When I started my first selling job our team was always interested in the latest methods and techniques that would help us to get better leads, qualify our prospects better, and close more sales. We got to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and tried to lift each other up through challenging times.

Fast forward about 1-2 years later. My company hired a new salesperson whom I will call Gregg. Gregg dove head-first into the position and plowed forward. Within a couple of months, he was outselling everyone on the team, myself included. The funny thing about it was that even after a year of being with the company and being the top-selling person nearly every month, Gregg was still telling his clients that he was kind of new to the job.

I don’t know if Gregg was saying this to try and convince his prospects he was new or if he was working to keep his mindset in the “newby” mentality. Either way, it worked and he continued to be one of the company’s top sellers.

So why am I telling you this story, and what did I take away from this experience?

Have you ever noticed that many new hires who don’t know much about what they are doing seem to be really successful? Frequently, over time that success seems to taper off and they fall in with the rest of the team with average performance.

Why do you suppose that is? What are they doing differently than everyone else on your team is doing?

As a team, we were fully aware of what Gregg was doing. By staying in the “newby” mindset, he kept on with the basics of selling our products because he knew that the basics worked. Gregg was persistent and consistent, never stopped and in the end, was very successful.

This is something we all noticed and learned from and something that in my sales career now, I try to remind myself. Gregg was successful because he did not skip the necessary steps to the sale. Tirelessly, he performed the steps that he knew were needed, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Keep up with the basics, keep up with what works, and be consistent.

It is easy to listen to the voices in your head that are telling you sales lies every day. Lies like:

• “This prospect is not really interested”
• “Cold calls and cold emails don’t work”
• “Our products (or services) are too expensive”
• “They are just price shopping”
• “I’m too busy maintaining my current accounts to waste time with this prospect.”

If you wanted to succeed like Gregg, turn off the lies your brain is telling you, the lies that are keeping you from being successful. Your brain is telling you a story that is holding you back from doing your job the way you know how to do it.

Stop thinking too much about it, and just do it!

Go back to the basics of what works.

If you need some inspiration, Read some good books on sales and selling, and view some online tutorials on selling and prospecting to help you get back on track. If you are like me, you will rediscover selling practices that work well that you have always known about and you will sometimes say to yourself: “I used to do that all the time, and it worked, why have I stopped?”

Maybe it is time to reinvest in yourself and develop yourself a little further. There are many different approaches to proven ideas. Find an author, trainer, or mentor that resonates with you, and you can breathe new life into what has been proven to work.

Stop overthinking the steps before you do them, and just do them!

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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.

It has been a while, readers and something has been nagging me. So many companies claim to be the best at what they do. This, or they claim to be different, unique or claim to value their customers and many other claims like this.

To be truly successful in most businesses, you must differentiate yourself. If you are unsuccessful at doing this, your product or service will be reduced to merely a commodity where the only thing that matters is price. Remember that in the absence of differentiation, all that remains is price.

It is very important to stand out from the crowd, to not get lost in the “sea of sameness”, to quote Larry Levine. Research your competition to see what they are doing and discover how you can do it differently, and hopefully better.

I suggest that you take an hour or two to brainstorm about what your prospect is feeling, and thinking and what will get their attention when they first meet you. It is time to seriously think out of the box with regard to how you can set yourself apart. (Sorry for the cabinetry pun).

There is a point I am getting at with this thought. I am sure you have all seen advertising where individuals or companies state that they “…truly care about our customers.” or, “We offer a very unique purchasing experience.”, or “For one of a kind service”.

Actions speak far louder than words.

My belief is that if you are actually offering your customers something special and unique, you don’t need to advertise it and much of the time, maybe should not be advertising it. If you have managed to create a unique experience for your clients, word will get out about it and your actions will carry far and wide from your client’s testimonials much better than any publicity will.

