For 22 years, I considered myself a runner. The 10K (6.2 miles) runs were really popular, and for my age group, I was pretty good at keeping my time for the 10K just under 40 minutes. As time went on, I was drawn to another challenge: to run a full marathon (26 miles, 385 yards).

After running my first marathon, I wanted to do even better. My physical conditioning was fine, and my leg speed was about as fast as I could go. Then, a long-time marathon runner told me to stretch my stride. He told me if I could stretch my stride by one inch, I would reduce my marathon time by six minutes – and he was right.

I believe the same principal holds true in our kitchen and bath sales practices. Now, in our sales/design efforts, there are several ways we can stretch our stride. But if you choose to try to stretch your stride, don’t be surprised if it feels very uncomfortable until it becomes your norm. I know my hamstrings hurt a little more as I learned to make that stride just one inch longer in my running, and the same will hold true for you in selling. But the financial payoff will be well worth the effort.

Making More Money

So how do you go about stretching you sales stride? To begin making more money from your efforts, start by making three adjustments of one percent each. First, sell one percent more than your current goal. Second, raise your selling price by one percent. Third, reduce your selling cost by one percent. You should work on all three of these adjustments at the same time.
Let’s tackle the selling one percent more than your current goal first. As a reference, let’s use $750,000 as your current goal.

To raise the goal one percent, your new goal should be $757,500.

Now let’s look at the one percent increase of $7,500 and see how we can make it happen with just a little extra effort and skill. Let’s reduce the $7,500 down to what you have to do today. If you take a two-week vacation and the typical six holidays and are working a five-day week, you have 245 days to achieve your increased goal. In other words, you need to make a little less than $31 more per day than you currently do. Or, you could decide on the goal of selling just one more kitchen during the year.

Rather than having to find more customers, you can make that extra one percent by making the most of the customers you already have. Simple ways to do this might include upgrading the door style or the finish of their cabinets, adding moldings or undercabinet lights, upgrading the hardware, adding roll outs, selling appliances and making the bath grab bars part of every bath sale.

Our industry is filled with an infinite number of products, which, when combined with your design skills, will enrich the final project – something the customer will enjoy for years to come. It all comes down to whether you can get them to understand the value of the investment you are asking them to make.

Can you do it? Yes – by stretching your sales stride and making sure you fulfill your prospects’ dreams and expectations. To do that, you must stress benefits to be gained and losses to be avoided by doing business with you and making the proper investment.

Next on the list – you have to raise your selling price by one percent. That means the $20,000 project will now sell for $20,200. We as sales/designers are often more price sensitive than our prospects. The fact is, if the salesperson meets the client’s needs, one percent should never be a stumbling block. You can also explain it in other terms: for instance, it’s only $3.97 per month on a seven percent, five-year home improvement loan – plus the interest is deductible. I believe it is important for us to help the prospect see our products as monthly investments, just like a car or a home purchase.