Looking for the best location to open a new shed lot seems easy enough, but here are a few tips you might want to consider when expanding your operation.
The best location to put a shed lot depends on several important factors that few may think about.
First off is making sure there is enough of the population in the area to support your local small business.
Using free tools like Google to look at the population where you would like to open a shed lot is a great idea to make an informed decision about whether the area will support your new endeavor.
The second would be the actual location of the shed lot. Make sure that you drive through the area from all different directions and try to envision where would be the best possible spot to open your new sales lot.
We have noticed finding a crossroads with a stop light is one of the best ways to promote your location without having to spend a lot of money on paid advertisement. This lets people stop and look at your lot without you even paying for that exposure.
Third, look at the location’s proximity to the town you are closest to. We have noticed in our businesses that the closer to the center of town, the more traffic we have seen come through our lot.
When you took the time to drive around the area earlier, you should have noticed that there are always parts of the town that would not be a good place just for the simple fact that the town is not growing in that direction or it may have a higher probability for crime.
Make sure to consider all these things when putting down roots in a new town.
Fourth, your next question may be “How large of a piece of property do I need?” The saying “bigger is better” holds true here.
We like to hold that size as close to a minimum of 1 acre to accommodate the number of sheds you should carry on your lot at any given time.
If you have 10 sheds on your lot, you’re most likely going to sell fewer sheds than if you have 50 sheds on your lot.
Keeping your inventory toward the front of the lot nearest the road makes for great advertising as thousands of potential buyers stop just outside your place of business.
Shake things up. Don’t let your inventory sit in the same place very long as this causes your local clients to stop looking at your lot, and, possibly, they won’t even consider buying a shed from you.
If you have a carport or garage display on your lot, make sure that your vehicle is visible and it shows that your lot is ready to do business (banners, feather flags, and inflatable air dancers draw attention toward your lot).
Now that you have found the right spot for your new shed lot, the next step is going to be staffing your location. This step can have such an impact on your business.
Finding an employee from the local area will help you to have an instant connection with the community. Sales is a relationship and having someone from the local area who knows those people will cause your new location to be able to break down those walls of defense that always comes whenever something is new.
Trust is earned, and when you are not from the area, it will take longer to gain that trust.
When looking for an employee, we have seen so many times you’ll have people come through the interview process who have never sold sheds or carports. Taking the time to train this new employee may take a few weeks, but it is a worthwhile investment—especially if this is a lot you are not going to be on every day.
We have used shed sales training programs for all our employees. We recommend you use what works best for you and your team. Just make sure there is some sort of training involved.
We believe in not exaggerating the truth but letting that potential employee know that the struggle of opening a brand-new location includes many hours with no one arriving on the lot; however, this is not the time to be sitting there doing nothing.
Remember how we talked about free tools? There are ways to get your name out to the community for free. These include Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram, and a host of other social media platforms.
On day one, you should have signed up your new location on Google so that people can find you when searching for sheds in the area. Then, posting regularly (every day) on social media will begin to spread the word that you are here to provide the best sheds in town and create excitement for your potential customers.
If you follow these steps in searching for a new location and then employing a great salesperson, I’d love to hear your feedback.
We have seen a great return on our locations just by simply following these protocols.
