Sell Space Planning to Sell Closets, Says Valenza

AUSTIN, TX - "It started out with a little custom millwork, and ended up being a spacae planning projects," says Janet Valenza, owner of Closet Revolution, New York City.

Valenza, whose background includes fashion, advertising and merchandising, told her audience at a Closets Conference 2012 session that "Professional services can generate professional fees with no added overhead. You don't need machines, or factory  production, and yet it can add to revenue."

Valenza, who recently designed a U.S. wood products firm's Shanghai showroom for a custom closet and wood products, explained at her session this afternoon that closets professionals should suspend offering what is probably their standard solution - a closet - and look comprehensively at a client's space needs.

Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Video: Closet Revolution's Janet Valenza On Design Planning

Staging is one area with potential. "Staging" refers to dressing up homes for sale - sometimes new ones or frequently empty resale homes, to provide furnishings and design touches to augment the real estate salesperson's presentation.

"You can be paid for the staging, and it could also lead to a closet project within the home," Valenza said.

Another potential approach Valenza outlined was to engage others in promoting your services.

• Assign specialty areas (kitchen, bedroom, dining area) to specific designers

• Hold seminars for interior designers to educate them on home storage functionality

• Recruit "designers" from unexpected ares: movers, real estate brokers, kitchen designers

Valenza suggested getting into the storage design process as early as possible, following the industry wisdom that storage should be the first part of a residential plan, not the last step. Learn more about Closet Revolution here.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bill Esler

Bill Esler, Associate Publisher/ Editor in Chief, Woodworking Network Bill is responsible for editing Custom Woodworking Business and coordinating all content for Wood & Wood Products , CLOSETS , Woodworkingnetwork.com and Closetsdaily.com, along with related newsletters. Bill’s expertise includes using innovative print manufacturing techniques to grow audience engagement, using textured offset, digital printing, purls, QR codes; and lead-generating webcasts, custom websites, and custom digital and print content. Read Bill Esler's woodworking blogs