Should I wait until ''the home show'' to buy a spa

[solo]

I have heard that you are much more likely to get a deal on a spa if you buy one at your cities "home show".  

True?

The home show will be here in about a month.  By then I will have wet tested all the spas I care to look at and should know exactly what I want.  

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Either that or wait till the end of the year closeout sales. Or just wait till next year all together and pick up a 07 model on even more of a discount.  

Or just keep posting questions and never buy one at all.   Kidding of course!!  

[Vinny]

NO!

That could be the worse place to buy unless the local dealer is there.

As Jim said, the end of year is coming and sometimes you can find a great buy. Unfortunately tubs have gone up a lot in a few years.

[Steve]

Homeshows are great to buy a spa at. There's a catch though...

Have all your research done by then and have a good idea of the model you want. Most homeshows are attended by local spa retailers but as Vinny mentioned, stay clear of the fly by night/come to the city to sell a bunch of spas sort of companies.

Dealers pay a premium to attend these shows and staff them so there's motivation to sell spas. We use to have our best deals and prices at the big spring and fall home shows and sold many spas this way.

Do your homework first and then go see how willing they are to make a deal. Having a firm quote prior to the show to go in with would be helpful to determine just how good the "show special" is.

Steve

[Mendocino101]

I would say the very best time to buy a spa is when your ready, Home shows can be great but as it has been mentioned here they can also be the absolute wrong place to buy a tub or any high ticket item, I firmly believe that most dealers want to earn your business 365 days a year and will work to find you a value and most can help you find a way to save money almost anytime of the year. The cost to do off site events, fairs, home shows, etc can be very costly to a dealer and most will be able to match any off site pricing on a show room floor. But if you know what you want and they offer some legitimate special at a event than it might be OK as well....

[Steve]

Which begs the question, why go in a home show, fair or off site event if you're not going to provide additional REAL value for these, right?

It's true that dealers want to earn your business throughout the year but everyone has sales and they only contain real value if there is a clear start and end date with real value over and above your day to day selling price.

Steve

[Vanguard]

Which begs the question, why go in a home show, fair or off site event if you're not going to provide additional REAL value for these, right?

It's true that dealers want to earn your business throughout the year but everyone has sales and they only contain real value if there is a clear start and end date with real value over and above your day to day selling price.

Steve

I would say dealers go for a couple of reasons:
  
     1.  A lot of customers in one place can drive a lot of additional sales.
     2.  An opportunity to get your name out to a lot of people at one time.

Other reasons exist, but these are some of the primary reasons.

[East_TX_Spa]

I would say dealers go for a couple of reasons:
  
     1.  A lot of customers in one place can drive a lot of additional sales.
     2.  An opportunity to get your name out to a lot of people at one time.

Other reasons exist, but these are some of the primary reasons.

Yep, we do several offsite events/year.  The pricing offered at the events is the same as the pricing offered at the store.  Like Vanguard said, it is simply an opportunity for us to get more exposure in front of large crowds.  We're setting up tomorrow for the Gregg County Fair all next week.  I LOVE working at the fair.  It's like visiting the cantina in Star Wars.

Terminator

[Steve]

I can’t speak for spa dealers throughout North America but I can tell you that Home Shows in Western Canada have changed a great deal over the years.

We use to attend 4 shows a year back in the early 90’s and in 3 days we would sell upwards of 30-35 spas. Well worth it considering the cost to attend them was reasonable back then.

Homeshows have changed and when looking after my dealers in Western Canada, this new trend became obvious and we had to make adjustments in our thought process and truly gain an understanding of what we were attempting to do based on each individual dealer.

Homeshows are no longer “sales driven events” here but rather an opportunity for exposure. The costs to attend these has risen dramatically over the years never mind the pure labor it takes to set up, have staff for the store and show and then tear down. Home show sales dropped for all spa dealers and many began investing that money and effort into alternate sales driven events. I’m all for ways to drive traffic to the store and having parking lot events but it really depends on what the dealer is attempting to accomplish. Exposure or sales?

If you are a long time dealer in a city, a homeshow is waste of money and has been here for a number of years. Newer dealers trying to gain exposure can gain good leads at these shows and manage them over time but if you’re going to offer the same value at a show, pay all the costs associated with a show and create no real value or time sensitive offer, then why not spend that money for an event that drives traffic to [size=14]your[/size] store as opposed to a show with 5 or 6 other dealers?

What would be the benefit to have a prospect come to a homeshow and see the same value he saw a month ago?  :-/

I’m sure I’m going to hear that some of you still have great success at homeshows and in the US, that may be true. Here though…it is far different now. Times change and the truly successful dealers change with those times and get creative. It has become far more competitive and doing what you did 5 or 10 years ago may not be the answer anymore.

