As the heat of summer fades and chilly autumn breezes blow in, your customers may have questions about preparing their hot tub for winter.
While shutting down a hot tub for winter isn’t necessary, those who plan to leave their tub unattended for the winter months need to know the steps. Googling it works but learning it from you is far better. When they look at information provided by your store (with your name and logo on top), they will be reminded that you are the experts, so it’s worth the investment.
Handouts
Keep it simple. The information can be split into two brochures or single-sheet handouts for winter shutdown or just cold weather prep.
It should be written in sequential, bullet-point sentences and list any necessary products, with a full shopping list at the bottom. Consider printing handouts on high-quality, thick paper and storing them in sturdy envelopes. Of course, add your logo and all contact information on the front along with a larger, bold heading of what’s contained in the envelope.
Everyone who purchases a hot tub should get these instructions and consider giving them to customers who come in for chemicals and supplies. This is a win-win: inexpensive yet excellent public relations as well as memorable service.
In-store winterization
Every store has a power aisle — the major aisle customers gravitate to as they enter your building. If you have a main door, it’s relatively easy to figure out which way customers are walking through your space. You can also hire a company specializing in customer behavior research like Envirosell to determine this for you or have employees map how customers move through the store.
Once you identify the power aisle, stock it with winterization products and update it for holidays or seasonal shifts. Help customers find it by flanking it on both sides with endcaps stating something like “winter prep.”
Below the sign, stock several products that are “musts” for proper winterization, and farther down the aisle, stock products by category and use logical adjacencies. For example, if you’re selling space heaters, have several types of heaters next to each other. Thermal and winterizing blankets as well as towel and robe heaters are great add-on products.
Winter safety products are also a natural fit for this aisle, including weatherproof rugs, hurricane straps, water pipe insulation covers and small backup generators (gas or battery-operated).
Chemicals need their own section near or in the power aisle. You can stock them in boxes with several containers pulled out and placed on top of the boxes. Adding small bullet-pointed cards explaining the purpose and benefits of each chemical will help customers of all experience levels feel more informed.
Online winterization information
Whatever you have printed, make sure it’s on your website, too. As winter looms, winterization information belongs on the front page. This can be a link to the more extensive pages that contain your printable handouts, your products that can be purchased online and deeper dives into how-to’s for installation of more complicated products.
Become the go-to
It takes commitment to create an entire gondola, wall or endcap. It means moving products from those spaces to somewhere else. People tend to hate change — that goes for your staff as well as your customers — but when you create a power aisle, you showcase what your customers need now.
If you commit to becoming the go-to place for all things winterization, your reputation will spread from one hot tub owner to the next. No matter how easy online shopping is, touching and feeling something will never go out of style. Inspiring your customers to buy what they need by showcasing it all in the same area will make it easy for them to stay safe and warm.