How Can a Young Festool Dealer Increase Awareness???

[IndivisibleHardwoods]

Hey Guys, my name is Jarod, and I am the owner of Indivisible Hardwoods in Scottsdale, AZ. We have been a Festool dealer for more than a year now, and I have been a Festool FANATIC my entire woodworking life. We have the 2nd biggest inventory in Arizona, and the No. 1 most impressive Festool display in the world, guaranteed!

I want to ask you guys, what do you think is the best way to elevate local awareness and increase Festool sales?

 

[ChuckM]

Any pic of the display?

 

[Cheese]

Any pic of the display?

+1

Let's see where you're starting from.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

How do you advertise the business in the first place? If it is just about a specific brand awareness, the big display seems like the best thing for your regular foot-traffic, but that may not be the whole picture.
Do you have any kind of on-line presence? Open House type events, where you invite some brand representatives?  That's pretty common here. There is usually a Woodworking Show, at a big indoor venue, every winter. The core group of vendors travel between the destination cities, but they rent spaces to local retailers too. One of the dealers here, sometimes does both. They have a booth, at the show, and an open house too.

What about the customers you dohave? Are they cabinet shop guys? Installers? Contractors? Hobby woodworkers?

I live in a large metro area, where there are several companies that specialize in sub-contracting the installation of commercial cabinets, countertops, trim, etc. Maybe appeal to them, in some way?

 

[onocoffee]

Like Crazy asks, what kinds of customers do you have? I think it's a good idea to have demo events where you show people the power of the tools. Let them see what it can do. Let them have a feel for it. Put out that DeWalt or Ryobi sander that they're used to and have them use it head-to-head with the ETS EC or Rotex. Show them why they MUST have Festool.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Like Crazy asks, what kinds of customers do you have? I think it's a good idea to have demo events where you show people the power of the tools. Let them see what it can do. Let them have a feel for it. Put out that DeWalt or Ryobi sander that they're used to and have them use it head-to-head with the ETS EC or Rotex. Show them why they MUST have Festool.

Yes, and maybe some of the less familiar. The MFK700 is a fantastic tool, yet very few seem to know what it can do.

 

[Duckler]

Hey Guys, my name is Jarod, and I am the owner of Indivisible Hardwoods in Scottsdale, AZ. We have been a Festool dealer for more than a year now, and I have been a Festool FANATIC my entire woodworking life. We have the 2nd biggest inventory in Arizona, and the No. 1 most impressive Festool display in the world, guaranteed!

I want to ask you guys, what do you think is the best way to elevate local awareness and increase Festool sales?

You say that you have been in the Festool dealer business for a year? Like 12 months? 365 days?
I have to wonder how honest you are...because this does not pass the smell test.
Now, my sense of smell is not very good. But HOW could you have ONLY joined FOG in January 2025? And so on.
I realize that I my approach is not very gracious (and I hope I don't get banned). But seriously.
BTW - many of the people here are a nice and willing to help. But, your initial post seems kind of short on genuineness.
[posted with a minimum of reflection .... and a good dose of what-do-you-really-think?]

 

[waho6o9]

Invite GCs, business owners, Hobbyists to your shop.
Go to job sites, and meet more folks thru networking.
Why not have Festools on your Yelp page?
May you have good fortune going forward!

 

[Packard]

Know your own product line really, really well.

And know your competitors line better than they do.

Knowledge is power.

Study all the spec sheets on all Festool’s tools.  Know when where Festool has an edge over the competition.

Know what operations Festool excels at.

Know the prices of all your products without having to look them up.  Know your competition’s prices too.

 

[peter halle]

Hey Guys, my name is Jarod, and I am the owner of Indivisible Hardwoods in Scottsdale, AZ. We have been a Festool dealer for more than a year now, and I have been a Festool FANATIC my entire woodworking life. We have the 2nd biggest inventory in Arizona, and the No. 1 most impressive Festool display in the world, guaranteed!

I want to ask you guys, what do you think is the best way to elevate local awareness and increase Festool sales?

