Designer Connection - February 2023

BKBG’s Designer Connection is written exclusively to benefit members of the BKBG Designer Alliance. Connection relates trends, profiles a designer, offers product updates and shares professional development opportunities. Most importantly, Connection is another tool to bring the BKBG design community together, to share best and successful practices and to enable you to build your network of peers who face the same challenges and opportunities that you must address daily.  We welcome your comments, input and suggestions for improvement.  Post your comments on the Design Alliance TEAMS platform or send them to BKBG Director of Membership and Engagement Jennifer Swenson. 

Designer Spotlight: Jacqueline Fortezzo Best Bath Award Winner

This Newport Coast bathroom remodel boasts the ultimate coastal-inspired design.  Our clients wanted a relaxing bathroom space where they both could unwind while enjoying their ocean view. 

The goal was to take advantage of the coastal views while still providing a space that included his and her vanities, closets, a freestanding tub, and a walk-in shower while making the bathroom feel spacious.  To accomplish those goals, we had to tear down a few walls that surrounded the existing shower space and use glass walls to open up the look and feel.

The wood tones and shutters in the Omega cabinetry gives this design the coastal effect it needed to maintain the oceanside vacation atmosphere.

Enter the 2023 BKBG Design Contest

The goal of the BKBG Designer Alliance Design Contest is to recognize the outstanding skill and talent of Designer Alliance members.  Our initial effort exceeded all expectations with more than 50 entries submitted to the inaugural effort in 2022.  We’ve capitalized on the lessons of experience to improve the 2023 Design Contest. 

The first major change makes it easier for everyone to participate.  You can submit entries starting on January 1 through July 31, 2023.  This will allow designers as soon as they finish a project to submit it for recognition.  It’s an on-demand, real-time opportunity.

The second change is the addition of a new category – best showroom design.  Other awards will be presented for:

• Best Overall Kitchen
• Best Overall Bathroom
• Best Other Space
• Best Showroom Design
• People’s Choice (voted on by 2023 BKBG Conference Attendees)

Winners receive a $500 gift card and the recognition of their peers and industry as an award-winning designer – priceless.

Click here to access the entry forms.

Would You Pay $250 For A Candy Bar?

Would you pay $250 for a chocolate bar?  Would it make a difference if we told you that only 574 of these $250 50-gram bars are made a year.  They are crafted from hand sorted heirloom cocoa beans harvested from rare Ecuadorian trees.  Each bar is individually numbered.  The packaging befits the price.  These luxurious delicacies arrive in a wooden box made from Spanish elm.  A tasting tool is included, because if you are a connoisseur of $250 chocolate bars you know you don’t simply pick the chocolate up and eat it with your hands.  The oil from your fingers can alter the taste.  

Who determines if someone would pay $250 for a candy bar?  Is the To’ak chocolate really that much better than a Hershey bar?  Could you tell the difference?  Does it matter?  How many of the 574 chocolates do you believe go unsold?  In the same vein, why does one cabinet in your showroom cost $1,500 per box and another $250?  Who determines value?  In almost every case, the showroom consultant is the arbiter of value.  Most showroom customers are not familiar with brands and those who do ask for products by their name have been educated by effective advertising.  Customers rarely recognize a brand name or notice differences in appearance, but it is highly unlikely that they understand what makes one product, that basically provides the same functionality as another, five to 25 times more expensive.  Why do customers pay more?  It’s because they want to believe the stories that showroom consultants tell.  Consumers will pay a premium, because they have bought into and appreciate the premium associated with original design, technical superiority and hand craftsmanship.  But most importantly, they want to believe the story that explains the price premium.  

Showroom consultants determine value by their ability to tell compelling stories. Manufacturers and representatives are responsible for providing the content that showroom consultants may use to engage customers and differentiate products with similar appearances and functionality.  Is the ability to purchase a cabinet door in 28 different finishes compelling?  Is 30-year-old technology compelling?  Need a good place to start your story telling exercises?  Abandon the old paradigm of features and benefits and start by answering this question: How should customers feel when they use the new kitchen, baths or other spaces that you create?  

Poll Questions of the Issue – 2020 Training

Peer Calls Return February 22

The next BKBG Designer Alliance Peer Group Call will occur Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 1PM ET. Trends will be the major discussion topic.  Several that are currently trending include:

• More natural elements in the home and a desire among homeowners to bring outdoors inside
• Increased demand for storage and organization tools and options
• Bolder backsplashes and finishes – desire for pops of color
• Adding texture to subway tile
• Use of new finishes for cabinet hardware and plumbing fixtures
• Mixing and matching finishes
• Blue and green cabinetry and finishes

What are you seeing among your clientele.  How are you capitalizing on what’s hot and avoiding what’s not?

Plan to learn and share on the Designer Alliance Peer Call February 22. Click here to register.

