There are all sorts of employees working in dealerships throughout the world – Good ones, bad ones; cooperative, stubborn, commissioned, salaried, successful, slacker… no matter the type you hired, they’ve all got one thing in common: they’re expensive. Sure, they may...
It sure seems like time is flying in 2013 – we can’t believe it’s already April! Since it’s that time of year to start spring cleaning, last month we focused on how to clean up your business so that you can run efficiently through the rest of the year. We know you’ve...
Interested in the latest news with BreakFront and Equilibrium? BreakFront is happy to announce that Equilibrium now integrates with Cardell Cabinetry’s ordering system. The purpose of this integration is to cut back on the time dealerships have to take to re-key...
Kitchen design is a skill that takes years to master, but do you need decades of experience to learn enough to sell kitchens? Our vote is no. Woah, now… before you get all defensive, hear us out. Pair basic kitchen design knowledge with the right sales training and...
Remodelers and cabinet dealers alike know that they need to change their quoting methods and enhance their consumer’s buying experience. But, as with most things in life, taking the first step is the most painful. After all, the sales team will revolt, right?...
If you haven’t heard, a dealer reached out to us and asked for help guiding them back into profit. In the beginning of this conversation, Chris Mele spoke with the Distressed Dealer about moving away from product based selling. He gave the example of Julie who is...
Dear BreakFront: As you know, times have been troubling for cabinet dealers. In the huge economic downturn, I feel like my dealership has been hit the hardest. We’ve been in the business for 60 years and up until recently I thought we were doing fine. Since 2008, I’ve...
So marketing can get pretty confusing when it gets down to the “deep” stuff. You’ve got your brand, which isn’t the same as your logo and it also isn’t the same as your kitchen and bath manufacturer brands; and then you’ve got your identity, which isn’t the same as...
The conversation has been moving along with the Distressed Dealer and Chris. Our dealer is finally starting to understand that product based selling is not very successful. Chris dives in a little deeper to the process to explain how to make the big bucks. If you...
Life is full of little mysteries – like how two people can have the same meal, and while one loves it, another becomes nauseous; or how someone can put on a show that they thought was a masterpiece, but reviews show otherwise. Thats why it’s important in...
The kitchen and bath industry is made up of a group of talented individuals who have worked long and hard at their craft to get to where they are today. We are aware of that because we work with designers like you every day. We have designers on our own staff, and we...
In part one of this post, I was discussing prospect budgets as more of a range instead of a number. We went over the Comfort Zone and Discomfort Zone, as well as my friend Molly who likes to find all the exceptions in life. Now, we move into two danger zones you...
Everybody wants it, but do your salespeople and designers really understand it? Like a lost treasure, salespeople armed with a prospect’s budget get the equivalent of a map with a large “X marks the spot.” But what is it really? Is it a number, a range or a figment...
It’s easy to run your business the way you always have, but that doesn’t mean you should. Change is scary, right? But, you’ve heard the old sayings, “No gutz, no glory” and “No pain, no gain.” They’re full of truth....
It’s finally here! The recording of our experts, Chuck Chase and Nick Ritota, walking you through the first steps in the 4M Meet Phase is available for you to download. Chuck and Nick spent an hour explaining how naturals, the salespeople who are consistently selling...
Most consumers would tell you that the music business is about making music. Most business people would argue that it is about making records (you remember records, right?). Their business is not really about music, it’s about the delivery of that music to consumers....
Our team listens closely to Equilibrium (formerly Aurora) user suggestions to provide features which make everyone’s lives easier. With our latest Spring Edition of Equilibrium we added many new capabilities that we think are pretty awesome. New Features In no...
Last month we hosted a webinar on the first step of our 4M sales process – the Meet Phase, and seeing how successful it was in helping our readers work on their sales process, we’ve decided to host another webinar that will involve real life scenarios for you to learn...
If you’ve been keeping up with our content, it should be a secret that we feel the whole showroom experience should be updated and transformed. Our team has been in many showrooms throughout the country and frankly, some of the experiences have been scary. It...
Our love of blogging The Dealer’s Voice started many years ago as a way for us to connect with our industry, and since then…it has become that, and much more to us. The Dealer’s Voice has evolved into a place for us to commiserate, laugh, learn, think, and talk shop...
With tax season starting, we know every business owner is looking at their financial statements from the past year and getting things in order to file their taxes. It’s a time when owners take stock of what they have, where they have come from and, most likely, how...
The kitchen and bath industry has been hit pretty hard in the past few years. We’ve commented on it, tried to instill operational changes to help you get through it and overall, it looks like business is starting to pick back up for our industry. CNBC published an...
January is coming to a close (we can’t believe it either) and it’s time to start checking in on those New Year’s resolutions you told us you were making. You have no idea what we could possibly be talking about? Don’t worry – we’ve got a pretty sharp memory here...
As you know last week we had scheduled our first TweetChat for 2013, unfortunately TweetChat was down and we were unable to talk with you all about the third step in our 4M sales process – the Match Phase. We truly apologize for the hiccup in technology that kept us...
This statistic should be no surprise by now, “Companies that blog have far better marketing results generating 55% more website visitors and 67% more leads per month.” Agreed. What about the companies, however, that kind of blog? We have all seen them…you go to...