You say that you have been in the Festool dealer business for a year? Like 12 months? 365 days?
I have to wonder how honest you are...because this does not pass the smell test.
Now, my sense of smell is not very good. But HOW could you have ONLY joined FOG in January 2025? And so on.
I realize that I my approach is not very gracious (and I hope I don't get banned). But seriously.
BTW - many of the people here are a nice and willing to help. But, your initial post seems kind of short on genuineness.
[posted with a minimum of reflection .... and a good dose of what-do-you-really-think?]

[member=72074]Duckler[/member] , Certainly not a gracious welcome, and if being a member here was a test for being a legit dealer - well then there wouldn't be many dealers on that legit list in comparison to the total dealers out there today.

[member=82801]IndivisibleHardwoods[/member] , Welcome to the FOG! and congratulations on becoming a dealer!  I will try and visit your store in February when I come to a conference mid month and hopefully I can meet you.

How to gain traction and stand out better?  From a local standpoint - do what the other Festool dealers in your geographical area don't do.  Although it comes at a cost - maintain inventory of consumables (nothing pisses me off more than running out of sandpaper due to poor planning and find out I can't get it locally that day or the next), make sure that anyone and everyone who interacts with customers looking at Festool products is educated on the tool.  Demo your tools regularly and have them making noise when you expect foot traffic.  Hearing tools operating sparks interest and interest sells.  Make sure you have all the common blade styles for your demo blades and demo them with the correct blade.  Allow customers to demo tools under supervision if your insurance allows.  Try and get into the schools and maker spaces  You might not be able to sell them but there are always parents and members. Never make a promise you can't keep, undersell expectations and over perform.  Keep your website active and if you sell via online ship quickly and with better than Festool packing.  You wouldn't believe how Bob Marino impressed his customers with bubble wrap inside of systainers to keep tools from rattling around and even at times double boxing heavy or awkward packages.  Be humble, listen to your customers before you. try to sell.

Good Luck and hopefully we will meet in February.

Peter

 

[James Carriere]

Know your own product line really, really well.

And know your competitors line better than they do.

Knowledge is power.

Study all the spec sheets on all Festool’s tools.  Know when where Festool has an edge over the competition.

Know what operations Festool excels at.

Know the prices of all your products without having to look them up.  Know your competition’s prices too.

+1 to what Packard has said.  It's astonishing how many times sales people have no clue about the tools you are asking about, what accessories are available, and often how the tools work.  You say you're a fanatic and therefore likely you already have this knowledge but it is very important that everyone working with you knows these things too.  Use the tools, understand what they can and cannot do and study the catalog.  One important point which I don't hear discussed at my local dealers is that Festool is systems based.  To get there maximum value out of the tools adopting the system overall is important. Selling the efficiency is part of the value of the tools.  Yes individual tools stand on their own but the fact that everything is compatible with everything else in the system is an important feature. 

Many of us have options of more than one dealer to choose from and many of us need to order items online due to local inventory constraints.  Be the expert, provide excellent and consistent quality service and people will gravitate to you on their own.  I never had the fortune of working with Bob Marino who was on the opposite side of the country from me and yet I know who he is and am sorry he is retired.  Be that type of dealer.

 

[Packard]

When I was right out of college, I was working as a salesman for what we call today S.I.P.s.  (Structural Insulated Panels) that were used to make 4 season room additions in a day or less.

We had a competitor (just one) and I knew their product line better than their salesman did (or so I was told by the customers).

What surprised me was they used a different fire rating spec than we did.  We both had U.L. Approvals, but for different specs. 

So, one day I was driving by a large building in Farmingdale, NY (Long Island) and the sign on the building said “U.L. Testing Laboratory”.  I stopped in. 

The fire rating they were using was “self extinguishing” but for horizontal panels only.  So their roof panels were O.K., but the wall panels were not. 

Self extinguishing means that if you remove the source of the flame, the material will then stop burning.  In vertical panels the source of the flame is the panel itself once it is ignited.

We had the appropriate fire rating.  I absolutely destroyed our competitor every place I visited. 

So know your competitors’ products.  Someone might want to go into a line of work for which the competitors’ products were ill equipped.  Pointing that out to a customer could save him money, anguish and time. 

First, memorize every piece of literature the Festool produces.  Watch all their videos.  Then do the same for each of your competitors products. 

Save a customer from making a mistake once, and he will be a customer for life.