How do you educate customers and help them buy a complicated product?
By Andrew Wagner-Chazalon
Very few products are completely self-explanatory. Most of us provide products or services that need at least a bit of explanation in order for your customers to make a purchasing decision.
But what do you do if your product is extremely complex?
I recently spent some time with a team that excels in doing just that.
One of the most complex tasks you can undertake is designing and building a custom home. Having gone through the process myself a few years ago, I know it can be overwhelming. You have some vague idea of how much money you want to spend, and a sinking feeling that it won’t be enough to build what you want to build. But every time you ask how much it’s going to cost, you get some variation on “well, it depends.”
Kawartha Lakes Construction is an experienced and respected builder in Lakefield. They’re joining us this season as we launch our first ever Kawartha edition of Dockside.
As I chatted with their senior management team, I realized that they have carefully analyzed every step of their process, particularly the path clients need to follow as they design their home.
One of the tools they have developed is a Custom Design Handbook, which potential clients can download from their website. It asks homeowners to describe which rooms they want, how big they should be, and how they should function. As they described it, I pictured a checklist of a page or two.
The next day, I went online to check out the handbook for myself. I was astonished to see that it is 24 pages long!
The questions are varied and insightful, digging into just about every aspect of home design. Do you want a breakfast nook in the kitchen? How many people will be eating there? Do you want a TV in the living room? How about a fireplace? If you have a TV, a fireplace, and a view out the window, which is the most important element?
The average person would need to spend a couple of evenings to complete the handbook.
Filling out this book is no quick process, but neither is designing a house. Having potential clients complete the book serves a range of different functions. It gives the designers at Kawartha Lakes a tremendous starting point, and saves them a lot of time; it helps refine the sales funnel by encouraging casual “tire-kickers” to self-select out of the process; it serves as a valuable -- and free -- resource for serious buyers; and it gives those buyers a bit more confidence in the abilities of Kawartha Lakes Construction.
It’s an impressive bit of work. And it got me thinking about ways that other businesses can give away knowledge, while also making things easier for their clients and themselves.
Your article in Dockside is part of that process: educating potential clients helps move them closer to the point of sale and helps them picture themselves using your services.
Are there things you should be doing to help educate potential clients and make their experience easier? Let us help.
Andrew Wagner-Chazalon is the editor and CEO of Dockside Publishing. On weekends you can often see him picking up ‘just a few more things to finish the house’ at the lumber yard.
