Tile and bathroom stores live in symbiosis with construction companies and renovation contractors. We visited Golvpoolen in Gothenburg where we met company salesperson Anna-Karin Larsson and Viktor Sjöstrand, project manager and salesperson at Dobro Byggkonsult (construction consulting). They have a common mission: to make the bathroom renovation customerjourney as smooth and positive as possible.

Viktor Sjöstrand previously worked at Bauhaus. He is an engineer from Chalmers University of Technology and has experience with powerful CAD tools such as Alias and Catia. He has been using Spark Blueprint for bathroom planning for just over a year.

A Paradigm Shift

Viktor explains that he previously used Sketchup to draw up the customer’s room. “At that time, there was no question of drawing in furnishings; I only did floor plans. There were libraries of products, but if you wanted to place a product correctly, you had to model it yourself. It would take up to a working day for a single chest of drawers, which was simply not sustainable!”

Now Viktor Spark uses Blueprint, and the difference is monumental. “Blueprint is absolutely brilliant! Because it’s so quick and easy to use, I can draw up a rough sketch of the client’s bathroom in just a few minutes. Thanks to an almost complete product library, the customer can see their bathroom, more or less exactly as it will look.”

Sales Through Home Visits

Bathroom projects are sold through home visits. Viktor comes to the customer and quickly measures the bathroom with a laser meter. He then unfolds the laptop on the washing machine and starts Blueprint, without leaving the room. In no time at all, he creates a basic layout, where he places sample tiles and the most important fittings. After just five minutes, he can show the customer a photorealistic rendering and the response is phenomenal.

After that, Viktor usually generates a 360 Cloud Render – an interactive panoramic image where the client can look around the environment. “Because we’re standing in the room when I create the 360, the effect is like augmented reality. It’s incredibly powerful, especially if we’re sketching big changes, like opening up a wall,” says Viktor.

After that, it’s not hard to get the deal, Viktor continues. “‘Is this what you have in mind?’ I ask, and the answer is usually something like: ‘Take my money!

Viktor says that Dobro’s concept of designing bathrooms during home visits is incredibly successful. “I know from past experience that industry colleagues have about a 25% hit rate on their home visits, while I have about 80%! It’s absolutely incredible!” When asked if Blueprint could have a part in this, Viktor answers with certainty “It has everything to do with Blueprint!”

“The service I can offer with Blueprint means that I am no longer perceived as a builder. The customer sees me more as an advisor – a designer,” Viktor explains.

A bathroom is an incredibly expensive product. The cost of a complete renovation is often around 30 000 EUR. It’s a very big decision for the customer, so it’s crucial to instill confidence. Dobro’s process with Blueprint at the centre, where the customer gets beautiful, credible pictures, clear floor plans, and a professional calculation, delivers just that – confidence. As Viktor puts it: “Selling bathrooms is not about selling gadgets. I sell a dream – a feeling!”

Once the project is commissioned, Dobro refers the customer to Golvpoolen in Gothenburg to finalise the product and material choices.

Bathroom Planning in No Time

Anna-Karin Larsson is one of three business salespeople at Golvpoolen in Högsbo, which means that she helps end customers who have been referred to the store by Golvpoolen’s professional customers.

Anna-Karin, who has worked in the company for two and a half years, was in the past a store manager at Beijer. Before that, she worked at Hornbach.

Anna-Karin has no previous experience with 3D software and planning tools. She started using Spark Blueprint about three weeks ago and is already hooked.

“The problem with our previous setup was that I had to ask a colleague with the tool Winner, which needs an expert designer, to help me get the customer’s room drawn up. It used to take about four days to get a drawing. It was not uncommon for the first attempt to be wrong, and I had to ask the colleague to redo it. If I was unlucky, the colleague was not there. I – and, more importantly, the customer – had to wait another couple of days to move the process forward.  Meanwhile, the builder who scheduled the renovation became increasingly impatient…”

Nowadays, Anna-Karin draws the plans herself, which has led to a much smoother process. “Not only do I save the client time, but I get much faster decisions. By striking while the iron is hot and designing the room immediately, we have gone from a week’s consideration to a decision in the first meeting!”

As Anna-Karin works on every little detail in the bathroom – from shower corners to towel hooks – she spends more time than Viktor, about 20 minutes, to produce a complete drawing. Sometimes she draws the room together with the customer, but often she produces the drawing before the first meeting.

Anna-Karin books a meeting with the client by phone and takes the opportunity to go through ideas and wishes already at this stage. In light of this conversation and based on drawings from the building contractor, Anna-Karin then creates her design proposal. She often sends this to the client before the first meeting. The customer can then take a look at the proposal, look around the store on their own, and be more or less able to make a decision immediately. Usually, a meeting is hardly needed!

The Business is Growing

During these three weeks, Anna-Karin has designed eight projects in Blueprint, all eight of which have led to business. “I might have got those orders anyway, but it definitely wouldn’t have been as quick and smooth, and the order amounts would definitely not have been as big!”

