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PRODUCT SAMPLES ARE an indis- pensable tool in your showroom. They're key to helping customers envision their dream kitchen or bath. Product samples are especially important when your customer comes into your show- room having already shopped online. They'll want to get the samples in their hands so they can see, touch, feel, compare – and confirm that their pre-shopping preferences have held up to expectations. However, a showroom strewn with numer- ous freestanding rows and free-floating stacks of product samples can be a genuine mess. Your new customer, just walking in the door and see- ing all of this, may actually feel a rush of panic: "Where do I start?" Or worse: "Should I start?" That's when too many product samples are simply…too many. It's not at all conducive to a good showroom experience – not for your customers, and not for your designers either. Sad to say, though, on my recent travels across North America, I've seen more than a few kitchen and bath showrooms that have fallen into this jumbled condition. There are understandable reasons for it. During the economic downturn, showroom owners were looking for ways to keep people shopping. Some were afraid they wouldn't have enough product choices, or the right choices, on hand when customers came calling. The product lines' representatives, mean- while, were very happy to provide loads of samples, including full-scale kiosk displays. For many a recession-stressed business, this had to feel like welcome help. Erring on the side of "too many samples" seemed a smart thing to do. And then, even as economic conditions started to improve, some owners hesitated to invest in refreshing these displays – either be- cause they were too busy with the faster flow of customers or they remained skittish about the economic outlook. OVERWHELMED AND OUT-OF-DATE There were also kitchen and bath firms that moved to new locations during the down years. Some business owners, after landing in their new sites, didn't have time to think through their showroom layouts. In the rush to reset, they may have reopened for business in show- rooms that seemed unfinished. Their product displays could appear haphazard, with too little thought for smooth in-store traffic and custom- er engagement. That was then. But this is now. Over the years, as we've steadily climbed out of our economic hole, the market for new kitch- ens and baths has become healthy and exciting again. Yet many showrooms remain in disarray. The problem with this is that a customer, faced with a hodgepodge of product samples, is more likely to be overwhelmed than delighted. How likely is it that the customer and designer will be able to find just the right products when they may be hidden amid the overall mess? Even worse, many products in the leftover kiosks from years past are now out-of-date, off-trend or even unavailable. Yet they continue to take up valuable retail space. This can look especially bad when a new customer, arriv- ing with the up-to-date product information they've just collected online, sees the product mismatch. The customers, in their minds, may weigh harsh judgment on your showroom. And, wanting to be polite, they may never say a word about it to you. LESS CAN BE MORE Here's the bottom line. The showroom is your chance to captivate the customers, put them at ease and win their confidence. Your goal is for the customers to fall in love with the products they see – and fall in love with their kitchen or bath design as well. This calls for creating a frictionless buying and selling experience. Your product samples should encourage that experience, not stand in the way of it. Why make the sale any harder than it needs to be? The good news is that many kitchen and bath firms are rethinking their showroom layouts and improving their management of product samples. To all who may still be stressing over their showroom clutter, I offer this simple insight, attained over years of con- sulting with top store owners and designers nationwide: Focus not on the sheer volume of product samples you can show in your store, but rather on the best showroom experience you can engage in with your customer. You may have read similar advice from me in past KBDN columns, even recently. But the idea bears repeating here: In the showroom, less can be more. In fact, it usually is. BEST OF THE BEST As you plan your showroom displays, I recom- mend that you think of yourself as a museum curator of sorts. Generally, I recommend basing your selec- tion of showroom samples on "the best of the best." For adventurous shoppers, you'll want to highlight the latest trend-forward product sam- ples, which may even disrupt their thinking. For your more cautious customers, meanwhile, you'll want to have the best-selling favorites close at hand. By minimizing showroom clutter in this way, you can maximize calm – and that will create a feeling of comfort and ease that will encourage clients to explore design alterna- tives and make positive buying decisions. Your customer can concentrate on the look and feel they want, while you manage all of details of the buying and selling process. It's essential to curate your product samples carefully. I like to think of it as the Goldilocks strategy for product samples. Not too many. Not too few. Just right. This works especially well when you're confident that you can find your customer's best fits from a tighter selection of product samples. FASTER ENGAGEMENT Ultimately, your best reason to curate your product samples is to help grow your busi- ness. Kitchen and bath firm owners who've invested in managing their product samples more effectively are now seeing big benefits. One owner recently told me: "My customer and I are comfortable in making decisions together. This quickens the process so I can move on to design and pricing – and my next customer." Thinking like a curator will help you strate- gically select the right samples to highlight in your showroom. You'll help focus your custom- er's attention. Buying and selling will become simpler. And your customers – as well as your designers – will thank you for it. ▪ Read past columns and features and send us your comments about this article and others at KitchenBathDesign.com Curate Product Samples to Win Customers SARAH REEP, ASID, IIDA, CMKBD, CMG, CAPS " Focus not on the sheer volume of product samples you can show in your store, but rather on the best showroom experience you can engage in with your customer." 28 Kitchen & Bath Design News • December 2016 INSIDE TODAY'S SHOWROOM