While showrooms are without question a key element in generating sales with new and existing customers, they are, for some distributors, changing with today’s business environment. A faster-paced working world and technological innovations are edging out the need for the classic showroom, and some industry leaders are saying that the cost of creating and maintaining a showroom is too high compared to the return on investment.

Still, the concept of a showroom—a place to present your wares with the highest levels of quality and professionalism, be it in-house or online—is still a valid and necessary element in the promotional products marketplace. Following, we’ll take a look at the effectiveness of showrooms and some alternatives for today’s distributors.

First, let’s define showroom. “The classic showroom is an exclusive space dedicated to display,” says Jerry Gorde, CEO at Vatex, a Virginia-based distributor, screen printer and embroiderer. This means that conference rooms aren’t showrooms. Reception areas with products and awards on display aren’t showrooms. A large closet packed with items isn’t a showroom. We’re talking about an area of office space—or hard drive space—with items permanently on display, used exclusively to bring in new and existing clients for the purpose of showing goods and closing deals.

Showrooms have historically been the place where the ink hits the contract, the up-sells happen and the beginnings of long-term business relationships are cultivated. This is still true.

“There is a value in having specific samples for customers when they come to the showroom,” says Bob Pierce, owner and VP of sales and marketing at Dunbrooke. “I used to work for a distributor, and when we brought a customer into our showroom, we had a better than 80% chance of closing a sale.”

“Here’s the point, something retired veteran Russ Woodleaf taught me,” says Bert Williams, president and owner of The Williams Company. “The true definition of marketing is to rise above your competing influence for your buyers’ attention. So, if I have a showroom and my competitors don’t, it helps me rise above them for that attention. When a client comes to our office and sees something of a combination between Sharper Image and Hallmark for corporate logoed items, they’re sold and don’t need to go anywhere else.”

The biggest challenges, Williams says, are keeping the showroom neat and making enough profit to support the showroom.

Another common challenge, particularly in today’s busy work environment, is getting clients in-house. Many distributors say the time and money just isn’t available for clients to make visits today. Pierce says it’s always been hard to get customers to come to you—that’s not new. However, if you can get them on your turf, your chances of closing the deal increase significantly. “I’ve talked to the top-40 distributors in the country who deal with apparel, and they say the same thing: ‘I have to get them in-house because that’s when I can sell full-service programs,’” Pierce says.

Of course, if you’re selling 12 shirts, a visit to the showroom isn’t necessary, but a proposal for a $250,000 program with colors, options, embroidery, fulfillment and so forth will be better played at home field.

The showroom still works for the big programs, and works best for the biggest existing clients. It’s a comfortable place to meet where you can put on your best face and close bigger deals quicker. Barb Wells, vice president of merchandising and procurement for American Identity, says her company uses its upscale showroom mainly to service its biggest existing accounts.

“Some of these clients come in for two to three days at a time,” Wells says. “We feel this is the best way for us to merchandise a new program. And we are prepared when they come: the executive staff greets clients, every garment is immaculately pressed, we have computer hook-ups and phones so they can take care of other business, a private workspace for them, video conferencing and multimedia equipment. These tools make for an effective presentation and a comfortable environment while clients are away from their home offices.”

However, that doesn’t mean that if you cough up the cash for 800 square feet of showroom space you’ll suddenly be doing million-dollar deals. Wells also says that the most important element is what happens in the showroom, not the showroom itself.

“I don’t know that distributors should build it and hope that they come,” Wells says. “You need a showroom if you have clientele that will come to you, but regardless, it’s the way you present your product that gets the business. You have to do whatever it takes to be effective. Whether in the showroom or on the road, your presentation must be impeccable. You need the right set-up materials and display space. You can’t just pull garments out of a bag and throw them on a table.”

To this point, suppliers can be a terrific resource for distributors. They will often provide display racks and other merchandising materials free of charge for both showroom and out-of-office presentations. In fact, suppliers encourage distributors to use them as a source for display materials, many of which can be cost-prohibitive for the distributor.

“My input would be that if a distributor is interested in setting up a showroom, he can certainly expect to receive assistance from suppliers,” says Pierce. “Items such as display materials, signage and samples are available and often free.”

Should You Build It?
If you have a showroom, be sure to take advantage of supplier assistance, but if you are a smaller operation or thinking of building a showroom, you may want to reconsider. Showrooms may not be appropriate for all of today’s distributors.

Just getting the space may prove to be a financial burden for many distributors, never mind the necessary amenities such as proper lighting (preferably daylight), media presentation equipment, fancy furniture, maybe a small kitchen or at least a beverage center, and the time and manpower to clean, maintain and prepare the showroom for guests.

Wing Hughes, president of Forrester-Smith, says his company uses its showroom almost exclusively for fulfillment programs within its company stores. “If it wasn’t for the company stores, we wouldn’t have a showroom,” he says. “Anyone considering setting up a showroom should be sure to have enough sales to warrant the time and expense needed to accomplish this task. For new customer sales, the showroom really isn’t a benefit—in both big and little companies today, people don’t have the time to go offsite for product demonstrations and displays.”

