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In my February column, I introduced a Sacramento-based retailer that has developed an innovative strategy for presenting the design and closing the sale. Kitchen Mart, Inc. is a full-service kitchen and bathroom remodeling company. Its three-pronged process to serve customers, coupled with an inventive showroom, has brought the company remarkable success.

In an unusual twist, Kitchen Mart has tailored its showroom merchandising to purposefully reinforce the process it uses to get to know its customers and serve each one’s individual interests. Toward this end, the physical showroom includes two separate sales presentation areas, each designed to meet a specific need.

The first area features a traditional, fully appointed kitchen display, complete with warm-toned wood cabinetry and a tiered island. Customers sit at counter-height stools to meet face-to-face with a designer and discuss initial plans and ponder selections. Technology is downplayed in this space, where designers focus on the big picture, using mainly paper and pencil.

Presentation Area

What really sets Kitchen Mart apart from other retailers is its second presentation area, which is designed to close the sale. The polar opposite of the first space, this area employs technology to accomplish the selling objective. Kitchen Mart president Dave Hollars stumbled onto the concept at a home theater show.

“The product demonstration literally captivated the audience,” Hollars says. “I knew it could do the same for our selling and designing process.”

The result is a showroom sales area that has not only streamlined Kitchen Mart’s selling process, it has also improved its closing rate.

Catering particularly to the customer who desires an active role in the design process, the 300-square-foot space also includes an L-shaped layout with an island. The design of the space is modern, clean and contemporary with all the usual appointments one would expect in a sales display – and more. Consumers sit at the desk-height island in comfortable leather chairs, facing the cabinetry display and a 42" high-definition plasma screen. The designer sits opposite the consumers, back to the cabinetry, with laptop access to the high-definition display. As the designer provides answers to a series of questions on the laptop, the kitchen comes to life right before the customers’ eyes.

“I have been designing for over 13 years now, and seeing my clients’ faces light up as they look at their kitchen on the screen on the wall behind me is worth every penny,” says Kathy Starrett, Kitchen Mart designer. “I can read their pleasure, talk eye-to-eye with them and go over all the details, even moving things around as they are sitting in our showroom. Then we walk around and I show them all the accessories and features that we have just talked about, finalizing door styles and colors right on the spot. This shortens the decision-making process and helps to make the sale that much quicker.”

Hollars believes the theater experience is a powerful tool, allowing customers to participate, collaborate with the designer and feel as though they have control in the process to create their dream. In the end, it’s what ultimately sells the kitchen. In fact, Hollars estimates that 60 percent of sales presented in this area are closed at approximately the same step in the process, in large part thanks to the way the showroom is set up to facilitate this. Designers must book the area in advance to ensure each one gets time to dazzle their customers.