NKBA, K& BDN to Join in New Education Alliance

NKBA, K& BDN to Join in New Education Alliance

Hackensack, NJ A series of all-day business management seminars that will "bring Kitchen & Bath Design News 'live' to major U.S. markets" under the terms of an industry-exclusive strategic alliance with the National Kitchen & Bath Association has been announced by K&BDN and the NKBA.

"Managing For Profit" a pair of unique, all-day, interactive business management seminars for kitchen/ bath dealers, designers and remodelers have been slated for the Boston and San Francisco areas this fall.

The Boston-area session is set for Sept. 28 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Natick, MA. The San Francisco session will take place at the Holiday Inn Civic Center, San Francisco. A schedule of four programs, to be presented on a quarterly basis, will be rolled out in other key markets for next year, said K&BDN editorial director and publisher Eliot Sefrin.

Aside from K&BDN and the NKBA, the seminars will be co-sponsored by major industry corporations. The Boston-area session is co-sponsored by Kohler Co. and Plain & Fancy Custom Cabinetry.

"These seminars are aimed at providing kitchen/bath specialists with practical, in-depth, profit-generating strategies for managing their businesses and maximizing their profits in a rapidly changing industry.

"Kitchen & Bath Design News is elated to be able to be working with the NKBA to help fill what we both feel is the current void that exists in providing hard-hitting, no-nonsense business management information delivered by experienced industry professionals," Sefrin said.
"By aligning the NKBA with organizations such as K&BDN, we are helping to provide the industry with educated NKBA professionals," noted NKBA president Jeff Burton. "The individuals who take the seminar will benefit from the knowledge and expertise, and they will be the survivors."

The NKBA has cancelled its previously scheduled Business Management Symposiums for the balance of 1999, in light of its association with K&BDN on Managing For Profit."
Each "Managing For Profit" seminar will focus on key areas of financial management, from business plans and budgets to cash-flow analysis and industry performance benchmarks. Also covered will be buying and selling strategies, such as negotiating effectively with vendors and how to protect selling margins, as well as human resources management, including hiring, training, compensating and motivating employees.

Program instructors will be Stephen Vlachos, CKD, CBD, and Hank Darlington.
Vlachos is general manager of the Portland, ME-based Atlantic Kitchen Center, a full-service design/remodeling firm that operates as a division of Hancock Lumber. He was an architect of the NKBA's "Business Manage-ment Symposiums," and an instructor for the NKBA, and has spoken widely about business management. He was among the authors of the NKBA's "Performance Analysis Reports (PAR Studies)," as well.

Darlington has 40+ years of experience as a business owner, professional manager, author, writer, speaker and teacher. The former owner of the Sacramento, CA-based The Plumbery, he helped create the NKBA's "Complete Business Management Seminar" and its "Business Owner's Symposium." A recipient of numerous national awards for his outstanding business management background, Darlington is one of the industry's leading consultants, and writes a Personnel Management column for K&BDN.

"This is not a design seminar. It's not a marketing session. Instead, it's a fast-moving, day-long event structured to help dealers make the kind of money they deserve," said Vlachos. "Attendees should be prepared to learn from, and share their business successes and concerns with, their peers."

"Most kitchen and bath dealers are pretty good marketers," noted Darlington. "They have good design and sales skills, but they are not as strong in the all-important financial and human resource side of their business. This seminar hits both in layman's language.

"Consolidation is sweeping through American business," he added. "Kitchen and bath dealers, as they exist today, could face extinction if they don't become better business managers."
Both seminars to take place 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. will cost $175, including lunch. NKBA members can attend for a discounted fee of $100. Attendees are eligible for ongoing professional development credits (OPD) and continuing educational units (CEU).

Interested persons can call K&BDN at (201) 487-7800 for more information, or register via NKBA's Professional Programs Registration Hotline: 800-843-6522.