October’s webinar series is brimming with ways to “remodel” a kitchen/bath business. By Dianne M. Pogoda

 

October is Kitchen and Bath Month. While this is often considered an opportunity to put a little extra zip into marketing efforts aimed at generating consumer leads, this month’s free webinar series is aimed at renovating K&B businesses.

These webinars will focus on enhancing business and communications skills and may be applied to almost any small-business endeavor, but the expert presenters will tailor their discussions to the design industry.

Every month, NKBA offers free 60-minute webinars, each of which features a presentation by an expert in the specific subject matter, delivered via a virtual platform. The sessions offer the attending certified participants 0.1 CEU per event — it’s an easy way to collect the CEUs needed to maintain NKBA certification. Participants must engage in 80 percent of the sessions to receive CEU credit; registration closes two hours prior to start times. Starting in 2019, the program will expand to four webinars each month.

This year, Geberit, a leading manufacturer of plumbing and sanitary products and systems, has generously sponsored the webinar series for the months of September, October and November.

“At Geberit, we believe strongly that only designers who commit to lifelong learning are able to separate themselves from the ‘dabblers” in design,’” said Ronn Jefferson, Geberit product manager. “At its best, design is a profession, not a hobby. That’s why we choose to support the NKBA and its efforts to promote professional development for kitchen and bath designers.”

Solidifying its commitment to professional development and education, Geberit will also be sponsoring the Educators Exchange, Live! forum at KBIS in Las Vegas.

Starting the month’s series on Oct. 10 at noon (Eastern Time), Stephanie Bullwinkel, CBD and business manager at Imperial Kitchen & Bath, will present “Your Kitchen & Bath Website is Not Your Marketing Plan.”

“Website is to marketing plan as seat is to airplane,” she says. “While both are an integral part of the bigger picture, neither are going to get you off the ground by themselves.”

With Search Engine Optimization (SEO) companies constantly calling to promise better internet search results, it can be hard to look beyond the website to build an effective and complete marketing campaign. Considering their minimal budgets and time constraints, small remodeling businesses often don’t have the resources to test every advertising avenue with a “wait-and-see” attitude toward “return on investment.”

With her background in television and public relations, Bullwinkel will offer opportunities that some business owners might not immediately consider when looking at advertising and marketing projects that can easily be done in-house. With over 50% of Imperial’s annual projects coming from repeat clientele and another 20% from referrals, Stephanie will also address what is needed to solidify a “Forever Client” relationship once someone walks in your door.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to develop one-year and a five-year marketing plans; Compose a strategy to solidify a “Forever Client” relationship with clients, and discover creative ways to market a business that does not directly involve a website. To register for this webinar, click here.

Next up, on Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. (Eastern Time), David Shove-Brown, principal architect and co-founder of //3877 Architecture and Design, will discuss keys to enhancing communication in “We’re Talking Renovation: How to Communicate for Success.”

To secure the best outcome for a refreshed and enhanced residential bathroom design scheme, the designer must be privy to the habits, rituals and preferences of the client. This class will dive into the best strategies for achieving optimum client communication to ensure a design is crafted and completed around what the client is seeking, and will explain the difference between creating a “good design” and one that is both functional and stylish.

Along with these objectives, methods for creating contingency plans that assess the strengths and weaknesses within a client’s design preferences and budget will be top-of-mind. The seminar’s concepts will be exemplified by the architect’s own bathroom renovation, which required him to apply many of the strategies he uses to guarantee client success for his own renovation experience.

To register for this webinar, click here.

Finally, on Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. (Eastern Time), Rikka Brandon, chief executive recruiter and founder of Building Gurus, will present “Succession Planning for K&B: Is Your Legacy at Risk?”

Brandon asks the question, “You know your business needs a succession plan, so why don’t you have one?” In this fast-paced session, entrepreneurs will learn why business owners fail to put a succession plan in place, and the actions they can take today to ensure the business thrives long after they’ve retired.

The process can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to understand why owners often don’t “stick with it” long enough to come up with a rock-solid plan. This webinar will illustrate how to simplify and get clear about the steps to take to ensure the founder’s legacy, how to assess the current team and help develop them into the leaders the business will need to succeed in the future.

It can also be painful — and in more ways than one. Leaders often underestimate the emotional toll it takes to build a succession plan. Learn the primary drivers that create this emotional strain and simple strategies to overcome them.  This session will empower and inspire business owners to ensure their business is positioned to thrive long after they’ve left the helm.

To register for this session, click here.