We know we’re not going to be a fit for every customer or project. This is an example where we learned more by losing a sale than by winning it. Hopefully we can use this experience to improve our business, but there’s also a lesson or two in here for customers.
Spoiler alert, this was NOT a situation of comparing apples to apples. But we’re not claiming sour grapes either.
During a routine follow up conversation with a customer, we learned that they went with another flooring company for their carpet project. Despite several months passing when the customer didn’t respond to us, we must have caught them at the right time and they picked up.
Quick side note - it is not only totally okay to tell a contractor you went another direction, it is actually preferred. At the very least, the contractor can focus their follow up efforts on clients that still have viable projects. Good contractors follow up and communicate before, during and after the sale. Even if you are not going to hire a contractor, acknowledge and reward that positive behavior with your response. It will help the entire system get better.
The short answer was that they already bought so we could stop calling and emailing. If nothing else came of the conversation, that alone is a good thing. Beyond that, they were kind enough to share a few bits of information. They told us the name of the store where they bought, what they got (in their words, “the exact same thing”) and that they paid about 30% less than our estimate. He also expressed that it was a no-brainer to get the exact same thing for that much less and that we shouldn’t say we have competitive pricing if we are so much more.
From the customer’s perspective the important thing is that they are happy with their purchase. I don’t begrudge them buying elsewhere at all.
In this situation it also doesn’t mean that the store that ultimately won this job did anything wrong. In our local market, we view most other flooring stores as colleagues rather than competitors. There are some “usual suspects” we regularly pass in a client’s driveways and we give each other the respect to let the other finish their appointment before we ring the bell.
Competition keeps us all sharp and we’re all a little different in how we run our businesses. None of us are making carpet in our back rooms. We’re all buying from the same manufacturers or mills. We’re all paying freight to get carpet from Georgia up to Chicago. And we’re all pulling from the same local labor market. Obviously there are nuances in those “costs” along with differences in rent, advertising, profit, etc. For the majority of competitors we encounter while bidding jobs, it doesn’t generally result in such wide swings in project cost.
It got me thinking. How would we have been that far off? I couldn’t let it rest. I didn’t have to be “right” but I wanted to know the whole story.
This particular flooring store is one we pass on a regular basis and they have a good reputation. I popped in while they had no customers in the parking lot so I wouldn’t be taking attention away from another customer. I mentioned the customer’s name and said I was looking for the same carpet, but a different color.
The salesman was able to pull up the order and walked me over to the carpet. As soon as I saw the carpet sample, I asked if he was sure. As I looked at colors, he went back to his computer and confirmed.
It was immediately clear what happened. The customer did not get “the exact same thing” - in fact, from a carpet guy’s perspective it wasn’t even close. I snapped a picture of the sample and the colors, thanked the salesman for his time and was on my way.
Back at the shop, I compared our notes and proposal with what I learned. We showed the client a 58oz carpet made of a premium fiber that came in 15’ wide rolls so that we could avoid in-room seams at the customer’s request. And while the 15’ wide carpet resulted in a better installation, it was a little bit more waste. The bigger difference were that the carpet the client got was from the same mill, it was under 30oz and a more basic fiber that wasn’t nearly as soft as what we priced.
We sell the same carpet and carry samples in our mobile showrooms. It is a fine carpet, it’s just not the same as the one the customer selected. And when I put that thinner, lower priced, 12’ carpet into the customer’s project, the total price ended up being about 35% lower than his original proposal.
What’s done is done. I feel better knowing that we were actually 5% less expensive than the other company on the same carpet. So my pricing calculation came out exactly as I hoped.
But perhaps the bigger lessons are about communication and consumer behavior.
As a low-pressure sales organization, we believe customers that want to think about their purchase and that what they said they wanted is not only what they really want, but also what is realistic for them. Looking back, perhaps we didn’t make it clear enough to the customer that we’d be happy to pivot the product selection to other appropriate products like the one they ultimately bought elsewhere. If the customer simply said, “this is great, but $5000 is a little more than we want to spend” we could have easily explored more options and gotten them something that was obviously acceptable to them since the bought it elsewhere, and for 5% less, PLUS saved them a lot of time and effort.
I feel bad that this customer will be walking around with the false impression that we’re way more expensive than the other options in town. I also understand that if that was their impression that they didn’t feel any obligation to respond to our calls and emails. It is possible that as far as they’re concerned, we were overpriced shysters.
And from the customer’s perspective, I can appreciate how the process may have gone. Our $5000 proposal may have resulted in some sticker shock. So they shopped around and in their memory what we presented for $5000 felt “exactly the same” as what they felt when the other company showed the $3500 option because the memory of the feel/quality had faded, but the price was still fresh in their mind.
Whether it is flooring or any other major purchase, if two bids are drastically different, it may be worth your time to reach out and find out if you’re really comparing apples to apples.
We’ll likely never know exactly what happened along the way, or if it really could have earned this business, but we can definitely learn from the experience and strive to be better every day.
What do you think? Did this help you? Any feedback for contractors or consumers?