KITCHEN SECRET 7:

What do a door, the price and the quality have in common?

Whether it’s accomplished subtly, or discussed overtly, there are four distinct areas that a kitchen designer has to satisfy the customer with before gaining a realistic opportunity to convert the sale.

If a customer isn’t fully satisfied with each and every aspect of the four areas, then put quite simply, the kitchen designer won’t make a sale - and he won't get his money!

A designer may chat about theses four areas after they have finished the market demonstration. He may say something like:

“Now… there are four areas that I need to get right for you today – I need to find a door that you’re happy with – something you can see yourself living with for many years to come. I also need to show you examples of the sort of quality you can expect from our kitchens. If you don’t really like one of the doors please tell me – in that case there’s no point in me continuing to design the kitchen then. If you’re happy with the door chosen & the quality we’ll then design the kitchen together, pricing it up afterwards if you’re happy with everything. Now I’ll be completely ‘up-front’ with you – if you’re happy with everything including the price, I’ll then ask for your business. We don’t do pressure – as I mentioned earlier I’m employed by the company and you can always come back to us, but as I’ve travelled for over 100 miles I’d be a mug if I didn’t ask for your business – is that OK with you?”

Most people’s answer to this onslaught might well be, “You can if you want, but as I said earlier I’m not making a decision today.” To this the kitchen designer would then probably say, “That’s fine. No problem. It’s just my job to ask!” However, what the designer’s done here is put the thought into the customer’s mind. Maybe just maybe now they would consider making a decision on the day if they were happy with everything including the price.

As the designer has a first view of the kitchen, he also asks questions like, “So what do you like about your present kitchen?” – “How do you find the wear-and-tear?” – “What kind of door would you prefer?” During this process, the designer is also looking for clues as to what kind of lifestyle the owners have. He will be wondering to himself if the owners might have any dogs or children that might dictate the type of kitchen door required. He will also be looking for clues as to how much the customer might be able to afford, and whether or not it might be appropriate to ‘pitch finance’.

Once the kitchen designer has established to himself the style of door that the customer is looking for and the price that they are willing to pay, that means it’s time to start selling door to the customer! The designer will go out to his car and take a bag of kitchen door samples into the house- but only the ones that he wants you to see! He’ll begin by taking out a couple of doors that he knows you won’t like. Then he’ll suddenly ‘hit’ you with the one that he wants you to pick. This is the door that has all the characteristics that the customer wants – it’s the right colour, style and quality, but more importantly the designer already knows that he can design a kitchen in it within the customer’s budget. Once the customer has ensured the designer that they’re very happy with that particular door, the designer puts the rest of the doors away – and leaves the one sample door out. It’s then time to move onto quality.

The designer will have already brought into the house some samples that indicate the quality of the kitchen construction. Samples such as a small drawer, a hinge, a piece of worktop and a selection of handles. It’s easy for the designer to compare the quality of the kitchen that he is demonstrating with ‘scare stories’ in the press. One small example is the designer handing over the sample drawer to the lady of the house. She drops the drawer down to a low level and says something like, “Wow! Feel the weight of that!” This is one of the reasons that it isn’t generally too difficult to convince the customer that the quality offered is excellent.

Once the designer has finished designing the kitchen itself, he has to ‘sell’ the concept to the customer. If the customer has given a low budget initially, it’s then up to the designer to ‘sell’ a design to the customer according to how much they can afford to spend. Assuming that the customer is then very happy with the way the door looks, the quality offered in the kitchen and the design itself, it’s then down to the final part of the jigsaw – the price. The designer then has a whole set of new skills up his sleeve in order to present the price effectively… read on!

Read the full 21 Kitchen Secrets