This is just my observation based on many years in sales in Western Canada and I’m not suggesting anyone read too much into this…

Steve

[hottubdan]

Steve,

Great points.  As a macro statement, you are spot on.  As you said, there are still pockets of success, but, by and large, a Home Show is a lead generating device for dealers...

unless you are a rape and pillage outfit that sells cheap and offers minnimal support.  Without retail and support, cost of business changes and they can sell cheap.  Might not be sustainable, but...

[East_TX_Spa]

All of the offsite events we do, we are the only spa company participating with the exception of a couple of years ago when the Dynasty dealer set up a couple of spas at the home show.  We simply view it as an opportunity for people to learn about our products and plant a seed in their mind towards considering ownership of a spa.

The boat show is usually the best.  Over the course of 3 days, we usually sell 5-8 spas.  The $7-8K price tag looks pretty good to momma next to a $35K bass boat.

If someone wants to buy one of our display models, we will sometimes take $100 off the price.  Folks like getting good deals!

Terminator

[Steve]

Steve,

Great points.  As a macro statement, you are spot on.  As you said, there are still pockets of success, but, by and large, a Home Show is a lead generating device for dealers...

unless you are a rape and pillage outfit that sells cheap and offers minnimal support.  Without retail and support, cost of business changes and they can sell cheap.  Might not be sustainable, but...

You betcha my friend! Not to mention that this is the same reason why some manufacturers bring in the big "closers" to these events. Not the most pleasureable atmosphere for sales in my opinion.

Part of the reason why I've been around these forums for years is to gain an understanding of how the industry works as a whole. It's interesting to see that some dealers attend these shows with no added value. I'd be curious to learn more how Term shows value. My thought proccess was to have a variable pricing strategy for my dealers for day to day sales and for event sales. A profit margin for each strategy would be predetermined.

Understanding that we would target our leads as a main source of buyers (hence the importance of managing leads properly) and that advertising and exposure would bring others in too, if we couldn't show added value with a "buy now" concept with an end date, there would be no point to attend the event or reason to puchase.

We weren't big "closers" but instead offered real value at event sales which often would make up upwards of 75% of anual sales. We would take a small deposit at the event to "hold the sale or promotion" which was always totally refundable. This gave the consumer time to think about it and feel comfortable with the purchase rather than being forced into a buying decision at the show. We would then make an appointment to see them at their home or at the store to go over all the deatils and answer any questions they may have. At that time they can continue the proccess or cancel. It was very laid back and it worked to our advantage and theirs.

Because of the "fly by night" outfits that did attend some shows, sell cheap and offer no after sales service, this hurt everyone involved and "show buying" became a no-no.

Steve

[Steve]

All of the offsite events we do, we are the only spa company participating with the exception of a couple of years ago when the Dynasty dealer set up a couple of spas at the home show.  We simply view it as an opportunity for people to learn about our products and plant a seed in their mind towards considering ownership of a spa.

The boat show is usually the best.  Over the course of 3 days, we usually sell 5-8 spas.  The $7-8K price tag looks pretty good to momma next to a $35K bass boat.

If someone wants to buy one of our display models, we will sometimes take $100 off the price.  Folks like getting good deals!

Terminator

Nothing wrong with exposure and gaining leads...

Care to share the cost of these events for your store to attend?

$100 bucks eh?   SIGN ME UP!

[East_TX_Spa]

Boat Show in January-  $700 for 5 10 x 10 booths

Home Show in February- $2000 for 6 10 x 10 booths

Alley Fest- $2500 for 40 x 60 tent and all the beer we can drink

Balloon Race- $2500 for 40 x 60 tent

Gregg County Fair- $1500 for 60 x 60 booth and free ride passes all week!

That's just what we do in Longview.  We do other similiar events in Tyler and Shreveport.  It is so much fun getting out of the store and talking to people from all over East Texas.  What a great job!

Terminator

[ndabunka]

Boat Show in January-  $700 for 5 10 x 10 booths

Home Show in February- $2000 for 6 10 x 10 booths

Alley Fest- $2500 for 40 x 60 tent and all the beer we can drink

Balloon Race- $2500 for 40 x 60 tent

Gregg County Fair- $1500 for 60 x 60 booth and free ride passes all week!

That's just what we do in Longview.  We do other similiar events in Tyler and Shreveport.  It is so much fun getting out of the store and talking to people from all over East Texas.  What a great job!

Terminator

I just have to add this sense term didn't include it as the #1 reason to attend shows...
Opportunity to work "closely" with select Hydrotherapy technicians....PRICELESS!