Tales of the Throne Room

  Yes, that’s right – I mean this literally. Get up and head over to any of the facilities at the workplace, although the room that customers might be using would be the best one. (And, if you’re already there when you’re reading this, let me thank you for choosing my writing for such quiet and deep contemplation.)
   Now, take a look around. Is this a small half-bath, or just the bare minimum? Is there plenty of stone in there? Is there any stone?
   If the company loo features nothing but porcelain and drywall – or even less – it’s time to get in gear and start designing. If ever there’s a sales opportunity lost, it’s with a plain vanilla bathroom among tons of beautiful stone.
   Too many people think of “the convenience” as a place where people waste time and steal the toilet paper. Why waste time, money and space on a sink and a toilet?
   The answer comes with a question: Why throw away a perfectly good chance to upsell a customer with no real effort? It’s a great way to appeal to people’s vanity … and we’re not talking just tops here, either.
   A good example of this appeared recently when considering some images for a Stone Business cover. The selection that won out featured a beautiful stone in a non-traditional setting, and the fabricator seemed please we liked the presentation.
   “I have some of that same stone in the bathroom the customers use off my showroom,” he said. “You won’t believe how much it gets people’s attention.”
   The stone wasn’t something you’d consider for most kitchens or hallways. In the cozy confines of the bathroom, however, the bold color made sense. In fact, at the residential installation, the entire color scheme of the master bath seemed to be dictated by the stone’s look.
   Let’s take a look at the, well, nature of bathrooms. These are places of function that make up a key part of a home or business, but don’t host the main activities. People rarely put a coffee nook or a fireplace in the guest bathroom, and – unless you’re Winston Churchill dictating a House of Commons speech from the tub – the lavatory isn’t a workplace.
   The kitchen, meanwhile, can literally be the center of the house, forming a public crossroads for residents and visitors alike. Everyone sees the countertops and the matching island, so the surfaces need to look nice.
   What happens is that we tend to get a bit kitchen-centric in how we view stone. That nice look turns into racks – no, containers – full of good stone like Baltic Brown or Santa Cecelia, with an occasional order including the exotic, like Uba Tuba.
   In other words, we’re selling colors that, to put it nicely, are neutral. We may think we’re being bold by offering a triple-ogee edge, but it’s still safe territory; you can’t go wrong with brown or gray in the kitchen.
   Kitchens are remarkably static. While those of you who’ve gone through a kitchen remodeling are still laughing about that one, consider this: Did you move the sink? Did you move the window above the sink? Did you separate the sink from the window? Did you move the dishwasher? Did you ….
   You get the picture. A kitchen is the heart of a home, and you don’t start bypasses and transplants unless absolutely necessary. For countertop and backsplash work, the general rule is to keep it safe.
   Kitchens are public. Bathrooms, however, are private. You don’t offer a bathroom – especially a master bath – to anyone else. So why make it a bland place that looks like an triage room at a no-frills HMO?
   Take a good look in magazines today – this one included – and you’ll see that bathrooms are anything but white-on-white. Whether it’s intricate tile work, or using a colorful marble or even something like soapstone, those private rooms look dynamic. Why not shower in style?
   The strange thing is that some in the buying chain – especially home-improvement centers and mammoth hardware outlets – don’t seem to care. Most offer a sink-and-stool lineup that’s about as appealing as a free-sample display at Offal Mart. While countertops and cabinets are abundant in little psuedo-kitchens, there’s nary a bathroom mockup. (Store managers can give you rather descriptive tales as to why they affix toilet models on the wall at higher-than-eye-level, but we’ll move on.)
   This leaves selling stone for the bathroom to the front lines of fabricators and their showrooms. There’s nothing like putting a little effort into some interesting layouts and, of course, a working model or two for customers. (It’s also a great place to tout care-and-maintenance products.)
   It’s also a place to do a bit of upselling; you can get fixtures as well as anyone, so why not encourage your customers to splurge? Offer some items that won’t be in the local Home Depot or Lowe’s, such as designer sinks or custom, made-in-the-block stone basins and countertops.
   And why not a bidet? Remember that the bathroom makes a statement in comfort and style, and – once they get started – people are loathe to scrimp.
   For this to work, however, you need to get started soon, as in today. Plan a working display of goods, including stone tile for the floors and walls. Maybe it’s time to make them a bit larger; don’t forget to hang pictures on the wall of some of your better bathroom projects.
   And, to be fair, challenge some of the staff to work up some interesting ideas with scrap and remainder for the facilities in the back. Everybody deserves a bit of luxury.

This article first appeared in the April 2004 print edition of Stone Business. ©2004 Western Business Media Inc.