10 Tips to Give Your Shop a World Class Image

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Mobile Solutions

All car stereo shops should aim for a world class image and you don’t have to spend a million bucks to create that image. But you may have to make some changes, said Bryan Schmitt of Mobile Solutions at the recent Spring KnowledgeFest in Indianapolis.

Take a Starbucks shop.   When you walk into a Starbucks your senses are assaulted by music, the smell of coffee, a warm atmosphere.

“My recommendation is to make the front of your store as a good as a Starbucks.  It’s inviting, it sounds good, looks good…people like to spend money where they are used to shopping.  If your store doesn’t feel comfortable, they will want to leave,” said Schmitt, an installation trainer and master fabricator.

Some shops don’t even have music playing, he said.  Don’t rely on the demo board for music, use in wall speakers and keep the music going.

Instead of a glass counter with a cash register, set up a table with four chairs and offer the customers water and coffee.  Have a wireless mouse with a monitor on the wall for your presentation.  When you buy a new car do they sell it over a glass counter?

Mobile SolutionsSchmitt worked in a shop where the cars were crammed into a big bay in every which direction.   His fourth suggestion is organize your bay.  He painted clean lines to mark out where cars should go.  He purchased uniform tool boxes for the techs, and made the techs wear uniforms, so the back bay looked professional.

Be able to show the best products.  If you don’t have a pair of $2,000 component speakers in the store, you’ll never sell them.  And the $2,000 speakers help you sell the $1,200 models.  “Look at all the luxury vehicles.  There’s a ton of people with a ton of money…” he said.   But 12 volt salesmen tend to fall into the trap of selling based on their own pocket, off what they can afford.

‘Demo car not a demo board.’  “If you asked me, Bryan, if you have to choose a fancy display board or a car, I’d pick a car every time.  Music is universal.  It gets people excited.  It brings back memories.  So you’ve got to get them in a car. No demo board does that. You need something awesome in your own vehicle. It doesn’t have to be show stopper, but has to sound amazing,” he said.

Become the brand.  “I can’t tell you how many times I walk in a store and there’s a beautiful sign on the front and then inside the brand is no where.  No signs in the store.  Your brand should be everywhere and your brand is also your craft.  You need to sell fabrication as your brand,” he said.

Demo your fabrication. Make best, better and good version of a subwoofer box and display them so you can show your craftsmanship.  Put door panels on the walls too.

It’s important to set some standards of craftsmanship as well.  Are you going to use butt connectors or solder?  Are you going to vacuum each car before it’s returned to the owner?

Lastly, know everything about the products.  Schmitt recently visited a Tesla dealer.  “These guys will tell you everything about this car, A to Z, from charging to how it’s built.  This is how we need to sell our industry.  We need to be experts about this; know the capabilities and know the technology, he said.

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8 Comments

  1. The problem here is simple but will never be solved, dealers will never spend time on making changes to bring the showroom up to a 90s look, so asking them to make like a Starbucks experience !!!! Come on wake up and smell the coffee………….

    1. Then you need to find new dealers, as many are willing and are doing so. One thing we need to realize in this industry is that it has changed and is still changing – if a dealer isn’t willing to adapt then we need to stop trying to pull them along. Focus on who is continuing to invest.

  2. If it’s true, and it is, that “a picture saves a thousand words,”
    then it is similarly true that, “a killer-demo saves a 1,000 pictures”…
    And that ‘experience’ will potentially add $1,000 bucks to any given
    sale. ‘Wow’ your clients, and they will often re-pay you with bonus
    cash…
    We hear this from our elite retailer partners virtually every week,
    so you can ‘take that to the bank.’

  3. i agree, yet stores do have to fit the area. unfortunately customers walk into my store and get intimidated just because it does not look like a swap meet.

  4. Bryan has been saying this for years and there are a number of places out there, kingpin car and marine audio, Sonus car audio, Handcrafted car audio, and others have been doing this for quite some time. When we improve ourselves as well as the environment we work in it helps our industry grow as a whole. Thank you for this article as a reminder of what it takes.

  5. Too many shops these days want to make a quick buck instead of selling the experience. Excellent points.

  6. GREAT and IMPORTANT POINTS ALL. Well done! Deliver an experience for the consumer that he will not likely have at your competition.

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