What have wood burning stoves got to do with marketing?

Over the last month or so I’ve been shopping around for a wood burning stove. My experience has really made me think about the advice I give to clients and how important it is that any business presents a united front when it comes to marketing.

With winter approaching we’ve decided to do away with the open fire in our lounge which most of the year sits empty and merely creates a draft. Lured by thoughts of cosy, draft free winter evenings, we started to think about whether a wood burning stove would work for us. I remembered a shop in a little market town a few miles away so we set out one Saturday morning to take a look.

First impressions

The shop was in a state of chaos, I’d say it was more a working base for the fitters than a welcoming venue for customers, but we went in any way. There were a few stoves on display but no signs, prices or descriptions anywhere to be seen. The assistant however was helpful, asking us what kind of thing we were looking for, explaining how the stoves worked, the options of dual and single fuel and so on.

We were offered brochures and as a bit of an afterthought they asked if we’d be interested in getting someone out to give us a quote. Having done a bit of research I knew that this was the norm, so I agreed and left a phone number for the surveyor to book an appointment.

Advertising and offers

A few days later I spotted an advert in our local paper for a fire and stove showroom the other side of town. Their ad looked very professional, and they were offering a free load of logs with all orders for a stove in September. As I still hadn’t heard from the first company I decided to pay them a visit in between client meetings.

In contrast to the first company their showroom was very smart, they had about 10 or 15 different stoves on display, and one roaring away in the fireplace. The staff were very attentive and helpful. The different sizes and styles were explained. I was given a demonstration of how easy the stoves were to operate, the stove prices were shown on each product and I was provided with guideline prices for complete fitting.

This time they got the diary out and asked when it would be convenient to come around to do a survey and provide a quote. They were very flexible and agreed to come out at 8am a few days later so as not to interrupt my working day.

Sales and service

Obviously in the showroom we’d been speaking to the sales team. The fella that came out to provide us with a quote was a fitter. The great thing was although he was dressed differently (I’d been told he would be calling in on his way to another job so overalls were the order of the day) the message and service were exactly the same. He reinforced all the messages we’d had about how easy the stoves were to operate, he explained again how they specified the stove for the size of the room and raved about the quality of the particular brand of stove we’d chosen. Having completed the survey he took an email address and promised to get us a detailed quote later that day and because we were keen to get the stove fitted before going away on holiday, check stock levels with their supplier.

Exceeding all our expectations by 9.30am I had a written quotation and a date proposed for fitting which matched exactly with our plans. They even called to make sure the email had reached me and let me know that there were only 3 stoves in stock. Whilst I know this is a sales ploy as we were serious customers who wanted to buy, it worked. We placed the order.

Consistency counts

A few days weeks later I noticed the same company’s advert in the local paper, again with the promise of a free load of logs with all stove orders. No one had mentioned this to me when I placed my order and I somehow felt cheated. It was feeding my post purchase dissonance, that feeling you get after you’ve made a big purchase of: have I done the right thing? Could I have got a better deal elsewhere? Will the stove be big enough or too big? What will it look like? Will I like it?

I’m not too worried about the logs – I’ll ask if they don’t offer them (and I’ve kept a copy of their ad to show them if need be) – but it’s a shame there was a disconnect between their paid for advertising and the sales process.

Can businesses learn anything from my experience?

I certainly think so. The business benefits of following these pointers should be self evident from my little case study. 

1. Keep your promises – phone to book that survey, don’t expect the prospect to chase you. If you don’t call them they’ll go elsewhere

2. Monitor marketing – ask how customers heard about you. Unless you record the source of business how can you decide whether your advertising is working? 

3. Follow up – it doesn’t matter how good the first encounter with a business, without the follow up, whether that’s in writing, by phone or even by continuing to see their advertising, you can lose a prospect at any stage in the sales process. All follow up activity and marketing should reinforce the main sales messages and move a prospect nearer to the moment of purchase. 

4. Be consistent – deliver a consistent message and a consistent level of service. I guess the first company did this, from the chaotic showroom through to the lack of follow up – but really speaking the consistency needs to be on all the positive things. If the sales and fitting staff at my stove company had been ‘on message’ they would have known my expectations about the ‘free logs’ and whilst this clearly didn’t influence my decision to buy it might have been a nice sweetener.

Oh, and in case you are wondering – I never did hear back from the first company. We could give them the benefit of the doubt and say maybe they’ve mislaid our number but for them, and any business like them, that’s a pretty expensive mistake.
My stove’s being fitted next week. Autumn and winter - bring it on!

Further reading:
Steps to improve your marketing results

The art of losing customers

Written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with professional practices, small businesses and public sector bodies to develop effective marketing plans which achieve their business objectives.

As a marketing coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to enhance their marketing performance.

Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email.


For more ideas, tips and articles visit www.secondopinionmarketing.co.uk

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