As dealers struggle to ramp up their MPS and Document Management programs, they often forget to update their equipment showroom. This marketing tool sometimes gets forgotten in the rush to stay abreast of the OEM’s latest technical advancement or commission program.

The importance of a business-like appearance and functionality of your selling control central —your showroom— is a necessary selling tool. A visiting potential buyer will find it hard to trust a dealer whose showroom is outdated, in disarray and nonfunctional.

The networked showroom is also a learning laboratory for your technical and sales staff. Hands-on experience of different applications, operating systems, software, utilities, etc. is the confidence-building tool that will allow your company to be on the winning side of bids and proposals. No matter how much book learning or certifications your technical and sales staff possesses, you must be able to successfully network the client’s system to your product. Before you can receive payment from an MPS program, the data must transfer, and proper billing must be created. An attractive, well-functioning showroom will ease the client into signing on the bottom line.
If you have not updated or redesigned your showroom in the past two years, you are subliminally sending out the wrong messages to your potential clients. Make sure the furnishings in the closing area do not consist of a Formica table and matching turquoise vinyl chairs. If you are selling technology, you’d better look and feel 21st century.

When you walk into your showroom, is the feeling High Tech or Old Hat? Take the time to reenact a visit to your office from a stranger’s point of view. Is the address easily seen from the street? What is the first impression a potential client will receive? If you don’t take care of your own building, parking lot and vegetation, how will you care for their equipment?

When updating the look of your showroom, start with an open mind. Take a fresh look at this area. When was the last time the showroom was painted? Have you recently changed manufacturers, your company logo, color scheme or added additional product lines? Is your demo room as modern as your webpage?
First impressions are only made once. Make sure there is a visitor’s parking area. Curb appeal of your company’s general appearance, viewed from the prospective customer’s point of view, is important. Make sure the parking lot is free of trash and plant debris. A small garden with flowering plants by the designated visitor’s parking space provides a clean, workman-like appearance. Any glass area by the front door should be cleaned regularly. If your company’s designated smoking area is outside the front door, beware of cigarette butts, overflowing ashtrays and the stench of nicotine that may permeate the building’s exterior.

A simple, attractive waiting room should have a sitting area. A table with equipment brochures, advertising material or company scrapbook is subliminal advertising. A company scrapbook can contain newspaper clippings announcing company accomplishments, excerpts from the company newsletter, photos of employees receiving awards and the camaraderie shared at the company picnic or holiday party. Anything that can show the client your company’s history of achievement and stability will help set the stage for your credibility.

Manufacturer-presented “Dealer of the Year” Sales and Service awards are confidence builders. Plaques acknowledging community involvement, business awards won and framed magazine articles about your company can be used to line the walls that lead the potential buyer from the front reception area to the showroom.

Anything that you can display that represents, “We are the acknowledged best in our business and community,” may help provide the winning edge in positively separating you from your competition. The smaller or newer your company is, the more important emblems of recognized success become.

The showroom should be neat, clean and all equipment should be tested and working properly. There should be enough paper in all the equipment to run hundreds of images. Think twice before you use your demo room equipment as the company’s regularly used copier, printer, fax, scanner, etc.

If there is a piece of equipment that is not functional (you needed a part desperately to get newly installed equipment to work), put a “SOLD” sign on it. Never put an out of order sign in the showroom. If the customer you are demoing requests to see the “SOLD” equipment work, simply say, “Out of respect for the purchasing customer we never use equipment once it has been sold.”

When designing a potential showroom area, allow for electrical and network outlets everywhere. To increase wall area, you can inexpensively make three-foot-high internal mini walls. You do not want the room to look like a maze, but you can double or triple your useable area with creative construction.

When designing your showroom, decide what is the focal point of interest you want to emphasize. Is your goal the $50,000 color system or the $299 printer? Think of the way grocery stores display their products. Meat, dairy, produce and bakery items usually are displayed on the sides and back of the store. The store layout focuses you to walk past the high-margin, non-perishable items to get to the products you need to buy. You too can use these time honored marketing methods in your showroom.

The showroom configuration can be as varied as the products you sell. High volume equipment on one side; low volume on the other, with used and refurbed equipment off to the side. Cash and carry items can be situated next to boxed items for quick sale. Needed supply items can be housed in equipment stands for demonstrating ease of installations. Be watchful of user manuals and supplies that are left in unattended showrooms. If your company has a history of manuals and supplies disappearing, store them in a secure area.

You can have an area for a rotating feature product that is specially priced. You can move specific items to the feature area depending on the interests of the customer who has made an appointment. You can spotlight an upgraded item at a special discounted price to entice the client to consider additional items.

Many companies have their showroom double as a walk-in copy center. They sell cash and carry copies, prints, color or wide format reproductions. These casual users may someday become equipment customers or may refer your company to others.
If you have the luxury of designing your office space from scratch, or are ready to update your current showroom, here are a few items to consider:


1. Keep the showroom away from the general office work area.

2. Install twice as many electrical and network cabling outlets than you think you will ever need.

3. Multiple electrical currents should be installed: standard 110 volt, 15amp, dedicated 115V, 20A and 220V. Make sure your electrical panel has enough amps to handle all the equipment being turned on at one time. Have a UPS installed.

4. Provide internet access on at least one of the showroom’s workstations.

5. Have a restroom and external sink area or water source close to the demo room.

6. Be aware of the effects of afternoon sun. Excessive glare or heat will not add to any demo’s effectiveness.

7. A telephone should be easily accessible.

8. Have the showroom relatively close to the reception area.

9. Accessibility to the technical shop or service department is helpful for quickly answering a technical question or a needed emergency repair.

10. Allow enough room for a closing room, or an area for a table and chairs in the demo room.

11. Provide plenty of illumination. Windows and bright overhead lighting provide a positive sales environment.

12. Make sure there is enough room to open all the equipment doors, remove any paper cassettes or peripheral accessory, demonstrate how to add supplies, and easily access any parts of the equipment a client might ask to see.

13. Painted or decaled stripes or designs can update, enlarge or reduce the appearance of your demo room.

14. Study photos in printed advertisements of other companies’ demo rooms. Visit showrooms of your competitors and other businesses in your community.

15. Have some sort of sign or signal that tells the rest of the company the showroom is in use and temporarily off limits.

The maintenance of an effective showroom is an ongoing process. Now is the time to update, modernize and make your showroom MPS friendly. Make sure your showroom is providing comfortable professionalism that you can proudly share with your clients. u

Ronelle Ingram, author of Service With A Smile, also teaches service seminars. She can be reached at ronellei@msn.com