Guides for running a kitchen showroom
Written for the people who sell, order and install kitchens. Most of it comes from watching where real showroom jobs go wrong: the missed supplier date, the deposit nobody chased, the door that arrived in the wrong finish.
Running the showroom
- Guide
What a kitchen showroom CRM actually has to do
Generic CRMs stop at the signed deal. A kitchen showroom CRM has to run the job after it: supplier orders, acks, lead times, delivery, install and punch list.
- Guide
How to track cabinet orders from signed contract to install day
A stage-by-stage cabinet order tracker for dealers: what to record, who owns each step, typical lead times, and what to do about a bad ack or backorder.
- Guide
Running cabinet orders on a spreadsheet: where it breaks, and how to keep it alive until you switch
A column layout for a kitchen showroom cabinet order spreadsheet, rules that keep a shared sheet clean, where Excel and Google Sheets break, and when to switch.
- Guide
A follow-up process for kitchen showroom leads that the team will actually stick to
A follow-up cadence for kitchen showroom leads: what to record at first contact, what to send on day 0, 2, 7, 14 and 30, sample messages, and when to stop.
- Guide
Deposits and payment schedules for kitchen jobs: what showrooms ask for, and why
What deposit kitchen showrooms take on cabinet jobs, three payment schedules compared, and a worked example of cash in versus supplier cash out, week by week.
- Guide
Cabinet delivery checklist: what to check before the installer shows up
A printable cabinet delivery checklist for showrooms: what to check at the truck, before signing and box by box, and what to do about damaged cabinets.
Choosing software
- Comparison
The software kitchen showrooms use, sorted by the job it does
Design Flex, ProKitchen, KitchenDEV, ECI Spruce, Leap, Houzz Pro, Jobber: the job each is built for, its pricing, and which mix fits a 2 or 10 person showroom.
- Comparison
2020 Design for a kitchen showroom: what it covers, and the parts of the business you'll still need to run
What Cyncly Design Flex (2020 Design) costs per tier, what it covers for a showroom, and the order, supplier and install tracking you'll still run elsewhere.
- Comparison
Houzz Pro for a kitchen showroom: where it fits and where showrooms add something else
What Houzz Pro is built for, what its published plans cost at 3 and 8 users, and which parts of a kitchen showroom's day usually need a separate order tracker.
- Comparison
Jobber for a kitchen showroom: what fits and what doesn't
Jobber runs quotes, visits, invoices and payments for field crews. Here's how a showroom job maps onto it, what it costs at 3 and 8 users, and when to use both.