While death and taxes have long been recognized as two elements in life that can always be counted on, another less-mentioned sure thing is that life will always follow a path of peaks and valleys.

The economy, and therefore industry in general, will also experience that inevitable ebb and flow. For businesses, the key to not only surviving – but flourishing – during those lower periods is to prepare for them during better times, and venture outside the traditional lines to create new business opportunities.

Many kitchen and bath dealers claim that most clients are either referrals or repeat customers. However, in leaner economic times, this client base is not enough to sustain the majority of design firms. Implementing innovative tactics is a necessary part of drumming up new business and keeping companies in the black.

“When things get tight, there are more clients out there that everyone is going after harder and faster,” stresses Linda Whitcomb, president, Village Kitchen & Bath in Hyannis, MA.

Those clients are being wooed with free educational seminars and through innovative marketing tactics and heightened customer service, to name just a few. Several kitchen and bath dealers have shared their approaches with Kitchen & Bath Design News.

Seminar Savvy

Certainly, one of the ways that kitchen and bath dealers have maintained consumer interest in these more competitive economic times is through the hosting of educational seminars. Industry players agree that today’s consumers are much more educated and savvy than in decades past, and they look for ways to learn as much as possible before making major investments.

Village Kitchen & Bath began hosting free informational seminars about 18 months ago. The seminars were an alternative to the general ads that the company had been running in local newspapers and magazines.

And the strategy paid off, according to Whitcomb. “We have found that the majority of our never-heard-of-you clients found us through these seminars,” she reports.

The one-day seminars cover two topics – “How Much Should a Good Kitchen Cost?” and “How Much Should a Good Bathroom Cost?” They are held several times during March and April and again in October and November.

“People are definitely interested in learning about these subjects,” stresses Whitcomb, “and the seminars supply us with an audience of qualified potential clients.”

Jack Kellerman, president, Kellerman Kitchen & Bath in Baton Rouge, LA, agrees that seminars bring in clients who might not have previously known about the business. “I really believe that those attendees who have more immediate projects are ones that we would not have ordinarily signed up,” he comments. “They are a direct result of the seminars.”

His firm’s seminar, “How to Save Thousands When Buying Your Next Kitchen or Bath,” is held about six times a year, and averages 12 attendees per event. Free of charge, the seminar is “kind of a way to do a soft sell on attendees, even though they don’t realize they’re being sold,” comments Kellerman.

Even those attendees who are just coming to the seminars to gather information and are not planning immediate projects are likely to become customers when the time is right, Kellerman believes. “The way the seminar is crafted, it builds a level of trust between the attendees and our company,” he offers. “After the seminar, they’re not going anywhere else to look for a product.”

Smart Marketing

Kellerman advertises seminars in his promotions, including in magazine and newspaper ads, and on the firm’s Web site. “A lot of our leads come from our Web site,” he says. “I just think that is because more and more people are using the Internet as their sole way of finding things.”

Kellerman Kitchen & Bath tracks its leads by having customers fill out a form when they enter the showroom. “We ask their name and address, and then how they heard about us,” he notes. “That way, we can qualify what’s happening with the money that we spend on the Web site and seminars and other areas.”

In fact, so many people were finding the company through its Web site that Kellerman no longer places its traditionally large ad in the Yellow Pages. “Fewer and fewer people were finding us from that ad and more were finding us through the Web site,” he comments. “So, it’s definitely important to have a good Web site, as well as optimize it in such a way that people can find it on a local search.”