The Costly Cycle of Flooring Sales: How Traditional Practices Are Draining Resources and What You Can Do About It

The flooring industry, like many others rooted in physical products and services, has long been entangled in a sales model that, while once effective, is now revealing significant cracks. The challenges facing flooring businesses today are multifaceted, and if you're reading this, you’ve likely felt the frustration of pouring resources into estimates, only to see them result in dead ends. But why is this the case, and what can be done to address it?

A Resource-Intensive Sales Process That Fails to Convert

POV: Your flooring business spends between $100-$200 per estimate conducted by your sales team. The conversion rate hovers around 50%, meaning half of those estimates result in no sale. This loss is substantial, especially when you consider that about 90% of the customers who reject your quote cite high prices as the reason. What’s even more disheartening is that these individuals are likely using your business to shop around, searching for the best price elsewhere, a clear indication of low brand attachment.

The kicker is that this not a hypothetical retail flooring scenario; these are REAL businesses that we conducted surveys on between 2019 and 2023. So, what’s going wrong? The problem lies in the very structure of the customer journey and the traditional methods flooring businesses use to engage with potential clients. Let’s break it down.

The Traditional Customer Journey

In our surveys we found that typically the journey for a customer looking for flooring begins with a Google search for local stores. They set up appointments, find a product they like within their budget, and then get a quote from the store.
Here’s the first problem: the first store to leave a good impression wins the sale—if the customer can afford their price. In this race, leads are only generated at the door of the brick-and-mortar location, leaving lead generation at the mercy of geographic proximity, online reviews, and first impressions (all important considerations by the way). 

But what happens when the customer’s first impression is driven by price alone? Without a strong digital presence or a compelling reason to stay loyal, customers often end up wherever the wind takes them, leaving your brand attachment weak and your sales team working overtime for leads that may never convert.

The Hidden Costs

Beyond the monetary cost of each estimate, there’s the hidden cost of time, energy, and missed opportunities. Your sales team is spending valuable hours on the road, conducting estimates, and following up on leads that may never bear fruit. This inefficiency not only drains resources but also saps morale, as your team becomes disillusioned with the constant rejection. The high price of customer acquisition in this model is simply unsustainable for many businesses.

The Solution: Shift to Digital Engagement

We think the question that should be asked is what if there was a way to engage potential customers before they ever set foot in your store?
What if you could create brand impact and value at the digital level, long before the shopping around begins?

Generate Leads Digitally

Shift your focus from in-person sales to digital engagement. By offering tools like FloorFathom’s Instant Estimator directly on your website, you can capture and qualify leads early in the process. Better yet, automate marketing with email campaigns and financing options once they hit your pipeline. 

Strengthen Your Brand

By providing value and convenience upfront, your customers are more likely to choose your store when they’re ready to buy, and less likely to shop elsewhere.

Save Money

According to our surveys, up to 50% of the money currently spent on estimators is going to waste. Sure, every store is different, but if that number was 25% is it still worth it? By the way, a 75% conversion rate is absolutely incredible and frankly unheard of in our experience.

By filtering out those who won’t purchase from you from the beginning, your estimators can focus efforts on leads, showroom engagement, and service delivery to your existing clients.

Why Digital Engagement Is Key

The flooring industry is at a crossroads. The traditional sales model, with its heavy reliance on in-person estimates and last-minute decision-making, seems to be a costly and inefficient approach. We believe that by embracing digital tools and focusing on early engagement, you can not only reduce costs but also increase your conversion rates.

Key Takeaways

Are up to half of your estimates going nowhere?
The traditional sales model is likely draining your resources, and if so, it's time to consider a new approach.

What if you could engage customers before they even begin shopping around?
Digital tools like FloorFathom’s Instant Estimator offer the opportunity to capture and qualify leads early, saving you time and money.

How strong is your brand attachment?
Without a compelling digital presence, customers are likely to choose based on price alone. Strengthening your brand at the digital level is crucial for long-term success.

Rethink how you engage with potential customers, and you can turn your website into a powerful tool for generating leads and driving sales. The solution is within reach, and it starts with recognizing that the old way of doing things may no longer be the best way.

Resources

McKinsey & Company provides a comprehensive report on how sales automation can boost revenue and reduce costs by streamlining the sales process and enhancing the efficiency of sales teams. This report is particularly valuable for understanding the broader impact of automation across industries.

Hubspot offers insights into the trends affecting close rates in 2024, emphasizing the importance of lead quality and marketing-sales alignment in driving successful outcomes. This is a great resource for understanding how these factors are influencing close rates in real-world scenarios.

FloorFathom Instant Estimator is a powerful website add-on that can increase the overall value of your website, helping it rank better in popular search engines.