Cheeper Sweeper opens Beam Experience Center

Customers now “test driving” Beam!

Lenn Smith will be the first to tell you that providing customers with an authentic experience with a central vacuum system can make the cash register ring.

Smith, owner of Cheeper Sweeper in Frankfort, KY, recently updated his showroom with a Beam Experience Center where customers can “test drive” the entire Beam product line.

The Experience Center is essentially a cross section of a typical home. There’s a miniature kitchen with a cabinet and VacPan automatic dustpan, laminate and carpeted floors, an upscale sofa and a wall-mounted flat screen showing the Beam sales video. The Experience Center also has stairs and a window to a garage-like environment where a variety of fully operational Beam power units are displayed. All of it is built in an area measuring 11 by 13 feet.

“What we’ve done is create a home-like environment in the dealer’s showroom that gives the customer an opportunity to see first-hand how the product is installed and how it performs,” said Paul Runyan, vice president of U.S. sales for Beam.

Smith said the new display is already paying dividends. A customer who had purchased a system from Cheeper Sweeper 15 years ago recently walked into the Experience Center and tested the new Beam Q Power Team on each of the floor surfaces. He marveled over the improvements in the system and purchased the Q and a hose sock on the spot. The customer, who is building a new home, also placed an order for the Beam QS Power Unit to be installed in the new home.

“If the customer can do a hands-on test, they’ll say, ‘This is what I need’,” Smith said.

Eventually, the showroom improvements will help Smith grow his business with builders. He’s inviting builders to use the showroom as a design center where homebuyers can choose their central vacuum system.

Reprinted from Central Vac Professional, August 2007