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”.