For kitchen and bath designers, you may have noticed that business has begun to slow down. Many economic experts are saying that our economy is slowing down and that we may be heading into a recession. With interest rates at their highest level in well over a decade and the housing market peaking, all indicators are that they are right. What will you be doing during this last quarter of the year and next year to retain your prospects?

As a designer, it will be more important than ever to acquire and retain all the prospects you can to keep your pipeline full so you can close sales and still be profitable. About 1-1/2 years ago, if you are like most designers, you were probably seeing more prospects than your business could even handle. One designer I spoke with said that it was like “…people are throwing their checkbooks at me.” That won’t be happening again any time soon and you will need to fight to keep every prospect that walks in your door or contacts you by phone. You and your competitors will be vying for an increasingly smaller pool of buyers.

Differentiating yourself from your competition is the primary way you will be able to maintain market share and be able to stay in business, but how do you do that in a market where from the customer’s point of view, most cabinets, countertops, flooring, and many products like these are readily available anywhere they choose to go?

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself and compel your prospect to want to work with you is to show them that you care about them and their needs. In fact, you will probably have an even smaller window of time to be able to accomplish this before your buyer tunes out, and decides to go elsewhere, even though they are still in your presence. Communicating this to your client is going to be even more critical than ever. Remember that this is all about them, not what you or your business can do, what you have done for clients in the past, or what products or services you offer.

Engage your prospect using proper discovery questions to show that you care about them and their situation and also to learn more about how you can help them to achieve their goals and dreams for their space. Stop talking, and ask better questions.

For example, most designers are good at asking their prospects how long they have lived in their home but only the very successful ones follow that up with smarter questions like: “Where were you living prior to that?”, What inspired you to move to that area?”, or “Wow, that’s a long time in one place, have you ever re-done this space before, why now?” Then another proper follow-up such as: “That’s interesting, can you tell me more about that?”

If you are genuinely curious about your buyer and their story and you show this by inquiring and going a little deeper into your prospect’s motivation for redoing their space, you will be showing empathy for your client and proving to them that they are important and so are their ideas and needs.

This is going to be critical in the upcoming year to show how you are different from your competitors who are boring their prospects by going on about how they are a “full-service” design center and can provide for all their needs in a project and how they have been in business for over 50 years and have the latest trendy products available. Buyers will not care about any of this. What they want to know is how they and their needs are special and unique and how this person can partner with them to achieve their dream or vision.

The upcoming year is going to be more challenging to sell projects than it has been in a long time and it is time to fine-tune your skills to be ready. Now is the time to re-evaluate your process, self-assess your interactions and ask yourself, “Did I ask the proper questions?”, “Am I showing my prospect that they are important?” Role-play with your co-workers, and practice your methods and processes so that they are natural. Prepare for the questions that you inevitably know your prospect is going to ask.

As a well-known author on sales and selling, Jeb Blount has been saying, winter is coming. Are you fully prepared?

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My name is Duane Becker and I educate Kitchen Designers on key ideas to design and sales techniques to help them present their designs and motivate their clients to purchase. I have held design and sales seminars for the NKBA, KBIS, Lowe’s, and consulted for private dealers, individuals, and showrooms.

When I was in college, one of my professors gave long lectures covering very important information, and we knew as students that his tests were going to ask specific questions that included important dates, names, and locations.

Have you ever found yourself listening to a presentation where the presenter was moving so quickly that it is difficult to grasp all the important information?  If you are like me, questions pop into my head quickly, but I find myself having to write them down because, in the process of listening to the presenter’s next idea or thought, I have since forgotten the question.

If the topic being presented is useful and interesting, you can easily find yourself frantically taking notes, to capture the most relevant and important information.

When this happens, audience members sometimes ask the presenter, if there is time, to review something again.  Frequently though, the pace of the presentation doesn’t allow for this to happen until a Q&A session at the end.  If you have forgotten to take a note of your question or there was not enough time for you to ask your question, you might find that it was never answered, and you are a little lost.

As an interior designer, your client may be in the same situation where they feel like they are being hit with a fire hose of information.  There is a lot of information that is important for your client to know when you are reviewing their project with them. 

Most of the information is completely new to your client in that these may be things that they have never considered before, or you may be using new terminology that they need to fully understand.

It is for these reasons that it is very important to include in your presentation strategic pauses that allow your client time to understand what you are describing, and the opportunity to ask the sorts of questions that pop into their mind on the spot.

My college professor was thankfully good at this in that when finishing his idea or thought, he would pause for a few moments before moving to the next idea, giving us time to make notes, or ask questions.

If you really want a point to sink in with your client, especially if it has to do with expectations, timeline, etc., take a few moments to breathe when you are done and give your client time to absorb what you have said and to ask a question if needed.  This will also help to emphasize the importance of the information you are conveying.

Another time when pausing is critical is after asking a question.  If you allow for a pause not only right after your question but also after your client’s answer to your question.  You may find that with a little thought, your client will elaborate on their answer.  The example I like to give is after you discover that your client has previously been shopping at a competitor, you may ask “So what brings you here, instead?”

The client’s first answer will most likely be a sort of knee-jerk reaction but given a few more moments to think about it, may tell you even more information.  You may hear a response to this question to be something like “I wanted to see if the price was competitive.”  <pause>, <pause>, <pause>, “…and I also didn’t feel like this designer was listening to what I wanted.”, or something to this effect.  Strategically allowing the silence to be present, your client will frequently feel obligated to fill that silence gap.

This is also very useful when you are presenting the final price for a project.  If you pause for a few moments after you present the price, your client has time to take in the whole picture, and possibly ask questions that pertain to justifying the price or express their emotional reaction to what you have presented.

Customers who have been shopping for a kitchen or bath remodel have frequently stated that they feel overwhelmed by not only the many decisions that need to be made but also the vast amount of information that is poured their way.

By pausing strategically throughout all your presentations, your client will feel less overwhelmed, and you will give them the time they need to fully comprehend what you need them to know.

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Your comments and thoughts are encouraged!