Sinks as a Sales Tool
It’s hard to believe that by adding something you can make things easier on yourself. But, if you’re specializing in kitchen countertops, having a line of sinks on hand to sell – or even give away – can greatly increase your own convenience.
Rather than waiting around while the customer supplies a sink from somewhere else and possibly delay a job for weeks, having a selection of sinks in the showroom can make you a hero to that overstressed buyer and get the job out the door days faster.
Nor is it a difficult product to get into. Shops already offering sinks say that suppliers are clamoring for a place to market their wares.
TREMENDOUS CONVENIENCE
Paul White of Cache Valley Counter Tops Inc., in Richmond, Utah, says while it’s nice to claim you’re offering one-stop shopping to your customers, having sinks on-hand really simplifies things for the shop, too.
“Regardless of the job, we have to get our hands on the sink, and we require having it in-shop,” he says. “It’s a whole lot easer for us than waiting for the customer to track down a sink and deliver it. Plus, if we’re selling the sink, we already have templates made for it.”
Cache Valley offered sinks for years through its solid-surface business. When the company added stone and natural-quartz fabrication, it was a natural step to sell sinks for stone products as well, White contends. One of the lines of sinks the business offers came from the DuPont distributor who sells them Zodiaq®.
“They realized we were selling slabs of material and the customer has to buy a sink somewhere, so why not sell those, too,” says White. “Another of our suppliers sells us solid-surface sinks which we integrate into stone.”
Dave Spicher of Solid Surface Specialist LLC agrees that it’s an idea that’s been used by some of natural stone’s competitors with great success. The Waynesville, N.C.-based fabricator says he used to include sinks when he was selling solid-surface products. After selling his business – and then un-retiring – he realized the same thing could be done with the stone industry as a marketing tool.
“Sinks have almost become a commodity product for solid surface anymore,” he says. “And, when any of the big-box suppliers runs a sink promotion – regardless of what product they’re pushing – their business immediately jumps up.”