A lot of your customers ask me how long an appointment is going to take and what is involved in an appointment. For those of you who have not met with your client up at the showroom, here is a quick overview of what goes on at a standard first appointment.
In most cases, your client will give us a call to schedule a time to come in. During the initial phone call, they are asked if they have any ideas or pictures of what they are thinking about for their remodel. If they do, I ask them to bring them with them, so I can see what they are thinking. Sometimes my Shaker door is their transitional one.
Once your client arrives, they are first welcomed into the showroom and given a little information about HD Kitchens & Baths. I ask them if they found us ok, and if the drive up was fun. I then like to open the appointment up for questions. Many clients have a list of concerns before they start the project, and some have not one question...this is sometimes more worrisome to me than 100 questions being thrown at me. The most common question we are asked, is how long we have been working with their contractor & have we seen your work. Happily, we have worked with many or our clients for years now, and seen your work up close and personal. One of the lucky things that we feel about the size of our company is that we get to work with customers that are great at what they do and proud of their work.
A tricky question that I like to find out before we pick a cabinet line is BUDGET. To most clients telling me this is not an option. They feel as though if they tell me what they are thinking, I am going to take them either right to the line, or right over it. For your knowledge, this is NOT why I ask. We have 4-6 cabinets lines available to your client, ranging anywhere from builders grade to full custom. In order for you to compete with the slew of bids that clients are getting these days before starting a project (and they all are), I like to know what they are looking at elsewhere. I don't want to undersell them, but I don't want to blow them out of the water with the price of a kitchen that puts the project on permanent hold. Budget is always a tricky question, but I have my ways to figure it out, and MOST of the time by the time the customer leaves, they are comfortable to let me know around where they would like to be.
Depending on what they have shown me, or what I sense are the target issues, we will either go through internal items or style and color. I will try to go through all the internal items that they NEED vs. what they want. In most cases, I tell your client to pick out everything they would want in their dream kitchen. Obviously, I like to keep space restraints in mind. Even if a client wants an 8' island, if the kitchen in only 6' long, it isn't going to work. Keeping that in mind, I like to price out the kitchen with all the important items included. If it ends up being over the clients budget, we can go back to the list of "wants", and start organizing them into what is a true desire, and what would be nice to have. With a budget in mind, most clients can do this with no problem. After all the fun stuff is finished, I always end the appointment with another round of questions. Was there anything that they saw or wanted that we did not go over?...that is a big one for me.
All clients are given literature on the cabinet style and color they chose, as well as a brochure about HD Kitchens & Baths, and my card. I then tell them that I am only a phone call away, and if they see anything in the literature that we have not gone over, or that interests them, to call me directly. In order to keep you busy bidding and building, I tell them that any questions can be posed to me directly rather than having to call you and then have you call me. I thank them for coming in and wish them a safe trip home and a great week/weekend.
At this point, most of you are familiar with the process. I will take the clients list or desires, and incorporate it into a functional kitchen space. This layout is then e-mailed or faxed to you along with a a cabinet list and quote. I like to give myself 1 week for this process. It has been 2-3 weeks in the past, and it has been 2-3 days in the past as well, but on an average, 1 week is what I shoot for.
All in all, that is the quick overview of an appointment. The average initial kitchen appointment takes anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2 hours on average, with anywhere from 15-45 minutes in calls the next day.
In all this, our goal is to make the client comfortable with our company as well as yours. We also strive to make your time more functional as well. You don't need to be answering questions that we can answer especially if by us answering one or two quick questions, you can get more work.
Undergoing any renovation in your home is a daunting task, and clients really need to feel secure in the contractors they use. I hope that we as a company help do that for both you and you client.
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