May 22/29, 2017: Volume 31, Issue 25
By Lindsay Baillie
Digital lead generation and management systems are beginning to eat away at traditional forms of collecting leads as consumers continue to use their electronic devices to search and shop for products. As online shopping becomes easier and more popular, experts say it is crucial for businesses to capture leads online.
To help the flooring retailer tap into digital lead generation and management, various systems have been developed to create cost-effective solutions that are also easy to use. Following is a sampling of what’s available:
Armstrong
Armstrong Flooring was among the first flooring manufacturers to connect consumers shopping the web with Elite destination showrooms back in 2008. It was also among the first in the industry to drive consumer traffic to aligned retailers through a co-branded lead-generation program with Houzz in 2016.
“Our own consumer marketing initiatives help guide consumers through their purchase journey to select the right product for their application and style,” said Tom Cole, senior channel marketing manager. “We utilize a broad suite of tools, including digital marketing, media and influencer relationships, product placement in top home and lifestyle television shows and magazines, social media and email campaigns that reach thousands of new subscribers every month.”
Armstrong’s lead-generating tools include: consumer promotions, downloadable digital POP during consumer promotions, priority ranking on web “Find a Store” locator, “Contact Us” on ArmstrongFlooring.com, leads from web coupon promotions, customizable co-branded landing page, local digital advertising, leads through free consumer sample swatch, leads through recorded phone calls and a link to retailer websites from armstrongflooring.com.
In addition, Armstrong’s Advertising & Promotion Center (APC) is part of a one-stop marketing hub designed to help retailers close the sale and drive store traffic. “Armstrongconnect.com has become a key destination for our dealers to access the APC and also learn first-hand about Armstrong Flooring’s new and exciting product offerings,” Cole said. “The site features content, including product information, videos, sell-sheets, launch info, warranties and images. The site also acts as a portal, allowing users to connect to Armstrong Assets, FloorExpert and eClaims. Since information may need to be accessed anywhere and at any time, the site is completely mobile-enabled and can be viewed on several different mobile devices.”
FloorForce
Lead-generation systems come in all shapes and sizes ranging from running ad campaigns on Google and Facebook to all-encompassing strategies that capture consumers throughout the shopping experience. FloorForce offers the latter and provides flooring retailers with the tools necessary to reach consumers and generate leads throughout all phases of the consumer’s journey.
The company is currently offering its fifth-generation website solution, which helps retailers with their digital presence.
“From there we can help retailers reach consumers in the beginning of the buyers journey or awareness stage with blog posts, directory listings and creating rich informational pages on their website,” said John Weller, co-founder of FloorForce. “During the consideration phase of the buyer’s journey we help retailers engage with consumers through 24/7 live chat, targeted remarking on Facebook and Google with subtle calls to action to learn more about the information they have expressed interest based on the data we have collected from their previous online actions. Lastly, we drive consumers in the purchasing phase of the buyer’s journey to targeted landing pages and specific product or service offers that speak directly to the product or service that her previous actions online lets us know she is interested in and ready to buy.”
FloorForce’s No. 1 differentiator in generating leads for its clients is its data and how the company uses it. “Through our websites, relationships with Google, Facebook and many other data sources we now have data on millions of consumers actively searching for flooring,” Weller explained. “FloorForce is dedicated to leveraging our industry insights to create industry specific digital marketing solutions to put our clients products and their brands directly in front of the right consumers at exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, in all phases of the flooring buyer’s journey.”
Flooring Success Systems
If done correctly, digital lead generation has the ability save retailers time, energy and money as well as bring in the highest value prospects. This is according to Jim Augustus Armstrong, FCNews columnist and president of Flooring Success Systems, who recommends flooring retailers focus first on past customers.
“The best leads are your hot leads, which are your past customers because they’re the only people on the planet who have proven they’ll buy flooring from you,” he explained. “There is no other list that will be more effective to market to than past customers.”
Flooring Success Systems also has retailers look at their referral sources such as past customers and other businesses who send referrals (designers, remodelers, carpet cleaning companies, etc.). After a business has established a system to reach its warm market, the company works with the business to connect with new customers.
“We not only help retailers get leads, we train them on how to maximize the results they get by closing more sales,” Armstrong said. “I’ve seen good campaigns not get good result because the salespeople mess it up. We train [the salespeople] and give them systems to get referrals and systems to continue marketing to those people, so they stay in front of those customers.”
Mohawk
Described as the company’s “omni-channel solution,” Mohawk’s Omnify provides an organized platform for retailers to nurture leads. Through the use of a lead-generation system like Omnify, leads are collected and driven to a lead center where they are filtered for relevancy and then sent to the retailers.
“As a digital leader in the flooring industry, we are very committed to the growth of our lead-generation programs,” said Mollie Surratt, senior director of public relations, social media and inbound marketing, Mohawk Industries. “Omnify is going to take the lead generation opportunity for our retailers to the next level.”
What makes Omnify unique, the company said, is that it provides retailers with a host of solutions to help them communicate with the consumer throughout her consumer journey. Through Omnify retailers have access to various programs including Lead Booster, paid search programs and Realtor connect programs—to name a few.
“Omnify is for retailers who understand the value of the digital space,” said Austin Messerman, marketing brand manager, Mohawk Industries. “It’s for those who understand how important it is to engage with their customers digitally.”
Retail Lead Management
Named after its key feature, Retail Lead Management provides flooring retailers a digital platform to manage their leads. This system looks to help retailers that are using lead generating systems in addition to gathering leads on their own to organize those leads.
“You’re spending money on digital [marketing] to hopefully be able to turn those leads into sales,” said Jason Goldberg, CEO, Retail Lead Management. “If you’re paying money to generate leads but you don’t have a system to manage those leads then you are wasting your money. Through [Retail Lead Management] you can see all the leads you are handling and can manage them all the way through the sales cycle to the close of a sale.”
Through the cloud-based system, a retailer can see where leads are coming from and assign them to salespeople—all of which can be done on any device, at any time. Goldberg explained the management system allows the retailer to not only manage leads, but salespeople as well.
Touted as a simple, two-page system, all of Retail Lead Management’s features are less than $20 per user per month.
For retailers interested in lead management systems, Goldberg suggests the following: “If you’re a retailer, don’t get a system that is built for b2b because that’s just asking for no adoption rate by your team. Look for something that is made for retailers, cloud based and price effective. Find a system that will be adopted by your sales team.”
Stanton Carpet
Similar to other flooring manufacturers, Stanton Carpet has a lead-generation system available to its dealers. By using the company’s system, retailers have a greater opportunity to drive traffic to their stores and help their staff generate new business.
“Our website has a dealer locator and allows users to request consultations,” said Ayme Sinclair, marketing director, Stanton Carpet. “It also allows users to reach out to our dealers directly about future carpet purchases.”
Once a lead is generated, Sinclair suggests retailers act fast to close the deal. “Follow up quickly and make sure you have the right person on the receiving end of the leads. It seems rather simple, but wonderful customer service is highly valued and can keep a new customer loyal for years.”