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Contractor and Reliable
Remodeler
services to get the best quote for your home improvement project. Both services
are FREE.
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Kitchen Secret #3
The
Selling Cycle - The Kitchen Designer sales plan
The
selling cycle basically means ‘what the designer is trained to
do by the kitchen company in order to obtain the best opportunity of
a sale’.
This
means that a lot of what the designer does while at your house
is pre-determined.
When
starting to work on behalf of a kitchen company, prospective designers
generally undergo one week of intensive training. Most trainees haven’t
even worked in the same industry before. So what are kitchen
designers trained to do?
The first thing
they are taught is to be like a scout… be prepared! This involves establishing
the correct image. They need to make sure that they look like a professional
designer when they leave their own house. The also need to make sure
that they are going to arrive at your house at the correct time – probably
early and wait round the corner.
They also need to
have a good idea of what to expect when they knock on your door, so
the office will have already have told them what you were like on the
phone and given the designer tips how to come across once you open the
door.
Breaking
the ice – no, don’t worry – it doesn’t involve your freezer!
The first thing that a designer is taught to do after entering your
house is to gain your trust as quickly as possible.
Some
kitchen companies tell designers not even to talk about kitchens for
the first 20 minutes or so that they are in your house.
Designers
are even told to stay away from the kitchen during this period. They
are told to sit in your living room – and make sure that they talk
about anything apart from kitchens.
The
idea is to become your friend first – not to be perceived as someone
who is really concerned about ‘selling’ you a kitchen.
A
popular phrase that some sales managers use to emphasise this part
of the selling cycle to designers is to ‘find the shrine’. This means
that a designer should have a look round the living room and see if
there is a large collection of videos, pictures – anything that seems
slightly special or unusual – anything that the owner might be particularly
proud of. Imagine that you are in your house… the designer comes in
and you show him to your living room. The designer says, “What a beautiful
collection of plants! You must have real green fingers!”. This immediately
does two things… it makes you feel much more relaxed, because you’ll
be encouraged to talk about something that you feel passionate about.
It also makes the designer appear much more friendly, much less like
the dreaded kitchen salesman – someone who you might just want to
do business with!
Step
3 has to be undertaken before the designer talks to you about the
door, the design and the price.
There
are lots of key questions that the designer will ask you at this stage.
Answers to these questions are pivotal to how the designer will adapt
the rest of his presentation.
How
soon are you hoping to get everything finished by?
By asking this question a designer can establish whether or not to
try and sell the finance package before designing the kitchen.
What
are you looking for in your new kitchen?
The answer to this question enables the designer to decide upon a
‘close’ to the presentation. You might say something like “I’d really
like an integrated washer, but I’m not sure if I can afford it”. This
lets the designer conjure up a free appliance at the end –
just the one you want! But was it really free, or did he build it
into the price? You decide.
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