I received a few emails on my last blog asking for more information on selling packaged systems. Packages can drastically simplify your life — the time it takes to sell, the time and energy to quote, the time it takes to order product, the time of install. Selling packages helps eliminate mistakes throughout the sales and installation process. And, as we all know mistakes are the real time killers.
Selling the Package

Most guys I meet with in the field tell me they work long hours, so maybe this is a way to get a few of those hours back.

By “packages” I am referring to two types:

1) Packages that define a category (e.g., reference home theater)

2) “Sub-Packages” that define the specific parts that make up a whole (e.g., ‘good’ 5.1 in-wall speaker package).

Here is an example of one of our home theater packages at Zobo, our sister company:

In our sales process we do the demo first to wow them and then walk over to the wall and go through the sub-categories of the package while building value for each one. The advantage here is that the customer can quickly see what is included without getting too confused.

If the customer likes the room as is — and this does happen occasionally — the sales person can reference the room on our system, and print it up in less than a minute. Of course, this is unusual as folks have different needs. But, having the starting point of the room package saves an enormous amount of time. Usually the customer has bought into 80 percent of the package. The other 20 percent needs to be tweaked. I have found that this is much easier than building a system from the bottom up — you need this receiver, this cable, this DVD player, etc. Customers want solutions, not gear.

I am not recommending large showrooms, or showrooms at all for that matter, but if you do have a showroom, this is what I prefer. We have 13 vignettes in this store, so we can move customers up to better rooms easily. If you don’t have a showroom, I still recommend category packages. For example, in the “flat screen over the fireplace with surround sound category,” you might have a good, better and best package. When you are explaining options, you are explaining the step-ups between them. Again, the focus here is on solutions and not gear. You might say something like: “Mr. Jones, I know that you said you loved movies. The ‘best’ package for your family room is going to give you the real movie theater experience. Let me explain…”

You can do the same thing for multi-room audio. I suggest the tried-and-true good, better, best approach. This can include the controller, the keypads or panels, speakers, and all the parts that pull them together. For further illustration, I pulled out an eight-year-old form we used to use during the interview process with the customer. (Download PDF here) First, we walked the prospects through our showroom and did a quick, scripted demo on each category. It took about 15 minutes, but it created excitement. The survey was a way to capture their priorities and see where we were from a job size point of view.

Now for the part that is fairly unique — sub packages, i.e., packages within packages. Below is a screen shot of a speaker sub-package that we put into our version of Bid Magic quoting software.

 By creating the “good” 5.1 home theater package for example. All you have to do is select the item “Good 5.1 pkg” and all of the parts drops in.

Let’s say that the customer tells me that they want the lowest cost option we have for their family room surround system. I say fine, choosing not to try to up-sell them here, and I recommend our “good” package. I give a short explanation on the performance on the installation details that are included.

The other route would be to say — OK, let me tell you about the Episode ES-300-IW speakers, then the sub, etc., etc. They say they want something simple, and now we are explaining how the watch was made when they just want to know what time it is. In the areas where the customer has a lot of energy, do the deep dive. But as you know, the customer only has so much bandwidth to process what you are saying. Save your ammunition until you really need it. I’ll bet your close rate goes up when selling packages as the customer gets less fatigued during the process.

Quoting with Packages

OK, so they bite on the good package. You have saved yourself a lot of selling time. Now for the quoting – in Bid Magic you only have to click one line and it all drops in. Many software systems will do this. If you don’t have one, I suggest thinking about making that investment, but that is for another blog. Notice all the parts and pieces that drop in as well. I couldn’t squeeze in all the columns for formatting purposes, but you get the idea. Also, you don’t get the item details on the package, but you can still run a margin report to get a breakdown on job margins.

Before we used quoting software and I built proposals from scratch, I used to forget stuff like the trim ring for the subwoofer plate, or worse, the subwoofer cable. Building quotes was stressful because I was afraid of missing something and eating the cost. And, if the tech didn’t have the missing piece as a spare part on the truck we had to get the part to the job, which is very expensive.

Ordering with Packages

Selling packages builds repeatability in what you sell. You will find that most folks trend towards the “better” packages. This means that you sell the same stuff over and over again. This makes ordering and placing inventory in your warehouse easier. We have a rule at Zobo that if you sell something more than four times a month, then you can make it an inventory item (not ordered per job). This is also a time saver as you can place bulk orders and receive more at once instead of in smaller chunks. You need less inventory slots in your stockroom. It is even easier if you have an integrated system that creates a PO from a sales order. This practically automates purchasing.

Installation

Now for the installation – you know you have the parts you need for the job. It is clear what parts go with what, and the technician gets used to installing the same packages — another time saver. Your quality will improve as installations become more standardized.

You can package up all sorts of stuff. Make sure that the parts you forget on quotes most often are included in packages. Just plugging this hole could save you big $$. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can start small by trying some simple stuff. See if it works, and if so, branch out from there.