A Limited Number of NKBA Badges Are Available

BKBG has partnered with NKBA to offer Designer Alliance members continuing professional development and skill set enhancement opportunities through the NKBA Specialty Badge Program.  

Specialty Badges are the NKBA’s latest concept in professional development. This new micro-credentialing program is a form of personalized learning that recognizes and displays the acquired knowledge of our members across all segments of the kitchen and bath industry. It affords our members the ability to stay current with the latest information in this ever-changing industry.

BKBG is offering a limited number of badges at a discounted price of $65/badge. Any designer who is a member of both BKBG Designer Alliance and NKBA, can take advantage of this professional development opportunity.

Once registered, you will receive a number of emails from NKBA including the study guide for your course. You will have 90 days to complete the exam and will then be eligible to register for an additional course while supplies last.  You will receive a Specialty Badge Certificate upon passing the exam.

The courses will go fast so please register today.

How to Demonstrate Sale Confidence

High-performing kitchen and bath designers and sales professional appear confident. Posture, the way you walk, your body language and the spoken word all convey confidence or lack thereof.  In an Inc. magazine article, Maria Takaba identified several phrases that all designers and salespeople should avoid because they “scream lack of confidence and make you appear weak.”

The first phrase is “I hate to bother you.”  If you are retuning a call or having to convey information that can’t wait, the discomfort is not bothering your customer or prospect.  Rather the discomfort comes from the information that you have to convey.  It may be that a product delivery has been delayed or a product arrived damaged.  When you say you I hate to bother you, you lose all control of the conversation.  A better option is  “When you have a minute, I would like to discuss something with you.”

The second phrase is “I’m sorry.”  It’s not that you should avoid being accountable when mistakes are made, or your information was not accurate.  How many people do you know that say “I’m sorry” repeatedly.  Are they really sorry?  If you have bad news to convey, a better alternative is to say, “I need to let you know of some bad news.”

Successful sales people rarely tell others that they are worried.  Expressing an opinion of a potential negative outcome eliminates the ability to come up with a solution because you are focusing on the problem.  Instead of saying “I’m worried that the finish won’t match,” a better alternative would be “I have some concerns that the finish won’t match.  An option to avoid this problem is…”

Never use the word just.  It compromises what you might be thinking or the messages that you want to convey.  “I just need a minute of your time.”  “I just thought about a great alternative.”  “I just had an idea.”  

If you preface a thought with the words, “I believe/think/feel that” you are couching your message with an unnecessary qualifier and diminishing the importance of the thought.  Which statement is more powerful?

• I just feel that you should consider the steam unit for the master bath to create your own in-home spa.
• ·The steam unit for the master bath will create your own in-home spa.

Avoid asking permission to make a request by prefacing a statement with the words, “If it’s OK” or “would you mind.”  When you do so, your customer may say or think, no it’s not OK or yes, I do mind.  A more confident approach is to make a request by saying, “When you have a moment, let me show you this extraordinary shower system.”  

Vendor News and Updates

Waypoint Webinar Focuses on KBIS Trends

Waypoint Living Spaces is hosting a KBIS trends recap on Friday, February 24th at 12 p.m. EST.  The webinar also will identify new products our Waypoint Living Spaces team discovered at KBIS 2023 and includes a sneak peak of Waypoint's new products launching in May 2023.  Click here to register.

BOCCHI Baveno Hide-Away Sink Wins Best of KBIS

BOCCHI’s Baveno Hide-Away Kitchen Sink System won the Best in Show Award at KBIS 2023.  The sink allows users to easily change between sink and uninterrupted counter space with its design and telescopic faucets, maximizing workspace. Sink covers, multiple faucet options, cutting board, colanders and roller mats are included for a true workstation sink experience. The Baveno Sink system is a solution for small spaces where counter areas are in high-demand and it is available in BOCCHI’s nine fireclay and three granite options. The durable fireclay sinks can handle beyond 2000 degrees Fahrenheit and granite sinks can handle up to 535 degrees. The sinks are easy to clean, scratch and stain resistant, and require less water to clean than conventional sinks due to the BOCCHI Clean+ Technology which also minimizes lime-scale buildup, bacteria, and dirt, the firm adds.

Dekton Wows at KBIS

In collaboration with designer Daniel Germani, Dekton is reinterpreting the timeless beauty of three classic stones with its Pietra Kode collection: Vicenza Stone, Travertine Marble and Ceppo Di Gre. With its take on classic Vicenza Stone, Cosentino delivers the look in four warm and versatile designs that work for interior and exterior cladding. VK04 Grafite, showcases a mix of black and gray interspersed with white and reddish cloud-like patches, reinterpreting the texture of dark, fine-grained limestone. Its full body design makes it particularly suitable for applications where pattern continuity at the edges is required, states Cosentino.