As a kitchen designer, whether you want to admit it or not, you are also a sales professional. I know that many designers out there see that as a negative term but it shouldn’t be. Sales and selling is a large part of your job, like it or not.
As such, it amazes me to how many kitchen and bath designers do not closely monitor their sales. I am sure that all of you have a particular sales goal for each quarter or year whether that goal is a personal goal or a goal that has been set by your employer. How is it possible to track your progress throughout each quarter and throughout the year if you do not track this data?
Know Your success Rate
Frequently when I ask kitchen designers what their closing ratio is, they are guessing at a number. Stop the guessing! By tracking your sales and closing ratio, you will quickly discover if you are being efficient with your time and also if you need to work on your sales skills. Your closing ratio may surprise you.
If you have a high closing ratio but want to succeed more then maybe you need to get in front of more customers.
If you have a low closing ratio, you should probably review areas in your sales presentation or process where you may be missing something.
Know Your Progress Relative to your Goals
By tracking this, not only will you most likely surprise yourself but when your supervisor asks where you are in relation to your targets, you will have the answer quickly at hand without having to guess. This will prove to them that achieving your goals is important to you and will also show them that you are indeed a sales professional who cares about their success.
I also highly suggest to designers that you keep a log of which brands they sell with each sale. Possibly break it down by type of product also such as Cabinets, Countertops, etc. Most designers think they primarily sell one or two brands of a certain product but you may be surprised what the reality is. This can be done simply with a chart or spreadsheet, color coding the sale for each brand. This way, a quick visual glance will tell you where you really stand.
Being keenly aware of the percentage of what you sell can also be used as proof with your vendors that you are selling their product and also will possibly make you realize that you actually tend to lean to one brand or another.
If you want to achieve and possibly exceed your goals, the only way is to discover if your presentations are effective and if you are meeting with enough clients. The only way to know this is to track the numbers.