Sound Works located in Norfolk, Nebraska, was inspired by our story on “The New Breed of Car Audio Dealer,” so it updated the store on a tight budget, and is already seeing results.
Owner Phil Zastrow is willing to help any other dealer who wants to move into 21st century retailing, and he’s willing to give advice on anything from flooring to raising labor rates. He spent $22,000 and put in about $20,000 worth of labor on his own after hours, in new floors, displays, paint, and dry wall.
The renovation has been partially completed for about two months, and was just fully completed this month but he’s not yet held a grand re-opening.
Backup camera sales are up 1,000 percent this year over last. Sound deadening is up 86 percent. The store raised labor rates by 30 percent and raised window tint prices 30 percent. With the improved showroom, Zastrow has the confidence to improve commercial sales, and is calling on fleet managers.
He’s added different grades of window tint, where before he sold one level.
He’s embracing the safety category and just took on Mobileye’s early crash warning device and he’s selling Crimestopper’s SafetyPlus blind spot detector.
He also hired Del Ellis for sales training. And he just started offering leather reupholstery three months ago.
The store generates about $600,000 a year in sales with 3 full time employees apart from Zastrow.
One of the reasons for the renovation was to bring a new demographic into the store.
“My intention was to appeal to a different class of customer than we’ve had. I want the people that have the disposal income, which used to be the kids and is now the soccer moms ….We wanted to appeal to them so instead of having to buy a $20,000 vehicle to get new safety features, they can have the new technology without the new car.”
He began by ripping up the 20-year old green carpeting and brought in displays with backlighting. Given the wet winters in Nebraska, he decided on wood grain vinyl plank, because moisture could get into the cracks in a laminate floor, and then the corners would come up.
He did the dry wall, floor, router work for the new sound room boards, wiring and other jobs himself.
As with other retailers who remodel he’s finding it’s easier to upsell customers. “People are opening up, they are not afraid to spend more,” he said. Average ticket sales are up.
With Del Ellis sales training the shop is bringing customers in off the phone instead of just quoting prices.
If you want to ask Zastrow any questions, he can be reached at [email protected].
Source: CEoutlook
It’s pretty bad when you click on a picture and expect to see a larger photograph, but instead you are given a smaller picture. Really? come web masters/designer get it together
Thanks for all of the positive comments. I firmly believe that to be successful going forward in our industry, we as dealers must embrace change, develop a plan and execute said plan.
Thanks also to Amy for running this story. Her desire to publish articles that will benefit ME retailers is well placed. Hopefully I can help others interested in this process.
Bob, I certainly felt like an “old dog” when I completed the remodel!
Great job Phil! Its good to see an old dog learn new tricks! Just kidding! Best wished for continued success!
Great to see other stores stepping it up like this after so many years of success.
Keep up the great work!
Looks GREAT…. clean, fresh and easy to understand. CONGRATULATIONS and enjoy your New Found Business.
Congratulations Phil glad to see you’re keeping things shaking….!
Impressive looking store from the few photos here. Great job on the renovation and good luck!
Congratulations, Phil. Awesome.