Three appointments and the value of direct

Either we go to the customer...

In business-to-business, when I go to New York to see a customer that is a company, what works best is always live events and referrals, truly unbeatable. They work because people have to trust you. So either we go to the customer...

...or the customer comes to us

...or the customer comes to us, at the showroom. And when they come, they find the sales team. Selling to private customers generally takes three or more appointments. Marketing brings us qualified people; even so, the first appointment is essential for screening out prospects who aren't in our target.

The first appointment

It starts with a quick tour and an explanation of the working method: the same thing they saw on the website, explained again in the showroom. The customer wants to see the product, so you don't sit them down straight away; you show them something first. It's not two hours of explanation, because they might not be in target, but out of courtesy you offer them a coffee and give them a quick tour. Then you sit them down and walk them through the method. During the visit there's the usual warm-up rapport, which lets you understand what kind of customer has walked in.

Don't run a questionnaire, because people don't want to be interrogated. Questions should be asked in a tone of innocent curiosity.

I put it with a line I use in class: it's consultancy dressed up as selling. I don't play the table game with them, there are no aggressive techniques: a tour, the questions, a project built on the budget they have. And the screening is done by the price and the second floor, before the person even sits down. In Modena, where the showroom is at street level, it's different: a customer came from Bologna without an appointment, found the door closed with a “ring” sign, didn't ring and left. That taught us that even at street level you need an appointment, just as a restaurant needs a booking.

Salespeople have to understand who they're dealing with by asking questions that don't offend, with the utmost courtesy and willingness, aimed at understanding the budget and the urgency of the project. You start broad: “What kind of kitchen would you like?”, “In what material?”, “Do you have a budget?”. The procedure is always the same, whether or not they come from marketing. It's unlikely, though, that people walk in off the street, because the Milan showroom is on the second floor, you have to ring the bell to get in and, above all, you have to know it's there. If I were on the ground floor I'd have to screen more, with more closed questions. Few people come without an appointment, because the website recommends one. Making it compulsory is a possible step, but you lose a bit of traffic.

What's more, my team are designers. It's an advantage, because the customer wants to talk to a designer, but of course they have in-house sales training. It's a consultative approach. And it's easier because, with no passing street traffic, whoever walks in is already qualified. Not 100%, but not just anyone passing by.

The second appointment

Then comes the second appointment, where you run another round of qualification. Even if you explained everything at the first, you have to do it again, asking similar but more precise questions. At this point you present the project in target with the customer's budget: if someone likes the €100,000 kitchen but has a budget of €30,000, I propose the right collection for them, but I don't let them leave without the order. Then comes the preliminary agreement on payment, 50% up front and 50% before the product leaves the factory, and acceptance of the offer.

Why direct matters

This is an important point. I apply Ries's teachings on positioning: “direct”, which I communicate to the customer with my marketing tools. These are things said during negotiation, and quietly in the marketing, so as not to seem too aggressive.

How does it work for the others? There are manufacturers with a sales director, who has agents, each with a territory. The agent goes round the shops in his territory placing sample displays, often at the expense of the manufacturer. So the product passes through a high-cost stage, between the sales management salary, the agent's commission and all the other intermediate steps. Margin is lost.

Let's do the sums, which I write on the board in class. In my sector the discount to the retailer is 50%, even 60 if the shop is good, plus 5. The manufacturer is left with 38 out of 100, and with that 38 has to pay the whole chain and deliver. The end customer, in the shop, pays full price or close to it. Selling direct, I discount the €70,000 kitchen by 30%, “because we're direct and don't have a chain that disperses value”, and the final price is €49,000. Even if the customer shops around the competitors, they find the same kitchen at the full €70,000. And I'm left with 49 instead of 38: the difference goes on top, for brand advertising. That's how the showroom's first direct customer bought a €70,000 double-island kitchen: they're still paying it off in instalments and we haven't produced it yet, because the house is due for completion next year. His wife was so enthusiastic she wanted to lock it in straight away.

Our system, by contrast, is direct: whether with those who want to open a showroom or a shop-in-shop, or with end customers, the conversation is directly with the company, with no intermediaries. The difference is that all the marketing I've set up has a cost, and what do I pay for it with? With the difference in margin compared with the system the others use. The margin stays with the company, because we have no intermediate sales structure. And so the margin goes into marketing and brand advertising.

The close

During negotiation I can discount a kitchen by a predefined percentage, precisely because we're direct and don't have a chain that disperses value. Pay attention: I keep the discount under wraps until the offer is presented and I never advertise it. That way I hit two things in the customer's mind: the emotional side, which is struck by the marketing and the advertising, and the rational side, which supports the emotion of the purchase through the descriptive product copy and through this discount shown only at the offer stage, so that the prospect can think: “I'm getting a good deal because I'm buying direct”.

The seven steps end with the customer's signature, which comes thanks to all the work done before. Whoever reaches the sale after building the why, the brand and the marketing sells on their own terms.

From my book Direct from Milano and my classroom courses. Figures and examples updated to September 2026.