When General Motors launched their Saturn dealerships, one-price shopping and a complete tour of the vehicle and how it was made was a very new thing in the car industry. They did not have to advertise how their process set them apart. They let word of mouth do most of their speaking for them. Through this, they were able to help their Saturn cars (in my opinion, a car that was very so-so), sell incredibly well because of their customer’s overall experience.

Tiffany and Co. does not state anywhere in their advertising or website what your purchasing experience will be like. They never say anything like “We value all our clients”, or “Our customers deserve the best”, or anything such as this. They don’t have to because their reputation has spread about the amazing experience they offer when you make an appointment to shop with them. They do talk about the services they offer, but they never state how these might be different from their competitors. Sure, they offer some of the best and most unique merchandise (and very expensive), but the shopping experience has gained a reputation for being top-notch and truly special.

When I see or hear of any company that states “for a truly unique experience”, or anything like this, I am immediately skeptical. If the overall experience is unique, they wouldn’t have to say so.

It has been determined through surveys that more than half of consumers based their decision to buy not because of the product or service offered, not because of the perceived value-to-price ratio, but because of their overall buying experience.

For that reason, you must be different and if you are, in your client’s view, you will be successful.

Please don’t advertise it, just DO IT!

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I was having a great discussion with an aspiring designer at KBIS this year who is finishing up his last year in college. We were talking about his goals, aspirations, etc. and I thought he had a really good head on his shoulders, and the fact that he was at KBIS and was connecting with others in the field to help learn the ins and outs of the trade spoke volumes.

Towards the end of the conversation, he asked me what advice I might be able to offer him as a new designer. I thought for a minute because really, where do you start with a question like that? Then it occurred to me, the one thing that a designer needs to know to be successful and I delivered my answer. “Learn how to sell your work”, I said, “in any number of ways, starting with seeking out books on selling”.

A successful sales professional will actively seek out current techniques on how to sell, and also learn as much as they can about the product or service they are selling. There is a lot of focus in the interior design and kitchen and bath design industry on product and design, as there should be, but to be a successful designer, shouldn’t you also focus on how to successfully present and sell your work?

When I began my Voices From the Industry session this year, I asked how many people have received or sought out training on kitchen design and nearly everyone raised their hand. I then asked how many people have received similar training on selling their projects and only one person raised their hand. Do you see the problem here?

It is important, of course, to receive training and expert advice on all of the many elements of design if you are to be successful. Just some of these are balance, light, color, texture, form, functionality, and so on. Also important is being able to express these elements of a design to your client.

Wouldn’t you agree, though that it is also important to receive training on elements of selling and presenting your work? This would include things such as prospecting, discovery, setting expectations, communication, how to negotiate, and finally, how to sell the project.

You can be a brilliant and talented designer, but if you can’t manage to overcome some of the hurdles in order to sell your work, you will not succeed.

My advice: Learn how to sell, using up-to-date methods, sourcing material, and mentors that are using modern methods that are proven effective with today’s savvy clientele. This can prove to be invaluable in learning how to effectively present and sell your work. A great starting point would be some good books on sales and selling. These do not have to be specifically written for the interior design industry since most presentational and selling methods can be applied to practically every industry.

The reality is you, as a designer are a salesperson also, and if you aren’t selling, you aren’t making money. Last time I checked, this is kind of necessary if you want to succeed. This does NOT mean you have to practice out-of-date “salesy” methods that make most people cringe. It means that you are guiding your prospect through a series of choices to help them achieve their goal: a newly designed space.

Since I have been in the kitchen and bath industry, I have been working with designers on how to present and sell their work with great success. I developed my coaching agency, SaPré, Sales and presentation training for designers and artistic professionals, to help them succeed.

Tell me what you have done to help sell your work.

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If you are in the Kitchen and Bath industry, you most likely know that KBIS (The Kitchen and Bath Industry Show) is the event to attend every year if you want to stay completely up to date on what the newest trends are, what the consumers will be looking for in their spaces this year, and what the newest available products are.

By now, you have most likely seen many photos from the show this year on products and designs that showed off their innovative ideas and looks. It really was very exciting this year to see everyone together again since last year, everything for the show was done virtually and the excitement this year was fantastic!

