Use Tax – Your Competitive Advantage (or Just More Profit)

Use Tax – Your Competitive Advantage (or Just More Profit)

Are you collecting and paying “sales tax” on the cabinets you sell and install? Meaning, are you calculating the tax you charge and pay on the “sales price” of the job, which in many states includes the delivery and installation charge?

SPIFs And Embarrassing Manufacturer Executive Meetings

It’s no secret that SPIFs are a deadly trap for you cabinet manufacturers.  While paying salespeople SPIFs directly for every cabinet they sell does create a strong motivator, SPIFs tend to become a permanent part of the landscape. Like that weird Facebook picture you...

Your Next Business Intelligence Hire

Manufacturers tend to mine data from disparate systems in order to make decisions about their products. You pull historical numbers in order to predict what may happen if you change something or decide to launch a new SKU. It truly is the stuff of crystal balls and...

Improve the Back End to Make Your Dealers Better

A business today can only be successful if it has efficient workflows and processes in place. If there is a hitch in the system, it will only lead to slowdowns, inefficiencies, and mistakes. This is true in any business, but especially for kitchen and bath dealers. If...

The Manufacturer Order Entry Crap Show

As cabinet manufacturers experience the first signs of increased orders, old problems still seem to haunt.  Incomplete orders, partial specifications and even the occasional missing specie or door style are par for the course as manufacturers continue the madness of...

Dealers Voice Podcast Episode 2

Brent and Chris give concrete ideas on how to structure your sales team to increase sales even after cutting your costs to the bone.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Cash

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Cash

Are you struggling with Accounts Receivable? Do your customers string you out on collecting money every time they can find a reason to do so? Would your business benefit if you could go out and pick up checks for 50% of all your outstanding A/R tomorrow? Most dealers...

Why Your Accounting System is Never Enough – (Part 3 of 3)

Let’s just stick with the purchase order for a moment.  Now that we have a nice one line item sales order for the cabinetry portion of the order, it’s life on easy street, right? The Purchase Order Problem Well, that is until you have to generate the...
Why Double Checking Work Doesn’t Work

Why Double Checking Work Doesn’t Work

There’s a great story of a young man named Edwards Deming who began thinking differently about quality before most American companies even considered it. The year was 1947 and what he discovered and taught us has somehow been forgotten by just about every...
Why Your Accounting System is Never Enough – (Part 2 of 3)

Why Your Accounting System is Never Enough – (Part 2 of 3)

Here’s what really happens to the sales side of the house when a dealer buys into an accounting system solution which “does everything.” The Sales Order Problem Your accounting system has functionality to create sales orders.  Sounds straight...
Cabinet Showroom Sales 101

Cabinet Showroom Sales 101

How many people enter your showroom then walk out again, having purchased nothing? You may have spent time with these potential customers, used a variety of sales techniques, and invested your energy, all for nothing. These individuals may have left for a variety of...

Cabinet Dealer Secret Competition Sauce – Part 2

In part 1 of this series, I suggested a simple premise on how to think about beating your competition: the dealer who processes the customer’s order most efficiently wins. And I don’t just mean wins long term.  You can have numerous short term wins with...
Register For Our Upcoming Workshop on How to Generate More Leads

Register For Our Upcoming Workshop on How to Generate More Leads

Some days are better than others – a statement that holds true for most businesses.  When you aren’t generating new clients, days start to feel like weeks and your bank account starts to feel neglected.  This is why it is important to stay ahead of local...
Avoid Cutting Price on Kitchen Quotes

Avoid Cutting Price on Kitchen Quotes

We can come up with a lot of techniques on how to deal with this awkward situation- but the better place to focus on is actually much earlier in your sales process.