Life's a beach: a Florida dealer turns his hot retail showroom into a cool customer experience

Pool & Spa News, June 4, 2004 by Sharon Edry

A true grand opening should be at least a week long, asserts Nils Erickson, owner of Erickson Custom Pools & Spas in Florida. The grand opening of his Daytona store and showroom in March 2004 was "unreal," recalls Erickson, who took a full Saturday to Saturday to introduce his new hot tub showroom to the community.

"You need to promote brand awareness," he says. "You've got one chance to come out of the blocks when you do the initial opening, and it needs to be loud."

Here's what the firm did to generate excitement:

1 Target multimedia promotions.

Grand opening commercials ran on cable television and a local morning radio talk show, heavily promoting the new store as well as a hot-tub giveaway. Coupons were put into newsprint ads--customers had to fill out the coupon and put it into a box in the store. Then the morning talk show celebrity host came with her crew and did a rive radio remote, where she announced the winner.

Approximately 300 people entered the giveaway, and all those names and addresses had direct-mail pieces sent to them. "You can't measure the buzz on that, so many people said they heard about it on the radio," Erickson says. "But I know we've sold at least one hot tub because of the direct-mail piece, and I'm sure we'll sell more."

2 Host a private party for vendors and manufacturers.

Erickson held an exclusive meet-and-greet event--complete with a big white tent, catered dinner, open bar and tours of the store--just for the company's vendors and manufacturers.

While certainly generous, it's all part of the grand-opening plan, he explains. "It gets you national attention. And you really get to network within the industry and talk to top people in manufacturing," he says. "it makes your company more known and valuable."

3 Plan a grand-opening sale and party.

Erickson arranged for the local gas company to come in for free with a big gas grill, and he provided hot dogs and other refreshments to customers for a two-clay grand-opening sale.

Extra salespeople were brought in so that anyone who wanted a quote on a pool or hot tub could sit down leisurely and get what they needed--and leave with a smile.

Even though the "grand opening" is over,

Erickson considers the entire first year the store is open to be part of the opening. "You've got to get your name out there in the first year, especially with all the money you invest."

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned, which is easily arranged through the local chain bet of commerce, and should result in additional newspaper coverage. Another hot-tub giveaway will happen over the summer, and a Hawaiian luau clearance sale will end the cycle.

--S.E.

Margi Millunzi contributed to this article.