UPDATE: September 30, 2016--According to John Alexander and Pat Mejia, their recent open house in June netted them between $150,000 and $200,000 in new business--"...and that is still growing!" Usually it takes between six and nine months to realize the new business, but John and Pat say that it has accelerated faster with this open house.
When John Alexander and Pat Mejia are asked “…why an open house?” their answers are nearly identical. Both of them say it’s critical to the business: they need to give their current customers a chance to see what they can do “in the shop.”
John says he likes the open house concept because most of his customers come to DaVinci for one thing—whether it’s service, equipment, new technology or wide format color. But with an open house, he can take the time to educate his customer base and show them what DaVinci can do on another level. “I am looking for that ‘Aha’ moment from my customer.” Plus, he compares an open house with the “shop tours” during ReproMAX conferences. “I like seeing other shops and what they do, and my customers like seeing my shop too.”
Pat says “DaVinci is an information provider, we either do it verbally or visually. We store or distribute it but we provide information.”
Social media and an online presence is a favorite topic at DaVinci. “We integrated social media completely about five years ago. We’re involved in it, it’s an integral part of our company. You need to hire people either part-time or full time to get the job done. We have found excellent ways to market our website.”
Open House Play-by-Play:
- Participants at the open house are given a detailed tour of the facility, with part of the building devoted to printing and graphic production and the other part of the building dedicated to equipment sales. Customers can see the wide range of Canon and HP equipment available.
- A wall decor demonstration was part of this year's open house.
- DaVinci has partnered with Virtutecture LLC to provide 3D scanning with virtual reality interaction for their customers. Demonstrated at the Open House by Tracy Ford, Founder, he is keeping busy by providing 3D virtual reality walk throughs for houses to help real estate sell. He is calling on architecture firms as
well to help them utilize these technologies.
- At the open house on Thursday, DaVinci was awarded the Silver Plus Partner Award from Canon Solutions America. This award is in
recognition of attaining a certain target level of sales and an acknowledgement of the variety of products purchased. The award was presented by Josh Clemons, Dealer Sales Executive for Canon Solutions America.
- DaVinci has timed their open house events to occur usually over a two-day period, and clients can stay as long as they want. Lunch (of course) is served.
Bottom line? John Alexander and Pat Mejia say they realize more business from existing clients and they always pick up new customers as a result of their open houses.