Take advantage of the fact that more people are working from home today than ever before...
Living through a global pandemic impacted our daily lives in just about every way, especially how we work. The technology and tools to work from home have existed for decades, but now we’re using them at a record high.
Today, a large amount of people that can work from home are doing just that. Surveys show that 33% of employees now work remotely. Since working from home has become an option, many employees expect this to become common practice. In fact, a study published in Forbes reports that 74% of professionals believe remote work will become the new normal.
How does this matter to audio / video retailers? In this article we’ll discuss how your retail business can take advantage of this massive workforce shift.
Working from home has forced many people to redecorate and renovate their homes. There was even an office furniture shortage reported in the US in 2020. In addition to this, the absence of daily commuting has freed up tons of extra time in many peoples’ lives. All of these factors combined, inspired people to build offices in their homes and reorganize their homes to dedicate more space to entertainment activities.
This presents a fantastic opportunity for audio / video retailers to sell an increased number of products across three distinct categories: home office products, home entertainment products, and outdoor products.
Home Office Sales Strategy:
Rather than jumping right to the obvious audio products that might improve a customer’s home office, we recommend having a broader conversation about their home office setup. Show the customer that you understand what it means to work from home and share a few useful tips on how to improve their experience and professionalism. For example, if they use Zoom for video calls, recommend ways for them to step up both their video and audio quality.
Improve video: Most laptops have really poor cameras, so encourage customers to pick up a separate webcam for about $150. This will dramatically improve their video quality.
Improve lighting: Placing a lamp they already own in front of them during video calls will greatly improve the quality of how they look on video calls. If they’d like to take this a step further, suggest picking up a ‘video call light’ for $30-$70 that sits on their desk or attaches to their laptop. Good lighting is important even if you have an amazing camera.
Improve phone / video call audio: Explain the importance of a high-quality microphone built into headphones or earphones so that the person they’re speaking with can hear them clearly. The added benefit of using headphones in a home office is that the whole house doesn’t have to listen to their work calls. Higher quality headphones will allow their ears to feel less fatigue and will be much more comfortable to wear for extended periods.
Improve sound in general: A flexible home office setup should include both headphones / earphones and bookshelf speakers. This will enable your customer to use their speakers whenever possible and switch to their headphones when they don’t want to disturb anyone else in their home. As an added benefit they can enjoy higher quality audio when listening to music while working.
Home Entertainment Sales Strategy:
Engage your customers in conversation and ask as many questions as they are happy to answer. Asking questions accomplishes two goals: it shows the customer that you are interested in learning about them, plus questions often unlock additional sales opportunities. For example, how do they use their entertainment system - listen to music, watch movies or play video games? Do they have kids? What’s the size of their room? Based on their answers, you’ll be able to recommend products that are best suited for their personal needs.
We also recommend showing your expertise to customers by sharing tips on how to set up their systems. Most people enjoy gaining new knowledge and this approach goes a long way to forging a longer term relationship with your customers. Keep in mind that while some customers enjoy looking at their audio gear, many customers - especially those who suddenly started working from home last year - might prefer to keep their equipment hidden out of sight. This is especially true if the customer is setting up an entertainment system in a multi-use room such as a family room or a basement. Understanding this, will enable you to communicate the benefits of in-wall speakers and furniture that conceals components and… you guessed it, allow you to introduce the customer to your custom installation services.
Outdoor Audio / Video Sales Strategy:
With spring around the corner, this is of course a great time to sell wireless and outdoor speakers as people use their patios and balconies again. What you may not realize is that an increasing number of consumers are also setting up outdoor video systems. Due to on-going travel restrictions, people will be spending a lot more time in their outdoor spaces for the foreseeable future, and hence an investment in outdoor entertainment makes perfectly good sense.
Here again, consider that someone who works from a home office is a very different kind of customer compared to an audiophile. A “work from home” customer is likely more interested in a simple outdoor audio system that consists of one or two wireless speakers that they can control with their phone, rather than outdoor speakers powered by a separate amplifier / source. Your chance to increase your revenue in this category is to clearly explain - and demonstrate - to your customer the difference between a cheap wireless speaker and a high quality model.
And what about outdoor video systems? Consumers are setting up outdoor entertainment because we know it’s safer to spend time outside with family and friends these days. Most customers are not looking to set up high-end systems on their patios or in their backyards. Instead, most customers desire affordable solutions that include a projector, a screen, a streaming device like Roku or Apple TV and a pair of powered speakers. Show the customer that you understand their needs and you will easily gain their trust and earn their business.
How to Promote Your “Work From Home” Sales Strategies
As you might expect - before you can put the above sales strategies into action with your customers - you need to attract them to your website or physical store. We recommend coming up with a few advertising campaigns that connect specifically with people that work from home. Once you have a few ideas be sure to promote them on your website, in your store front and of course via email newsletters and social media.
Here are a few advertising campaign ideas:
- “The Work From Home Sales Event”
- “The Perfect Home Office Event”
- “Affordable Outdoor Audio That Sounds Amazing”
- “Affordable Outdoor Home Theater System Ideas”
- “Perfect Gifts For Moms That Work From Home”
- “Amazing Gifts For Dads That Work From Home”
One thing is sure, working from home is not going away any time soon. Use this guide as a launching point to connect with customers that work from home and establish long term relationships with them. The “work from home” environment presents lots of opportunities for you to introduce your audio retail business to new customers… all you need to do is follow the advice in this article.
If you’d like to learn more about how to increase your sales as an audio retailer, check out our growing list of marketing articles in our Tips & Guides section of our Blog page.