Kitchen & Bath Design News

JAN 2015

Kitchen & Bath Design News is the industry's leading business, design and product resource for the kitchen and bath trade.

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January 2015 ForResidentialPros.com | 81 designers need the right tools in their arsenal to maximize their sales. The most valuable of those tools, accord- ing to survey respondents, are client testimonials. Positive feedback from happy customers is powerful stuf – so much so that 96% of those polled listed it as a commonly used sales tool for their business ( see Graph 4 ). It's said that a photo is worth a thousand words, so it's no surprise that project photos or portfolios are an equally critical sales tool, also cited by 96% of surveyed dealers and designers. Again tying into the people trend, a knowledgeable sales staf was listed as the third most valued sales tool, mentioned by 92% of those polled, followed by up-to-date showroom displays (83%), a quality showroom location (81%), good showroom sig- nage (80%) and community events or networking opportunities (78%). Along the same lines, referrals were listed as far and away the num- ber one source for sales leads among those surveyed, mentioned by 91% of dealers and designers ( see Graph 5 ). The next most common source for leads was showroom traffic, listed by 44% of those polled, followed by the Web site (32%), print ads (14%) and home shows (12%). Surprisingly, online ads were only viewed as a good source of leads by 4% of those surveyed, while TV ads were at the bottom of the list, named by only 3% of dealers and designers as a good source of leads. CHALLENGES Selling a large-ticket item such as a kitchen or bath always presents some challenges, and most dealers and de- signers feel those challenges have gotten more, well, challenging over the past few years. In fact, when asked to compare the market now to fve years ago, more than 80% believed today's market is more challenging. Although the economy has been recovering well ( see related Forecast, Page 74 ), the recession left its scars, and one of those scars is ongoing price sensitivity. Indeed, a whopping 86% of those polled say consumers today are more price sensitive than they were fve years ago ( see Graph 6 ). And, 82% of those surveyed believe consumers are both more demanding and more knowledgeable than they were fve years ago, while 79% believe there is more competition for business now than there was fve years ago. Closing a sale also seems to be tak- ing longer than it used to. Of those surveyed, more than a third (34%) say it takes from one to three months to get from the initial client meeting to the fnal agreement to proceed ( see Graph 7 ), while 28% say it takes two weeks to a month, 15% note that it takes one to two weeks, 10% close the sale in less than a week, while 8% take three to six months and another 5% say it varies so much, they can't put an average time frame to it. Kitchen and bath dealers and de- signers surveyed were also asked to talk about their "pain points" with re- gard to the sales process. The most commonly cited one of these was the problem of clients having unrealistic budget expectations, noted by three quarters of those polled ( see Graph 8 ). Clients' inability to make deci- sions in a timely manner was also noted by 38% of dealers and design- ers as a point of pain, while 35% gave voice to problems with wishy-washy clients who have trouble making up their minds. Other "pain points" included rude clients (20%), pressure to generate sales (14%), challenges learning to use new software or technology (12%) and the amount of knowledge required to keep up with large num- bers of products (11%). Below are some other signifcant fndings of the survey: » » Dealers and designers estimate that nearly two in three leads result in a sale. » » On average, a n est i mat- ed one third of all dealers' and designers' clients are repeat customers, according to those surveyed. » » More than half of those polled (60%) do not know what they spend annually on marketing and promotion. However, of those who do track this, an average of 8% of their annual budget is spent on marketing and promotional expenses. » » Although dealers and design- ers agree that updated displays are a valuable sales tool, more than half (51%) only update these every three years or less. Some 31% update these every one to two years, 10% update them every six months to a year, 4% do updates quarterly or more frequently, and the remainder don't know how often they do showroom display updates. » » The vast majority of dealers and designers have a Web site, yet the majority don't believe it is extremely important as far as generating sales. In fact, only 16% view this as "ex- tremely important" and 31% as "very important," with 40% seeing this as only "somewhat important," and 13% stating it's "not very important" or "not important at all." » » With the frm's Web site seen as a lower priority for many dealers and designers, regular site updates are not common, with the majority of those polled doing updates every six months to a year (24%), monthly (23%) or quarterly (19%). Only 9% say they update their sites weekly, while 16% update their sites every year or two and another 9% do updates only every three years or less. 5. BEST SOURCES FOR SALES LEADS Referrals Walk-in showroom trafc Web site Print ads Home shows Online ads TV ads Other Source: RICKI 91% 44% 32% 14% 12% 4% 3% 18% 6. PERCENT OF DEALERS/DESIGNERS WHO SEE THE MARKET AS TOUGHER THAN 5 YEARS AGO Customers today are more price sensitive Customers today are more demanding Customers today are more knowledgeable There is more competition for business Source: RICKI 86% 82% 82% 79% 7. AVERAGE TIME NEEDED TO CLOSE A SALE Source: RICKI 8. BIGGEST SALES CHALLENGES FOR DEALERS/DESIGNERS Clients with unrealistic budget expectations Client taking a long time to decide Clients not knowing what they want Rude or unfriendly clients Pressure to generate sales Learning to use software/technology Knowledge required for lots of products Other challenges Source: RICKI 75% 38% 35% 20% 14% 12% 11% 6% 34% One to three months 28% Two weeks to one month 15% One to two weeks 10% Less than a week 8% Three to six months 5% Varies too much to say

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