“I think showrooms are dinosaurs—symbols of a bygone era,” asserts Gorde. “Because of the accelerated speed of business transactions, downsizing of organizations and new marketing strategies, such as web-based sales, the showroom is no longer a necessary part of daily business. Unless a company is situated in the middle of Manhattan where clients can walk over during lunch, nobody should be able to justify putting square footage into a passive showroom environment.”

Alternative Showrooms
With the technology available today, many distributors are choosing to upload product images onto web-based displays over polishing the mahogany and hiring a caterer. This new showroom—the virtual showroom—is in some ways as effective as its predecessor. Primarily, it’s a great way to expose new clients to products, programs, pricing and policies at a minimal expense. Another alternative to the classic showroom is turning the whole company into a showroom environment. Gorde has some experience to share in these areas.

“If you log the total business procured in a classic showroom and compare that number to the actual cost of developing, staffing and maintaining the showroom, I think everyone would be hard-pressed to justify the expense,” Gorde says. “However, once potential clients finish touring a virtual showroom, they’ve usually garnered enough information about a distributor to forgo the need for a visit to the physical showroom.”

Gorde, who actually has an 800-sq.-ft. showroom with special windows, lighting and the usual amenities, says money is better spent by increasing web presence, redesigning the remaining office space or even building a mobile showroom.

“I would rather see someone take an RV and convert it into a mobile showroom before spending the money and space it takes to build a fixed showroom,” he says.

One of Gorde’s tactics is to revamp existing office space to make the whole company a showspace. “All of my departments have been tricked out with grids and fixtures for displays,” he says. “The whole company is a showroom. Most of the customers coming to us probably already have work in progress and have made the trip to see pre-production samples. Instead of going to the showroom, we go to the art department, which is no longer filled with huge drawing tables and artists, but Macintosh G4s, product displays and an area set aside—a nice table and some bar stools—where samples can be laid out. The point is, particularly if pressed for space, companies can do much better by reorganizing the entire working environment into a facility-wide showroom than dedicating exclusive space for a classic showroom.”

In the process of touring Vatex, clients see, throughout the departments, samples of the company’s best work, awards, recognitions from charities, safety data and a clean and inviting workplace.

“When customers tour our facility, they get the impression that we are grounded in our community, care about our employees and take pride in our work—that we are balanced in the way we deal with technology and people. I don’t think you can give customers that experience by just dropping them off in a showroom.”

Gorde supports the virtual showroom model by drawing on his own experience. “Even as a consumer, I rarely go shopping in physical form anymore,” he says. “I’d say that besides food, I make 50% of my purchases on the Internet. I think that people have become very comfortable with doing their research on the Internet and perhaps just a little less comfortable with buying online. This is true for both the individual consumer and the business client.”

However, Gorde concedes that websites are not the best closing tools, particularly for customized products. “The Internet is great for commodity products such as office supplies and travel programs,” he says. “But with customized products there is a deeper level of intimacy that requires human interaction. In this case we are transferring the highest level of a client’s self image onto promotional items.”

Customized programs require personal relationships, trust and understanding—characteristics of a sale that cannot yet be as effectively created online as in person. Even so, Gorde says these relationships will often start with potential clients doing initial research on the web.

When setting up your virtual showroom, put the same extra effort you would into a physical showroom. Don’t just have a huge, online catalogue that winds up being a labyrinth for surfers. Create a few separate pages exclusively dedicated to showing product. Use the easiest to navigate and most impressive means possible. For example, on your homepage, you could have a link, “Visit Our Showrooms,” which takes clients to a page with three or four buttons such as “Golf Apparel,” “Coffee Cups,” “T-Shirts,” or whatever your specialty happens to be. Don’t be afraid to tastefully include virtual plaques of awards, community and charitable accomplishments and quality achievements. Tell the story of who you are, what you do and why a client should choose you as a business partner. A subtle link on the showroom page can redirect the potential client back to ordering and contact info.

The virtual showroom is convenient for both the distributor and the potential client. A few clicks on the web instead of a flight to Kansas, and the initial evaluation of a potential business relationship can be made. Depending on the size and complexity of the client’s needs, sooner or later face-to-face interaction and the beginnings of a personal relationship have to occur.

If you already have a showroom, great. Bring them in and roll out the red carpet. If not, consider Gorde’s ploy of reorganizing the entire company, or at least part of it to start, into a unified, impressive, showroom-type space that tells the story of your company’s ability and ethics. If this task is still too daunting, or you need to go to the client, take Wells’s advice and create an immaculate presentation. Remember to use your suppliers as a source for often-free samples and display materials, including racks, stands and other sometimes-expensive items.

In today’s business environment, the effect of the showroom on creating business and closing sales is as important as ever. Even though the showroom doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical structure, it is still the place where first impressions are made and the beginnings of relationships are sown. It’s like the first date, but with today’s technology, you don’t have to fly to Paris for dinner anymore.