The first thing that caught my eye is the headline.
"Crazy Sales Now!"
I was curious to find out how crazy exactly is the sale.
Of course, nobody would bother looking at this ad if he or she is not considering renovating house NOW.
The sale is indeed crazy. The company is selling items below factory cost. Doesn't this mean that they are making a loss? Well, no businesses will make a loss without the opportunity to earn a profit from some other areas. And this will most likely come from their renovation services.
They went on to list the benefits of free one year home insurance cover of $350,000 and purchase of 55ft of promotional items. Then they further offer 70% discount for regular priced items.
The next interesting part is this:
"Hurry up...we need sales!!!! We don't want profits!!!! You will regret if you don't come..."
Follow that are nine black and white photos of finishing and cabinets with their prices.
And they have a "Renovate First Pay Later" scheme for those who want to sell their houses & En Bloc owners.
Next, they list more reassurance like all cabinets in laminated finish, etc.
Now, what do you think of their promises? On first look, it seems that they've got all the concerns of a prospect have when dealing with a interior design and renovation company covered.
Lousy workmanship, delay in completion, use of inferior materials passed of as high quality ones, dealing with renovation companies after sales are some of the issues customers have with them. And these are often the issues that give the industry a bad name.
On first look, it seems to be doing all the right things. It's reassuring to a prospect to have a company promising this and that. However, as a customer, the greatest fear is not not having promises. The greatest fear is what happens when promises are not kept.
How many times were you disappointed by what a company promised you but not kept?
Did the company tell the customer what happens if renovation is delayed? What course of action a customer has? What will the company do? Will there be any compensation if customer incurred additional costs if renovation is delayed?
In fact, some of the promises do not make any sense. How do you promise 100% extraordinary design? How will a customer know how good is your workmanship until problems start appearing? How do customer know that you are using superior materials? Are there ways for customers to check and verify? And what is 100% after sale service?
The photos do not help much in selling. First, it's black and white so you can't tell the look and feel except how the items will look like. Second, because it's black and white, everything looks the same. For example, you could probably swap picture number 1 and 2 and reader will still not be able to tell any difference.
Unless the intention of the pictures is to give a prospect the prices so that he or she can compare it with other renovation companies. But this doesn't serve any useful purpose too. I can bet that 10 out of 10 competitors will tell you that you have to look at the quality for the prices.
Now back to the "Hurry up... we need sales!!! we don't want profits!!!!! You will regret if you don't come.."
As a customer, will you believe what they say? If your defence mechanism is strong, you'll most likely see a 400 pound gangster with his axe standing there ready to chop off your head. And the worst is telling prospects that they will regret for not doing what they tell you to.
Furthermore, most prospects are greenhorns when it comes to renovation works. They may be able to tell the difference between a good finishing and a poor finishing but they cannot tell the difference between a grade A and grade B granite. Why make it a hassle and ask them to go compare prices? And when you ask them go compare prices, aren't you encouraging them to shop based on price?
One last thing, when you are offering something that is really crazy, what's your reason? Did you overorder? Do you have new stocks coming in? Are they inferior products that you are clearing?
So will I get ripped off buying promotional items through their other services?
P.S. By the way, how much is 55ft?