Salesmanship: The Next 'Big Thing'

Over my years in the kitchen and bath industry I've watched many changes take place.

In the early '80s, like many of my industry colleagues, our firm sold cabinets. The game was to find the right cabinet to sell at the right price. Back then, when we all met at industry conferences, the first question we asked each other was "what brands do you carry?" Brand meant everything.

Then, as time passed and competition increased, we became a "design" firm. Our focus changed to more upscale offerings, and quality design became more important than the cabinet brands we carried. It was our way of separating ourselves from the emerging big-box stores.

Major changes occurred again when the early '90s arrived and we were faced with a serious recession. I can recall attending a meeting around that time where we all discussed the sad state of the economy. What I remember most were those dealers who said, "if I just keep doing quality design work for my customers, the business will take care of itself." Their name badges probably should have read: "Hello! My name is . . . Road Kill."

I wonder what they're doing now, because they sure as heck didn't make it through the recession. In fact, perhaps the only silver lining of those troubled years is that those of us who survived did so by becoming better business people.'

I don't know what it was that caused so many of us to shudder at the idea of becoming, dare I say, profit oriented. Like oil and water, there was this prevalent notion that business and creativity somehow just couldn't mix.

I'm not sure where it came from, but I've been gratified over the last few years to see many of my industry colleagues taking their business more seriously all the while discovering, miracle of miracles, that we can be enormously creative in our design work while generating profits at the same time.

A new phase
So now, here we are, entering a new economic phase. The stock market has demonstrated that it's not infallible. Economic growth has slowed dramatically. How are those of us who are astute business people going to maintain profitability?

I think the answer can be summed up in one simple word: Salesmanship.

Salesmanship? The Next Big Thing is Salesmanship?

I really think so. Those who can effectively sell their products will be the winners in the next few years. Now that we have become more effective business people, it's imperative that we continue to refine every piece of our business to maximize profits. Salesmanship should be an integral part of that fine-tuning process.

Unfortunately, if you mention salesmanship to many kitchen and bath dealers, they shudder in much the same way that they once shuddered when the concept of being a business person was brought up.

Why is it that being a salesperson carries a negative connotation? It could be because so many people think a salesperson is someone who talks people into buying things that they don't want. In actuality, a good salesperson is someone who helps people discover and obtain exactly what they do want.

Salesmanship, in today's kitchen and bath retail climate, means selling yourself, not your products. It means selling the answers to problems. It means selling ideas. It means finding a way to make it easy for the customer to say "yes."

Start with the sale There's an old proverb that says "everything starts with a sale." It's still true. Think of it this way: If you don't start with a sale, you'll soon be finished as a business.

I hear a lot of kitchen and bath dealers talk about margin erosion, and the supposed reasons for it mistakes, damaged goods, forgetting to add freight costs, and on and on. But no one ever says, "I didn't maximize the selling price." No one ever says, "We should be doing a better job of selling our projects." No one ever says, "I should have sold it for more."

Yet, I contend that is the number-one area we should be concentrating on if we want to remain profitable.