By planning and drawing in Blueprint, the business grows. “For example, I always draw in shower shelves and line drains from Unidrain. I don’t even ask if the customer wants it. Once they see how nice it looks, everyone wants it.”

Anna-Karin emphasises the importance of adding all the products from the start instead of settling for the big picture and leaving the customer with the attitude that “we’ll do that later”. Then it may well be that the customer buys all other furnishings, fittings, etc. at the local DIY store instead.

“I’d rather add in a Tapwell toilet brush for 180 EUR  (or even 250 EUR for brushed black chrome). Add to that a toilet roll holder and some fittings, and why not a towel rail from a premium supplier? I quickly increase the order value by up to 1500 EUR”.

Valuable Visualisation

Anna-Karin has noticed that some customers find it difficult to visualise what the end result might be. Frankly, she used to find this tiresome. Luckily, she now has Blueprint to clear up all her clients’ questions.

“The decision is so much easier for the customer. Instead of being offered several different options to consider, they are usually very happy and take the first one suggested. In this way, I control the customer.”

Viktor agrees: “Of course, I steer the customer towards choosing our favourite suppliers. On the one hand, this leads to better profitability – I won’t hide the fact that we have better margins on premium products – but it also leads to more satisfied customers. By selling a premium product, the customer gets better quality. It’s a win-win!”

Anna-Karin also uses the 360 Cloud Render feature extensively: “To some extent, it’s about providing a slightly better room experience, but above all it’s a cool experience. You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of this ‘wow’ effect. It’s crucial! The 360 is often the little detail that makes the customer tip over.”

No More Discussion on Price

Anna-Karin has also noticed that she increasingly rarely gets into discussions about price. “Once you have helped the customer with planning and visualisation, the customer is grateful and satisfied. They don’t go shopping around among other stores and compare prices online, etc. They order!

It is even the case that Blueprint beats the physical exhibition, which unfortunately sometimes raises more questions than it answers. The range of products on offer in the shop is vast and quite difficult to understand. In addition, the price signs are very clear, which means that the customer sometimes sees two similar chests of drawers and wonders why the proposed one is 20% more expensive. This leads to unnecessary discussions about price versus quality instead of just finalising the deal.

Another advantage of Blueprint over the exhibition is that the rendering in Blueprint shows the customer’s exact combination of tile, commode, mixer and top, etc, while you are very rarely lucky enough to be able to show exactly the right combination in the store.

A Clear Favourite

When it comes to choosing a planning tool, Viktor and Anna-Karin are in complete agreement about which is their favourite. “Blueprint is so much easier than Winner! You have a much better overview. The interface is logical and easy to use. Hats off to your developers and interface designers – they have managed to create a program that offers a great user experience!” says Viktor.

One problem with Winner is that the tile pattern is repeated over an entire surface, which not only feels unrealistic but also looks really bad. “It’s sad that you more or less have to apologise for the image quality beforehand,” says Anna-Karin. Spark Blueprint, on the other hand, randomly mixes several tile images with variation in the pattern, making the image more realistic and selling. In addition, Blueprint delivers a better visual quality in the images overall, according to Anna-Karin.

A Flying Start

When we ask how long it took to become productive in Blueprint, there is first a misunderstanding. Anna-Karin tells us that she had the first beautiful bathroom ready after an hour. “So your first bathroom took an hour to design, but how long did it take you to learn the programme?” we ask. “No, no – I downloaded the programme, clicked around for a while on my own and after an hour I had my first bathroom ready!” clarifies Anna-Karin, who had no previous experience in designing bathrooms in 3D.

Viktor, on the other hand, with previous experience in CAD tools, was productive in the program even faster, instantly: “It was just a matter of finding the right and left mouse button and the ctrl key, the rest is so easy and logical! ‘I hit the ground running’, so to speak!”

A Profitable Business

By now it is clear that Blueprint has been a good investment for both Dobro and Golvpoolen. “We recoup the monthly cost from the first bathroom sale,” says Viktor. “All it takes is for the customer to choose a tile that costs SEK 30 more per square metre, and we’re home.” Anna-Karin nods in agreement. “There’s no doubt that we also recoup the cost right from the first sale!”

Turning the Tide

A bathroom renovation is often a rather agonising experience – a necessary evil that the customer just has to get through. There are, as I said, very large sums to be sacrificed. In addition, water damage is often the unfortunate reason for renovating in the first place. With the help of Blueprint, you can often turn the situation around. “The gorgeous Cloud Render images show the client what an incredible boost the renovation will provide, and that brightens the mood!” Not only that, but the design process itself is a joyful experience. You create something together. “Blueprint makes buying a bathroom fun and positive!” Viktor summarises.

Blueprint has proved to be a winner for both Dobro and Golvpoolen. By streamlining the process, improving the customer experience, and increasing profitability, Blueprint has established itself as an indispensable component in their joint customer journey.

Golvpoolen
In Golvpoolen’s large stores in Malmö, Helsingborg, Gothenburg and Stockholm you will find a very wide range at very competitive prices. Skilled employees are more than happy to help with tips and inspiration for customers buying floors, tiles and bathrooms.