By Seth Ellison
On day one of KBIS, a special exclusive luncheon was held to honor the ‘rock stars’ of K+B design, the NKBA’s certified designers who have achieved the top ranks of kitchen and bath professionals with AKBD, CKD, CBD, CKBD, or CMKBD designations. “The NKBA respects and highly values our Certified Designers, who we see as our extended family — those who set the creative benchmark within the design community,” remarked Lindsay Franco, NKBA’s Professional Development Specialist and creator of the Specialty Badge Program.
The sold-out event featured speaker Lynne Jensen-Nelson, the nationally recognized business influencer, sought-after inspirational speaker, and founder of Conversion-omics, a program with the sole purpose of educating and inspiring groups to reach peak performance. The event was generously sponsored by Ferguson and Rev-A-Shelf.
The Secret to Selling Your Design
After the luncheon, Jensen-Nelson gave the “Build Your Competitive Advantage” session, which was jam-packed with the strategies needed to help kitchen and bath designers capitalize on demographics, understand common sales objectives, and apply motivational sales techniques and leadership.
Jensen-Nelson’s highly effective sales philosophy is built on a foundation of what she called “Assessing Competitive Advantage,” which is composed of three key questions every designer should ask themselves:
- Why buy from you instead of the competition?
- Why buy from the competition instead of you?
- Why do people want to work with/for you?
“Remember and use the 5 Cs: Customers Crave Confidence, Clarity, and Consistency,” she said. “We have entered a new way of operating as an industry, a community, and a business. Every single selling opportunity must be maximized. It’s more important than ever to create an effective sales process to help your customers move forward with confidence. You need to teach your customers to be really good customers.”
To do this, Jensen-Nelson continued, you first need to manage your customers’ expectations by clearly defining the steps leading to a conversion. “However, at the end of the day,” she said, “the most powerful tool for sales is clear and concise communication.”
NKBA’s Certified Designers represent the top in the industry, having earned the highest levels of certification, The event today provided the group with tools, insight, and inspiration To learn more about NKBA’s Certification program click here.