new color – I had two designs to pick from. Before I knew the final price I was pretty much sold on using this company. It was easy and I got what I wanted.
If you’re the business owner – which of these stories do you want told about your company? Is the that story being told by your customers now?
Make the investment now and move onto SketchList 3D – closet design software.
David Rozewski
My woodworking love started in 6th grade in school shop class. I have a BS in Industrial Technology and an MBA. At my first job, I computerized a production accounting system – the results were positive, and I loved the challenges. I left the corporate world to begin woodworking full time and one of my first decisions was to use CAD for my designs. I found that CAD did not meet all my needs. I wrote a specification of what I wanted and turned it into a prototype. SketchList 3D incorporated in 2007. We completed programming and launched. Today thousands of woodworkers use SketchList 3D.
