The BKBG 4M Designer Sales Training Program

October 21, 2022 at 10:30am (Eastern)

presented by Breakfront Software

The "4M Sales Training" teaches the keys of selling like "The Naturals" in the kitchen and bath industry, who consistently sell $2-3 million or more every year. Learn to avoid the pitfalls that most designers fall into when selling, what your company can do to beat the competition every time, and simple things that will increase your total sales and average sale significantly. 

Key learning objectives include:

1. Learn what "The Naturals" do to be the highest sellers in the industry
2. How to avoid the pitfalls almost all designers fall into while selling
3. Make yourself different/better than 95% of the industry while designing/selling
4. How to develop a sales process that makes you better than your competition
5. How to spend ALL your time with the prospects MOST willing to buy
6. How to include "upgrades" on almost every project
7. How to use your most valuable assets, that your competition doesn't
8. How to work less for each sale
9. How to sell the "Why" instead of the "What"
10. How to dramatically increase your closing rates, and average sale price

This first session will cover all the most important components in "4M Sales Training.” Don't miss it! After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information to provide access to the webinar.

Click here to register.

At the 2022 Conference, BKBG announced the winners of the 2022 Design Contest sponsored by the Designer Alliance. Nearly 50 projects were submitted, and the competition was extremely tight. The People's choice award was voted upon by 2022 Conference attendees. BKBG congratulates all of the designers taking top honors.

Designer Spotlight: Jackie Friberg Best Overall Kitchen Winner

Jackie Friberg (Granite State Cabinetry) won the best overall kitchen category in the 2022 Designer Alliance Awards Competition.

Jackie received a referral from a past client to design a new kitchen as part of a whole home renovation for what many would consider a dream client and a dream assignment.  Jackie also was fortunate to team with a contractor that she had worked with numerous times and several designers who were coordinating and specifying other rooms in the home.  

Jackie’s client entertains frequently and wanted an open concept kitchen with a fresh and transitional feel. The family cooks frequently and wanted their kitchen to have extra appliances and lots of storage.  The challenge and opportunity for this new kitchen was to design an extra-large island that could seat up to seven people comfortably so they could interact with family and guests and prepare meals at the same time.  The homeowners wanted to incorporate a number of the appliances in the island, which Jackie accommodated by specifying a six-foot workstation sink and designed for a trash compactor, pull out recycling center, dishwasher, range top and a liquor cabinet at the end of the island.  

Jackie included Cabico Maple Chantilly cabinets with extra ovens and speed cooking options and a six-foot workstation sink with the premium culinary kit, which the clients loved. She included Calacatta Quartz countertops and a matching backsplash for a monochromatic look that is easy to clean. A cozy beverage bar was added for guests that is functional and eye catching - royal blue with gold mesh inserts in the cabinet doors, highlighted with Top Knobs hardware.  She also created a custom framed wine cooler to match. Gold tips were used on the island chairs to partner with the Kohler Artifacts brass faucets and light fixtures.  

Jackie created a grand statement-making kitchen that exceeded her customers’ design and functional expectations.  Jackie has been designing kitchens for more than two decades and never tires of having the opportunity to help owners create dream spaces in their homes and improving their lives

Connecting Emotionally With Customers

If you ever travel to London, a visit to Speakers Corner – one of the original blog sites– in Hyde Park promises to be worth the trip. Recently, a gentleman argued that the teabag was a threat to British culture and should be banned because there is nothing “more English than a proper cup of tea.”  Most Americans find it difficult to understand England’s love affair with tea. The British believe that the quality and taste of tea, similar to beer (think Coors), coffee and other beverage that are brewed depend on the quality and taste of water used.

It’s difficult to differentiate tea, coffee and beer based on the facts. That’s why Coors aligns its brew with the Rocky Mountains. Starbucks is about the experience and not the coffee per se.  It’s not about the product. It’s about how products make customer feel and that lesson is valuable for kitchen and bath showrooms.

Most showroom customer don’t typically understand the differences between a partial and a full overlay, why one finish may be superior to another or the technological superiority of thermostatic versus pressure-balanced shower valves.  Features and benefits captivate industry insiders who deal with similar products daily, but they are not effective in making emotional attachments with customers. That does not mean sales professionals should not relate features and benefits of the products that are sold in the showroom. They are one piece of the sales puzzle, but far from being the only piece.  Emotional connections are created when sales professionals describe how the products and the benefits that they deliver will make customers feel. “We will create a dream space that will enhance the lives of your family.  Imagine having your place where you can prepare restaurant quality meals, create lasting memories and make your family time together extra special.  We can make this happen.” Would that resonate more with a harried mom, working full time with a couple of young kids better than “this cabinet front comes in 32 different designer finishes.”

Create emotional attachments with new customers by relying on past customers to be your best salespeople.  Have a testimonial book in the showroom and a tab on your web site featuring customer ratings of your service and their experiences.  Show and describe how customers use the products that you have specified for them to make their lives easier and better.

Peer Calls Return November 16

The next BKBG Designer Alliance Peer Group Call will occur Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 1PM ET. We discuss the key takeaways from the Designer Alliance Sales Training on Oct 21, 2022, how designers are implementing these lessons and how it has benefitted their businesses. We will also open the discussion to address any other challenges and best practices from the group. Click here to register.

Avoid the Race to the Bottom

Have you ever ordered anything from an online company that arrived damaged? What happened when you emailed the company to explain what happened and requested a replacement or refund? Most likely, you received an auto reply. And if you tried to call, how likely would you be able to talk to a live human being? Your chances are pretty low. Why do companies avoid human interaction and the expense of customer service? Because it costs less.

Every kitchen and bath showroom has competitors, and many of them have not earned your admiration because they win the price war by eliminating customer service or abandoning common sense.

As showroom traffic starts to slow and customers become more discerning about whether it’s the right time to renovate their home, lowering the price is the easy button to make a sale, but it’s hardly the smart button. It’s extremely difficult to face the prospect of losing customers because they claim that they can buy a new kitchen or bath for less somewhere else. That’s most likely to be true, but when you race to the bottom in a price war, you compromise, and may lose, what makes you successful.

Marketing guru Seth Godin writes, “Cheap is the last refuge for the marketer who can’t figure out how to be better. The alternative is to choose to be worth it, remarkable, reliable, a good neighbor, a worthy citizen, leading edge, comfortable, trusted, funny, easy, or just about anything except ‘the cheapest at any cost.’” We often discount the valuable service that we provide to our clients. We are changing our clients’ lives for the better. That’s what we do, and it’s priceless.