Award Winner
Sonoma Kitchen & Bath was honored as the DPHA Showroom of the Year at the Annual Meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. The Award recognizes outstanding business practices, customer service, human resource practice and industry support. Criteria to evaluate nominees are:
Training programs
Marketing programs
Customer service
Involvement and support of the industry
Merchandising
Innovative presentation of decorative plumbing
and hardware products within the showroom.
In almost every one of the criteria, Sonoma Kitchen
& Bath in Santa Rosa, CA excels.
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The showroom began life in 1960 as Western Cabinet Distributors to serve the North Bay region of metropolitan San Francisco. Owner Gerry Kowell has relocated the showroom several times throughout the last 46+ years. When he moved to its current location in 1994, he not only changed venue, he added additional focus. The company expanded from kitchen cabinet design to include decorative plumbing fixtures for the bath. “We realized that we were missing one whole segment of our market by not including decorative plumbing fixtures and including baths in our product mix,” explained General Manager Maureen Pape. That decision turned out to be a wise one. Sonoma Kitchen & Bath has become a recognized leader in the North Bay area offering a product mix that concentrates on mid- to high-end for decorative plumbing products.
Pape explained, “We recognize that people want to see, touch and feel products.” The showroom has responded to that need by featuring a diverse product line in numerous vignettes. Sonoma Kitchen & Bath is able to distinguish its product lines and services due to the quality of its staff. “We have a great staff who are very knowledgeable and approachable,” Pape explained.
The company has a team of designers that help customers turn dreams into realities. Its website is chalked full of successful projects that customers and prospects can view that showcase not only product lines but also in-house talent. Sonoma Kitchen & Bath credits the web as a viable and valuable resource for capturing new business. Pape acknowledged that increasingly customers are using the web as a research tool. However, she firmly believes that there are compelling reasons to buy from a showroom versus on line. The key is “a knowledgeable staff and excellent customer service.” That’s one reason for Sonoma Kitchen & Bath’s success. “Once a homeowner has seen a product on the Internet, it is our job when they come to the showroom to demonstrate the value a local professional showroom brings to a project.”
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Value at Sonoma Kitchen & Bath is vested in its team of talented designers who can provide customers with a portfolio of projects they have been involved with. Pape recognizes that people want to conduct business with those they like and feel confident will service their needs. The staff creates lasting relationships with customers by providing a comfort zone and designing beautiful spaces that people want to live in.
The company is committed to training and continuing education. It uses the DPHA Education Program as a staple of is educational offering. Sonoma Kitchen & Bath also depends on its network of reps and welcomes product knowledge meetings whenever they are available. Additionally, Sonoma Kitchen & Bath believes you cannot improve if you cannot measure performance. The company is dedicated to conducting job site assessments and evaluating job site performance as a means for continuous improvement.
Sonoma Kitchen & Bath faces similar marketing challenges as just about every other showroom. Pape explained, “Everyone in our showroom is tasked with determining how our customers came to us.” The company supports those efforts through business and shelter publication ads, direct mail, its web presence and customized targeted campaigns for individual designers. The showroom produces individual direct mail pieces for each of its designers that feature the designer’s projects that they can use to tout their expertise and promote reasons to make Sonoma Kitchen & Bath the choice for decorative plumbing products.
The benefit Sonoma Kitchen & Bath has enjoyed from its marketing, training and merchandising efforts is a stabilized staff that is dedicated to its craft and offering exceptional customer service. “One of the things that is responsible for our longevity in business is an incredible staff of people,” Pape said. “Our people are the key to our success. The more the showroom can support and promote its people, the better off we are.”