I have done presentations as part of the Voices From the Industry Series (VFTI) for the past 4 years running and have been very grateful to have this opportunity to help guide designers through this forum. During this, I have the benefit of attending many of my colleagues’ presentations and I thought I would touch on some of the most common talking points that I heard this year.

The presentations and workshops at VFTI covered the topics we typically see such as Living in Place, Wellness, Color in Design, and Materials. The overwhelmingly common topic though was on how to manage all aspects of your business, how to market yourself, and how to best communicate with your clients.

The feeling I got from this was that there are so many digital solutions to marketing and managing your business that many independent owners are feeling overwhelmed and not sure of the most effective methods and tools.

As a presenter, I am always reassured when my talking points are consistent with other presenters. This lets me know that I am on the right track with my ideas with regard to providing information that people are craving, and also that my material is not outdated. This year was no different, and I thoroughly enjoyed discussing my thoughts with others.

In all of the VFTI presentations, there were two ideas that were very prevalent. The first was about identifying your target client and marketing to that specific person. You will not be a perfect fit for everyone, so don’t try to be. If you spend the time to focus your marketing and business plan around a specific clientele, you will see a far better return on your marketing investment and effort.

The second very prevalent recommendation was to make all of your targeting, and branding consistent across your marketing efforts, and platforms. This includes your social media accounts and your website. If your branding is consistent wherever your prospect finds you, they will know what your company is about, who you are targeting, and you will be more recognizable.

One common discussion throughout the show this year also was social media marketing, how to use it effectively, and what platforms to use. The biggest takeaway that I got from this is not to try and use every platform just because you can. It is best to identify which platforms your target client uses the most and focus on those only.

It was great to see everyone this year, catch up with old colleagues, and make connections with new people in the industry. If you were there, I am sure you thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I did. If you did not make it, I highly suggest you check out KBIS next year, 2023 in Las Vegas!

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As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome!

By Duane Becker

I like going to Starbucks when on the road. Go ahead and think what you want, but I had a very unexpected experience there a while back.

I had placed an order at one of their locations using the mobile app. Simple enough, right? When I arrived at the location that I have been to many, many times I discovered my coffee wasn’t ready yet. The person behind the counter asked my name for the order and said they did not have an order for me. She asked to see a record of the order and when I showed her a record of it on my phone, she pointed out that I had ordered it from the wrong location. There is another Starbucks down the street indoors that I had placed the order through, NOT the location where I had planned to pick it up.

The woman said that this happens a lot and that this will not be a problem, but to just go to the person at the checkout, explain what happened, and they could place an order for my coffee at no charge. Wow, I hadn’t expected that, and I did just that.

This shop happened to be very busy on this particular morning, and because of this, it was taking a little longer than usual for them to get to my order. After about 10 minutes of waiting, someone asked me the order I was waiting for and they got me my coffee quickly. Right about the time this person was handing me my drink, another employee who I am guessing was a manager approached me, apologized that I had waited so long for my order, and handed me a $10 gift card for my inconvenience. This was all due to something that was originally my fault and my error!

This is the kind of excellent service that keeps people as loyal customers. Do you think I will keep supporting this company, and especially this location? Absolutely!

When you are meeting with your prospect, and courting them to become your client, what are you doing to not only provide value but also provide unexpected value?

If you are a kitchen and bath designer, keep in mind that the value item does not necessarily need to be something of monetary value. It could be a service, a welcome package, how you treat them, a gracious gesture, a way of doing business, a referral program.

The important thing is that this is perceived as valuable to your prospect. What you provide them of unexpected value might be different from one person to another. I would suggest you create a selection list of added value items that you can pick from, depending on what would be best for your client. Of course, you may do something completely different for a specific client but it would provide a starting point.

These are the small efforts that not only create loyal clients but also will generate referrals for years to come!

Please comment on what you currently do to provide your clients with unexpected value.

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